Rep. Katherine Clark says that she and other lawmakers are eager to come to their own conclusions when it comes to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report of his investigation into the relationship between the Russian government and President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
“It is [the] Department of Justice’s clear policy that they will not indict or charge a sitting president. So, we have to be able to look at that underlying evidence and say, ‘What was behind that?’ ... It is really our responsibility in Congress to understand that evidence and understand Attorney General [William] Barr’s decision,” Clark said during an interview with Boston Public Radio on Monday. “We may agree with him in the end, but we can’t know that until we see the report and the evidence.”
Mueller delivered his completed investigation to Barr on Friday, who then sent a letter to Congress summarizing his findings. Barr said the report did not find sufficient evidence to indict the president on charges of conspiring with a foreign government, but stopped short of exonerating him of obstruction of justice.
Though Trump was quick to leap on Barr’s statement that Mueller was not recommending new charges, others, like Clark, have pointed out that this is only based on Barr’s interpretation of the report, and are hesitant to engender themselves to his position without having seen any of the report themselves.
“To truly understand it, we need to read it and understand the evidence, and hopefully we will agree and support the conclusions that Attorney General Barr has made,” Clark said. “But he is a political appointee, and it is our responsibility to do that.”
Clark isn’t alone in her desire for the full report to be released. The week before Mueller delivered his report to Barr, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to make it public. Clark, who said she’d like Congress to move on from the Mueller investigation, said it will be the only way to help people place their anxieties about the report to rest.
“I think whatever side you land, whether you’re a Trump supporter or not, I think people are equally eager to understand and see this report so that people can trust it and we can make sure that it is public,” Clark said. “Sunshine is going to be the best thing moving forward from this.”
Clark also hinted that allowing Congress to have access to the report could clear the air surrounding some Democrats' calls for impeaching the president.
“The Democratic Caucus have been very clear. Impeachment is not a goal in and of itself. It is going to be where the facts and investigations take us,” Clark said. “So, we’re going to see, but at this point we are not moving to impeach the president ... it has never been a goal. But if the facts and investigations come forward, we also have an obligation to not impeach any president for political reasons, and not to avoid impeachment for political reasons.”
