US attorney general grilled over handling of Russia report

The US Justice Department head defended his handling of the Russia interference report on Wednesday after it emerged that lead investigator Robert Mueller had questioned his decision to declare that it cleared President Donald Trump.

Facing allegations that he "whitewashed" the Mueller report, Attorney General Bill Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee that after receiving it in March, it was his "baby" and therefore his prerogative to sum up its conclusions.

The Democrats are debating whether Trump should be impeached for obstruction of justice based on the evidence set out in Mueller's 448-page report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Barr rejected accusations that he misrepresented its conclusions when he declared in a March 24 memo that it did not support criminal charges against Trump.

In a previously private March 27 letter to Barr made public Tuesday, Mueller complained that the attorney general's four-page summary "did not fully capture the context, nature, ...