Attorney General William Barr said he will be ready to release his redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report to the public within a week.
During a House Appropriations panel hearing on the proposed Justice Department budget, Barr was prompted by Democrats to discuss the Russia investigation.
In response to a question from Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., the chairman of the subcommittee holding the hearing, Barr said his initial timetable for providing Congress with a redacted version of the report still stands.
“This process is going along very well, and my original timetable of being able to release this by mid April stands,” Barr testified. “So I think that, from my standpoint, by, within a week, I’ll be in a position to release the report to the public, and then, I will engage with the chairman of both Judiciary committees about that report and about any further requests that they have.”
Barr provided a four-page summary of Mueller’s roughly 400-page report to Congress last month which said Mueller did not establish the Trump campaign colluded with Russia. The summary also said Mueller did not find President Trump committed obstruction of justice, but Mueller also did not exonerate the president. However, Barr said he concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish a crime.
In a follow-up letter on March 29, Barr identified four categories of information that will not be made public when he releases the report, including material related to grand jury proceedings which by law cannot be made public, information deemed by the intelligence community to compromise sensitive sources and methods, details that could affect other ongoing investigations — including those referred by the special counsel’s office to other offices — and material that would “unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”
Barr testified Tuesday that Mueller did not help him draft either letter to Congress, and although he invited the special counsel’s team to review the correspondence they elected no to do so.
Democrats have accused Barr of trying to hide damning information about Trump from Mueller’s Russia investigation under the guise of redactions.
Further adding fuel to their ire were reports last week from the New York Times and the Washington Post in which anonymous sources said members of Mueller’s team were frustrated with the way Barr portrayed the findings of their yearslong investigation in a four-page summary. Reacting to those reports, Trump tore into Mueller’s team on Sunday, accusing the “angry Democrats” of “illegally leaking” information to the media.
Although Barr said he is working with Mueller to release a redacted version of the final report for Congress to read this month, the Judiciary Committee, ruled by Democrats, voted last week in favor of subpoenaing Barr to turn over the entire Mueller report.
However, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said Tuesday his panel will not actually issue a subpoena for Mueller’s full report until they see the redacted version provided by Barr.
