Create a new version of paste:

By Karoun Demirjian and
Devlin Barrett March 28 at 3:17 PM
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election spans more than 300 pages, people familiar with the matter said Thursday, adding to Democrats’ concerns that the attorney general’s four-page summary leaves unanswered significant questions about President Trump’s conduct.

Attorney General William P. Barr confirmed the report’s length during a Wednesday phone call with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). During that conversation, Barr indicated that the Justice Department would miss House Democrats’ April 2 deadline to provide Congress with Mueller’s complete findings and would not commit to making public an unredacted copy of the report and the evidence that informed it, Nadler told reporters after the phone call.

Any delay would be unacceptable, he added, raising the prospect that lawmakers will issue a subpoena for Mueller’s full report. Barr has agreed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee “reasonably soon” to discuss Mueller’s report, Nadler said. He has a budget hearing scheduled for April 9 before the House Appropriations Committee.

[Attorney general expected to miss deadline for giving Mueller report to Congress, will not commit to releasing it in full]

Barr’s summary of Mueller’s report indicates the special counsel did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to sway the 2016 election. It offers no conclusion on whether the president sought to obstruct justice during the Russia probe, which was another focus of Mueller’s work.

Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have interpreted Barr’s summary as full vindication of the president.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) attacked Republican critics on his committee after they signed a letter asking him to resign. (Reuters)

Democrats have complained that Barr’s summary, at four pages, was too pithy to adequately address the special counsel’s complete findings. They have insisted that Barr must release the full report and its underlying materials before anyone can conclude that Mueller’s findings acquit Trump of serious wrongdoing.


[Comey: ‘It doesn’t make sense’ that Mueller didn’t rule on obstruction of justice]

The report’s length, first reported by the New York Times, sheds some light on why it is expected to be several weeks still before Justice Department officials provide the report to Congress. Democrats, though, fear that Barr might seek to prevent the public disclosure of potentially unflattering or problematic details about the president.

“For Mr. Barr to quickly issue a four-page report in his attempt to try to exonerate Mr. Trump, and now to delay the release of an over 300-page report written by Mueller so the American people and we senators and congressman can see what was written, has too much of the odor of political expediency to help the man who appointed him, President Trump,” Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday on the Senate floor.


Barr said during his confirmation hearing that he would be as transparent as possible with releasing Mueller’s findings, taking care to note that he would adhere to Justice Department policy stipulating that allegations involving unindicted individuals remain private.

What to watch for as Barr releases more on the Mueller report
Attorney General William P. Barr has submitted his summary of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's report to Congress. Here's what to expect next. (Monica Akhtar/The Washington Post)

The report “doesn’t say they found no evidence of collusion, that’s simply not true,” said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.). Schiff has on several occasions said he believes there is serious evidence that Trump or his subordinates colluded with Russia, even if that evidence did not rise to the level of a criminal offense.

Schiff’s comments have inspired a backlash from Republicans. On Thursday, GOP members on the House Intelligence Committee formally called on Schiff to step down as chairman, submitting a letter they all signed declaring they had “no faith” in his ability to lead them.


“You’ve been at the center of a well-orchestrated media campaign, claiming, among other things, that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government,” Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) said to Schiff at the start of a hearing, reading from the letter.

Mueller’s findings, the letter says, “have exposed you as having abused your position to knowingly promote false information, having damaged the integrity of this committee, and undermined faith in U.S. government institutions.”

[Read: House Intelligence Republicans’ letter calling for Adam Schiff to resign as committee chairman]

At a news conference Thursday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) compared Schiff to the disgraced senator Joseph McCarthy, accusing the California Democrat of lying to the public and smearing an innocent man.


“All Americans should be concerned with the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee taking the position of judge and jury and perpetuating false information for the last two years,” McCarthy said. “It’s now up to Nancy Pelosi to remove Chairman Schiff. We need to restore the trust in the Intelligence Committee.”

The House speaker is backing Schiff. On Thursday, she chastised Republicans as “scaredy cats.”

“They’re afraid of the truth. They’re afraid of competence,” Pelosi said, defending Schiff and his work as the Intelligence Committee’s chairman.

When he took over as chairman earlier this year, Schiff launched a new intelligence committee investigation into alleged collusion and money laundering involving Trump and his associates. In the days since Barr’s summary of Mueller’s findings was released, Schiff has vowed to continue that probe.


For the past two years, the Senate Intelligence Committee also has investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, including allegations of Trump’s Russia ties. On Thursday, the panel met privately with Jared Kushner, its second interview with the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

[Trump told Hannity he won’t rule out pardoning Michael Flynn and others in first interview since Mueller probe ended]

In an interview Wednesday with Fox News personality Sean Hannity, Trump joined the chorus of Republicans calling for Schiff to step aside, arguing that he should not only be removed as chairman but also be removed from Congress. Trump called him “a disgrace to our country.”

Schiff shot back at his critics Thursday, saying Republicans “might think it’s okay” that Russians tried to sway the election, or that Trump’s associates entertained those entreaties. “I do not think that conduct, criminal or not, is okay, and the day we do think that is okay is the day we will look back and say that is the day America lost its way,” Schiff said, adding that he was more concerned that the president, through his foreign contacts, might be compromised.

Conaway rejected Schiff’s characterization, saying the Republicans’ letter was simply a statement of no confidence in Schiff’s leadership.

karoun.demirjian@washpost.com devlin.barrett@washpost.com John Wagner, Rachael Bade and Shane Harris contributed to this report.