Under pressure, U.S. Justice Department defends handling of Mueller report
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facing Democratic pressure to quickly release Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report detailing contacts between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, the Justice Department on Thursday defended its handling of the document and said it could not disclose it before redacting confidential information.
“The Department continues to work with the Special Counsel on appropriate redactions to the report so that it can be released to Congress and the public,” Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr said last week that Mueller’s 22-month inquiry did not establish that Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia in the election. Mueller also did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump illegally interfered with the Russia investigation, which has cast a shadow over his presidency.
While Mueller did not exonerate Trump, Barr said he then concluded there was not enough evidence to show that Trump committed an obstruction crime.
Every page of Mueller’s report contains a warning that it might contain confidential material, Kupec said, so Barr must first carefully determine what needs to be redacted. Barr said last week he hopes to release a redacted version of the report by mid-April.
The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Wednesday authorized its chairman to subpoena the department to obtain Mueller’s full, unredacted report, moving closer to a legal clash with the Trump administration.
Democrats in Congress have expressed skepticism that Barr’s four-page account of Mueller’s “principal conclusions” accurately reflects the nearly 400-page report’s contents and are pressing him to release it in its entirety. Some members of Mueller’s team also are unhappy with the way Barr characterized their investigation, according to reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post, quoting anonymous sources.
The Post reported that Mueller’s staff prepared summaries for each section of the report free of confidential information that might require redaction, with the goal that Barr could release them to the public.
Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Will Dunham and Ross Colvin
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