Mueller report to be released Thursday

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report will be released on Thursday morning, a Justice Department spokesperson said.

Democrats in Congress have been insisting on the release of the full report, but Attorney General William Barr has said that certain information — like grand jury material and information relating to other ongoing investigations — will be redacted from the document.

Barr sent a letter to Congress late last month announcing the end of Mueller’s probe and outlining the core conclusions of the special counsel’s investigation, including a finding that the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia during the 2016 election.

Barr also wrote in that letter that Mueller did not reach a conclusion on whether President Trump obstructed justice, but said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined that the evidence was not sufficient to bring forward such a charge. 

{mosads}Barr had said last week during his testimony before a House panel that the report would be released “within a week,” and told senators the next day that it would come out “next week.”

The report’s release has been highly anticipated, as it’s expected to include the findings of Mueller’s 22 month-long investigation, as well as the evidence collected by investigators.

While Barr said Mueller found that there was no coordination between Moscow and the Trump campaign during Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, Democrats have argued that the report could still include evidence of collusion.

And they point to Mueller’s decision to not reach a conclusion on obstruction of justice in their claims that the report will show wrongdoing by the president.

Barr in his letter quoted Mueller’s report as saying that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

On the other side of the aisle, Trump and his Republican allies have heralded the investigation’s conclusion as the end of a “witch hunt,” with Trump tweeting Monday morning, “INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!”

Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction. These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019

Trump said last week that he hadn’t seen the report.

“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t care about the Mueller report. I’ve been totally exonerated,” the president told reporters at the time.

The report’s release is almost certain to set up a battle between the Justice Department and Democratic lawmakers seeking the release of the entire report and all of the evidence collected by Mueller.

Barr said last week that he did not plan on asking a court’s permission to release grand jury material included in the report. And a federal appeals court ruled earlier this month that a judge does not have the inherent authority to release grand jury information, making it all the less likely that those details will be made public.

–Updated at 12:25 p.m.