Democrats are gearing up to fight for a public release of Mueller report

Several Democratic members of Congress are preemptively pushing back on Attorney General William Barr's handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report.

Barr could reportedly announce the completion of Mueller's probe "as early as next week," bringing the investigation into whether President Trump's campaign was involved with Russian election interference to a close. But he will reportedly withhold the majority of the findings, and will instead only provide Congress with a summary.

House Democrats have already launched an effort to combat that. Appearing on CNN, Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) said that “the full report needs to be available — not just to Congress — but the American public." He added that Congress will need to hold its own public hearings based on the report.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Some of Garamendi's Democratic colleagues have already taken to Twitter to echo the demand, including Reps. Gwen Moore (Wisc.), Shiela Jackson Lee (Texas), and Sean Patrick Maloney (N.Y.).

President Trump himself weighed in on the matter, insisting that the timing and manner of the report's release "will be totally up to the Attorney General."

The timing of the announcement has also stirred a reaction, with some speculating that Barr (who has criticized the Mueller investigation in the past) might be shutting the special counsel's office down prematurely. Tim O'Donnell