House Democrats Say Attorney General William Barr Has April 2 Deadline to Disclose Full Mueller Report

Six Democrats who chair key committees in the House of Representatives signed a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Monday, giving him an April 2 deadline to submit special Counsel Robert Mueller's entire report to them. The deadline includes any evidence and materials related to the report.

The letter, signed by the six ranking Democrats, reminded Barr of the March 14 House vote that called for the release of Mueller's full report, which passed 420-0.

"Each of our committees is currently engaged in oversight activities that go directly to the President's conduct, his attempts to interfere with federal and congressional investigations, his relationships and communications with the Russian government and other foreign powers, and/or other alleged instances of misconduct," the letter stated.

The Mueller report was submitted to the attorney general's office on March 22, and Barr issued a four-page summary on March 24 that said Mueller found no evidence that President Donald Trump or his associates conspired with the Russian government to sway the 2016 election.

While Republicans—and a Russian lawmaker—have cheered the report, ranking Democrats have called for the release of the full report. The Democrats also said they now want an investigation by the Justice Department "without interference or obstruction by the president," stating it's "vital for national security purposes."

"First, Congress must be permitted to make an independent assessment of the evidence regarding obstruction of justice," the lawmakers said. "The determinations you have reached regarding obstruction and the manner in which you chose to characterize the Special Counsel's investigation only raise further questions, particularly in light of the Special Counsel's decision to refrain from making "a traditional prosecutorial judgment."

The Democrats told Barr that because they can't identify any "actions" from the abbreviated report, they can't fully evaluate the investigation. They also asked to see any specific evidence related to the full report.

"Second, we have no reason to question that Special Counsel Mueller made a well-considered prosecutorial judgment in two specific and narrow areas—whether the Trump campaign conspired to join Russia's election-related online disinformation and hacking and dissemination efforts," the Democrats wrote. "But it is vital for national security purposes that Congress be able to evaluate the full body of facts and evidence collected and evaluated by the Special Counsel, including all information gathered of a counterintelligence nature."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday said Republicans intended to block the release of the full Mueller report to the public, according to The Hill.

"The special counsel and the Justice Department ought to be allowed to finish their work in a professional manner," McConnell said in the report. "To date, the attorney general has followed through on his commitments to Congress. One of those commitments is that he intends to release as much information as possible."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Republicans were trying to "hide" something by not releasing the full report. He tweeted, "Americans simply want the truth. Today I tried to pass a resolution saying the full Mueller report should be made public. The House passed the exact same resolution 420-0. But here you can watch @SenateMajLdr McConnell object. Why do they want to hide the full report?"

The letter concluded by saying, "With due respect to the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the [Justice] Department and the FBI released more than 880,000 pages of documents, publicly identified career officials involved in the case, and produced volumes of internal deliberative materials, including sensitive investigatory and classified materials."

The House Democrat leaders urged Barr to comply by April 2.

The six chairpersons who signed the letter and their House leadership positions are:

Jerrold Nadler—Judiciary Committee

Elijah Cummings—Oversight and Reform Committee

Adam Schiff—Intelligence Committee

Maxine Waters—Financial Services Committee

Richard Neal—Ways and Means Committee

Eliot Engel—Foreign Affairs Committee