Redacted Mueller report coming ‘within a week,’ Barr says
Associated PressWASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr told Congress Tuesday he expects to release his redacted version of the special counsel’s Trump-Russia investigation report “within a week,” while Democrats criticized his handling of the long-awaited document and demanded he turn it over in full. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said he could issue subpoenas “very quickly” if Robert Mueller’s report is released with redactions after Democrats failed “to reach an accommodation with the attorney general under which we would see the report and the underlying evidence.” He said of Barr: “He has been unresponsive to our requests.” The attorney general appeared before a House appropriations subcommittee to discuss his department’s budget request — normally a sleepy affair — but Democrats, in particular, were more interested in asking questions about the report. While opening the hearing, subcommittee Chairman Jose Serrano of New York called it “the elephant in the room.” Barr wouldn’t discuss the substance of the special counsel’s investigation into possible connections between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, but he did explain some of what to expect when the report is released: He said the redactions will be color-coded and accompanied by notes explaining any decisions to withhold information. At Tuesday’s hearing, Democrats said they were concerned that a four-page summary letter of the report’s main conclusions Barr released last month portrayed the findings in an overly favorable way for President Trump.