Democratic senator says Barr misled Congress and must resign

As some of Attorney General William Barr's previous statements to Congress come under scrutiny, one Democratic senator is calling for his resignation.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller in March wrote a letter to Barr expressing frustration that Barr's four-page memo to Congress "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of his investigation, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

After Mueller sent this letter, Barr testified before Congress, and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) asked him, "Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?" Barr responded, "I don't know whether Bob Mueller supported my conclusion."

In light of Tuesday's report, the Democratic senator resurfaced this video, writing that Barr "totally misled me, the Congress, and the public" and that he "must resign."

On April 20th, I asked Barr, “Did Bob Mueller support your conclusion?” His answer was, “I don’t know whether Mueller supported my conclusion.”

We now know Mueller stated his concerns on March 27th, and that Barr totally misled me, the Congress, and the public. He must resign. pic.twitter.com/rod404BbYo

— Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) May 1, 2019

Van Hollen subsequently spoke with the Post and said that Barr's statement is "totally inconsistent with what he knew at the time," although he said he wanted to go over the full letter before determining if Barr lied to Congress.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday also flagged this exchange, while other Democrats pointed to Barr suggesting he didn't know anything about reports of the special counsel's frustrations with his summary. Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro also said that Barr should resign "or face an impeachment inquiry immediately."

The Justice Department on Tuesday told the Post that Mueller didn't claim anything in Barr's letter was "inaccurate or misleading" but that he was frustrated with the "lack of context and the resulting media coverage regarding the Special Counsel's obstruction analysis."