Redactions far from ‘limited’, analysis shows

WASHINGTON: Across nearly 450 pages, blocks of black interrupt parts of Robert Mueller’s careful narrative recounting Russian election meddling and President Donald Trump’s fear and ire.

Most often, the Justice Department redactions mask a few words or paragraphs. In a few spots, they stretch for an entire page.

US Attorneygeneral William Barr said the report released yesterday was marred only by ‘‘limited redactions’’ but that is true only for the part of the report dealing with possible obstruction by Trump. An Associated Press analysis of the full document shows nearly twothirds of the section dealing with Russia’s meddling — 139 pages out of 199 — had some form of redaction.

By comparison, only 24 out of 182 pages in the obstruction section were at least partially masked.

The disparity reflects concerns over disclosing intelligence and ongoing law enforcement matters related to Russian interference in the election and, to a lesser degree, exposing grand jury testimony.

The AP analysis showed nearly 40% of the report’s entire 448 pages — including its appendixes and table of contents — had redactions.

The blackedout passages leave factual holes that force readers to guess Mueller’s intent. Even before the report’s release, the redactions were at the core of a political battle pitting the Trump Administration against sceptical Democratic lawmakers, who have insisted on the release of the full report. They are expected to wage a court fight over it.

Barr has promised to provide congressional leaders with a version of the report containing fewer redactions, but this may not satisfy Democrats.

Barr said his department had to redact material related to grand jury proceedings, ongoing investigations, privacy issues and intelligence.