Debate is growing over whether special counsel Robert Mueller's reports should be made public, particularly after Attorney General nominee William Barr was pressed last week by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee on the issue.
Barr said he intended to release as much as he could, but also said he'll make the judgments based solely on the law, without allowing personal or political interests to influence the decision, reports The Hill.
The report would wrap up a two-year investigation by Mueller into potential Russian interference and coordination, but it is not clear what conclusions it will draw. According to Justice Department guidelines, Mueller is to send the report to the attorney general's office, explaining the decisions reached, and it would be up to the attorney general to decide if it is in the public interest to release the report.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said her vote for Barr "depends on whether I believe that report will come out as written," but Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said regulations don't call for it to be made public at all.
"A prosecutor goes and talks to his boss, you don’t go talk about it in public," he told reporters after Barr's hearing.
Meanwhile, legal experts say the report most likely will be redacted to conceal items deemed to be sensitive national security information.
If the Trump administration tries to block the report, that could set up a fight with House Democrats, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. and others said they will subpoena the report, if they need to.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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