The clearest signal from the Tuesday hearing of Attorney General William Barr before a House Appropriations subcommittee is that neither the public, nor Congress, will ever see the full Mueller report. At least, they never will if Barr has anything to say about it.
Under repeated questioning, Barr reasserted his right to redact the report as he saw fit, with Barr alone acting as the arbiter of what needed to be redacted. He dodged requests to provide a legal authority for this view by resorting to “department policy.” And, while a recent ruling on the distribution of grand jury materials made it possible to seek their release before a judge, Barr made it absolutely clear that he has no intention of making such a request.
Barr will provide his marked-up, slimmed-down, testimony-free version of the “Mueller report” next week. Based on his testimony, that report will contain neither a bad word about Trump, or any of the core evidence on which conclusions were made.
And he never intends to provide anything more.
Tuesday, Apr 9, 2019 · 6:41:36 PM +00:00
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Mark Sumner
Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has announced that he will subpoena the full Mueller report if Barr follows through on his statement to deliver a redacted version to Congress within the week.