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House Dems Press for Mueller Files 03/26 06:21
House Democrats pressed the Justice Department Monday to provide the full
report from special counsel Robert Mueller even as Republicans gleefully called
for them to "move on" from the Russia investigation.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Democrats pressed the Justice Department Monday to
provide the full report from special counsel Robert Mueller even as Republicans
gleefully called for them to "move on" from the Russia investigation. President
Donald Trump accused those responsible for launching Mueller's probe of
"treasonous things against our country" and said they "certainly will be looked
into."
Trump said the release of Mueller's full report "wouldn't bother me at all,"
and Democrats quickly put that statement to the test, demanding that his
administration hand over the entire document and not just Sunday's four-page
summary from Attorney General William Barr.
Six House Democratic committee chairmen wrote to Barr that his summary is
"not sufficient" and asked to be given Mueller's full report by April 2. They
also want to begin receiving the underlying evidence the same day. The
information is "urgently needed by our committees to perform their duties under
the Constitution," they wrote, implying that the information would be
subpoenaed if it is not turned over by the deadline.
Barr said in his letter to Congress that Mueller did not find that Trump's
campaign "conspired or coordinated" with the Russian government to influence
the 2016 presidential election --- knocking down arguments from Democrats who
have long claimed there was evidence of such collusion.
But he also said Mueller reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed
the federal investigation, instead setting out "evidence on both sides" of the
question and stating that "while this report does not conclude the president
committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." Absent a recommendation
from Mueller, Barr stepped in and decided there wasn't sufficient evidence to
establish that the president obstructed justice. Democrats said Barr's judgment
is not the final word.
"All I'm interested in is them releasing the full report, the full Mueller
report," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
Despite Mueller's refusal to exonerate Trump, his spokesmen and leading
congressional Republicans all claimed total vindication for the president
anyway. Questioned by reporters, Trump said he welcomed Mueller's results but
complained he had been abused by the investigation occurring at all and taking
too long.
"We can never let this happen to another president again," he said. "There
are a lot of people out there that have done some very evil things, very bad
things, I would say treasonous things against our country."
"Those people will certainly be looked at. I've been looking at them for a
long time. And I'm saying, why haven't they been looked at? They lied to
Congress. Many of them you know who they are."
He didn't name names, but Trump has spent months railing against former
Justice Department officials, including former FBI Director James Comey,
accusing them of an illegal witch hunt for the purpose of delegitimizing his
presidency. He has also falsely claimed that the investigation was based on
memos compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, and even blamed former
Sen. John McCain, who died last year, for passing the memos to the FBI.
The investigation began months before the FBI saw the dossier --- and the
FBI already had a copy by the time McCain turned it in.
On Monday, after a series of evening strategy meetings, Democrats vowed to
continue their multiple investigations into Trump, perhaps with shifted focus.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who
has become a focus of Republicans' post-Mueller ire, said he is "circumspect
about how much more we will be able to find on issues that he thoroughly
investigated," but said Mueller's conclusion would not affect his own
committee's counterintelligence probes.
"There may be other corrupt meetings between the Trump campaign and the
Russians, there may be other profound financial conflicts of interest that are
not mentioned in the Mueller report, and there may be unanswered questions even
within what he did examine," Schiff said.
Democrats also signaled that they will curtail some public focus, at least,
from their investigations of Trump and try to keep attention on their policy
goals. Schiff postponed an open hearing with Felix Sater, a Russian-born former
business adviser to Trump who helped him negotiate an ultimately unsuccessful
deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow, while the intelligence committee tries to get
a look at Mueller's report.
Pelosi, meanwhile, was scheduled to hold a press conference Tuesday on
health care legislation, Democrats' top campaign issue.
Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline, a member of Democratic leadership, said
he has been encouraging colleagues to talk about those policy issues like
health care and infrastructure.
"We need to talk about the work we are doing on these really important
economic issues that matter in people's lives," Cicilline said. "We're doing
the work, but we need to be more effective about sharing that" and not just
responding to questions about corruption and Mueller's investigation.
Democrats seem more likely to focus on those issues, and their ongoing
investigations, than engaging in the talk of impeachment that has been
amplified on Pelosi's left flank. As the release of Mueller's report loomed,
she recently tried to scuttle that talk by saying she's not for impeachment,
for now.
But Mueller's report hasn't dissuaded some of Trump's fiercest critics among
the new Democratic lawmakers who helped flip the House from Republican control.
By the end of the month, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is still planning to
introduce her resolution calling for the Judiciary Committee to investigate
grounds for Trump's impeachment.
Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers called for Congress to move on. "This is done
with," said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. "It is time for the country
to move forward."
Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 House Republican, said Democrats
don't want facts, "They just want to change the outcome of the 2016 election."
At the same time, however, Republicans followed Trump's lead in looking into
how the investigation began. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham
promised to "unpack the other side of the story" of the Russia investigation.
Graham, who spent the weekend with Trump in Florida, said his committee will
probe the actions of the Justice Department. Still, he said the investigation
was legitimate and had to happen in order to answer questions about Russian
interference in the 2016 election.
The South Carolina Republican also had a warning for Trump using his pardon
power to help those who were ensnared by Mueller's investigation.
"If President Trump pardoned anybody in his orbit, it would not play well,"
Graham said.
Among those whom Mueller charged during the course of his investigation were
the president's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, and his first national
security adviser, Michael Flynn. Five Trump aides pleaded guilty and a sixth,
longtime confidant Roger Stone, is awaiting trial on charges that he lied to
Congress and engaged in witness tampering.
(KA)
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