Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., raised the possibility of Congress introducing legislation to compel the Justice Department to release special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings to lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the public.
“There is maybe some tricky legal issues here that have to figured out but I believe the answer is yes, that we could legislate that this report must be delivered to Congress,” Merkley said during an interview Sunday evening with MSNBC’s “Kasie DC.”
“Right now under the law, the attorney general can block it,” the Oregon Democrat continued. “And so that’s a big concern: Even if the report is completed, it won’t make it into our hands. I just feel the whole collection of the way President Trump has behaved, it’s all about suppressing this investigation.”
[Trump: Matthew Whitaker calls the shots on whether to rein in Mueller]
Under DOJ guidelines, Mueller must provide acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker “with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions” he has made at the conclusion of his probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, and whether the President Trump obstructed justice.
Whitaker is then required to give the top members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees a “brief” notification, including “an outline of the actions and the reasons for them.” It is unknown yet whether the DOJ or Congress will make those details public.
Senators including Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Chris Coons, D-Del., are pushing for a bill that protects Mueller from a wanton dismissal after Whitaker, a Trump ally and past critic of the special counsel inquiry, was appointed to replaced fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this month. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has so far refused to allow the proposal to be considered on the Senate floor.
Lawmakers have also broached the possibility of subpoenaing Whitaker, Mueller, and the report to ensure transparency in case there are any efforts to bury the document.
“Those are things we could do,” Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said earlier in November. “But the fact is any such interference would be a pattern of obstruction of justice especially since — and [Whitaker] should recuse himself because he has expressed total hostility to the investigation.”
[Read more: Intel Democrat: Matthew Whitaker ‘hired to be an assassin’ to take out Mueller investigation]
