Blackout: Much Of The Mueller Report Could Be Redacted

Blackout: much of the Mueller report could be redacted

Washington, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 18th Apr, 2019 ) :The final report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation on Thursday could leave much of the public unsatisfied because it could be heavily redacted, stripped of significant evidence and testimony that the investigators gathered.

Attorney General Bill Barr made clear he will edit out large parts of Mueller's 400-page final report on his investigation of President Donald Trump and Russian election meddling.

Removed elements will include information from US intelligence used in the probe, information on ongoing investigations, and information on targets of Mueller's team that never gelled and, if made public, could unfairly hurt them.

Crucially, Barr says the law prevents him from revealing materials from the two grand juries that the special counsel convened for his investigation.

Redaction -- blacking out words and blocks of text with real or digital ink, or leaving pages completely blank -- is the way bureaucrats and courts prevent the public from learning about classified information and secret testimony or evidence, or just embarrassing information.

Many court filings in the Mueller probe came with pages heavily blacked out, with prosecutors not wanting to tip their hands on ongoing parts of the sprawling Russia probe or expose sources.

But some worry Barr's redactions could have political aims.

A Trump appointee who has already announced that the report exonerates the president from wrongdoing, he has much leeway on what he will withhold.

Barr said he wants as much of the report public as possible, but his editing could mask key elements of the 22-month investigation, which concluded with no charges against any Trump associates for colluding with Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.

And it could mask evidence behind the allegations of criminal obstruction against Trump -- on which Mueller refused to reach any conclusion.