Today’s Headlines The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy<doc-sep>Outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday defended Attorney General William Barr against allegations that he is misleading Congress and the public about the special counsel’s Russia report. “He’s being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre,” Rosenstein said in a rare interview with The Wall Street Journal. Democrats have accused Barr of releasing misleading information about special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings from his 22-month investigation, which focused on possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, as well as whether President Trump tried to obstruct the probe. Barr sent a letter to Congress on March 24 saying that Mueller was unable to establish that collusion occurred. On the obstruction matter, Barr said that Mueller declined to make a decision one way or the other on whether to recommend a case against Trump. Barr said that he conferred with Rosenstein and Justice Department lawyers and decided against pursuing a case. Barr said that since there was no allegation of conspiracy, Trump had no underlying crime to conceal by obstruction. (RELATED: Barr: ‘I Think Spying Did Occur’ On The Trump Campaign) Democrats heightened their criticism last week after The New York Times reported that members of Mueller’s team were frustrated that Barr had misrepresented Mueller’s findings. The anonymous sources claimed that there was a stronger case to be made on obstruction than Barr’s letter let on. But Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel on May 17, 2017 and oversaw the probe, said that Barr revealed as much information as he could. He also defended the review process taking place ahead of the release of the report. Barr said on Tuesday that he expects to give a redacted version of Mueller’s report to Congress “within a week.” The Justice Department, in coordination with Mueller’s team, is reviewing the report to decide which grand jury and classified information to redact. “It would be one thing if you put out a letter and said, ‘I’m not going to give you the report,'” Rosenstein told The Journal. “What he said is, ‘Look, it’s going to take a while to process the report. In the meantime, people really want to know what’s in it. I’m going to give you the top-line conclusions.’ That’s all he was trying to do.” Follow Chuck on Twitter Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.<doc-sep>Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is defending Attorney General William Barr's handling of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian election interference. "He's being as forthcoming as he can," Rosenstein said told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday in a rare interview. "And so this notion that he's trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre." Barr, who was confirmed by the Senate in February, has come under heavy criticism from Democrats dissatisfied with how he has handled the nearly 400-page report on Mueller's 22-month probe of Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and possible collusion with President Donald Trump's campaign. They're particularly irked with Barr's four-page summary of the principal conclusions from that report, which was sent to Judiciary Committee leaders less than two days after Mueller handed over the lengthy final document to the attorney general. Barr wrote that the special counsel did not establish Trump-Russia collusion, and he and Rosenstein determined from the report that Mueller's evidence was not sufficient to find that Trump had obstructed justice. "It would be one thing if you put out a letter and said, 'I'm not going to give you the report,' " Rosenstein told the Journal in his office at the DOJ. "What he said is, 'Look, it's going to take a while to process the report. In the meantime, people really want to know what's in it. I'm going to give you the top-line conclusions.' That's all he was trying to do." The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment on Rosenstein's interview. Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, are demanding that Barr immediately give them the full report without redactions. Barr testified Wednesday that the report will be coming next week. Barr's Justice Department is currently in the process of redacting sections of the Russia report, including information about grand juries that they say cannot legally be made public, citing federal rules. But Democrats say they are entitled to receive the report in its entirety, and have voiced concerns about Barr's conclusions in light of an unsolicited memo he sent to the DOJ last June criticizing the Mueller probe. Those worries grew immensely in recent days, following reports from The Washington Post and The New York Times that some unnamed members of Mueller's team believe Barr downplayed the evidence for obstruction in his summary. Barr ignited another firestorm of criticism Wednesday, when he confirmed that the DOJ will be reviewing the origins of the government's Russia investigations, including the methods used for obtaining surveillance warrants of figures related to Trump's campaign. "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr said during a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing. He later added: "I think spying did occur." Critics tore into Barr's use of the word "spying," calling it loaded language and demanding that he back up his claims with specific evidence. Asked by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, if he wanted to amend his language, Barr tweaked it to "unauthorized surveillance." "I have no idea what he's talking about," former FBI Director James Comey said of Barr's stance on spying. But Comey added: "I think that his career