Barr Memo Points to Need to Immediately Release the Full Mueller Report

Statement by Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn

Americans deserve to know the full truth about the Russian attacks on the 2016 presidential election. Today’s letter from Attorney General Barr only further points to the need to release the full report and the underlying evidence from Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation to Congress and the public immediately, without any obstruction from the White House.

While the four-page summary of Barr’s interpretations of the Mueller report is inadequate to draw full conclusions about the Special Counsel investigation, it did make clear that Mueller expressly stated that President Trump was not exonerated on obstruction of justice. Yet, the President and White House press office announced that Trump has been completely exonerated.   Barr also concludes that “the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction of justice offense.”   These discrepancies underscore the need to see the evidence to better evaluate these differences.

Unanswered questions remain around potential misconduct that President Trump and his associates may have committed, including corruption, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. That is why it is essential that Congress continue its investigations, protect our elections from future foreign attacks, and ensure every American can view the full Mueller report.

Just this month, a resolution calling for the Mueller report to be released publicly passed the House unanimously. Moving forward, Congress must force the full Mueller report to be released and hold public hearings with testimony from both Barr and Mueller.

In addition to the congressional investigations, President Trump, his business, family members, campaign, and associates remain subjects in over a dozen other federal and state criminal investigations. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York is investigating campaign finance and other crimes stemming from the 2016 hush payments to Stormy Daniels — these were crimes alleged by Common Cause in complaints to the Federal Election Commission and the Department of Justice in early 2018. Those probes must continue and be protected from interference from Trump and his allies in Congress.

Common Cause’s 1.2 million members and activities, and millions of other people across the country involved in the Trump Is Not Above The Law coalition, are prepared to march in the streets if the full report is not released to the American people. Anything less than full transparency is simply not acceptable.