Opposing view: Democrats seek to revive a nonexistent scandal

It’s time for Democrats to stop grandstanding, accept the conclusions of the Mueller report, and focus on the real problems facing our country.

Rather than accept the unambiguously good news that there was no collusion, the Democrats in Congress demanded that Attorney General Bill Barr violate both the law and Department of Justice regulations by releasing an unredacted version of the Mueller report — then accused him of orchestrating a cover-up when he rightly refused that impossible ultimatum.

Grand jury testimony is, by law, forbidden to be released in such reports, and sensitive national security issues are redacted for obvious reasons. By asking Barr to release this information, they are asking him to violate a law Congress itself passed. If the Democrats are successful in unsealing the redactions, they will frame possibly innocent people of crimes and endanger the intelligence community’s efforts to combat Russian interference.

The Democrats claim they are justified because they hope grand jury testimony or the report’s underlying material may contain damning information about President Donald Trump or his family. Barr has already agreed to allow lawmakers to view an almost entirely unredacted version in private, yet by all accounts none has done so.

The call to release the full report is nothing more than a desperate attempt by the Democrats to breathe life into a scandal that simply doesn’t exist. It is also irresponsible and reckless.

If special counsel Robert Mueller had found any concrete evidence to support obstruction, you can be sure the investigation would have expanded, endured or adapted to new findings. Not only did that not happen, but Barr and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein equally found nothing they could act on regarding obstruction.

Conjecture and hearsay are hardly compelling reasons to violate laws and regulations designed to protect the privacy of American citizens and imperil national security.