has earned him the presumption that he will be one of the rare Cabinet members who will stand up for things like truth and facts, and institutional values." Berman TWEET Manchin Rosenstein, who reportedly approved an application to ask a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to continue its surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, declined to comment on Barr's probe, according to the Journal. Read the full report on Rosenstein's interview with The Wall Street Journal<doc-sep>Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended attorney general William Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, just days after Barr testified before a House appropriations subcommittee. In his first interview since the Mueller investigation wrapped up, Rosenstein said that he believed it was strange to say the attorney general was misleading the public on the highly-anticipated report. COMEY SCOFFS AT BARR TESTIMONY, CLAIMS ‘SURVEILLANCE’ IS NOT ‘SPYING’ “He’s being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre,” Mr. Rosenstein told the Wall Street Journal. “It would be one thing if you put out a letter and said, ‘I’m not going to give you the report,’” Rosenstein said. “What he said is, ‘Look, it’s going to take a while to process the report. In the meantime, people really want to know what’s in it. I’m going to give you the top-line conclusions.’ That’s all he was trying to do.” The deputy attorney general called on the public to have “tremendous confidence” in Barr and declined to say how the review of the report was going. MEDIA TAKE ISSUE WITH AG BARR FOR SAYING 'SPYING DID OCCUR' ON TRUMP CAMPAIGN During hearings on Capitol Hill this week, Barr defended his decision to send a letter to Congress detailing Mueller’s principal conclusions because the public would not have tolerated waiting weeks for information. Mueller concluded his nearly two-year Russia investigation in late March and submitted the nearly 400-page confidential report to Barr. The attorney general sent his four-page letter to Congress two days later. Barr wrote in his letter that Mueller found no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion despite efforts by "Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign." He also said that Mueller had not exonerated President Trump on the issue of obstruction of justice. Barr said on Tuesday a redacted version of Mueller’s report will be made public within a week. Rosenstein, 54, told the Wall Street Journal he hopes to begin a new job toward the end of the summer. Earlier this year, Trump announced he will nominate Jeff Rosen to replace Rosenstein deputy attorney general. President Trump has threatened to fire Rosenstein, who said he stayed in his position at the Department of Justice “at Barr’s request” saying, “For me, it’s a real privilege.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Rosenstein’s comments come after Barr said in Capitol Hill testimony that “spying did occur” against the 2016 Trump campaign. Former FBI Director James Comey claimed he had no idea what the Justice Department leader was talking about. “I have no idea what he’s talking about so it’s hard for me to comment,” Comey said. “When I hear that kind of language used, it’s concerning because the FBI and the Department of Justice conduct court-ordered electronic surveillance. I have never thought of that as spying.” Fox News’ Gregg Re, Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a news conference at the U.S. District Attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. October 15, 2018. (Al Drago/Reuters) Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein pushed back Thursday against allegations that Attorney General William Barr had been biased in his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report, calling such accusations “bizarre.” “He’s being as forthcoming as he can,” Rosenstein told the Wall Street Journal. “And so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre.” Barr, a Trump appointee, submitted a four-page summary of the nearly 400-page report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees last month, in which he stated that Mueller had found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia but had left open the question of whether the president obstructed justice during the probe. (Rosenstein and Barr subsequently declined to file obstruction charges against Trump, saying nothing none of the president’s actions had “corrupt intent.”) On Thursday, Rosenstein defended Barr’s handling of the Mueller report from critics who have charged him with bias. “It would be one thing if you put out a letter and said, ‘I’m not going to give you the report,’” Rosenstein said. “What he said is, ‘Look, it’s going to take a while to process the report. In the meantime, people really want to know what’s in it. I’m going to give you the top-line conclusions.’ That’s all he was trying to do.” Barr said in congressional testimony Wednesday that he the believes the DOJ “spied” on the Trump campaign and he plans to open a DOJ investigation into the origins of the Russia probe. He also described the four types of redactions that the DOJ will make before releasing a version of the report to lawmakers: grand-jury information, information that would reveal intelligence sources and methods, information that affects the privacy of “peripheral players” not charged as a result of the investigation, and information that would compromise ongoing prosecutions. Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel for the Russia probe in May 2017, after Trump fired former FBI director James Comey, who had directed the investigation to that point. The investigation fell to Rosenstein after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from the probe. Send a tip to the news team at NR.