Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for special counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be released to Congress and the public in its entirety — and warned against allowing the report to be shown to the White House first or allowing President Trump to interfere in the decision-making behind what gets released.
“Now that Special Counsel Mueller has submitted his report to the Attorney General, it is imperative for Mr. Barr to make the full report public and provide its underlying documentation and findings to Congress,” read the joint statement from Pelosi, D-Calif., and Schumer, D-N.Y.
“Attorney General Barr must not give President Trump, his lawyers, or his staff any ‘sneak preview’ of Special Counsel Mueller’s findings or evidence, and the White House must not be allowed to interfere in decisions about what parts of those findings or evidence are made public,” it says.
Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election began with his appointment by then-Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein back on May 17, 2017, and wrapped up today.
“The Special Counsel’s investigation focused on questions that go to the integrity of our democracy itself: whether foreign powers corruptly interfered in our elections, and whether unlawful means were used to hinder that investigation. The American people have a right to the truth. The watchword is transparency,” Pelosi and Schumer’s statement read.
The controversial investigation led to indictments against individuals and companies, including convictions against Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, Alex van der Zwaan, Richard Pinedo, and Sam Patten and indictments against Roger Stone and Konstantin Kilimnik.
But President Trump and his supporters have said throughout there is no sign so far that Trump colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election.
The House of Representatives voted 420-0 calling for the report to be released in full earlier this month.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had earlier released a statement seeming to say that the White House would not interfere with the attorney general’s decisions on the Mueller Report: “The next steps are up to Attorney General Barr, and we look forward to the process taking its course. The White House has not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel’s report.”
Attorney General William Barr already released a letter related to the Mueller report, saying he might release its underlying conclusions to Congress as early as the next few days.
