'Congress Didn't Ask for a Summary': Demands to #ReleaseTheFullReport Surge After Barr Letter

Arguing that a four-page summary by President Donald Trump’s handpicked Attorney General is far from sufficient transparency for a probe that lasted nearly two years, members of Congress and progressive advocacy groups Sunday night intensified their demands that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s full conclusions be made public immediately.

“Congress didn’t ask for a ‘summary,’ Attorney General Barr. Members of the House voted 420-0 to release the report. The American people deserve to see the full report.”
—Sen. Elizabeth Warren

“I don’t want a summary of the Mueller report. I want the whole damn report,” tweeted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) after Attorney General William Barr submitted his report to Congress.

According to Barr, a frequent critic of Mueller’s Russia probe prior to his confirmation as Attorney General in February, the Special Counsel “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

On the question of whether Trump obstructed justice, Barr noted, Mueller was inconclusive. According to Barr’s letter, the Special Counsel wrote, “while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Based on Mueller’s findings, Barr asserted that the evidence is “not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense”—a conclusion that independent journalist Marcy Wheeler characterized as “legal sleight of hand.”

Following the public release of Barr’s summary, Democrats in Congress said the letter “raises as many questions as it answers” and called for Mueller’s full conclusions—as well as all underlying documentation—to be released to the public unredacted and without further delay.