Iowa’s U.S. Senators say the public deserves to see special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. It’s up to U.S. Attorney General William Barrwhether to release documents from the investigation into coordination and conspiracy between the associates of President Donald Trump's campaign and the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Iowa’s U.S. senators are part of the bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing for the findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller to be made public.
Muellerturned over his report to the Justice Department last week. Sunday, Barr published his own four page interpretation of Mueller's key findings.
According to Barr's analysis, Mueller did not establish coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. The special counsel also didn’t make a call on obstruction of justice: "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also did not exonerate him," Barr quoted the special counsel as saying in his report.
Certain details of the investigation must be redacted by law. But Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., says anything that can be released should be.
“There’s a law that says grand jury testimony should never be public. So redact those things," Grassley said. "There’s hundreds of pages. Let the other hundreds of pages hang out there.”
Iowa's junior U.S. senator Joni Ernst also called on Barr to release the report.
"I strongly believe that as much of the report that can be made public should be - barring any national security threat. Taxpayers have paid millions for this investigation; it's only right that they see its findings," Ernst said in a written statement posted to Twitter.
According to Barr, the investigation employed a team of 19 laywers who were assisted by about 40 FBI agents. Over the course of the far-reaching investiation conducted over 22 months, the special counsel issued upwards of 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants and interviewed some 500 witnesses.
According to The New York Times, the investigation had cost approximately $25 million as of last September. Those costs could rise after the team submits their final expense reports.
Grassley says transparency around the report’s findings will bring greater accountability.
"I'm for transparency. Not only in this case but generally. You hear me use the word transparency because the public’s business ought to be public," he said.
