Democrats have gone on the offensive following the release of the redacted report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 election – requesting Mueller to testify before Congress, slamming Justice Department officials for discussing the report with the White House before its public release and even calling on Attorney General William Barr to resign.
The redacted version of the Mueller report, which was released Thursday morning, was met by President Trump and Republicans as a vindication of his claims that there was no collusion between his 2016 presidential campaign and the Russian government. But Democrats have slammed Barr’s handling of the report as a “staggering partisan effort” and highlighted Mueller’s reluctance to make a judgement on whether or not the president obstructed justice.
SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT MUELLER'S RUSSIA PROBE REPORT RELEASED BY JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
“AG Barr has confirmed the staggering partisan effort by the Trump Admin to spin public’s view of the #MuellerReport – complete with acknowledgment that the Trump team received a sneak preview,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tweeted Thursday. “It’s more urgent than ever that Special Counsel Mueller testify before Congress.”
Pelosi, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, criticized Barr for not finding that Trump obstructed justice during the Mueller investigation, despite Mueller finding evidence that the president did attempt to stop the investigation.
"As we continue to review the report, one thing is clear: Attorney General Barr presented a conclusion that the president did not obstruct justice while Mueller's report appears to undercut that finding,” the two lawmakers said in a statement.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-NY, and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., both on Thursday requested Mueller testify before their respective committees. Both Democratic lawmakers in the past have been some of the most vociferous critics of Trump – with Schiff previously claiming that he has evidence of collusion between the president and Russia and Nadler’s committee recently voting to subpoena the full, unredacted Mueller report.
“The House Intelligence Committee has formally invited Special Counsel Mueller to testify on the counterintelligence investigation,” Schiff tweeted. “After a two year investigation, the public deserves the facts, not Attorney General Barr’s political spin.”
Nadler, who plans to hold a press conference in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon, said it is “clear that the American people must hear from Special Counsel Robert Mueller in person to better understand his findings.”
Arguably the strongest reaction from a Democrat has come from Rep. Eric Swalwell of California, who called for Barr’s immediate resignation “given his misconduct regarding the full report.”
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“The attorney general can represent the United States, or he can be Donald Trump’s defense attorney. He can’t be both,” Swalwell told Fox News. “He is seeking to help Donald Trump. He should resign. We need an attorney general who has credibility with the American people.”
A number of Trump’s Democratic challengers in the 2020 presidential race have also weighed in on the redacted report.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., lambasted Barr in a series of tweets – accusing the attorney general of only looking out for Trump’s interest and “acting as if he's the personal attorney and publicist for the President of the United States.”
“The AG is supposed to serve as the country’s top law enforcement officer – someone who stands up for the rule of law & defends the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic,” Warren tweeted. “William Barr is standing up for only one person: the President of the United States.”
Another 2020 Democratic candidate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., also went after Barr, while urging Mueller to appear before Congress to testify on his report.
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“Attorney General Barr has made it clear he is not impartial when it comes to this investigation,” Klobuchar tweeted. “Now that we have the report we should hear from Robert Mueller himself in public hearings. Our democracy demands it.”
And then there is Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., whose main gripe so far was that the version of the Mueller report on the Justice Department website was unsearchable.
“The Trump administration posted an unsearchable pdf of the Mueller report so it would be harder for you to read,” Booker tweeted, before linking to a searchable version that his staff put together.
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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