WASHINGTON, March 30, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The US attorney general said Friday that he will release a redacted version by mid-April of the report on the two-year Russia election meddling probe, which had cast a cloud over Donald Trump’s presidency.
Attorney General Bill Barr, in a letter to the chairmen of the House and
Senate judiciary committees, said he was currently redacting sensitive
material from the eagerly awaited report, which Trump has hailed as
completely clearing him of allegations of collusion with Russia and
obstruction of justice.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a former FBI director who headed the probe,
was assisting with the task, he said.
“Our progress is such that I anticipate that we will be in a position to
release the report by mid-April, if not sooner,” Barr said.
The attorney general said the report was nearly 400 pages long excluding
tables and appendices and “sets forth the Special Counsel’s findings, his
analysis and the reasons for his conclusions.”
Barr, who released the “principal conclusions” of the report last week, has
been under heavy pressure from Democrats to release the full report.
“I share your desire to ensure that Congress and the public have the
opportunity to read the Special Counsel’s report,” the attorney general told
the Senate and House judiciary committee chairmen.
“Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own,” Barr said. “I do not
believe it would be in the public’s interest for me to attempt to summarize
the full report or to release it in a serial or piecemeal fashion.”
Representative Jerry Nadler, a Democrat who heads the House Judiciary
Committee, responded to Barr’s letter by saying he wanted the “full and
complete Mueller report, without redactions” by April 2.
– Redactions –
Barr said the redactions underway included material “the intelligence
community identifies as potentially compromising sensitive sources and
methods.”
Redactions also concern matters that the special counsel has referred to
other Justice Department offices for investigation and information that would
compromise the privacy of “peripheral third parties.”
Barr said the report would not be submitted to the White House for review
and Trump had deferred to him to deal with any parts over which he could
invoke executive privilege.
Barr, citing the “principal conclusions” of the report last week, said the
special counsel did not find that the Trump presidential campaign had
conspired with the Russian government to win the 2016 election.
The “investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign
conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election
interference activities,” Barr quoted the report as saying.
Mueller also left the decision on whether Trump obstructed justice up to
the attorney general, who determined that he had not “committed an
obstruction-of-justice offense.”
Regarding obstruction, Mueller stated that “while this report does not
conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate
him.”
Trump has welcomed the Mueller report as a “total exoneration” and blamed
the media for pushing what he called the “Russian Collusion Delusion.”
In his letter, Barr said he would be prepared to testify before the Senate
and House judiciary committees on May 1 and May 2 respectively.