Neal Katyal, former acting solicitor general, laid out Sunday the reasons that he thinks Attorney General William Barr’s summary is intensely troubling and requires the immediate release of the Mueller report to the public.
In a New York Times op-ed, Katyal says that Barr’s conclusion that President Donald Trump did not obstruct justice, made less than 48 hours after receipt of the report and without interviewing Trump himself, is “deeply concerning.”
“His letter says Mr. Mueller set ‘out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the special counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the president’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction,’ Katyal writes. “Yet we don’t know what those “difficult issues” were, because Mr. Barr doesn’t say, or why Mr. Mueller, after deciding not to charge on conspiracy, let Mr. Barr make the decision on obstruction.”
Katyal concludes that the next steps are obvious.
“Congress now has a clear path of action. It must first demand the release of the Mueller report, so that Americans can see the evidence for themselves,” he writes. “Then, it must call Mr. Barr and Mr. Mueller to testify. Mr. Barr in particular must explain his rationale for reaching the obstruction judgment he made.”
Read the full op-ed here.
