The Committee on the Law of the House of Representatives of the United States voted to send an agenda to the Justice Ministry demanding that the full version of the final report of Special Prosecutor Robert Muller about President Trump’s alleged ties with the Kremlin be published.
The committee decided to resort to such methods after Attorney General William Barr informed Congress about plans to publish a final report in late April. At the same time, Barr clarified that some materials will be excluded from this publication - for example, testimony given at the meetings of the grand jury, and other “sensitive” moments.
The head of the committee, Democratic Congressman Jerry Nadler said he intends to win the right to write out a formal agenda, which obliges Barr to publish the full text of the report if he does not do it himself.
“The constitution instructs Congress to call the president to account if it is suspected that he committed unlawful acts while on duty. Such a task requires us to independently evaluate the evidence - not the findings of the prosecutor general, not the squeeze with numerous bills, but the full report and the underlying evidence, ”NBC television quoted NBC as saying.
At the same time, the head of the committee stressed that he would give Barru, the General Prosecutor, “time to change his mind.”
“But if it is not possible to reach an agreement, we will have nothing left but to request these materials in an official manner,” Nadler warned.
End of investigation
The investigation of the Muller Commission on the “collusion” of the election headquarters of Donald Trump with the Russian authorities, as well as obstruction of justice, was initiated in May 2017 and lasted for almost two years. The case was conducted by 19 prosecutors, an investigation team of 40 people, including agents of the FBI and other special services. During its work, the commission interviewed about 500 witnesses and issued more than 2.8 thousand subpoenas.
- Capitol Building in Washington
- Reuters
During the investigation, a number of functionaries of the election campaign of Donald Trump were on trial, but not for participation in the alleged conspiracy, but for other offenses. The longest term was received by lobbyist Paul Manafort, the former head of Trump's headquarters: he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for violations in the sphere of financial legislation.
Former presidential lawyer Michael Cohen received three years in prison for financial fraud. Consultant George Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days in prison for giving false testimony to FBI agents.
On March 24, Attorney General William Barr announced that Muller’s investigation had been completed and sent a final report to Congress. It was noted that the investigation did not find evidence or signs of “links” between Trump’s campaign headquarters and Russia.
It was also noted that the decision on the issue of obstruction of justice, in which the head of the White House was suspected, was not made. In addition, Prosecutor General Barr said that no further charges would be forthcoming in this investigation.
This statement has caused a flurry of criticism from the American media, democratic politicians and Hollywood celebrities who support them, who believe that in this way the Trump administration is trying to hide the facts of the president’s “agreement” with the Russian authorities.
So, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, the speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Barr is allegedly an interested person, and therefore his conclusions can not be trusted.
“Given the well-known biased stance of Mr. Barr in relation to this investigation, he is not a neutral observer and cannot make objective conclusions about the report,” Pelosi quoted The New York Times.
At the same time, experts note that the completion of the investigation strengthened the internal political position of Donald Trump.
“If the expectations of the democrats were met and the report would have written that the relations between Trump and the Kremlin really exist, then impeachment would be possible. But this fact is not in the abbreviated version, it will not be in the extended version. However, criticism from the Democrats will continue, because US politicians have a violent fantasy. Trump will still be blamed and criticized, ”said Konstantin Blokhin, expert at the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in an interview with RT.
“Now they want him to publish his tax return to show his corruption,” adds the political scientist.
Compromising search
In turn, Republicans in Congress criticized the actions of the jurisprudence committee, noting that in this way the Democrats "are desperately trying to get at least some compromising evidence against the president." Congressman Doug Collins noted that the requirement to publish a report through a subpoena is in fact illegal.
“The Attorney General is extremely prohibited to make public the materials of the grand jury courts and publish them outside the Ministry of Justice, except for a very limited number of exceptions. The congress is not included in these exceptions, and the chairman Nadler knows this, ”Collins quotes Axios portal.
Donald Trump, commenting on the decision of the jurisprudence committee, accused his chairman of double standards, recalling his position on the investigation of Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr against Bill Clinton.
“In 1998, Congressman Jerry Nadler was categorically opposed to the publication of Starr’s Bill Clinton report. It was impossible by law to publish anything at all. And the Muller’s hated democrats report, which confirmed that there was no collusion, he wants to see in its entirety. You can't please them! ”Trump wrote in his Twitter.
In 1998, Rep. Jerry Nadler strongly opposes the release of the Starr Report on Bill Clinton. No information whatsoever would or could be legally released. But with the NO COLLUSION Mueller Report, which he wants it all. NOTHING WILL EVER SATISFY THEM! @foxandfriends
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019Unchanged course
The leading expert of the Center for Actual Politics, Viktor Olevich, in a conversation with RT, noted that in the context of the election campaign, it was difficult for Democrats to admit their mistake and the fact that for two years they had, in fact, misinformed potential voters. The political scientist has no doubt that the results of the Muller investigation hit the image of the Democratic Party and now the Democrats will try to stop the damage with new accusations against the Trump administration.
“Democrats want to use the information contained in the final report to discredit Trump. Barr presented to Congress a report on the results of Muller’s report in abbreviated form, but under US law, the Prosecutor General has the right to make decisions about the form in which to report to the US Congress and whether to disclose its details to the press, ”explained Olevich.
According to him, the dissatisfaction of the Democrats and their demands to publish the full version of the report are connected with the desire to use the data obtained in the election race of 2020.
“All convicts in the case of“ ties ”with Russia received terms for their own crimes. During the investigation, actions that, according to Muller, violated US law, were uncovered. Democrats are interested in receiving and using this information in a new election cycle, ”said the expert.
At the same time, the political scientist admitted that the full version of the report may indeed contain some “inconvenient” facts for Trump and his administration, which, however, are not connected with Russia.
“Now they will say that Barr is trying to hide from the American society the real results of the Muller investigation. Democrats will use in the information campaign against Trump the fact that the full version of the report is not made public. But if the report is still fully published, the Democrats will try to cling to some controversial points, ”says Olevich.
As Konstantin Blokhin noted, despite any publications proving the absurdity of Trump’s "conspiracy" with Russia, the anti-Russian course of the American political establishment will remain unchanged.
“If the report is published in full, it will not change the relations between Moscow and Washington. In America, a tough bipartisan anti-Russian consensus emerged. Both the Democratic and the Republican parties are Russophobic. The United States headed for the containment of Russia. It doesn’t matter whether Trump is named “Kremlin agent” in the report or not; it will not affect this course in any way, ”the expert concluded.