WASHINGTON: US Congressional Democrats on Friday took legal action to see all of US special counsel ‘s evidence from his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election, with an eye to using the probe’s findings against President Trump.
House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat, issued a subpoena to the justice department to hand over the full Russia report by Mueller, saying he cannot accept a redacted version released on Thursday that “leaves most of Congress in the dark.” “My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice. The redactions appear to be significant. We have so far seen none of the actual evidence that the Special Counsel developed to make this case,” Nadler said in a statement.
The 448-page report painted a clear picture of how Trump had tried to hinder the probe but did not conclude that he had committed the crime of obstruction of justice, although it did not exonerate him. The report blacked out details about secret grand jury information, US intelligence gathering and active criminal cases as well as potentially damaging information about peripheral players who were not charged.
The Democrats’ subpoena gives US attorney general William Barr until May 1 to produce the materials requested. Democratic leaders played down talk of impeachment just 18 months before the 2020 presidential election, even as some prominent members of the party, most notably representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, promised to push the idea.
Trump, who has repeatedly called the Mueller probe a political witch hunt, lashed out again. “Statements are made about me by certain people in the Crazy …which are fabricated & totally untrue.” He seemed to be referring to former White House counsel Don McGahn who was cited in the report as having annoyed Trump by taking notes of his conversations with the president.