House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it’s unclear how much Attorney General William Barr will redact in the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Thursday, but argued “that’s not necessarily going to be the final product” as Democrats continue to push for a full release of the report to Congress.
“We have to find out what happened so it doesn’t happen again,” Pelosi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour – referring to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election – during an interview Tuesday in Dublin, Ireland.
“It isn’t up to the attorney general, who has said basically that the President is above the law … so he’s there to redact whatever he wants,” Pelosi continued. “Well, let’s just see what he puts forth. You can’t make a judgment about something you haven’t seen yet. And so we look forward to seeing it.”
Asked if she accepts the findings so far that were outlined by Barr in a four-page summary last month, Pelosi said she’s still waiting to see the nearly 400-page report.
“We’ll see what comes forth,” she said. “We’ll see how much the attorney general decided that it was at his discretion to redact.”
Democrats have been keeping the pressure high on the Department of Justice to release an unredacted version of the report to Congress. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler has said he’s waiting to see the redacted report before moving forward with a subpoena, which the committee has already authorized.
“For the attorney general to say ‘I’ll use my own judgment about what I redact’ – that’s not necessarily going to be the final product,” Pelosi said in the interview.
Barr told Congress last week he would use color-coded categories to explain the rationale for the redactions that are made in the report. But he said he would not provide the full, unredacted report to Congress, saying he can’t legally release grand jury material and that he did not plan to ask a court to release it.
Pelosi also continued to tamp down the narrative that Democrats are eager to find damning evidence against Trump so they can introduce articles of impeachment.
“I have not been one of these focusers on impeachment,” Pelosi said. “Let the chips fall where they may – when we have the evidence and the facts.”
Last month, Pelosi reiterated she doesn’t think her party should pursue impeachment unless there is significant evidence, calling impeachment a divisive move and arguing Trump was “not worth it.”
Pelosi is currently leading a congressional delegation on a trip that has so far taken them to US European and Africa military commands based in Stuttgart, Germany. They’ve also stopped in London to meet with government leaders and civil society leaders, and they’re visiting Northern Ireland as well.
CNN’s Jeremy Herb and Laura Jarrett contributed to this report.
