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Justice Department officials say Attorney General William Barr is set to release his redacted version of the special counsel’s Russia probe report on Thursday. Both Congress and the public will be privy to the redacted report, according to department spokesperson Kerri Kupec.
The report has become the source of a heated debate between Barr and House Democrats, who have repeatedly requested that Robert Mueller’s full unredacted report be released to them. The version Barr releases is bound to become the source of extreme speculation after Barr took it upon himself to exonerate Donald Trump of criminal obstruction of justice even though Mueller’s report expressly said Trump had not been exonerated by the evidence. Trump used Barr’s declaration to claim “complete and total” exoneration on both obstruction and collusion, a talking point his aides now regret as the prospect of at least some of Trump’s previously unknown actions being revealed becomes a reality. That said, Barr’s redactions are almost certain to be heavy-handed in Trump’s favor, given that he has now outed himself as a partisan hatchet man.
But the redacted report also promises to unleash a period of political and legal wrangling. House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler has a subpoena ready to go for the full report and has been simply waiting to see what Barr actually reveals.