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WASHINGTON, DC - June 27: Rep Maxine Waters, D-CA questions Dr Ben Carson, the Sec of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), testifies before a Congressional House committee in Washington DC. She also condemned the Trump Administration polices on housing. June 27, 2018.
- Top House Democrats sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Friday night demanding that the Justice Department publicly release the entirety of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation report.
- "This report is required under the Special Counsel regulations, and we expect the Attorney General to release it without delay," they wrote.
- They argued the Justice Department has an obligation to release any evidence - either publicly or to Congress - that the president engaged in criminal or other serious misconduct.
The chairs of six top committees in the US House released a statement on Friday night demanding that Attorney General William Barr publicly release the "entire report" produced by special counsel Robert Mueller.
"This report is required under the Special Counsel regulations, and we expect the Attorney General to release it without delay given the profound public interest in the full disclosure of information learned by the Special Counsel," they wrote.
Mueller delivered his final report on the Russia investigation to the Justice Department on Friday evening.
Reps. Elijah Cummings, Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters, Richard Neal, Jerrold Nadler, and Eliot Engel said in their letter that the Justice Department should release the full report "without delay" due to the "profound public interest" surrounding its contents.
They argued that the Justice Department has an obligation to release any evidence - either publicly or to Congress - that the president engaged in criminal or other serious misconduct.
"Because the Justice Department maintains that a sitting president cannot be indicted, to then withhold evidence of wrongdoing from Congress because a sitting President cannot be charged is to convert Justice Department policy into the means for a cover-up," they wrote. "Anything less than full transparency would raise serious questions about whether the Department of Justice policy is being used as a pretext for a cover-up of misconduct."
The Democrats noted that Trump also recently called for the public release of the report. Trump has spent the last nearly two years attacking Mueller and the investigation and earlier this month argued there "should never have been appointed and there should be no Mueller Report."
"Let it come out, let people see it," the president said earlier this week. "Let's see whether or not it's legit."
On Thursday, March 14, the House unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Mueller report to be publicly released.
Read the full statement below:
"After nearly two years of investigation - accompanied by two years of unprecedented attacks on the integrity of the investigation by President Trump - the public and Congress are entitled to know what the Special Counsel has found. Reflecting the will of the American people, the House of Representatives voted 420-0 last week for the full release of the Special Counsel's report to Congress and the American people. Earlier this week, President Trump himself endorsed making the report available to the public.
The Justice Department must now release to the public the entire report submitted by Special Counsel Mueller to the Attorney General. This report is required under the Special Counsel regulations, and we expect the Attorney General to release it without delay given the profound public interest in the full disclosure of information learned by the Special Counsel. Consistent with the Justice Department's past practice and to ensure Congress can discharge its constitutional responsibilities, we also expect the underlying evidence uncovered during the course of the Special Counsel's investigation will be turned over to the relevant Committees of Congress upon request.
To be clear, if the Special Counsel has reason to believe that the President has engaged in criminal or other serious misconduct, then the Justice Department has an obligation not to conceal such information. The President must be subject to accountability and if the Justice Department is unable to do so, then the need to provide Congress with the relevant information is paramount. Because the Justice Department maintains that a sitting president cannot be indicted, to then withhold evidence of wrongdoing from Congress because a sitting President cannot be charged is to convert Justice Department policy into the means for a cover-up. Anything less than full transparency would raise serious questions about whether the Department of Justice policy is being used as a pretext for a cover-up of misconduct.
The President is not above the law and the need for public faith in our democratic institutions and the rule of law must be the priority."
- Read more about the Russia investigation:
- Mueller turned his final report in to Attorney General William Barr, but the Russia probe is nowhere near finished
- Here's what happens next now that Mueller has submitted his report on the Russia investigation
- Here's what 'collusion' actually means, and whether members of Trump campaign could have broken the law
- Here's everyone who has been charged and convicted in the Russia probe so far
- Democrats demand that Attorney General William Barr release special counsel Robert Mueller's entire report on the Russia investigation
- Read Attorney General William Barr's letter to Congress on Robert Mueller's Russia investigation report