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| Robert S. Mueller, III _____________________ |
March 27, 2019
The Honorable William P. Barr
Attorney General of the United States
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C.
Re: Report of the Special Counsel on
the Investigation Into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election
and Obstruction of Justice (March 2019)
Dear Attorney General Barr:
I previously sent you a letter dated March 25, 2019, that
enclosed the introduction and executive summary for each volume of the Special
Counsel’s report marked with redactions to remove any information that
potentially could be protected by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e); that
concerned declination decisions; or that related to a charged case. We also had
marked an additional two sentences for review and have now confirmed that these
sentences can be released publicly.
Accordingly, the enclosed
documents are in a form that can be released to the public consistent with
legal requirements and Department policies. I am requesting that you provide
these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time. [March 27, 2019] (Italics
and highlighting by admin.)
As we stated in our meeting of March 5 and reiterated to the
Department early in the afternoon of March 24, the introductions and executive
summaries of our two-volume report accurately summarize this Office’s work and
conclusions. The summary
letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the
afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance
of this Office’s work and conclusions. We communicated that concern to
the Department on the morning of March 25. There is now public confusion about
critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for
which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public
confidence in the outcome of the investigations. See Department of
Justice, Press Release (May 17, 2017).
While we understand that the Department is reviewing the full
report to determine what is appropriate for public release — a process that our
Office is working with you to complete — that process need not delay release of
the enclosed materials.
Release at this time would alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen and
would answer congressional and public questions about the nature and outcome of
our investigation. It would also accord with the standard for public
release of notifications to Congress cited in your letter. See 28 C.F.R. §
609(c) (“the Attorney General may determine that public release” of
congressional notifications “would be in the public interest”).
Sincerely yours,
Robert S. Mueller, III
Special Counsel
