Attorney General William Barr on Thursday said no redactions in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his Russia investigation were made based on claims of executive privilege by the White House.
Barr said that although there were “significant portions” of the report that Trump would have been within his rights to redact since the White House complied with the investigation, he refrained from doing so. The Office of the White House Counsel requested to examine the report — after Barr told lawmakers they would receive a redacted version of the report by April — so they could “advise the President on the potential invocation of privilege.”
“Following that review, the President confirmed that, in the interests of transparency and full disclosure to the American people, he would not assert privilege over the Special Counsel’s report,” Barr said during a press conference Thursday morning. “Accordingly, the public report I am releasing today contains redactions only for the four categories that I previously outlined, and no material has been redacted based on executive privilege.”
[WATCH: Barr’s press conference on Mueller report release]
For nearly two years, Mueller investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein have since been working together to redact information pertaining to grand jury proceedings, ongoing investigations, among other things, after Mueller submitted the report to the Justice Department last month.
Barr quoted from Mueller’s investigation that claimed it “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” The summary did not say if Trump or any of his associates were compromised by Russia.
Barr’s four-page summary on the investigation also quoted Mueller saying, “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Barr claimed he and Rosenstein determined there was not sufficient evidence to determine whether Trump obstructed justice.
The redacted report will be released to members of Congress at 11 a.m. on Thursday. It will be posted online for the public to read after lawmakers receive it.
