Maddow asks Congress how they'll respond to court saying Bill Barr lied about Trump's guilt in Russia probe

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow began her Monday episode citing the court decision last week that former Attorney General Bill Barr lied in his memo about the Russia investigation.

Maddow began by talking about the Office of Legal Counsel that penned a "policy" that a sitting president can't be indicted while in office. But according to Barr, that OLC opinion didn't matter, because special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Donald Trump was innocent. The three-judge panel of the Federal Appeals Court ruled that was false.

"You might remember William Barr released a statement about it," Maddow recalled of the Mueller report. "And in that statement, he said, I've reviewed this report from Robert Mueller, and as attorney general, I have carefully reviewed all the evidence that Mueller and his team have presented here, all of the evidence they have presented as to whether or not Trump committed crimes. Barr said, specifically that he was disregarding the Justice Department policy that said a sitting president can't be charged with crimes. He said, I'm not paying attention to that. He said regardless of that policy, just ignore that policy, regardless of that rule, I, William Barr, have reviewed all of the evidence, and I have determined that no way should Trump face any charges, not just because he's president, not just because of this rule that says no charges can be brought against a president, but regardless of that, Trump shouldn't face any charges because in my, William Barr, review of the evidence in this report indicates that Trump committed no crimes."

He went on to say it to Congress and to the public. What Mueller actually put out is that he didn't even look into whether Trump was implicated in any of the things the team uncovered about the Russia probe. What Mueller did detail in the second part of his report, however, is that there were at least ten instances of obstruction of justice by Donald Trump. He then gave that list to Congress and testified to Congress about it.

But Barr mischaracterized the report in his infamous memo, as Maddow noted, "he signed his name to it."

"The evidence developed during the special counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense," Barr wrote in his memo. "Our determination was made without regard to and is not based on the constitutional considerations that surround the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting president."

"That's what Barr did. That's what Barr said," Maddow quoted. "Turns out that was a lie. At least a federal appeals court in Washington has just ruled that that was a lie. According to a unanimous ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel, when Robert Mueller turned in his report to the Justice Department, Attorney General Bill Barr and the Justice Department never actually considered at all whether or not Trump committed crimes or whether Trump should be charged. They literally never even looked at that possibility despite what they said they were doing publicly. Barr lied according to the Appeals Court and told Congress and the public that the Justice Department did consider that, and after that careful consideration, they definitely concluded Trump committed no crimes and shouldn't be charged. But the Appeals Court says that Barr lied about it."

She closed by asking what Congress will do about it and what the next steps are to hold Trump accountable for those ten examples of obstruction of justice.

See the segment below:

What's next after court declares Bill Barr lied about Trump's crimeswww.youtube.com

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