Attorney General Bill Barr has told Republicans on Capitol Hill that a report on the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation will not be completed before November’s election.
Republicans had hoped the report, led by U.S. Attorney John Durham would be a bombshell, would implicate many Obama administration officials in abuses of power.
“This is the nightmare scenario. Essentially, the year and a half of arguably the number one issue for the Republican base is virtually meaningless if this doesn’t happen before the election,” a GOP congressional aide told Axios.
President Trump was told the news during a 2-hour radio rally with talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Barr had apparently not informed the President beforehand.
“I’m hearing this for the first time,” Trump told Limbaugh. If Bill Barr made that statement, I would be very disappointed in him,” he added.
The day before, Mr. Trump criticized Barr for his lack of speed on the investigation.
“To be honest, Bill Barr is going to go down as either the greatest attorney general in the history of the country or he’s going to go down as, you know, a very sad situation,” Trump said during a phone interview with Fox Business.
“He’s got all the information he needs. They want to get more, more, more. They keep getting more. I said, ‘you don’t need any more.'”
Photo by Shane T. McCoy / US Marshals via Wikimedia Commons