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The Redacted Mueller Report In Focus

With Kimberly Atkins

What will the redacted Mueller report from Attorney General William Barr tell us about the two-year investigation?

Guests

Ginger Gibson, national political correspondent for Reuters. (@GingerGibson)

McKay Coppins, staff writer for The Atlantic. Author of “The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party’s Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House.” (@mckaycoppins)

Jessica Levinson, professor of law at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. (@LevinsonJessica)

From The Reading List

Vox: “The last-minute drama about the Mueller report’s release, explained” — “On the eve of the Mueller report’s public release, a new controversy has erupted about whether Attorney General Bill Barr is attempting to spin the special counsel’s findings to the benefit of President Donald Trump.

“The Justice Department announced earlier this week that they’d release Mueller’s report, both to Congress and the public, on Thursday. But they only announced on Wednesday afternoon that Barr himself would give a press conference about the report Thursday morning.

Now Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) is claiming that DOJ will only release Mueller’s report after Barr’s presser. And a senior DOJ official soon confirmed to reporters that that was indeed the plan — meaning Barr will have the opportunity to publicly present his spin on its findings before reporters questioning him get to actually read the report, and duplicating the situation in late March where Barr released his own characterization of Mueller’s findings first.”

Newsweek: “Legal Experts Weigh In On Mueller Report Release: ‘We Are Waiting For A Volcano To Erupt’” — “Attorney General William Barr is expected to release a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report on Thursday, marking an end to one of the most high-profile political investigations in a generation.

“‘I think, from a legal perspective, I know of few moments in the last 30 years that has the potential crescendo of emotion as this one. In fact, I feel like we are waiting for a volcano to erupt,’ former federal prosecutor Gene Rossi told Newsweek on Wednesday.

“Americans got a glimpse into Mueller’s two-year probe last month when Barr gave Congress a four-page summary of the special counsel’s key findings. The most highly anticipated conclusion was that there was no conspiracy between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

“But the attorney general’s brief summary left people with more questions than answers, especially regarding the evidence relating to possible conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. Plus, allegations that Barr may have mishandled the report out of allegiance to the president have only ramped up the public’s speculation.”

Brian Hardzinski and Karen Shiffman produced this hour for broadcast.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is seen in Washington in 2013. (Charles Dharapak/AP)
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Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is seen in Washington in 2013. (Charles Dharapak/AP)