Monica Lewinsky has weighed in on Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Robert Mueller's report into alleged collusion between ...
Monica Lewinsky has weighed in on Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Robert Mueller's report into alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump presidential campaign.
Sharing a tweet early on Tuesday that envisaged the similar communication of a 1990s report detailing the sexual activity between President Bill Clinton and the former White House intern, Lewinsky commented: "If. f******. only."
The tweet that spurred the reaction came from University of Southern California Gould School of Law professor Orin Kerr, who wrote on Monday: “Imagine if the Starr Report had been provided only to President Clinton's Attorney General, Janet Reno, who then read it privately and published a 4-page letter based on her private reading stating her conclusion that President Clinton committed no crimes.”
From 1994 to 1998, independent counsel Kenneth Starr investigated alleged abuses including the dismissal of seven Travel Office employees and conduct relating to former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones's sexual harassment lawsuit against Clinton.
The final report included graphic descriptions of alleged sexual encounters between Clinton and Lewinsky, who is now an anti-bullying activist. Alleged improprieties related to the their relationship formed the bulk of a section on activity that could warrant impeachment.
The report was published online in full on September 11, 1998, despite attempts by Democrats to delay its public release by even an hour so the president and his attorneys could read it, The New York Times reported at the time. "It is important that we American people learn the facts," then Judiciary Committee chairman, Henry Hyde, told the Rules Committee, according to the Times.
In the end, distribution of the report was delayed only by overwhelmed government internet servers that crashed as journalists and members of the public attempted to download the 445-page document, Wired noted.
Top Democrats were quick to call for the release of Mueller’s full report on Sunday. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer issued a statement questioning Barr’s neutrality in the matter. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler held a press conference in New York City and threatened to call on to Barr testify about the report.
In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before @HouseJudiciary in the near future.
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President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that Barr’s summary amounted to "No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!"
The president later described the “mainstream media” as the “enemy of the people and the real opposition party” for pushing the “Russian Collusion Delusion.”
In his summary, Barr wrote that the "Special Counsel's investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election."
However, counter to the president's claim, Barr also quoted Mueller on the question of obstruction: "[W]hile this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
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