U.S. Senator Chris Murphy from Connecticut says Congress may have to subpoena an unredacted version of the Mueller report that the Department of Justice released Thursday.
“There’s no reason that the full report can’t be given to Congress, and that is what is most concerning to me right now – is that the Trump administration has decided what Congress can’t see. I think that is very troubling for our democracy and for our ability to figure out what, if any, consequences there should be. I understand some portions of the report would need to be redacted for public consumption, especially those that could compromise sources and methods of intelligence-gathering processes, but there’s no reason why any of this needs to be withheld from members of Congress who have a constitutional responsibility to oversee the president.”
Murphy said seeing the full report would help Congress determine whether President Donald Trump should face impeachment.
“It may be that there isn’t sufficient evidence to move forward with impeachment. I would be glad to have that be the conclusion that we make, but we can’t make that conclusion unless we have the full report in front of us.”
Murphy said U.S. Attorney General William Barr has acted like a spokesman and advocate for the president, rather than an impartial attorney general.
Barr held a press conference hours before he released the redacted report. He told reporters that White House officials saw the report in advance but did not suggest redactions.
Connecticut’s senior senator, Richard Blumenthal, said that the redacted report details a Russian attack on American democracy with the purpose of aiding the Trump campaign.
“And that attack was welcomed by the Trump campaign and the report shows links, communication and connection between associates of the Trump campaign and that Russian attack.”
Blumenthal, a minority member of the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee, declined to make any conclusions about whether President Donald Trump should be impeached but said that Congress still has a role to play.
“There is need now for Congress to act and fulfill its independent oversight responsibility and that task falls to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where I serve, and the House Judiciary Committee.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Congressman Jim Himes, Democrat of Connecticut, said the report debunks last year’s attempt by Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee to clear President Trump.
Himes, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said the Mueller report contradicts last year’s partisan findings of former Republican Chair Devin Nunes.
“And that’s important, sadly because it indicates that there were some real flaws in the report produced by Devin Nunes.”
He said details in the Mueller report show the extent Trump went to try to torpedo the investigation.
“If Congress were of the mind to impeach this president, you’d have one strong obstruction case.”
But Himes is doubtful that Democrats want to impeach Trump, saying there are so many other ongoing investigations of the president.
Democratic U.S. Congressman Thomas Suozzi of New York issued a statement calling for the full, unredacted report to be made public, saying the entire report would ease political tensions and increase transparency.
The House unanimously voted in March for the unredacted report’s release.
Republican U.S. Congressman Lee Zeldin could not be reached for comment, but he has said that the entire Mueller report should be released so Americans can draw their own conclusions.
