Campaign Action
Nothing short of seeing the full report special counsel Robert Mueller delivered to the Department of Justice will clear up the many lingering and problematic questions left by Attorney General William Barr's four-page summary of the two-year probe.
After an investigation that incorporated more than 2,800 subpoenas, almost 500 executed search warrants, 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, approximately 500 interviewed witnesses, four short partisan pages delivered by an attorney general who auditioned for the job by penning 19 pages attacking the investigation simply is not going to cut it.
Within those four pages, Barr didn't quote a single full sentence from Mueller's report—he only quoted fragments. And yet Barr took it upon himself to unilaterally exonerate Trump on the question of obstruction of justice. The four pages were a wholly insufficient airing of the facts from the start, but by only quoting fragments of the sentences Mueller wrote, Barr allowed himself to massage Mueller's prose and impose his own innuendo on them. Barr also reportedly did not even consult Mueller on the letter he sent to Congress.
The American people deserve a full airing of the facts. Though Barr alludes to "actions investigated" and says Mueller's report "sets out evidence on both sides of the question" regarding obstruction, he deprives the American people of any insights into what actions Trump took, and of even a single shred of the evidence Mueller detailed in his report. In fact, on the issue of Trump's obstruction, Barr admits that the American people continue to be in the dark about the full range of behavior Trump engaged in.
"The report's second part addresses a number of actions by the President," Barr writes, "most of which have been the subject of public reporting."
Most is the operative word there—public reporting has covered most of Trump's actions, but not all. Frankly, what's in the public record is already pretty damning. But what about what's not in the public record? Americans deserve to know what Trump has done, especially given the fact that Mueller clearly left it up to Congress to determine whether Trump's actions amount to obstruction of justice. Barr has concluded that they don't, but he hasn't provided Congress or the public with a single piece of the evidence he weighed in making that determination. Not. One. Piece.
As Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff, and Elijah Cummings, who respectively chair the House Judiciary, Intelligence, and Oversight committees, write, "The only information Congress and the American people have received regarding the investigation is the Attorney General's own work product. The Special Counsel's Report should be allowed to speak for itself, and Congress must have the opportunity to evaluate the underlying evidence."
Rep. Nadler has already contacted Barr to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.
Hearing from Barr is certainly important, as is hearing from Mueller. But what's most imperative is that Barr release the entirety of the evidence Mueller amassed, especially on the question of obstruction. Until then, Barr's assertion will remain under a cloud of suspicion as the public is left in the dark.