The Department of Justice is set to release a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian meddling in the 2016 election on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the DOJ announced the release and noted it will be for both Congress and the public.
“Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own,” Attorney General William Barr said about the controversial report.
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According to the New York Times, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein caused controversy when they concluded that President Donald Trump committed no “obstruction-of-justice offense” after it was found Mueller had made no final determination on his own. Reports indicated that this was left in to allow Congress to make a final determination, something supported by prosecutors who worked with the Special Counsel’s office.
Democrats in Congress have contested a redacted version being released to the legislative body, with Representative Jerrold Nadler from New York getting authorization from the House Judiciary Committee to subpoena Barr to turn over the unredacted full version of the report.
Now seems like the right time for us to repeat this:
◾️ Congress should be given access to the full, unredacted Mueller report
◾️ ALL redactions in the public release must be minimal and defensibleFew matters are of greater public interest than the contents of this report. https://t.co/x4WYUBkn0Y
— ACLU (@ACLU) April 15, 2019
Barr will also make himself available to testify in front of both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees in May following the release of the report. They will also attempt to call on Mueller himself to testify according to The New York Times.
“It is Special Counsel Meuller who is best positioned to testify regarding the underlying facts and material in which you are so interested,” Representative Doug Collins told Nadler in a letter according to the Times.
The release of the full redacted report has led to some getting prepared for major coverage on Thursday. David Itzkoff reports that Late Night with Seth Meyers will expand its show to 90 minutes Thursday night to cover the report and “give context to the redacted version.”
NBC says Late Night With Seth Meyers will expand to 90 minutes on Thursday night “to give context to the redacted version of the Mueller report becoming public earlier in the day.” (There’s also an interview with Pete Buttigieg and a Game of Thrones recap with Leslie Jones.) pic.twitter.com/sprrngX5TQ
— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) April 15, 2019
Trump and his supporters claimed “total exoneration” on Twitter after the release of the summary from Barr’s offices earlier in the month. Many were critical of the short summary and a rush to confirm details before they had actually been released. Others are apparently questioning the proximity of the release in relation to the Easter holiday.
Trump has not commented on the report outside of his initial “exoneration” comments on Twitter. He has since been focused on his ongoing re-election campaign and his defensive stance on border policies.
The president did comment on the week’s other major news out of Paris, with the Notre Dame fire taking center stage to start the week. His suggestions to douse the fire from above were soon rebuked by French officials who noted it would cause the entire structure to crumble.
