Congress Must Have Full Access to Mueller Report

(WASHINGTON)—The news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has delivered his report to Attorney General William Barr signifies an end to the active investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Barr delivered a letter announcing this to the chairs and ranking members of both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. He writes that he will “consult with Deputy Attorney General [Rod] Rosenstein and Special Counsel Mueller to determine what other information from the report can be released to Congress and the public.”

Liz Hempowicz, director of public policy at the Project On Government Oversight, stated:

I hope the attorney general means it when he says he remains “committed to as much transparency as possible.” While I understand that portions of a publicly released report may need to be redacted to protect sources and methods and to preserve the integrity of any ongoing legal proceedings, Congress should have access to the complete, unredacted report and underlying documents.

Although the special counsel’s investigation has concluded, Members of Congress can—and should—continue to press forward with their ongoing investigations. As we said in Congressional testimony in 2017, “Congressional investigations play a constitutionally important, distinct, and complementary role.” Congress, unlike the special counsel, is uniquely positioned to enact legislative solutions to address systemic problems.

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Media Contacts: Liz Hempowicz, Director of Public Policy at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), [email protected]; or Tim Farnsworth, Chief Communications Strategist at POGO, [email protected].