A federal judge on Thursday sharply rebuked Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the special counsel’s Russia report, saying Barr had made a “calculated effort” to spin the investigation’s findings in favor of President Donald Trump and had shown a “lack of candor.” U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton delivered the criticism in a 23-page ruling in which he said he would review an unredacted version of the Mueller report before deciding what additional information from the document should be publicly disclosed under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The Justice Department in April released a 448-page redacted version of Mueller’s report, which examined ties between Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign and potential obstruction of justice by the president.
