Attorney General William Barr and Special Counsel Robert Mueller both summarized the same report on the Russia investigation but came away making two different sounds.
As seen in a package put together by "Special Report with Bret Baier," the two Washington heavyweights seemingly disagreed on the level of evidence uncovered by the report, whether it was clear President Trump did not commit a crime, and if Mueller's team had the "option" to change the president as part of his investigation.
The package combined comments made by Mueller during his rare public appearance Wednesday, as well as remarks Barr has made in recent months.
After watching the clip, the Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley said it is likely to increase the pressure on Mueller to testify before Congress will intensify -- despite the former special counsel expressing his doubts on doing so.
Riley said he believed Mueller "muddled things" regarding clearing up remaining questions about his probe.
"If this was an effort to deflect pressure to come testify, or if this was an effort to provide some clarification on how this report should be read and interpreted by the public, I think he failed miserably on both parts," Riley claimed.
"[Mueller] has muddied things to the point where I think the pressure will increase for him to testify."
Riley continued by charging Mueller is using "two different standards" within his report -- delineating whether there is sufficient evidence to recommend charges against Trump concerning collusion with Russia, and a standard of "exoneration" from potential obstruction of justice.
The Justice Department tried to tamp down some of the concerns over conflicting statements Wednesday night. “The Attorney General has previously stated that the Special Counsel repeatedly affirmed that he was not saying that, but for the (Office of Legal Counsel) opinion, he would have found the President obstructed justice. The Special Counsel’s report and his statement today made clear that the office concluded it would not reach a determination – one way or the other – about whether the President committed a crime. There is no conflict between these statements,” Kerri Kupec, a spokeswoman for the DOJ and the special counsel's office, told Fox News. She was referring to the long-standing legal opinion from the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel that a sitting president cannot be indicted.
Riley also pointed to comments from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who told host Bret Baier Mueller appeared to set exoneration as a standard in the obstruction volume of the report - in a "baffling" way.
"[Exoneration] is a much higher barrier to clear," the columnist said.
Riley pointed to comments from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, claiming to host Bret Baier Mueller appeared to set exoneration as a standard in the obstruction volume of the report - in a "baffling" way.
Giuliani spoke earlier Wednesday in an interview on "America's Newsroom," claiming Mueller "lost his notion as a lawyer" with how he conducted his inquiry.
"He has lost his notion as a lawyer and it is astounding that he is expounding on 'can we exonerate' or 'can't we exonerate'," the former Republican New York City mayor claimed Wednesday.
Fox News' John Roberts contributed to this report.
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