Over the last 48 hours or so, Americans have seen quite a bit of coverage about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia scandal. What they have not seen is Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia scandal.
Literally everything we know about the document has come from a brief summary of the report, written by Attorney General William Barr, handpicked by Donald Trump to lead the Justice Department. Barr, a Republican lawyer who’s only been at his post for about five weeks, has offered his assessment about Mueller’s findings — but that’s all he’s prepared to share.
Last week, the House voted 420 to 0 on a measure calling for the attorney general to release the actual Mueller report to the public. It’s against this backdrop that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) tried yesterday to pass, by unanimous consent, the same resolution in the upper chamber. That didn’t work.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday blocked an effort by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to unanimously pass a non-binding measure expressing that Congress wants Robert Mueller’s report outlining the results of his Russia investigation be made public. […]
“Whether or not you’re a supporter of President Trump or not, whatever you feel there is no good reason not to make the report public,” Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday. “The American people deserve to see the documentation, what did they do? Who did they approach? What happened?”
McConnell objected to Schumer’s effort.
It’s worth emphasizing that the vote was a non-binding resolution. If passed, it would’ve had no force of law. For all intents and purposes, it’s a measure that says, “We think it’d be a good idea if the public got to see the Mueller report.” That proved to be too much for the Senate’s Republican leader.
For two days, Americans have been told that the special counsel’s findings are great news for Donald Trump and his party. As the story goes, the Mueller report makes the media look bad, it makes Democrats look bad; and it makes the president look innocent.
Doesn’t it stand to reason, then, that Republicans should want us to see the document?
To be sure, it’s possible Barr and his GOP brethren are correct. Maybe the Mueller report is everything the White House wants it to be.
Or maybe not. There’s really only one way to know for sure.
NBC News reported yesterday, meanwhile, that six Democratic committee chairs in the House sent a letter to Barr, requesting that he submit the full report from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation to Congress by April 2.
In their three-page letter, the committee chairs wrote that his summary of the Mueller report “is not sufficient for Congress.”
April 2 is one week from today.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."