Top Democrat disappointed report isn\u2019t being released sooner on WTOP| WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The battle over releasing the special counsel\u2019s report intensified as Democrats in Congress insisted Attorney General William Barr must quickly release its full findings. Barr said he\u2019ll release at least a partial\u2026<\/b>
\nWASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The battle over releasing the special counsel\u2019s report intensified as Democrats in Congress insisted Attorney General William Barr must quickly release its full findings. Barr said he\u2019ll release at least a partial version in April.
Skepticism mounted over Barr\u2019s four-page synopsis, which was released Sunday and found no evidence President Donald Trump\u2019s campaign \u201cconspired or coordinated\u201d with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. The longer it takes to release the full findings from special counsel Robert Mueller, the more Democrats, in particular, warn they will question the legitimacy of Barr\u2019s actions.
The push came as the House moved ahead with its own oversight of the Trump administration, including an Intelligence Committee hearing scheduled Thursday on Russia\u2019s role in the 2016 election.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said Wednesday he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d Barr would take weeks, not days, to release the report.
\u201cThe president has now an opportunity for weeks, it sounds like, to do these victory laps,\u201d said Cummings, noting that Trump\u2019s lawyer, Michael Cohen, is among those headed to jail as a result of the probe. \u201cCohen goes to jail, the president runs a victory lap.\u201d
The attorney general told the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S. C., that he\u2019s combing through Mueller\u2019s report and removing classified, grand jury and other information in hopes of releasing it to Congress.
Graham told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he had dinner the previous evening with Barr, who said he is willing to testify before the committee after he sends Congress the report.
Trump also has said he\u2019s fine with releasing the findings. \u201cThe president said, \u2018Just let it go,\u2019 and that\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen,\u201d Graham said.
What\u2019s clear, though, is that Barr will miss the Tuesday deadline set by six House committee chairmen to see the full confidential report and its underlying documents. They have suggested they may eventually need to subpoena it.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said he was \u201cvery concerned\u201d Barr would not provide the material by the time set.
Nadler upped the oversight Wednesday by placing a call to Bar. Over 10 minutes, the chairman asked whether Barr would accede to Congress\u2019 demand for the full report by April 2. Barr said no, according to Nadler.
Nadler asked if Barr would release a report to Congress without redactions. \u201cHe wouldn\u2019t commit to that,\u201d the congressman said. He also told reporters that Mueller\u2019s report was \u201cvery substantial\u201d and fewer than 1,000 pages.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has urged caution so as not to \u201cthrow innocent people who\u2019ve not been charged under the bus,\u201d is blocking legislation to force the disclosure of the Mueller report.
Other Republicans, however, insisted on Congress being able to review it. \u201cI want to see it all,\u201d said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. \u201cI think we should see the entire report.\u201d
The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, was confident a full picture of Mueller\u2019s report would emerge.
\u201cPeople are going to be very surprised,\u201d Collins said. \u201cBarr is going to put out a lot of stuff.\u201d
Beyond Mueller\u2019s findings, House Democrats are pursuing multiple investigations into the president\u2019s political, business and personal dealings, as they press on with their oversight agenda. Part of their work is to determine if anyone sought leverage over Trump, his family or associates.
Those probes, including a push to release his tax returns, are not fully dependent on whether the report backs up Barr\u2019s conclusion. By Barr\u2019s account, Mueller made no finding on whether the president obstructed justice. Though Barr cleared Mueller of obstruction, the question is now in Congress\u2019 hands.
The House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the Mueller report will \u201cguide us in terms of what has been fully investigated by the special counsel, what has gone uninvestigated.\u201d
Schiff said, \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to make those decisions in the absence of really knowing what\u2019s in that report.\u201d
The panel expects to \u201ctailor\u201d its investigation to focus beyond Mueller, said one member of the panel, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn.
Releasing the report has become the immediate focus on Capitol Hill amid concerns from Democrats that what has been made public so far is tilted positively toward Trump.
Questions about Barr are amplified by his unusual role as a lawyer who advocated an expansive view of executive power, suggesting in an unsolicited letter to the administration before being hired that the president cannot be found to have obstructed a Justice Department probe.
Schiff has said Barr was all but auditioning for the job \u2014 a sentiment shared by other Democrats in Congress.
Mueller\u2019s role as a special counsel is different from the independent counsels that investigated earlier administrations, including Kenneth Starr\u2019s probe against President Bill Clinton. The law authorizing the independent counsel was allowed to lapse after that and Mueller, as a special counsel, conducted his work under the Justice Department.
\u201cI would hope the attorney general would not be acting as a political operative for the president,\u201d said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a member of the Judiciary Committee.
\u201cThe Department of Justice should not be involved in a cover-up of what\u2019s actually in the report,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s great for a banana republic, it\u2019s not great for a constitutional democracy.\u201d
Barr wants to make sure nothing is released that could compromise national security or intelligence sources and methods, Graham said. He said Barr also told him he wants to check with prosecutors who have cases associated with Mueller\u2019s Russia investigation. Mueller had referred cases to other federal courts as part of his probe.
Republicans have said it\u2019s time for Congress to move on from the Russia probe, but Democrats indicated they are not worried about overreaching as they push ahead with both their oversight agenda and other legislative priorities.
\u201cI haven\u2019t read the Mueller report, but if it clears President Trump, I see that as nothing but a relief for our country,\u201d said Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa.
\u201cIt\u2019s the dream of the Founding Fathers that we have a separation of powers,\u201d he said. \u201cChecks and balances.\u201d
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Andrew Taylor, Catherine Lucey, Jill Colvin, Alan Fram, Mike Balsamo and Padmananda Rama contributed to this report.
___
Follow all of AP\u2019s Trump Investigations coverage at https:\/\/apnews.com\/TrumpInvestigations .
Copyright \u00a9 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
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