Reuters – The U.S. attorney general’s summary of a special counsel report on an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Moscow will not be delivered to lawmakers on Saturday, an official said, as Democrats vowed to investigate beyond the inquiry.
William Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official, was examining a report sent to him on Friday by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, aiming to transmit a summary to Congress and the public by the end of the weekend.
Republican President Donald Trump, at his Florida resort for the weekend, remained silent on the report of an investigation that also looked into any potential wrongdoing by Trump, whose legal woes appear likely to continue even with the closure of the Mueller investigation.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters that the White House still has not received or been briefed on Mueller’s report.
A Justice Department official said Barr and his deputy were working closely with principal advisers to determine what to include in a letter to Congress. Barr will not deliver the summary on Saturday, the official said.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said in a statement that Barr’s offer to provide congressional committees with a summary of the report’s conclusions is insufficient and that “Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents.”
Senator Chris Coons, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump and his core team could still face legal risks even if the report does not find that they committed crimes. Trump’s business, his charity and presidential transition operation remain under investigation, Coons said, and congressional Democrats would keep looking into his activities.
“It’s the end of the beginning, but it’s not the beginning of the end,” Coons told reporters on a telephone conference.
Under Department of Justice regulations, Barr is empowered to decide how much to disclose publicly. He said in a letter to lawmakers on Friday that he is “committed to as much transparency as possible.”
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives scheduled a conference call on Saturday afternoon to discuss next steps and messaging, congressional aides said.
