{"id":7267,"date":"2019-05-07T07:51:15","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T12:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=7267"},"modified":"2019-05-02T15:09:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T20:09:49","slug":"may-12-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/may-12-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"May 12, 2019–How Do You Know the Truth?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jen Krausz, Bethlehem, PA<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Warm-up Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

Warm-up Question: When you hear someone\u2019s testimony, do you tend to believe it or question it? Why?<\/p>\n

How Do You Know the Truth?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On Wednesday May 1, U.S. Attorney General William Barr gave testimony<\/a> to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his handling of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller\u2019s report about his two-year investigation into President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mueller investigated whether President Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, which would have been illegal. Collusion means working together, which a presidential candidate is not allowed to do with a foreign power like Russia.<\/p>\n

Barr faced questions on Wednesday because of his summary of the March 22nd<\/sup> report. Democrats in Congress think Barr has been too partial to Trump and has not been objective about the report.\u00a0 Barr\u2019s summary said that the report showed no collusion with Russia and was inconclusive about some possible instances of obstruction of justice. Democrats have said that the full report could show some wrongdoing by the President and his administration.<\/p>\n

In his testimony, Barr defended his summary against aggressive questions from some Democrat senators, some of whom accused him of being \u201cpurposely misleading\u201d and \u201clying to Congress.\u201d\u00a0 Barr refused to appear at a parallel hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, which is controlled by Democrats and might have involved questions from lawyers as well as lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Trump has called the report a \u201ccomplete and total exoneration.\u201d Not all Democrats see it that way, however, Democrat party leaders have backed off on calls to impeach Trump since seeing the report.\u201c\u00a0 Still, many remain unsatisfied with Barr’s answers.\u00a0 “Mr. Barr, now the American people know that you are no different from Rudy Giuliani or Kellyanne Conway or any of the other people who sacrifice their once decent reputation for the grifter and liar who sits in the Oval Office,\u201d Senator Mazie K. Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, said to Barr. Giuliani is Trump\u2019s personal lawyer and Conway is White House counsel.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n