Attorney General William Barr will not present his summary of special counsel Robert Mueller conclusions to Congress on Saturday, a senior Justice Department official told The Washington Times.
The official said Mr. Barr is still working toward his own suggested deadline of this weekend for releasing a summary of the main conclusions from Mr. Mueller’s report. That summary is expected to go to Congress and the public.
Mr. Mueller spent nearly two years investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election and Trump campaign figures’ behavior — including President Trump’s own actions.
As Mr. Barr rushes to make a public release, congressional Democrats say they fear dirty tricks and are demanding a full and complete release of the entire report to Congress. Some have also demanded Mr. Mueller preserve all his work materials for Congress to pore over — and have said they’ll likely ask him to testify.
Mr. Barr received the special counsel’s report Friday and read it that evening, and returned to the department at 10 a.m. Saturday to continue, an official said.
He’s reviewing it with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who authorized the special counsel in 2017, picked Mr. Mueller and oversaw his work for most of the nearly two-year investigation.
Mr. Barr and Mr. Rosenstein were still working together to review the special counsel report as of late Saturday afternoon, according to the senior Justice Department official.
The White House said it remains in the dark, having neither seen the report nor been briefed on it.
The Justice Department said Mr. Mueller will not bring any new prosecutions, signaling that Mr. Trump will not be charged.
Republicans said that’s confirmation of Mr. Trump’s belief that the investigation was overwrought.
But Democrats say lack of prosecution is not the end of the story.
“Even if DOJ chooses not to prosecute additional individuals, the underlying findings must be provided to Congress and the American people,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to fellow Democrats Saturday.
She said Mr. Barr’s plans to reveal a summary of the main conclusions “is insufficient,” and they need to see not only Mr. Mueller’s report but “underlying documents” so congressional committees can figure out new avenues of investigation.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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