Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)
After the US attorney general William Barr released a four-page summary of the special counsels report into possible collusion between Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, the 448 page redacted report (a version which has been censored for legal purposes) has been released.
On March 24, Barr released his summary of the report, which stated that Mueller had not found evidence the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, but Barr stated the report did not exonerate the president. Now that the report is out, the greater context of what Mueller found is more apparent.
The report states that Mueller prefers Congress decide what counts as obstruction of justice and whether to remove a president for any alleged corrupt behaviors, saying “With respect to whether the president can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.” It also outlines 10 different instances that Trump attempted to obstruct the special counsel’s investigation, which Congress could use as evidence for impeachment. The report states that when Trump learned a special counsel was appointed on May 17 2017, the president said “Oh, my God, this is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m f***ed.”
After the report was released, Trump said in a series of tweets, among other things “It is now finally time to turn the tables and bring justice to some very sick and dangerous people who have committed very serious crimes, perhaps even Spying or Treason. This should never happen again!” It is unclear what exactly he means when says justice should be brought against sick and dangerous people.
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have subpoenaed the Justice Department for the unredacted report, and have set a deadline of May 1. While the release of the redacted report has made some Democrats wary to call for impeachment, that has not stopped others, such as Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Elizabeth Warren, who tweeted “The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty. That means the House should initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that she would like to get the unredacted Mueller report before the House makes any steps towards impeachment, which has angered some progressive Democrats in the House, who have called more forcefully for impeachment.
