DOJ Not Releasing Full Report Would Be ‘Equivalent To A Cover-Up,’ Says Jerrold Nadler


House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler increased the pressure on Attorney General William Barr to make the Mueller report public, saying an inability to do so will not only reflect on the independence of the Justice Department but also that it would be “equivalent to a cover-up,” according to The Hill.

Ever since Barr received the Mueller report on Friday evening, a debate has waged on whether he should make the report public. As The Inquisitr reported earlier today, it is not only Democratic lawmakers wanting so, but even Republican congressmen have suggested it would be right for the DOJ to release the full report.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Nadler said that Barr faces no other option but to release the contents of the report. Although he did acknowledge that the Attorney General is not under a bind to release a report if indictments are not recommended, Nadler said the present case is unique because the person at the center of the investigation — President Donald Trump — is immune to an indictment.

“Once you say that a president cannot be indictable, no matter what the evidence, as a matter of law, to then follow the principle that you can’t then comment on the evidence or publicize it is to convert that into a cover-up,” he said.

Nadler argued that the only way to make the president accountable is if the Congress acts on the report, but it cannot do so unless it is furnished with the much-required information.

“If the president cannot be indicted… then the only way a president can be held accountable is for Congress to consider it and act, if warranted, and Congress can only do that if it has the information,” he said.

Attorney General William Barr has suggested that he would likely make a summary of the report public, but Nadler held that Barr is not in a position to censure the contents from the Congress. He argued that Congress’ overreach is the only means to make the president accountable, who is otherwise protected from indictment by the executive power of his office.

“For the [DOJ] to take the position that we’re not going to give information because he’s not indicted like a normal person who’s not indicted because of lack of evidence is equivalent to a cover-up and subverts the only ability to hold the president accountable,” Nadler added.

“And the president, no more than anybody else, cannot be above the law.”

Donald Trump has so far maintained an uncharacteristic silence on whether the full report should be released, but his lawyer Rudy Giuliani has intimated that the administration stands vindicated by the report because of the simple fact that no one else has been indicted. But Democrats say the fact that Trump cannot be indicted should be all the more reason for the report to be released so that the Congress — and the American public — can make up their own minds about the administration.

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