Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election arrived on the attorney general’s desk at end of business Friday.
So far, the content of Mueller’s report remains top-secret to the public — we don’t even have a page count yet. Mueller delivered the report to Attorney General William Barr, who is presumably sorting through for any evidence of the Trump campaign’s collusion with Russia or a cause for further indictments, among any other string of legal actions that could stem from Mueller’s findings over the last 22 months. The hush around the contents of the report is prompting those wondering about the future of our national government to ask: when is it going to be released to the public?
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On top of that, there’s a question around how much of the report we will actually get to see. The speculation has spawned expert political guesswork and viral memes alike, but the answer to all of this is, unfortunately, quite simple: we don’t know yet.
Congress may get a preliminary briefing from the attorney general as early as Saturday, according to The Washington Post, which reports that Barr could be releasing a brief summary of Mueller’s findings sometime this weekend. Justice Department officials describe the report as “comprehensive,” and have said that Mueller did not recommend any further indictments.
President Donald Trump has regularly dismissed Mueller’s investigation, often calling it a “witch hunt,” but earlier this week said that the report should be released if the American people want it, per CNN. The White House confirmed on Friday that it has not yet received or been briefed on the report. Democrats, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are calling for the report’s full release, saying in a joint statement, “The American people have a right to the truth. The watchword is transparency.”
While deliberations over the report are made in Washington, here’s where we stand on the legal side of things. Federal law keeps Barr from releasing certain sensitive information obtained through grand jury testimony, according to PBS Newshour, and a lot of Mueller’s findings rested on a few dozen grand jury indictments — including indictments of several high-profile Russian officials and senior members of the Trump campaign, such as Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, campaign chairman Paul Manafort, and campaign advisor Rick Gates. It’s unclear how much of that information will need to be withheld under the law. Witness interviews and other information gathered outside of grand jury involvement isn’t sealed and could be released publicly.