Mueller report to be made public by mid-April

WASHINGTON- Reuters

U.S. Attorney General William Barr plans to make public a redacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's nearly 400-page investigative report into Russian interference in the 2016 election by mid-April, "if not sooner," he said in a letter to lawmakers on March 29.

"Everyone will soon be able to read it on their own," Barr wrote in the letter to the top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate and House Judiciary committees.

He said he was willing to appear before both committees to testify about Mueller's report on May 1 and May 2.

On March 22, Mueller completed his 22-month probe and Barr sent a four-page letter to Congress that outlined the main findings. Barr told lawmakers that the investigation did not establish that members of the election campaign of President Donald Trump conspired with Russia.

Speaking to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida Trump said he had "great confidence" in Barr.

Asked whether he agreed with Barr's decision to release the Mueller report to the public, Trump said, "If that's what he'd like to do I have nothing to hide. This was a hoax. This was a witch hunt."

Leading congressional Democrats are pressing for a quick release of the entire Mueller report.

"We need to see the Mueller report ASAP, with only those redactions that are absolutely necessary to protect intelligence sources and methods. Congress and the American people need the full story about what happened in 2016," said Senator Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Mueller left unresolved the question of whether Trump obstructed justice during the investigation. Barr said that based on the evidence presented, he concluded it was not sufficient to charge the president with obstruction.