‘They’re trying to gag Mueller’: Ex-White House attorney worries Bill Barr’s scheme will work

Attorney General Bill Barr is trying to "gag" special counsel Robert Mueller before his public testimony before Congress on Wednesday, former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal worried on MSNBC on Monday.

"When you see these new reports that the Barr Justice Department continues to try to narrow what will come out of this hearing, what does that say to you?" MSNBC anchor Ari Melber asked.

"I’m extremely concerned. I don’t think it’s narrow. I think it looks like they’re trying to gag Mueller and trying to say anything not in the report is presumptively privileged," Katyal explained.

"And Mueller is so by the book, I suspect that will influence him greatly what Barr and others are trying to say in terms of squelching him," he worried.

"That's big coming from you, let me pause on that," Melber interjected. "I used the more loose or broad term of narrow. You’re saying you view this new reporting is Bob Barr gagging Mueller and leaning into what Barr knows, moves Mueller whether he agrees or not, that is the rules."

"If the Politico report is right, that does seem to me what it’s about," he replied.

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