Mueller Report Release Will Likely Escalate Tensions Between Trump And Congress

The news world is ravenously awaiting the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian election interference.

But Attorney General William Barr's two trips to the Capitol last week strongly suggest that the version of the report he releases will only whet the appetites of many in Congress and beyond for more information.

That means the tension between President Trump and Congress is likely to escalate into a constitutional confrontation involving the competing authorities of at least two branches of government.

As these storm clouds gather, Barr has signaled that he will play a rather different role from recent predecessors who were caught between warring executive and legislative powers in this lawyerly version of Game of Thrones.

Barr clearly intends to be at the center of the storm. And perhaps he has meant to be so ever since he sent a 19-page critique of the Mueller investigation to the Justice Department nearly a year ago, calling its approach to obstruction-of-justice charges "fatally misconceived."

That memo was a precursor to the last month after reviewing the Mueller report. In that letter, Barr looked at the Mueller report's inconclusive statement