You will not get what you want from the "Mueller Report"

Washington's political class has been waiting for months: the publication of the "Mueller Report". Like Donald Trump's "Wall", the phrase "Mueller Report" has meant a thousand different things to different readers and commentators. To keep up with cable news, you may have had the impression that special advocate Robert Mueller was going to publish the full findings of his investigation.

That's essentially what we got when Ken Starr's independent attorney released the findings of his investigation into the lust, perjury and abuse of power of Bill Clinton, but the current law governing The special advocate is different from the old law governing the independent lawyer.

So, here's what to keep in mind:

1) Mueller owed his report to the Ministry of Justice, not to Congress or the public. This humming buzz of excitement at 5 pm On Friday, Mueller handed over to Attorney General Bill Barr his final product: a "confidential report explaining the decisions taken in terms of prosecution or refusal". Mueller's job was to charge people who needed an indictment. This report is essentially an after-action report – the fact that the Department of Justice oversees the office of the special board.

2) What Barr delivers to Congress may not be so juicy. Barr announced that he would provide Congress with a summary of Mueller's report. The Department of Justice has guidelines against the disclosure of derogatory information about unindicted persons. That is, if President Trump or one of his sons did something wrong but can not be prosecuted, we can expect that Barr exclude him from his report to Congress. This means that even if the Democrats publish Barr's summary, or Barr makes it public, you may not have all the dirt for the bad things that did not result in a charge.

Barr's letter states that he will follow the "practices and policies" of the Department of Justice.

So, this moment that we are waiting for might not provide the clarity so much hoped for.