Apr 11, 2019

Rod Rosenstein defends William Barr amid backlash from Democrats

Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein defended Attorney General William Barr's handling of the special counsel's still-secret investigation on Russian interference in a Wall Street Journal interview published on Thursday, rejecting claims by Democrats that the country's top law enforcement officer has been misleading.

"He’s being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre."

— Rosenstein said in his first interview since Barr released his 4-page summary

The backdrop: Barr said last month in his "principal conclusions" of Robert Mueller's report that the probe found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. He has since been under intense pressure by Democrats demanding the full, unredacted 400-page Mueller report be delivered to Congress for the sake of transparency. He told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that he will release it "within a week."

In the interview, the WSJ reports that Rosenstein declined to explain why Mueller's team drew no conclusions on whether Trump illegally obstructed justice.

"It would be one thing if you put out a letter and said, ‘I’m not going to give you the report.' What he said is, 'Look, it’s going to take a while to process the report. In the meantime, people really want to know what’s in it. I’m going to give you the top-line conclusions.' That’s all he was trying to do."

— Rosenstein told the WSJ

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Trump signs $2 trillion relief bill as U.S. coronavirus case count tops 100,000

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios

President Trump signed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package on Friday, as infections in the U.S. topped 100,000 and more cities experience spikes of the novel coronavirus.

The big picture: The U.S. has the most COVID-19 cases in the world, exceeding China and Italy, per data from Johns Hopkins. A second wave of American cities, including Boston, Detroit, New Orleans and Philadelphia, are reporting influxes of cases.

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Coronavirus updates: Italy records deadliest day with nearly 1,000 dead

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins, the CDC, and China's Health Ministry. Note: China numbers are for the mainland only and U.S. numbers include repatriated citizens and confirmed plus presumptive cases from the CDC

Italy on Friday reported 969 COVID-19 deaths over a 24-hour period, marking the deadliest single-day for the country since the global outbreak began, according to data from the Health Ministry.

The big picture: The U.S. now leads the world in confirmed coronavirus cases, as the number of global cases nears 600,000. Governments around the world are trying to curb the medical and financial fallout of COVID-19, as infections surge across Europe and the U.S.

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Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Global: Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 595,800 — Total deaths: 27,324 — Total recoveries: 131,006.
U.S.: Leads the world in cases. Total confirmed cases as of 9 p.m. ET: 103,942 — Total deaths: 1,689 — Total recoveries: 870.
Federal government latest: President Trump signed the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus bill to provide businesses and U.S. workers economic relief.
State updates: Nearly 92% of cities do not have adequate medical supplies — New York is trying to nearly triple its hospital capacity in less than a month.
World updates: Italy reported 969 coronavirus deaths on Friday, the country's deadliest day.
Business latest: President Trump authorized the use of the Defense Production Act to direct General Motors to build ventilators for those affected by COVID-19. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has been appointed to enforce the act.
🏰 1 Disney thing: Both Disney World and Disneyland theme parks in the U.S. are closed until further notice.
What should I do? Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing.
Other resources: CDC on how to avoid the virus, what to do if you get it.

Subscribe to Mike Allen's Axios AM to follow our coronavirus coverage each morning from your inbox.

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