Rep. Jim Himes said Friday special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into alleged collusion with Russia is not being released because it depicts President Trump unfavorably.
“You can bet that the fact we haven’t seen this report two milliseconds after it hit the White House, that tells us one thing, that it is not exonerating the president, and it contains information he does not like,” the Connecticut Democrat said on CNN’s “New Day” show.
Mr. Himes added his worries that Mr. Trump will redact information from the report before it’s released.
“What I worry about … is the White House is going to assert executive privilege not to protect conversations that were designed to advise the president, but to avoid the release of information that will be inconvenient or embarrassing for this president. I think that’s the fight we’re going to have.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said Wednesday the president would not invoke executive privilege to look at the report before it’s released.
White House officials said they have not seen the full Mueller report, but Mr. Trump has said the findings prove there was “no collusion, no obstruction, complete and total exoneration!”
Attorney General William P. Barr released a four-page summary saying Mr. Mueller exonerated Mr. Trump and his campaign from any collusion with Russia but chose to not make a determination on obstruction of justice.
Mr. Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the evidence against obstruction of justice is not enough to pursue charges.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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