WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, one day after revelations that Special Counsel Robert Mueller took issue with the way the Attorney General described his report’s findings.

Democrats grilled Barr about the handling of the report and whether he misled Congress in previous testimony, which has sparked growing calls for the Attorney General to resign.

“Facts are the facts, and facts are not things you can deny,” Rep. Charlie Crist (D-Florida) said in an interview with Spectrum News.

Crist is now calling for Barr to step down after he says the Attorney General mislead him during an Appropriations Committee hearing three weeks ago.

“Reports have emerged recently that members of the Special Counsel’s team are frustrated,” Crist stated during the hearing on April 9.  "Do you know what they are referencing with that,” he asked the Attorney General.

“No I don’t,” Barr responded.

That exchange occurred 13 days after Special Counsel Robert Mueller sent a letter, expressing his frustration with how Barr summarized his report.

“It is shocking that somebody would mislead the American people through our Congress in such a fashion. When you have the chief legal officer misleading the public, it erodes your confidence,” Crist said.

Barr defends actions

Barr defended his actions when testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“What we were trying to do, notify the people as to the bottom line conclusion. We were not trying to summarize the 410-page report,” Barr told senators.

"I called Bob and said, ‘What’s the issue here?’ I asked him if he was suggesting the March 24 letter was inaccurate, and he said no,” he added.

The Special Counsel wanted the report’s executive summaries his team compiled to be released, but the Attorney General decided against it.

"I told Bob I was not interested in putting out summaries, and I wasn’t going to put out the report piecemeal. I wanted to get the whole report out,” Barr said.

On the other side of the aisle, Republicans expressed confidence in Barr and emphasized it’s time to move on.

“The Attorney General of the United States has released the entire redacted Mueller Report so the country can decide for themselves what they think happened,” said Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida), a key member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Democrats said the new revelations underscore their desire for the Special Counsel to testify before Congress directly. They have requested that Mueller come to Capitol Hill no later than the end of the month. They have yet to receive a response from Mueller.

Barr won't be at next hearing, DOJ confirms

The House Judiciary Committee has been informed that the Attorney General will not testify at a planned hearing on Thursday as a result of his objection to having a staff attorney question him rather than members of Congress.

“There is no precedent in Congress to have a staff member ask the attorney general of the United States a question,” Steube said.

Although Barr has not yet been subpoenaed to testify, Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (R-New York) said contempt charges could be possible down the road if the full Mueller report is not released and if Barr does not comply with a possible future subpoena.

"I think what you’re going to see happen is the Democratic chair become very partisan, and he’s already made threats about doing subpoenas and jail time and fines. I think one of the things he said was $20,000 a day fines to the Attorney General of the United States, because he doesn’t want to be questioned by staff,” Steube said.

"He’s not afraid. Multiple times you heard the chair say today, ‘Oh, he must be afraid.’ As we were having that hearing, he was testifying to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, so he certainly isn’t afraid to testify before members of Congress. He just wants us to follow our rules and established procedure,” he added.

Democrats who lead the committee vowed to hold the hearing anyway, even as others slammed the Attorney General’s decision.

"He has an obligation to be there. The legislative branch has a duty to have oversight over the government. In that oversight role, it means witnesses need to come, even if that means if he’s uncomfortable from time to time,” Rep. Charlie Crist said.

“Maybe it’s a little uncomfortable for the Attorney General right now, but that’s no excuse and no reason not to come. He needs to be honest, he needs to be straightforward, he needs to be transparent, and he should come before the House Judiciary Committee tomorrow,” Crist said.

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