Republican lawmakers on why they haven’t read Mueller report: ‘Tedious’ and ‘what’s the point?’
Several members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, admitted to Politico they have yet to read former special counsel Robert Mueller’s 400-page report on the findings of his investigation.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she immediately began reading the first part of the report, which outlines contacts between Russians and Trump campaign figures, but the report was “tedious” and she’s still reading it as of late June.
{mosads}“In fairness, I haven’t picked it up in at least two weeks,” she told the publication.
“I’d be pretty reckless to say I have a full comprehension,” Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) told Politico. “I need to spend some more time with it.”
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), who served as former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, told the publication “I didn’t have to read it. I lived it,” echoing similar comments by former White House communications director Hope Hicks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing.
“I intended to read cover to cover, but there was nothing in it that was a surprise to me,” Kaine added.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) merely said “What’s the point?”
A CNN poll found that, as of late April, only 3 percent of respondents said they had read the entire report.
“I think that’s really high,” Murkowski told Politico. “I think they’re lying to you.”
Not all legislators have yet to finish the report. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in May that she read the report in full within about 24 hours and decided to support impeachment based on that. Rep. Justin Amash (Mich.), who had been the only Republican to support impeachment before announcing he would leave the party last week, made a similar claim.
Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas), meanwhile, said in an April Fox News interview that he had read the report in its entirety and concluded President Trump was “the one person that was always being truthful” about coordination between the campaign and Russia, according to Politico.
Mueller, who had previously said the report was all he had to say about his probe, is set to testify before the House July 17.
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