Mueller Report's obstruction of justice section like a 'law school exam' answer: former DOJ official

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Former DOJ official: Part two of the Mueller report looked to me like the answer to a law school exam

Ian Prior weighs in on Attorney General William Barr's decision to not charge President Trump with obstruction.

A former top DOJ official criticized part of Robert Mueller's Trump-Russia report, saying that one section looked "like the answer to a law school exam."

Former Deputy Director of Public Affairs Ian Prior said the second section, detailing the results of the probe into whether President Trump obstructed justice, "surprised" him.

"I was surprised when I read that 'part two' of the Mueller report," Prior said, reacting to a clip from Barr's interview with Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer.

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"It is almost a little bit like a recitation of what happened with [former FBI Director James] Comey and the Hillary Clinton investigation," Prior said on "America's Newsroom."

Prior recalled how Comey held a press conference in July 2016 to speak about the Clinton email investigation.

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He said Mueller similarly gave a "laundry list of facts and evidence" in the obstruction of justice half of his investigation into Trump, but stopped short of offering an "indictment or...  a conclusion."

Prior pointed to Attorney General William Barr telling host Bill Hemmer that he was "surprised" that Mueller's report offered no recommendation on the charge of obstruction.

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Barr said he later discussed the development with Mueller, and that the explanation he offered is "pretty much reflected in the report."

"At the end of the day you don't have an indictment or you don't have a conclusion and Ultimately that's not a prosecutor's job," Prior said. "I think what you saw from Barr was with somebody that probably was a little bit perturbed that Mueller didn't come to a conclusion on that, and passed the hot potato over to the attorney general."