AG nominee criticized special counsel in memo

WASHINGTON » William Barr, who has been nominated to become the next attorney general, wrote a memo to Justice Department leaders earlier this year criticizing special counsel Robert Mueller for a “fatally misconceived” legal theory of how President Donald Trump may have obstructed justice.

The memo, written in June and addressed to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, is likely to raise alarms among Democrats who have sought to protect the Mueller investigation. And it could intensify the partisan fights surrounding Barr when he comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation next year.

Even before the memo, Barr was expected to be grilled about his past statements regarding special counsel investigations, controversial decisions President Trump has made and whether he would publicly pledge to protect the Mueller investigation from political in- terference.

Barr wrote that Mueller’s apparent theory of obstruction “is premised on a novel and legally insupportable reading of the law. Moreover, in my view, if credited by the department, it would have grave consequences far beyond the immediate confines of this case and would do lasting damage to the presidency and to the administration of law within the executive branch.”

Since being named special counsel in May 2017, shortly after Trump fired James Comey as FBI director, Mueller has been investigating whether any Trump associates conspired with the Kremlin to interfere in the 2016 election. He has also been investigating whether Trump or his associates attempted to obstruct the FBI’s investigation of those issues.

Barr, who served as the attorney general in the early 1990s under President George H.W. Bush, said in the memo that he is “in the dark about many facts, but I hope my views may be useful.”