The bickering over Attorney General William Barr and the recently released Mueller report is just the latest in a series of partisan fights that are dividing lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
As The Hill noted, tensions were high between members of both parties during Barr's Wednesday hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Panel chairman and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he had "never seen anything like it," adding that he wondered "what has happened to the United States Senate."
On Thursday, Barr declined an invitation to testify about special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian election interference with the House Judiciary Committee. Democrats responded fiercely, with one panel member — Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn. — setting up a prop chicken at Barr's empty seat and eating a bucket of fried chicken from KFC in the hearing room.
The tensions between Republicans and Democrats spilled out into the hallways of the U.S. Capitol, with members complaining to the media about their colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
The election of President Donald Trump in 2016 has led to a clear divide between Republicans and Democrats. Last fall, contentious Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh further divided the lawmakers — and the nation as a whole — over decades-old, unfounded allegations of sexual misconduct leveled at Kavanaugh. Republicans called it a political hit, while the far majority of Democrats in the Senate voted against Kavanaugh's confirmation to the nation's highest court.
The latest fight in Washington, D.C. is over Mueller's Russia report and whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia and if Trump himself obstructed justice. Mueller found no evidence of a conspiracy and he declined to say whether obstruction occurred; Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein read the report and concluded there was not sufficient evidence to warrant an obstruction charge.
Further complicating matters is the White House's continued assault on Mueller and his report. In a recent letter to Barr, White House legal counsel Emmet Flood wrote that Mueller and his team "failed in their duty" during their investigation that lasted nearly two years.
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