DOJ defends AG Barr's handling of Trump, Russia conclusions; lawmakers expect Mueller to testify
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department on Thursday defended Attorney General William Barr's decision to release a bare-bones summary of the report prepared by special counsel Robert Mueller, suggesting the full document was so packed with secret grand jury information that revealing even portions of it immediately would have been impossible.
Spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said "every page" of Mueller's nearly 400-page report was marked with a written warning that it could contain protected grand jury information. Federal law generally prohibits the government from revealing that information.
The statement comes as Democratic lawmakers, unsatisfied that Mueller's report remains secret two weeks after he turned it in, are threatening Barr with subpoenas to force the document's disclosure. Key lawmakers said Thursday that they now expect to summon Mueller to testify before Congress about his investigation.
“We will obviously want to hear the testimony of the investigators,” House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., told reporters Thursday. “We will eventually want to hear the testimony of Mr. Mueller.”
Nadler sent Barr a three-page letter Thursday asking for the public release "as soon as possible" of summaries that Mueller's team prepared as part of their report.
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Last month, Barr informed Congress that Mueller's investigation had not found a conspiracy involving President Donald Trump's campaign and the Russian government to tip the 2016 election in Trump's favor. Because the special counsel did not resolve the issue of whether the president's actions amounted to obstruction, Barr independently determined that Trump's conduct did not constitute a crime.
The attorney general's intervention has since set off a politically-charged battle for access to the entire text of Mueller's report, the fruit of a 22-month investigation that has shadowed the Trump administration since its first days.
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Friction between the Justice Department and Democratic lawmakers intensified late Wednesday when the New York Times and Washington Post reported that some of Mueller's investigators had told associates that Barr's description of their work understated the significance of their findings. USA TODAY has not verified those exchanges.
Barr has promised to release a more complete, though redacted, version of Mueller's report by mid-April.
"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," Kupec said. She said Barr would not release the report piecemeal.
Unsatisfied, House Democrats said Thursday that they now want Mueller's public testimony in addition to Barr who is scheduled to appear before congressional committees in early May.
Lawmakers said an appearance by Mueller, who has not uttered a public word since his appointment as special counsel nearly two years ago, was now “inevitable.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called for the release of the entire report to Congress. “Just release the Mueller report,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday. “If they don’t have anything to hide, they shouldn’t worry.”
Pelosi said lawmakers want to review the evidence that Mueller gathered.
“Let me just say: The Mueller report will be released,” Pelosi said. “To us, it is inevitable. To them, it is inconceivable. We have to shorten the distance between the inevitable and the inconceivable.”
The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to authorize subpoenas for the full Mueller report and its underlying evidence. Nadler has said he would negotiate with Barr for release of the report before issuing the subpoena is short order.
“I think it’s inevitable that Mueller is going to testify at some point, but the first thing we need is the release of the report and the documents,” Nadler said.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., questioned why Barr issued his own summary of the report two days after it was submitted, rather than releasing summaries that Mueller’s team provided.
“Those summaries may be among the most carefully drafted worded parts of the entire report by the Mueller team,” Schiff told CNN on Thursday. "We are two weeks into this, all we have is Bill Barr's word for this.”
Trump, who has claimed "complete exoneration" based on Mueller's findings, dismissed reports of disagreements between Justice and some on the special counsel's team.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ defends AG Barr's handling of Trump, Russia conclusions; lawmakers expect Mueller to testify
