WASHINGTON, DC - Today, after Attorney General William Barr issued a significantly redacted version of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller’s report, which, while incomplete, is still disturbing, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) urged the Department of Justice to make the full report available to Congress and the American people without further delay.

Senator Reed, the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee and an ex officio member of the Intelligence Committee, issued the following statement:

“What remains clear in this report is that Russia, including Russian Military Intelligence Units, attacked our democracy in 2016.  What’s even more disturbing is today’s confirmation that these actions were embraced and encouraged by President Trump.  The Mueller report shows President Trump is the beneficiary of a foreign adversary’s efforts and assistance, someone who puts himself above the law, and a bully who sought to thwart this investigation.  While he refused to sit down with Special Counsel Mueller, the President still owes the American people a truthful explanation.

“Congress has many responsibilities, including doing more to help those Americans hurt by the President’s so-called economic policies, but Congress also has a duty to the Constitution and to oversight.  Simply letting the President’s Attorney General release a partial report that was misleadingly summarized prior to its publication is unacceptable under any Administration.  This investigation was not a witch hunt, and it did not originate because of a deep-state conspiracy or the Steele dossier as the Special Counsel confirms. 

“Attorney General Barr clearly misrepresented and mischaracterized the Special Counsel’s report and has done a disservice to the impartiality of his office and this Department of Justice. 

“It is imperative that Mr. Mueller and his team brief Congress directly on their findings and testify in a public setting.  Congress must fulfill its Constitutional oversight duty and do so in a timely manner.

“Any American should be deeply troubled at the behavior of the President here, and neither he nor his Administration should feel somehow vindicated.  Indeed, the Special Counsel’s statement that ‘…the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts…’ should be seen as a singularly damning statement by every American.  Nor should the report’s finding that ‘At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state’ be taken as anything other than an ominous and dark stain on this presidency.”