Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
House votes to make report public
Resolution is designed to pressure AG into releasing information from Mueller’s Russia investigation.
WASHINGTON — The House voted unanimously Thursday for a resolution calling for any final report in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation to be made public, a symbolic action designed to pressure Attorney General William Barr into releasing as much information as possible when the probe is concluded.
Also on Thursday, the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, Rep. Doug Collins, released a transcript of a closed-door interview with two FBI officials who told Congress in June 2018 that during the early days of the Russia probe, FBI officials debated whether Donald Trump’s chance of winning should factor into how aggressively they investigated potential coordination between his campaign and the Kremlin.
Peter Strzok, the former FBI agent who helped lead the investigation, told lawmakers in a closed-door interview that the FBI had received information from an “extremely sensitive source” alleging collusion between the government of Russia and members of the Trump campaign. FBI officials, including thenDeputy Director Andrew McCabe, debated internally how vigorously to follow up on that information given that Democrat Hillary Clinton was seen at the time as likely to defeat Trump, and an aggressive investigation had the potential of exposing the source.
Strzok recalled that he disagreed that a candidate’s electability should be part of the equation.
“If there are members of the Trump campaign who are actively illegally colluding with the government of Russia, that’s something the American people need to know, that’s something candidate Trump potentially needs to know. And equally, if they aren’t guilty of anything, that’s also important,” Strzok said. “So my statement there is: We can’t consider, we can’t take into consideration, the likelihood or unlikelihood of anybody’s electoral process. We need to go, based on the gravity of this allegation, go investigate it and get to the bottom of it.”
The Democratic-backed resolution, which passed 420-0 Thursday, comes as Mueller appears to be nearing an end to his investigation. Lawmakers in both parties have maintained there will have to be some sort of public resolution when the report is done — and privately hope that a report shows conclusions that are favorable to their own side.
Four Republicans voted present: Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie.
The resolution is unlikely to be passed in the Senate, where Democratic leader Chuck Schumer tried to bring it up hours after House passage. He was rebuffed when Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham objected.
Though Mueller’s office has said nothing publicly about the timing of a report, several prosecutors detailed to Mueller’s team have left in recent months, suggesting that the investigation is winding down.
The nonbinding House resolution calls for the public release of any report Mueller provides to Barr, with an exception for classified material. The resolution also calls for the full report to be released to Congress.
Mueller is required to submit a report to Barr, and then Barr can decide how much of that is released publicly.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley called the resolution “ridiculous.”
Collins released the transcript from the June 2018 interview as part of an ongoing effort to paint the early days of the Russia investigation as tainted by law enforcement bias. In the past week, Collins has released transcripts of similar interviews with Justice Department official Bruce Ohr and ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page, with whom Strzok exchanged anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 election and investigations into his campaign.
Those text messages have made Strzok and Page particular targets of outrage from Republicans and from Trump. Strzok was removed from Mueller’s investigative team following the discovery of the texts and was later fired from the FBI. Page has since left the bureau.
In a statement Thursday, Strzok attorney Aitan Goelman said his client welcomed the release of the transcript.
“It is further evidence that, contrary to the impression that the President’s allies in Congress tried to create with their selective and often inaccurate leaks, Pete at all times discharged his duties honorably, patriotically, and without regard to his personal political opinions,” Goelman said.