Mueller Report Will Be Released To Congress, Redacted, ‘Within A Week,’ William Barr Promises


Attorney General William Barr told Congress on Tuesday that a redacted version of the Mueller Report will be released “within a week.”

As The LA Times reports, Barr is currently testifying before the House Appropriations Committee, the first in what is likely to be a long series of question-and-answer sessions among various House committees. The House of Representatives, now controlled by Democrats, has summoned the attorney general to, among other things, account for why he released so little of the long-awaited Mueller Report once it crossed his desk.

Weeks ago, FBI special counsel Robert Mueller turned in the final report on his months-long investigation into possible collusion between Russian agents and the Trump campaign. Barr has the authority to release as much of or as little of any report that crosses his desk as he sees fit; and indeed, days later, he released only a four-page summary of the entire 400-page report.

That has not sat well with Democrats in the House, who, even before the report was submitted to Barr, had passed a non-binding resolution demanding that Barr release the entire, unedited report. And since the publication of Barr’s summary, Democrats have said that they will subpoena the report in court, a process that may very well set up a protracted legal battle with the White House.

Speaking to the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Barr said that Congress will indeed get the full, 400-page report: That is, after he and his staff redact out “sensitive information.”

“The process is going along very well, and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid-April stands. And so I think that from my standpoint, within a week I will be in a position to release the report to the public.”

That may not be enough for some Congressional Democrats, who will likely proceed with issuing a subpoena if they don’t get the full, unredacted report. But Barr says his hands are tied. Specifically, he told members of the committee that federal law prohibits him from releasing information that could taint continuing criminal investigations of people obliquely connected to the Russia investigation.

Meanwhile, questions remain about what conclusions can be drawn from the summary of the report that Barr released. Trump and Republicans concluded from Barr’s summary that the report fully exonerates Trump of any wrongdoing. However, Democrats point out that the question of whether or not Trump committed obstruction of justice remains unanswered, at least as far as Barr’s summary, and that information in the report — if they’re ever allowed to see it — may help answer those questions. Further, as The New York Times reported last week, some members of Mueller’s team claim that the report is more damaging to Donald Trump than Barr has let on.

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