It reads:
"Far from the 'total exoneration' claimed by the President, the Mueller report expressly does not exonerate the President. Instead, it 'sets out evidence on both sides of the question' of obstruction including the evidence that President Trump attempted to obstruct justice.
"It is unacceptable that, after Special Counsel Mueller spent 22 months meticulously uncovering this evidence, Attorney General Barr made a decision not to charge the President in under 48 hours. The Attorney General did so without even interviewing the President. His unsolicited, open memorandum to the Department of Justice, suggesting that the obstruction investigation was 'fatally misconceived,' calls into question his objectivity on this point in particular.
"The only information the Congress and the American people have received regarding this investigation is the Attorney General's own work product. The Special Counsel's Report should be allowed to speak for itself, and Congress must have the opportunity to evaluate the underlying evidence.
"These shortcomings in today's letter are the very reason our nation has a system of separation of powers. We cannot simply rely on what may be a partisan interpretation of facts uncovered during the course of a 22-month review of possible wrongdoing by the President.
"The American people deserve to see the facts and judge the President's actions for themselves."
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) added:
"The American people deserve to see it, especially when Attorney General Barr quotes Mueller saying that the office cannot exonerate president when it comes to obstruction of justice. We're focused on the question of how do we prevent what happened in 2016 from ever happening again? Our mission is far broader than what Mueller was looking at. We have to look at counterintelligence issues. That's part of why we are bringing [Felix] Sater in next week."
Rep. Nadler (D-NY) stated:
"We're going to move forward with our investigation into obstruction of justice, abuses of power, corruption, to defend the rule of law, which is our job. It's a broader mandate than the special prosecutor has. His [Mueller'] mandate is only for crimes."
This is an important point.
Robert Mueller did not have carte blanche in his investigation.
His report to Barr only outlines the results of his legally permitted authority.
There are still mounting charges against Trump and family in the Southern District of New York federal courts that Mueller's team did not have the approval to investigate at the federal level.
If DOJ policy of not indicting Trump while he sits in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue emboldens the president, he should feel concerned about the day his tenure ends.
That's the day feds can slap cuffs on him.
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