Barr v. Mueller: Friends pitted against each other

The bond between the two men has been stressed over the past month amid a volley of letters and closed-door negotiations among their aides. Finally, on Thursday, the release of Mueller’s final report showcased the large amounts of daylight between the veteran law enforcement officials on fundamental questions at the heart of Donald Trump’s presidency…

Now, the tension between Barr and Mueller is only going to increase when the two men are summoned to testify separately on Capitol Hill about the turbo-charged Russia investigation that consumed Trump’s first two years in office. Democrats are intent on uncovering any evidence that Barr shaded the public disclosure of Mueller’s findings to favor the president who appointed him…

While there have been hints for weeks that Barr and Mueller did not see eye-to-eye on the Trump-Russia case, Barr publicly confirmed the disconnect with Mueller at the news conference when Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “disagreed” with some of the special counsel’s legal theories underlying the obstruction investigation.