Top Democrats demand Barr turn over full Mueller report, materials by April 2Click here to read the news story
Washington, DC,
March 26, 2019
|
EMILY TILLETT, STEFAN BECKET, CAMILO MONTOYA-GALVEZ, CBS NEWS
The Democratic chairs of powerful committees in the House demanded Attorney General William Barr release special counsel Robert Mueller's entire report, as well the underlying evidence of the nearly two-year investigation, by early next week. In a letter released late Monday, the chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight, Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means and Financial Services committees said they needed access to all of Mueller's findings and investigative materials by April 2 to make an "independent assessment" of the probe. The top Democratic legislators expressed concerns over the way Barr characterized Mueller's findings in his four-page summary, which was released Sunday. "The determinations you have reached regarding obstruction and the manner in which you chose to characterize the Special Counsel's investigation only raise further questions, particularly in light of the Special Counsel's decision to refrain from making "a traditional prosecutorial judgment," Reps. Jerry Nadler, Elijah Cummings, Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel, Richard Neal and Maxine Waters wrote. The special counsel, according to Barr's summary, concluded the Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate with the Russian government in Moscow's interference campaign during the 2016 presidential election. Three weeks before submitting his report on Friday, Mueller informed the Justice Department he wouldn't be able to reach a conclusion on his probe into whether Mr. Trump committed obstruction of justice, a source familiar with the situation told CBS News. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined Mueller's findings were not "sufficient" to prove Mr. Trump committed obstruction of justice. Nevertheless, Barr outlined is his summary that the special counsel stopped short of exonerating the president. "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him," Mueller's report read, according to Barr's summary. Citing the need to make their own "independent assessment," the chairs of the House Judiciary, Oversight, Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, Ways and Means and Financial Services committees asked the attorney general to release Mueller's full report and material from his investigation by early next week. In their letter to Barr, released Monday evening, Reps. Jerry Nadler, Elijah Cummings, Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel, Richard Neal and Maxine Waters said the attorney general's summary of the Mueller probe was not "sufficient" for Congress and left "open many questions concerning the conduct of the President and his closest advisors, as well as that of the Russian government during the 2016 presidential election." |