US awaits Russia probe info
Barr to summarise report for Congress
WASHINGTON: The US public and Washington’s deeply divided political class faced another day of anxious wait yesterday to learn if the key findings of the Russian meddling probe will implicate President Donald Trump in serious wrongdoing.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted the confidential final report on his 22-month investigation on Friday and Attorney General Bill Barr has been studying the document, which he must summarise for Congress.
The Justice Department had told legislators that Mr Barr would not be sending an outline of its “principal conclusions” — expected over the weekend — on Saturday, according to US media.
That left the American public still in the dark over what the Mr Mueller investigation uncovered about the president’s ties to Russia and alleged acts of obstruction of justice.
Chronic tweeter Mr Trump, who was spending the weekend at his Palm Beach, Florida Mar-a-Lago residence, remained uncommonly silent after spending two years repeatedly labelling Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation an illegal witch hunt.
After the president spent the morning golfing, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley confirmed that they still had not seen the report or been briefed on its findings.
Asked how the president felt, Mr Gidley replied: “He’s good”.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Congress, many of whom are hoping for evidence to support a presidential impeachment, pressed hard to ensure the report’s full contents are made public, and not just a summary prepared by the Mr Trump-appointed Mr Barr.
Neal Katyal, the former Justice Department official who drafted the rules for special counsels, said Mr Barr had no excuse for keeping Mr Mueller’s report secret.
“Absolutely nothing in the law or the regulations prevents the report from becoming public,” Mr Katyal said in a Washington Post opinion piece.
The secret report was handed to Mr Barr on Friday with the announcement that no new indictments were forthcoming.
That produced sighs of relief from the White House, where members of Mr Trump’s family — Don Jr and son-in-law Jared Kushner — had been feared possible targets of the probe.
For Mr Trump himself, Mr Mueller was prevented by longstanding Justice Department policy from indicting the president.
But his report could still outline criminal behaviour by Mr Trump that could be the basis for an impeachment effort.
Mr Mueller, a 74-year-old veteran criminal prosecutor and former FBI chief, investigated whether members of Mr Trump’s campaign colluded with Russians to skew the 2016 election.
In addition, he studied whether actions by Mr Trump, including the May 2017 firing of FBI director James Comey, amounted to criminal obstruction of justice.
At the end of the probe, he was required to produce to Mr Barr a confidential report that explained why he decided to indict or not indict subjects of the probe.
Mr Barr must summarise the report for Congress.
He said in a letter to congressional leaders on Friday that he is “committed to as much transparency as possible”.
However, t he special counsel regulations “give Mr Barr lots of discretion about what to disclose”, said Andrew Coan, a University of Arizona law professor.
“The selective release of material is a possibility worth watching for,” Mr Coan warned.