April 18, 2019 at 11:50PM
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined Thursday to endorse President Trump's assessment of "no collusion, no obstruction," pending his personal review of the Mueller report.
After Attorney General William Barr had summarized special counsel Robert Mueller's findings during a brief news conference and declared more than a half-dozen times that Trump did not collude with Russia, McConnell said that he would "carefully" examine the report. Barr also appeared to clear Trump of trying to obstruct the investigation, but confirmed Mueller's findings that Moscow did indeed meddle in the last presidential campaign for the express purpose of aiding the defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"I'm grateful for the attorney general's diligent work to release as much of the special counsel's report as possible to Congress and to the American people," said McConnell, who has cultivated a working relationship with Trump. "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. Like all of my colleagues, I look forward to carefully reviewing the report."
McConnell appeared to be seeking a middle ground in his initial reaction to the release of the full Mueller report.
He defended Barr from criticism, leveled mostly by Democrats, that the attorney general was purposely spinning the conclusions of the special counsel investigation to undermine the credibility of findings that might be politically damaging to Trump. But the senator also avoided the president's claims that the report was tantamount to a full exoneration of his behavior, both during the 2016 campaign and after he was inaugurated and the investigation into possible collusion commenced.
McConnell's Republican allies in the Senate were adopting a similar, deliberate approach, although that could change after they are briefed on the report.
"I look forward to the opportunity to look through the publicly available report," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a top McConnell lieutenant. "I agree with the four categories of redacted material that will not be made public. I am hopeful that the Senate Intelligence Committee is able to look at all of the report, with the exception of the grand jury material, and believe it will assist us in bringing our investigation of Russian involvement in our elections to a conclusion."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., declined Thursday to endorse President Trump's assessment of "no collusion, no obstruction," pending his personal review of the Mueller report.
After Attorney General William Barr had summarized special counsel Robert Mueller's findings during a brief news conference and declared more than a half-dozen times that Trump did not collude with Russia, McConnell said that he would "carefully" examine the report. Barr also appeared to clear Trump of trying to obstruct the investigation, but confirmed Mueller's findings that Moscow did indeed meddle in the last presidential campaign for the express purpose of aiding the defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"I'm grateful for the attorney general's diligent work to release as much of the special counsel's report as possible to Congress and to the American people," said McConnell, who has cultivated a working relationship with Trump. "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. Like all of my colleagues, I look forward to carefully reviewing the report."
McConnell appeared to be seeking a middle ground in his initial reaction to the release of the full Mueller report.
He defended Barr from criticism, leveled mostly by Democrats, that the attorney general was purposely spinning the conclusions of the special counsel investigation to undermine the credibility of findings that might be politically damaging to Trump. But the senator also avoided the president's claims that the report was tantamount to a full exoneration of his behavior, both during the 2016 campaign and after he was inaugurated and the investigation into possible collusion commenced.
McConnell's Republican allies in the Senate were adopting a similar, deliberate approach, although that could change after they are briefed on the report.
"I look forward to the opportunity to look through the publicly available report," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., a top McConnell lieutenant. "I agree with the four categories of redacted material that will not be made public. I am hopeful that the Senate Intelligence Committee is able to look at all of the report, with the exception of the grand jury material, and believe it will assist us in bringing our investigation of Russian involvement in our elections to a conclusion."