FINALLY, IT’S MUELLER TIME!
REPORT ON TRUMP COLLUSION, OBSTRUCTION TO BE RELEASED TODAY
House Democrats distrustful of Attorney General William Barr are prepared to subpoena Robert Mueller’s full Russia probe report immediately after the Justice Department releases a redacted version Thursday morning, the Daily News has learned.
A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to discuss internal talks, told The News that Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) is ready to lob subpoenas for the complete special counsel report and all underlying evidence as soon as Barr drops the scrubbed document.
The report will be turned over to members of Congress on CDs at some point between 11 a.m. and noon Thursday — after Barr’s planned 9:30 a.m. press conference at Justice Department headquarters.
Democrats were outraged at the prospect of Barr’s prerelease conference and demanded he cancel it.
“This press conference, which apparently will not include special counsel Mueller, is unnecessary and inappropriate, and appears designed to shape public perceptions of the report before anyone can read it,” the Democratic chairs of the House judiciary, intelligence, oversight, financial services and foreign affairs committees said in a joint statement.
“These new actions by the Attorney General reinforce our concern that he is acting to protect President Trump.”
The Democratic pushback came after The New York Times reported the Justice Department has been briefing the White House on Mueller’s complete findings over the past few days, allowing Trump to get a heads-up while leaving Congress in the dark.
“There is no legitimate reason for the department to brief the White House prior to providing Congress a copy of the report,” the Democratic chairs said.
Nadler, who has refrained from issuing subpoenas while waiting to see what Barr will release, said last week he was ready to “very quickly” fire off the powerful document demands. The judiciary committee voted on party lines earlier this month to approve subpoenas for the Mueller report, leaving the timing up to Nadler.
Democrats say they won’t accept anything short of the full report and suspect Barr is trying to protect Trump by redacting Mueller’s findings.
Barr has given mixed messages on whether he’s ready to ever share Mueller’s unvarnished report with Congress.
He told lawmakers he’s willing discuss how to make more material accessible to certain congressional committees after the redacted version comes out but has not made any commitments.
The attorney general has also rejected multiple bipartisan requests for the full report over the past few weeks, arguing redactions are necessary to comply with national security and privacy protocols.
If Barr refuses to comply with Democratic subpoenas, the fate of the full Mueller report is expected to be decided by federal courts.
The report out Thursday will be scrubbed of any information pertaining to classified national security matters, grand jury proceedings, ongoing criminal investigations and derogatory details about people who weren’t charged in the investigation.
Barr has said Mueller’s report exonerates Trump and his campaign of conspiring in Russia’s illegal attempt to sway the 2016 election in his favor. Even though Mueller explicitly declined to do so, Barr also concluded the special counsel’s evidence did not warrant obstruction charges against the president.
Democrats have been openly skeptical of Barr’s interpretation of Mueller’s findings and were outraged after he went before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and said he believed the Obama Justice Department was “spying” on Trump’s campaign — a claim that echoes debunked right-wing conspiracy theories. Barr did not share any evidence to back up the explosive statement.