Parliament calls for Mueller report to be made public by majority bipartite vote

The House voted overwhelmingly and bipartisanally to urge the Justice Ministry to release the full report of the special council, Robert S. Mueller III, on Russia's interference in the 2016 elections, once completed. .

This measure aims to "send a clear signal to the American people and the Ministry of Justice": lawmakers expect to see the full account of Mueller's work, said the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerrold Nadler (DN.Y). .)

The final count of the votes was 420 for, none voting no. Four legislators voted "present".

But the resolution itself can not compel Attorney General William P. Barr to publish more of the report than he intended – and that's why even some Republicans who the sustained complained that the measure was a waste of time.

"Attorney General Barr has stated that he wants to be transparent with the Congress and the public, in accordance with the rules and the law," the representative of the Judiciary Committee told AFP on Thursday. Republican Douglas A. Collins (Ga). the resolution was "simply a reformulation of the regulations".

As such, it is unclear whether the Senate Republican leader, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Will submit the resolution to the Senate for a vote.

For the Democrats, the adoption of the resolution was an important gesture because during the confirmation hearing, Barr refused to commit to making the full report public.

Democrats are concerned that Barr's strict defense of his own prerogative, combined with his stated compliance with the rules of the Department of Justice, discourages the indictment of a current or former president. assault of an individual not charged in an investigation report, which could give rise to buried information.

"Affirming that a president in office can not be indicted, no matter what evidence, because he is president in office, and then conceal from Congress the evidence of wrongdoing because the president does not can be pursued, amounts to transforming the DOJ's policy into a means of: a blanket, "Nadler told the House just before the vote.

Democrats – and many Republicans – want Barr to publish more than Mueller's full report. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) Said the Justice Department had set a precedent: to provide Congress with sensitive information and put officials in charge. Law enforcement and intelligence services available to the police when the House led by the GOP was investigating Trump and Clinton probes.

"Disclosure is only imperative here because the special council would have initiated an investigation to determine whether the president himself had committed a fault," said Schiff.

Several Republicans also agreed that Mueller should publish not only the full report, but also all investigative material that informed him.

"I want Americans to know as much as possible and see as much as they can. . . It should have been broader, "said Will Hurd (R-Tex.), A member of the Intelligence Committee and a former CIA officer. "Taxpayers have paid millions for this information, and they should be able to see it in full."