DOJ attorney: Agency is ‘well along’ in its redactions of Mueller report

by Jacqueline Thomsen - 04/09/19 10:27 AM ET

A Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney said Tuesday that the agency is “well along” in its process of redacting portions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Courtney Enlow said during a court hearing for a lawsuit seeking the release of the report that while she did not know the exact timeline, the department was “well into” the review, which includes redactions.

{mosads}Attorney General William Barr told a House panel Tuesday that a version of the Mueller report would be made public “within a week.”

The court hearing was in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) to obtain the report.

Judge Reggie Walton, who was appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush, declined EPIC’s request to issue a preliminary injunction requiring the Justice Department to quickly release the report, saying the advocacy group did not prove there would be irreparable harm if the agency failed to do so.

Walton said that he understood EPIC wants the information be released as soon as possible, and that the subject matter is extremely important for the nation.

He ordered the government to file its formal response to EPIC’s request by April 25 and for both parties to appear before him again on May 2 with a status update on the exact documents requested and when they might be expected to be released.

EPIC said last week that the Justice Department had agreed to an expedited release of the report and its underlying documents. However, because the lawsuit was filed under FOIA, it will be subject to exemptions under the law.

Congress is also immersed in a battle over obtaining Mueller’s full report. The House Judiciary Committee last week authorized a subpoena for the Justice Department to hand over the report in its entirety.

Barr missed an April 2 deadline set by the Democratic chairmen of several House committees to release the full report. He has said the DOJ is working to redact certain kinds of information from the document, including any details pertaining to national security or ongoing investigations.

Barr said in his summary letter sent to Congress last month that Mueller determined the Trump campaign and Moscow did not collude to influence the 2016 presidential election.

He said Mueller did not make a determination on whether Trump had obstructed justice. In reviewing the evidence, Barr said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had decided against bringing forward such a charge.

Tags Robert Mueller Rod Rosenstein William Barr