Good Monday morning. I'm Anna Palmer and welcome to your Politico Playbook audio briefing. Stay tuned after the show for a message from the Embassy of Japan. And I'm Jake Sherman. We're kicking off this morning with us spotted. Attorney General Bill Barr walking into Hank's Oyster Bar last night for dinner with his wife and daughter. And Rod Rosenstein was riding his bike late Sunday in Bethesda. This comes of course after President Donald Trump

was delivered a massive political victory yesterday. Barr wrote Capitol Hill, saying Bob Mueller

found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign in Russia. This was the central question

of this investigation, and now we have the answer from Mueller, a man who both sides said

should be allowed

to do his job to its conclusion. Democrats are now in a bit of a tricky spot, and many of them

are beginning to privately admit that. They are going to demand access to the full Mueller report,

something Barr indicated he is open to with some redactions. But in addition, some Democrats are

going to push for the underlying

paper. The material Mueller used to make his determination that there was no collusion between

the Trump campaign and Russia, and they want Barr to talk about why he didn't pursue obstruction

charges. Democrats have spent years praising Mueller, saying his work was beyond reproach, and the

Congress should follow his lead. They certainly run the risk of beating this drum too long. Democrats have spent years praising Mueller, saying his work was beyond reproach, and the Congress

should follow his lead. They certainly run the risk of beating this drum too loudly for too

long in the face of evidence that indicates there is no there there, they tell us privately.

The political cost of dragging this on is skyrocketing for Democrats, so the leadership

has the incentive to keep their investigation

tightly focused on discrete, answerable questions. The big question Democrats will focus on.

Barr said Mueller left unresolved whether Trump obstructed justice, and he and Rosenstein

determined there was not sufficient evidence to bring obstruction charges. This, of course,

is the gaping hole Democrats will

plunge right into how and why Barr, a political appointee, came to that conclusion. He seemingly

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