05-09-2019, 01:39 PM
Bernie wrote:
Only 1.5% of the version of the Mueller report made available to Nadler and other congressional leaders is redacted, the DOJ said in the letter. Those portions are redacted only for grand jury information, which is prohibited from release by law.
The DOJ reiterated the fact that revealing the remaining redacted parts of the report would be illegal, in a Wednesday letter to Nadler that informed him that Trump will assert executive privilege over the information. “As we have repeatedly explained, the Attorney General could not comply with your subpoena in its current form without violating the law, court rules, and court orders, and without threatening the independence of the Department of Justice’s prosecutorial functions,” the letter said.
Yes, those laws apply to public release of that information. The argument has been made in the past, and upheld in court, that Congress in its investigative and oversight functions can have access to that kind of information. Hence it would not be illegal for them to be given that material.