WhaT LIeS NexT NOW ThaT SPeCIaL COuNSeL haS SuBMITTeD The ‘exPLOSIve RePORT’
> What happens when the investigation ends?
Mueller had to turn in a report of some kind. It could be pretty barebones. Justice Department regulations require only that Mueller give the attorney general a confidential report that explains the decisions to pursue or decline prosecutions. That could be as simple as a bullet point list or as fulsome as a report running hundreds of pages.
> What will the attorney-general do?
Mueller Attorney General William Barr said he envisions two reports, and only one for congressional and public consumption.
Barr has said he takes seriously the “shall be confidential” part of the regulations governing Mueller’s report. He has noted that department protocol says internal memos explaining charging decisions should not be released. During his confirmation hearing, Barr said he will draft, after Mueller turns in his report, a second one for the chairman and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. But here again, the regulations provide little guidance for what such a report would say.
> Will Trump be able to see the report?
It is unclear whether Trump will ask to see the report and under what circumstances he or his attorneys might be able to view it, especially because the document is meant to be confidential for Justice Department leadership. Mueller reports to the Justice Department, not the White House. Barr said at his confirmation hearing that he would not permit White House interference in the investigation. But he also has voiced an expansive view of executive power in which the president functions as the country’s chief law enforcement officer and has wide latitude in giving directives to the FBI and Justice Department.
Democrats could seize on any disclosure to the president to argue that the report really isn’t confidential and should be immediately provided to them as well.
> Can Democrats in the Congress subpoena Mueller, his report? Sure. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat has said as much. “We could subpoena the final report. We could subpoena Mueller and ask him in front of the committee what was in your final report. Those are things we could do,” Nadler told ABC’s This Week in October. But Trump, as the leader of the executive branch, could direct the Justice Department to defy the subpoena, setting the stage for a court fight that would almost certainly go to the Supreme Court. —
36
The number of individuals and entities Mueller charged in the course of the investigation