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When it comes to the long-awaited release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report, Rep. Maxine Waters is none too pleased with Attorney General William Barr, who sent the report to Congress on Thursday — but only after holding a private press conference which was set for two hours before the scheduled release.
The 400-plus page document was made public with redactions on Wednesday found no actual collusion on the part of President Trump’s campaign team with Russians to influence the 2016 elections. It found that he may have tried to obstruct the investigation, but found no criminal wrongdoing, thus Special Counsel Robert Mueller will not charge Trump with any crime.
According to Newsweek, on Wednesday, Waters—who chairs the House Financial Services Committee—told Chris Hayes on MSNBC that Barr’s actions reeked of corruption. Both she and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, both felt particularly suspicious of the decision to release Mueller’s findings to Congress in that manner.
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The two lawmakers believe that by doing this the attorney general is blatantly protecting the White House by giving Trump time to come up with a cover story. Waters elaborated on calling Barr a “sycophant” and a “lackey” for the president.
“I never expected Barr to do anything that would be respectful to the members of Congress or to include us in any real way,” she told Hayes during the broadcast. “He auditioned for this job, he was chosen to protect the president of the United States and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
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As I stated last night on MSNBC, the American people shouldn't have expected Barr to do anything more than what he did: protect Trump. Barr has been acting as Trump's defense atty, not AG. Barr's performance was outrageously disrespectful of the Constitution & the American public
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) April 18, 2019
“I’m not surprised, I’m not even disgusted,” Waters added. “I knew that once he came out and he said there had been no obstruction of justice and that there’d been no collusion that he absolutely stepped out early to defend the president.”
The 80-year-old who often goes viral for staunchly advocating for Trump’s impeachment also reiterated that POTUS should “have been gotten rid of already.”
“There is no answer to how we should be dealing with him except impeachment… The president is guilty of so many things,” she opined. “He doesn’t deserve to be the president of the United States, he is overseeing a criminal enterprise. We’ve never seen anything like this.”
“I appreciate again what Nancy Pelosi has to do, but I’m not with that. I am for impeachment, I am for getting rid of him.”
I only got this Maxine Waters clip because it was funny. pic.twitter.com/GIgvIm5DDM
— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (IG:twdbk3) (@sluggahjells) April 18, 2019