Washington – Minnesota U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar grilled Attorney General William Barr on revelations in special counsel Robert Mueller's report suggesting that President Donald Trump had sought to obstruct justice by influencing the testimony of key figures in the Russia probe.
"I look at the totality of the evidence, and when you look at it, it is a pattern," said Klobuchar, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.
Klobuchar, one of three Judiciary Committee members running for president, cited reports that Trump had inferred there was possible criminal involvement by family members of attorney Michael Cohen, who was testifying about their business dealings. She also cited evidence that Trump told Cohen that as long as he backed his version of a disputed building project in Moscow, the president "had his back."
Klobuchar also asked about a report that Trump promised former campaign chairman Paul Manafort that he would be "taken care of" if his loyalty to the president put him in additional legal jeopardy.
She also questioned Barr about reports that Trump had asked White House counsel Don McGahn to deny allegations that he had asked him to fire Mueller. Trump has denied those reports.
Barr disputed that any of those statements, taken alone, amounted to "obstructive acts."
In a subsequent interview Klobuchar stopped short of saying she thinks Trump committed a crime.
"I want to see all the evidence," she said. "That's why I want to see Mueller. I'm someone who believes in seeing all the evidence, so that's why one of my major points was we have to have Mueller come before us … and all these witnesses, and we have to get to the bottom of it.