[T]he public got its deepest look yet into findings of the two-year investigation of the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian interference in the 2016 election, with the release of the special counsel’s report Thursday.
But the three members of Vermont’s congressional delegation said much more remains to be seen.
In the hours after a partially redacted version of the 448-page report was released, Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., called for continued inquiry into the president’s actions.
“Robert Mueller did his job,” Leahy wrote in a statement. “Now it’s time for Congress to do our job, as Mr. Mueller envisioned in his report.”
The delegation presented a more damning interpretation of the report’s conclusion than Attorney General William Barr, who previously released a summary of the report saying that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, did not find evidence of conspiracy, nor reach conclusion on obstruction of justice. Before the report’s release Thursday, Barr defended the president’s actions and said he was in an “unprecedented” situation.
Leahy rebuffed what he described as Barr’s “spin” on the report, offering a more severe interpretation of the investigation’s findings: “nothing can hide that this report amounts to a formal presentment of misconduct that reached the highest levels of the Trump campaign and administration.”
Leahy, a longtime member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the report shows that members of President Donald Trump’s campaign “were eager, unapologetic beneficiaries of Russia’s interference,” who never reported the activities to law enforcement. On the president’s interference with the investigation, Leahy says Trump’s efforts “went beyond everything that we had known.”
“He regularly used the office of the presidency to attempt to manipulate and delegitimize one of the most critical national security investigations of our time,” Leahy said.
The next step, Leahy said, is for Congress to continue gathering information. He called for Mueller to testify before Congress on the investigation. That’s unlikely to play out any time soon in the Senate, though. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., chair of the Judiciary Committee, told McClatchy Thursday that he is “not interested” in inviting Mueller to testify on the report.
Leahy also said the full unredacted report should be released — a point of view shared by Welch who said that he would support the use of subpoena power to get the document if necessary. Welch, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, also pressed for Mueller to appear before Congress.
Welch called contacts between Trump’s team members and Russian operatives “reprehensible” and said the campaign broke “from the longstanding practice of shunning foreign influence in American elections.” He also pointed to Trump’s business relationship with Russia during the time he was a candidate.
“The American people were entitled to know these facts before they cast their ballots. No legal fine point or spin can excuse the President’s toleration of, or participation in, this conduct,” he said.
Welch also said he believes Congress needs to look into the question of obstruction of justice.
In a release from his presidential campaign, Sanders called for Congress to continue to investigate both the president and efforts by foreign actors to influence U.S. elections.
“It is clear that Donald Trump wanted nothing more than to shut down the Mueller investigation,” Sanders said.
Sanders called for efforts to prevent future foreign interference in elections.
Welch and Leahy’s calls for Mueller to testify publicly mirrored statements from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Many congressional Republicans were quieter as the report was released.
“The nation is fortunate to have an experienced leader like Bill Barr in place to ensure maximum possible transparency while carefully protecting classified material and legally restricted grand jury information,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a statement Thursday morning. “Like all of my colleagues, I look forward to carefully reviewing the report.”
Trump briefly addressed the report’s release at an event for wounded veterans, maintaining his positive portrayal of the investigation’s conclusions.
“I’m having a good day too,” he said, according to a White House pool report. “It’s called no collusion, no obstruction.”
