Attorney General William Barr took a bold move in his summary of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller Report. But his four-page summary, has less than 60 words directly quoting from the Special Counsel Report.
This fact makes it inaccurate for the media to describe the summary presented as an accurate depiction of the Mueller report.
As a result of releasing his summary, that eerily sounds like an echo of his memo against the Special Counsel? Barr has poisoned the well of public opinion and raised many other questions, some of which I enumerate below.
To get a better understanding of the soundness or lack thereof of Barr’s decision, we are going to ask a few basic questions.
These are questions that can be answered without revealing classified material, threaten national security, compromise ongoing investigations or expose sources and methods.
Question 1: How many pages was the Mueller Report, from front cover to the back cover?
This is important to know in order to determine the simplicity or complexity of the report. Knowing the length of the report will also put Barr’s summary into context. With Mueller’s reputation as a meticulous worker, the length of the report will give us an idea of how much evidence is packed in there.
Question 2: When will the full unredacted Mueller report be released to Congress and a version to the public?
Special Counsel’s report is a matter of urgent public interest and must be released soon. Polling shows 87 percent of Americans want to see the full report beyond the four-page summary. By refusing to release the report, and the same time allowing President Trump to run around claiming exoneration and demanding apologies from people, Barr is contributing to what appears to be a cover-up and intimidation of dissenting voices.
Question 3: Did Mueller interview any members of President Donald Trump’s family?
This is important because most of the allegations surrounding collusion with Russia involved some members of The Trump family. It defies logic that The Special Counsel did not characterize his reasoning for his decisions to interview or not interview members of the Trump family on this regard.
Question 4: How many criminal referrals did Mueller send out to other jurisdictions such as Southern District of New York?
If Mueller referred people around Trump to be criminally charged, why was Trump and members of his family spared? Could this mean there is a sealed indictment waiting for the Trump presidency to end in order for him to be charged?
Question 5: Why did Mueller decide not to pursue obstruction of justice charges, while not exonerating Trump at the same time?
Does this mean there is evidence of conduct by Trump that can be perceived as criminal? If this is the case, why did Barr determine in his summary to downplay any such evidence?
It is also baffling that Barr would make a determination, one way or the other, about matters that Mueller declined to decide upon. As Special Counsel, Mueller was supposed to work independently from the Justice Department and by characterizing Mueller’s finding in favor of Trump, Barr essentially undermined the integrity of his findings.
These five questions are just a few in many questions out there geared toward bringing more transparency to the Barr Report of the Mueller investigation?
It is absurd for Barr to expect the whole country to accept his summary as the final word of the 2-year Mueller investigation into the Trump-Russia scandal. This is because Barr is on record as having auditioned for his job with a 19-page memo that largely pre-exonerated Trump.
UPDATE:
Reports indicate the Special Counsel’s Report is just under 400 pages long. It’s, however, still puzzling why it took so long for this information to be released. Other reports have, however, stated the report is 1000 or 700 pages long.