The Morning Briefing: A.G. Barr is Getting 'Inadequate' Answers

Good Friday morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president delivers remarks at the National Association of REALTORS legislative meetings and trade expo

AG Bill Barr to appear on Fox News

An interview with Attorney General Bill Barr will air on Fox News this morning.

“I’ve been trying to get answers to the questions and I’ve found that a lot of the answers have been inadequate and some of the explanations I’ve gotten don’t hang together, in a sense I have more questions today than when I first started,” Barr told Fox News’ Bill Hemmer in an interview set to air Friday on “America’s Newsroom.”

“What doesn’t hang together?” Hemmer asked.

“Some of the explanations of what occurred,” Barr said.

“Why does that matter?” asked Hemmer.

“People have to find out what the government was doing during that period. If we’re worried about foreign influence, for the very same reason we should be worried about whether government officials abuse their power and put their thumb on the scale,” Barr responded.

Barr added, “I’m not saying that happened but it’s something we have to look at.”

Inadequate, you say?

Barr was interviewed by Hemmer in El Salvador, where he will address the migrant crisis.

Schiff to take action against the DoJ

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said that he will take “enforcement action” against the DoJ for not complying with his subpoena for the counterintelligence information contained in the Mueller report.

Schiff told reporters that the committee will hold a business meeting next week to take an unspecified action against the Justice Department for not providing the committee documents. But a letter obtained by CNN shows the Justice Department offered Wednesday to show all committee members a less redacted version of the Mueller report.

“The deadline came and went without the production of a single document, raising profound questions of whether the department has any intentions to honor its legal obligations,” Schiff said.

It does seem like the DoJ is trying to accommodate Schiff, even though his demands are not made in good faith.

The Justice Department responded to Schiff with a letter Wednesday, offering to provide more than it had proposed to the House Judiciary Committee before the panel voted to hold Barr in contempt. The department proposed to Schiff that it would extend access to the less-redacted version of the Mueller report to the entire Intelligence Committee, according to a letter obtained by CNN. The department also offered, after the committee completed its review of the less-redacted report, to request a list of 12 specific documents that weren’t covered by grand jury material.

The DoJ says the subpoena for all the intel material was “overbroad and unworkable.”

Schiff said that if his demands aren’t met, “Not only this president but future presidents can act as corruptly as they wish without any scrutiny or oversight or ability to be held accountable.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Tell it to the judge.

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Trump reveals “pro-America” immigration plan

Yesterday, President Trump revealed a new, merit-based immigration plan based on a system that would give preference to skilled workers.

“Today we are presenting a clear contrast,” Trump said during a speech in the Rose Garden of the White House. “Democrats are proposing open borders, lower wages and, frankly, lawless chaos. We are proposing an immigration plan that puts the jobs, wages, and safety of American workers first.”

“If for some reason, possibly political, we can’t get the Democrats to approve this merit-based, high-security plan, then we will get it approved immediately after the election when we take back the House, keep the Senate and, of course, hold the presidency,” he said, sparking applause from the Rose Garden crowd. “One of the reasons we will win is because of our strong, fair and pro-American immigration policy.”

The Hill described:

It would rate visa applicants on a point-based scale based on age, education, job offers and English proficiency. The goal is for nearly 60 percent of the immigrant population to be work-based, as opposed to the two-thirds who currently come due to ties with relatives.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) responded to Trump’s plan:

“The White House has repackaged the worst of its past failed immigration plans: greenlighting the administration’s barbaric family detention policies, reviving the president’s ineffective and wasteful wall, completely abandoning our patriotic and determined Dreamers and gutting our asylum and refugee protections,” she said. “To say that this plan’s application criteria are ‘merit-based’ is the height of condescension.”

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