Privacy group says DOJ agreed to ‘expedite’ release of Mueller report

A privacy group that filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice (DOJ) to obtain special counsel Robert Mueller’s report says the agency has agreed to “expedite” their request.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said in a post late Tuesday that the DOJ agreed to the accelerated schedule after the group sued for the documents last month under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A portion of an email sent by a DOJ official to EPIC and viewed by The Hill also showed that the department had agreed to an expedited release of the report.

A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

{mosads}Under FOIA regulations, an expedited schedule means that the DOJ must fulfill the request “as soon as practicable.”

EPIC has also sued for documents related to the report, which would also be released as part of the request. However, FOIA law allows for certain materials to be exempted from being made public, making it unlikely that the entire report would be released.

EPIC and the DOJ are set to appear before a federal judge in the case on April 9.

The DOJ is facing widespread pressure to make the full Mueller report public: The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday approved a subpoena for the department to hand over the full report to Congress.

A group of Democratic chairmen had demanded that Attorney General William Barr provide them with the report by April 2, but Barr made it clear that the DOJ would not be able to meet that deadline.

The report is now expected to be made public by mid-April.

The DOJ is currently working to redact certain kinds of information from the report, including grand jury information, any matters pertaining to national security and information that relates to any ongoing investigations.