The New York Times reported April 3 that unnamed members of Mueller’s team were unhappy with Atty. Gen. William Barr’s March 24 four-page summary, giving the bottom line of the March 22 Final Mueller report. After waiting nearly two years and vigorously defending Mueller, Democrats weren’t happy with findings, essentially exonerating Trump of Russian collusion and obstruction of justice. Democrats hoped they’d have everything needed to start impeachment proceedings against Trump, instead of worrying how they’re going forward in 2020. Mueller suddenly became Democrats complaint about the results, prompting House Judiciary Chairman Jerold Nadler (D.N.Y.) and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to keep the investigation going through 2020. Yesterday’s story about disgruntled Mueller investigators was more fake news.
Picked up by the Washington Post, both anti-Trump papers are trying to do everything possible to pressure Barr to release the full, unedited report, despite knowing it would break federal rules related to grand juries and criminal procedure, breaching confidential material involving the FBI’s methods-and-tactics. Hoping to pressure Barr, the Times and Post claim that unknown members of Mueller’s team claim Barr misrepresented the Muller findings, showing far more evidence of Trump and his campaign’s culpability. Citing unknown sources has been the Times and Post’s ways in the Trump era, making every unfounded allegation possible, without verifying the sources. Most of the Times and Post’s stories about Trump when it comes to Russian collusion or obstruction have been proved false. Reporting stories without attribution has defined fake news.
Democrats claim the public wants the full, unredacted version of the Mueller report, prompting Nadler to issue a subpoena, not yet delivered to the Justice Department. Democrats want the unedited report and underlying evidence to dispute Barr’s conclusions, that the report exonerates President Donald Trump from wrongdoing. Nadler and Schiff have said publicly that they don’t care about Mueller’s findings that don’t rise to the level of a criminal offense. Nadler and Schiff want to make the case that there’s plenty of evidence of collusion and obstruction, just not enough to file criminal charges against Trump or his inner circle. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the full Mueller report contains information protected under rules governing grand juries, criminal and civil procedure, preventing the Attorney General from releasing protected material in the public domain.
Nadler has tried to make the case of superseding rules related to grand juries and criminal and civil procedure to make the full Mueller report public. Democrats wants the full report to continue implicating Trump in collusion and obstruction of justice, just not to the level of criminal conduct. “Given the extraordinary public interest in the matter, the Attorney General decided to release the report’s bottom line findings and his conclusions immediately—without attempting to summarize the report—with the understanding that the report itself would be released after the redaction process. . .” said Kupec. Democrats see no compelling need for the public to see the full, unedited report, they want the complete report to reinterpret the findings. Yesterday’s story in the Times and Post indicates the Mueller’s team leaked to the press, something that can’t be verified without naming the sources.
Reporting that unnamed Mueller investigators differed from Barr’s exoneration in the March 24 four-page summary isn’t verified. If Mueller believed that Barr distorted the report’s findings in any way, shape or form, he would have made a public statement correcting the record. Democrats don’t want to hear from Mueller because he’d likely corroborate what Barr said: No Russian collusion and no obstruction of justice. Trump accused the New York Times and Washington Post of more fake news. “The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report. In fact, they probably had no source at all! They are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologize for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!” Trump tweeted. Barr said he would release whatever he could after vetting by the FBI and Justice Department.
Barr won’t cave to the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees to release the full, unedited version of the Mueller report. Barr knows the House wants to cherry pick the findings, using anything possible to reinterpret the results to impeach Trump or his credibility. “Just release the Mueller report . . . In the public domain there are comments that people on the Mueller team think there’s a mischaracterization of the attorney general. I don’t know, there is an easy answer to this: Release the Mueller report as soon as possible,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Pelosi can’t order the executive branch to commit high-crimes-and-misdemeanors because she needs the unedited report for the 2020 election. Barr won’t be bullied by Democrats to second guess the Mueller Report for the expressed purpose of getting a leg up in the 2020 presidential election.
