Mueller Report Makes Waves With 2020 Democrats

When the long-awaited report from Special Counsel Rober Mueller was reportedly turned over to Attorney General Barr on Friday, the collective of the entire DC political beast sat awaiting details until today. Following nearly two years of investigation, the report reportedly found no evidence of Russian collusion between the Trump campaign or the President himself.

Some details from Reuters on what the report summary, provided by the Attorney General, contained today:

U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election did not find that President Donald Trump committed a crime but also does not exonerate him, according to a summary of Mueller’s findings released on Sunday.

Mueller, who spent nearly two years investigating allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, also found no evidence that any member of Trump’s election campaign conspired with Russia during the election. “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Attorney General William Barr quoted Mueller as writing in his report on the issue of possible obstruction of justice.

Mueller said he would leave it to the attorney general to decide whether a crime was committed.

Barr’s summary said Mueller found no evidence that the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia, despite multiple offers from individuals associated with Russia.

While Mueller rendered an opinion on the question of Russian collusion, he rendered no opinion on the question of obstruction of justice, instead leaving that question up to the Attorney General. As you can imagine, this move by Mueller has created the question of political interference since Attorney General Barr stated today that the President will not be charged with obstruction. Barr was appointed by the President to his position so Democrats are using that connection as a means to call the obstruction finding into question.

What about the 2020 Democratic candidates? They have a lot of to say, and most of them have already released lengthy statements calling for the full Mueller report to be released to the public as soon as possible. Here’s a collection of reactions from the 2020 Democratic field:

Cory Booker released a tweet saying that the public deserves the full report and urged for the complete findings to be release beyond just the summary provided by the Attorney General.

Julian Castro tweeted saying that the Attorney General shouldn’t be the one who decides how much the American people can and can not see of the Mueller report and believes the report must be released in entirety.

Tulsi Gabbard, speaking at an event in New Hampshire, said, “It’s important to make sure that this full report is released so that the American people can read what the contents are.”

Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted saying the Mueller report must be made public and implied that the Attorney General has too much of a conflict of interest, having been appointed by the President, to be trusted with selectively releasing a summary or bits and pieces of the report. Gillibrand also implied that she doesn’t believe the report exonerates the President by stating that “he is not above the law.”

Kamala Harris also tweeted saying that a summary from a “hand-picked” Trump appointee is not sufficient to make a final conclusion on what the Mueller report says. Harris also called for the “underlying investigative materials” to be released so that Americans can see how Mueller came to certain conclusions.

John Hickenlooper, speaking to reporters, said he hopes that as much of the Mueller report is released as the law allows.

Jay Inslee tweeted saying that the American people deserve the opportunity to read the report in full and not simply accept a “sanitized” version from President Trump’s Attorney General. Inslee also said the administration cannot be trusted and used the #releasethereport hashtag.

Amy Klobuchar released several tweets this afternoon addressing the Mueller report, including a video of her standing outside the Department of Justice building in Washington, DC. In Klobuchar’s latest tweet on the subject, she said that the content of the summary from the Attorney General illustrates the reason why the entire Mueller report must be made public, especially all information pertaining to Russia’s attempts to interfere in the U.S. elections.

Beto O’Rourke put out a short tweet on the subject calling for the full report to be released for transparency and accountability.

Bernie Sanders was speaking at a rally in San Francisco and reacted during his speech to address the Mueller Report, saying, “Well, I don’t want a summary of the report. I want the whole damn report, because nobody, especially this president, is above the law.”

Elizabeth Warren tweeted about the report pointing out that Congress voted unanimously to release the full report to the American public.

President Trump tweeted today that, in his opinion, the Mueller report “totally exonerates” him of questions concerning Russian collusion or obstruction of justice.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1109918388133023744

We searched for other candidates, including Andrew Yang and Pete Buttigieg, but couldn’t find any comments from them at press time.

If we find more comments on the Mueller report from other 2020 candidates we will update this story.

Exit question: What does this mean for Hillary Clinton in relation to 2020?

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Nate Ashworth

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Election Central. He's been blogging elections and politics for over a decade. He started covering the 2008 Presidential Election which turned into a full-time political blog in 2012 and 2016 that continues today.

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