Congress, Americans should see unredacted report

Given President Trump's longtime criticism of Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Attorney General William Barr's similar hostility towards the investigation, Congress and the American public deserve to view the full unredacted report.

At least twice, President Trump privately discussed firing Mueller, all while launching public attacks on the special counsel on Twitter. Furthermore, the president appointed as attorney general a man with a record of denouncing Mueller.

In June 2018, Barr sent an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department claiming that the investigation was based on a "fatally misconceived" theory; at the time, Barr did not have access to the facts of the case and, during his confirmation hearing, said he "could not recall" if he received any nonpublic information about the investigation. Evidently, his memo was based on wildly sweeping assumptions, demonstrating a clear and unacceptable bias.

This bias appeared again in Barr's initial judgment of the report to Congress. His four-page summary of Mueller's 448-page report largely obfuscated how the Trump campaign welcomed Russia's help in 2016 and minimized evidence of obstruction of justice by the president. The redacted version also outlined how President Trump's efforts to interfere with the investigation were only thwarted due to his aides refusing to carry out his orders and that the special counsel's work sparked 14 other in-progress investigations. Most notably, it revealed that Mueller ultimately left the question of obstruction of justice to Congress - not the attorney general, as Barr's summary would lead one to believe.

Congress must see the full unredacted report so as to more thoroughly examine its contents and reach their own conclusions. The American people deserve to see it as well, to fully understand the extent to which a foreign foe interfered in our democracy in order to help their preferred candidate's chances.

Shannon Bugos

Naperville