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House to vote on resolution calling for Mueller report to be made public

Resolution says Congress should get full report, with public getting everything except portions prohibited by law

Former special counsel Robert Mueller will be on the Hill Wednesday. Where will you be? (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Former special counsel Robert Mueller will be on the Hill Wednesday. Where will you be? (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

The House is expected to vote next week on a resolution expressing Congress’ view that the final report expected to be released soon by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III should be made available to the public.

The House Rules Committee announced a meeting on the measure for Monday — typically a sign that a floor vote will follow within a day or two.

The resolution calls for the Mueller’s report to be released in full to the Congress. It also calls for public release of the report “except to the extent the public disclosure of any portion thereof is expressly prohibited by law” — that is, scrubbed of any classified information.

Attorney General William Barr has decided not to recuse himself from oversight of Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to associates on President Donald Trump’s campaign team.

Some Democrats had called for his recusal due to his past criticism of Mueller’s probe.

Per special counsel regulations, Barr must present Congress with a summary of the special counsel’s work. Barr has great authority to decide how much detail he shares in that summary.

Senate Democrats have joined their colleagues in the House in demanding that Barr provide Congress with Mueller’s full report. Since they are the minority party in the chamber, though, they are not in the same position as House Democrats to force a matching resolution to the floor for a vote.

“I don’t know what the special counsel’s report will say, but the notion that the Trump administration plans to lock it up, send Congress ‘a summary,’ and keep the public in the dark is just unacceptable,” said Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said in an email for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

“This isn’t about Republicans and Democrats, or being pro-Trump or anti-Trump. It’s about transparency and protecting the rule of law,” Warner said.

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