Dem lawmaker: Mueller must resign so he can testify ‘free’ from Barr’s ‘control’

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a vocal critic of President Trump, is calling on special counsel Robert Mueller to resign from the Justice Department in order to “free himself” from Attorney General William Barr’s “control” and testify before Congress.

“Mueller must resign from ‘Justice’, free himself of Barr’s control, and explain the #MuellerReport and the truth about Trump and #ObstructionOfJustice,” Cohen tweeted Tuesday night.

His call comes hours after reports that Mueller wrote a letter to Barr in late March expressing “frustration” with the way the attorney general detailed the special counsel’s conclusions in the investigation into Russia’s election interference.{mosads}

The Washington Post first broke the story that Mueller had sent the letter, which came days after Barr delivered a four-page memo to Congress in which he stated that the special counsel had not found sufficient evidence of conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Additionally, Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that the evidence laid out in the Mueller report did not point to President Trump obstructing the special counsel’s investigation.

According to the Post, Mueller subsequently sent a letter to Barr stating that the attorney general’s memo “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions.”

A Justice Department official later confirmed to The Hill that Mueller had “expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage” in his letter to Barr.

The revelation came just a day before Barr is set to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee. At least one Democratic senator, Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, has already called on Barr to resign. And key Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.), have issued new calls for Mueller to testify. 

Cohen has been one of the most vociferous critics of Trump on Capitol Hill, calling the president “the most despicable human being to ever reside in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.,” referring to the White House. He sponsored articles of impeachment against Trump in November 2017.