Transcript of Barr's presser on Biden/Obama crimes.
We saw two different standards of justice emerge, one that applied to President Trump and his associates, and one that applied to everybody else. We can't allow this to ever happen again.
Again, the Durham investigation is trying to get to the bottom of what happened and it will determine whether there were any federal laws broken and if there were those who broke the laws will be held to account.
But this can not be and will not be a tit for tat exercise. We are not going to lower the standards just to achieve a result. The only way to stop this vicious cycle, the only way to break away from a dual system of justice is to make sure we scrupulously apply the single and proper standard of justice for everybody.
Now under the long-standing standards of the department, criminal charges are appropriate only when we have enough evidence to prove each element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. That is the standard we're applying. Now I have a general idea of how Mr Durham's investigation is going and as I've indicated some aspects of the matter are being examined as potential crimes. But we have to bear in mind with the Supreme Court recently reminded us of in the Bridgegate case. The Court said that there's a difference between an abuse of power and a federal crime. Not every abuse of power, no matter how outrageous, is necessarily a federal crime.
Now as to President Obama and VP Biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information I have today I don't expect Mr. Durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man. Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others.
Reminder: Barr had this response fully written out, and read from the podium the entire answer.