--- title: William Barr to Testify on Mueller Report. Read His Statement description: Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress Wednesday, facing questions about the way he handled the Mueller report's release canonical: https://time.com/5581003/william-barr-senate-testimony-opening-statement/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-05-01T13:31:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:25:21.162Z article:section: Politics og:title: William Barr Testifies Before Congress on the Mueller Report. Read His Opening Statement og:description: It marks Barr's first Congressional hearing since releasing the redacted report og:url: https://time.com/5581003/william-barr-senate-testimony-opening-statement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29b7edd81695f1b9/698949428fd2eea0aa35e363/william-barr-opening-statement.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-INVESTIGATION-MUELLER-JUSTICE-REPORT og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: William Barr Testifies Before Congress on the Mueller Report. Read His Opening Statement twitter:description: It marks Barr's first Congressional hearing since releasing the redacted report twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29b7edd81695f1b9/698949428fd2eea0aa35e363/william-barr-opening-statement.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # William Barr Testifies Before Congress on the Mueller Report. Read His Opening Statement  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 1, 2019 1:31 PM UTC  U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks during a press conference about the release of the Mueller Report at the Department of Justice on April 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney General William Barr speaks during a press conference about the release of the Mueller Report at the Department of Justice on April 18, 2019, in Washington, D.C.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly May 1, 2019 1:31 PM UTC Attorney General [William Barr](http://time.com/5560216/william-barr-trump-decision-next-steps/) will [testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee](http://time.com/5580953/barr-senate-questioning-mueller-report/) on Wednesday, facing questions about [Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report](http://time.com/5567077/mueller-report-release/) and the way the Justice Department handled its release. It will be the first time Barr has testified before Congress since releasing a [redacted version of the report](http://time.com/5573091/mueller-report-how-to-read/) on April 18\. Democratic lawmakers have accused Barr of attempting to spin the investigation’s findings in favor of President Trump, with some calling for Barr to resign. But Barr [has defended](http://time.com/5564755/william-barr-defends-handling-mueller-report/) the way he handled the release of the report. Barr’s testimony comes a day after [findings](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mueller-complained-that-barrs-letter-did-not-capture-context-of-trump-probe/2019/04/30/d3c8fdb6-6b7b-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.44f73aaf7bc2) that [Mueller objected](http://time.com/5580823/mueller-frustrated-barr-report-trump/) to the way Barr initially characterized the report. Mueller wrote a letter to Barr in late March, saying [Barr’s summary to Congress](http://time.com/5557808/mueller-report-full-letter/) “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the report’s findings, the [Washington _Post_ reported Tuesday](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/mueller-complained-that-barrs-letter-did-not-capture-context-of-trump-probe/2019/04/30/d3c8fdb6-6b7b-11e9-a66d-a82d3f3d96d5%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.44f73aaf7bc2). That is likely to be a focus of Wednesday’s Senate hearing. Read Barr’s written statement, which was released ahead of the 10 a.m. hearing: \[scribd id=408286034 key=key-QENr5IsRNuRg2Xa4N95g mode=scroll\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5581003/william-barr-senate-testimony-opening-statement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5581003/william-barr-senate-testimony-opening-statement/"},"headline":"William Barr Testifies Before Congress on the Mueller Report. Read His Opening Statement","datePublished":"2019-05-01T13:31:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:25:21.162Z","description":"It marks Barr's first Congressional hearing since releasing the redacted report","url":"https://time.com/5581003/william-barr-senate-testimony-opening-statement/","keywords":["Congress","justice","onetime","Robert Mueller"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29b7edd81695f1b9/698949428fd2eea0aa35e363/william-barr-opening-statement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt29b7edd81695f1b9/698949428fd2eea0aa35e363/william-barr-opening-statement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-INVESTIGATION-MUELLER-JUSTICE-REPORT","caption":"US-POLITICS-INVESTIGATION-MUELLER-JUSTICE-REPORT","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5581003/william-barr-senate-testimony-opening-statement/","name":"William Barr Testifies Before Congress on the Mueller Report. Read His Opening Statement"}}]}] ```