A federal judge overseeing a Freedom of Information case brought by a BuzzFeed News and EPIC has ordered Attorney General William Barr to submit an unredacted version of Special Counsel Robert Muellerâs investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
In a court order on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton said Barrâs description of the contents of Muellerâsâ report before its release required the âindependent verificationâ of the Justice Departmentâs redactions.
âIn the Courtâs view, Attorney General Barrâs representation that the Mueller Report would be âsubject only to those redactions required by law or by compelling law enforcement, national security, or personal privacy interestsâ cannot be credited without the Courtâs independent verification in light of Attorney General Barrâs conduct and misleading public statements about the findings in the Mueller Report.â
Additionally, Walton called into question Barrâs credibility and accused him of âlack of candor.â
âThese circumstances generally, and Attorney General Barrâs lack of candor specifically, call into question Attorney General Barrâs credibility and in turn, the Departmentâs representation that âall of the information redacted from the version of the Report released by Attorney General â is protected from disclosure by its claimed FOIA exemptions.â
On March 24, 2019, Barr sent a letter summarizing the âprincipal conclusionsâ of the report that said Mueller did not find that President Donald Trump colluded with Russian operatives to swing the election as well as stating that Mueller did not find that Trump obstructed justice.
Barr was accused of misrepresenting the report, and Mueller even sent a letter to Barr voicing concern about his characterization of the report.
Justice Department officials said that Barr was summarizing the âprincipal conclusionsâ and not the full report in his letter to Congress.
