The Redacted Mueller Report Has Been Released
Attorney General William Barr on Thursday submitted to Congress and released to the public redacted versions of the Mueller report. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings, the result of a nearly two-year investigation that resulted in over 30 indictments, were posted to the Justice Department’s website shortly after 11:00 a.m. The redacted report can be accessed in its entirety here.
The redacted report’s release comes after weeks of controversy surrounding Barr’s handling of the special counsel’s findings, which were initially submitted to the Justice Department on March 22nd. Barely 48 hours later, Barr submitted his “principal conclusions” of the report to Congress, quoting that Mueller “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” but offering little elaboration. Barr’s four-page letter also quoted Mueller’s findings in regard to obstruction of justice: “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Barr wrote that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that Mueller did not find sufficient evidence “to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
Though President Trump and his allies used Barr’s conclusions to claim victory, the left regarded the letter as a hasty, insufficient assessment from a Trump-picked attorney general who had already demonstrated a bias against the special counsel’s investigation, particularly its inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice. On March 25th, six House committee chairs wrote a letter to Barr demanding he release the full, unredacted report by April 2nd.
On March 29th, Barr informed congressional leaders that he would release a redacted version by “mid-April if not sooner.” In the letter, Barr outlined what he would be redacting, including grand jury material protected by the Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) responded by reiterating Democrats’ demand for the full, unredacted report by April 2nd. He has since threatened to take his fight for the grand jury material to the courts if Barr will not ask a federal court to release it, which Democrats and legal scholars have argued is well within his authority to do as attorney general. “On the assumption that it’s heavily redacted, we will most certainly issue subpoenas in very short order,” Nadler said at a press conference Wednesday night.
For now, though, the redacted version contains plenty of information to keep congressional investigators busy.