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The New York representative, Jerry Nadler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House, has requested all recordings of communications between the US Department of Justice and the Special Council Office, Robert Mueller, regarding the final report of the court. investigation of Russia.
Nadler clarified that the committee was seeking communications "regarding the release of the report to Congress, its public disclosure, and your March 24 letter, which purported to" summarize the key findings of the Special Council and the results achieved. of his investigation. "
Nadler's request, which he described on Thursday in a letter to Attorney General William Barr, follows reports that some members of Mueller's team are frustrated by the way Mr. Barr has presented their findings in the investigation on Russia in a four-page letter that he sent late to Congress. last month.
In the letter, Barr wrote that Mueller's team had not found enough evidence to lay a charge of conspiracy against President Donald Trump or anyone associated with his campaign. The Attorney General also stated that the prosecutors refused to conclude, one way or the other, that Trump prevented justice from being heard in the course of the investigation. but clarified that their report "did not exonerate" the president.
Read more: Mueller's team thinks his finds are more dangerous for Trump than Barr said
But Barr, in consultation with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, determined that there was not enough evidence to conclude that Trump had committed a crime of obstruction.
However, people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post that they thought Barr's letter on Mueller's report downplayed the fact that "the evidence gathered about the obstruction was alarming and significant."
Mueller's team also reportedly prepared several summaries of his report and was frustrated. Barr did not use more of their documents in his letter to Congress.
An unnamed American official, quoted in The New York Times, is quoted as saying that Mueller's team presumed that the information would be made available to the public … "So they prepared their summaries in their own words – and not in their attorney general's summary work, as it turned out to be the case ".
Read more: After reports that Mueller's team was upset by the summary of his work by the Attorney General, the Justice Department said the Mueller report could not be released yet, as each page contained information confidential.
The Justice Department released a statement on Thursday defending Barr.
"Each page of the confidential report provided to Attorney General Barr on March 22, 2019 was marked" may contain Fed-protected material. " R. Crim P. 6 (e) "- a law that protects confidential information from the grand jury – and therefore may not be released," the statement said.
Nadler noted in his letter to Barr that the department's statement "does not negate the existence of these summaries".
The New York congressman also urged the Attorney General to publish the summaries that Mueller's team had fully prepared for Congress and the public.
"If daylight is important between [Mueller’s] account and yours, the American people should know it too, "wrote Nadler.
Barr is currently working with the Mueller team to remove certain categories of information from the final report. The Attorney General announced last month that he planned to release a redacted version of the document by mid-April.
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