Democrats in Congress do not want the full report in order to peruse it and verify themselves that what they’ve been screeching about for over two years was false. Nope, they want the full report in order to leak portions that might possibly embarrass Trump. Those in the House know that, since Democrats control the House, there will really be no repercussions for leaking. If they were serious about being serious, they’d simply wait for the report, which will have redactions per law, but, no, they keep reaching
Subpoena Isn’t the Only Way to Get the Mueller Report
The House Judiciary Committee may be sitting on its subpoena for the Mueller report, but under federal law, certain other committees need neither a subpoena nor a court order to get access to it and its underlying materials, including grand jury testimony and documents.
The House and Senate Intelligence Committees should already have certain investigative materials relating to Russian election meddling, in unredacted form, collected by the special counsel, Robert Mueller.
This legal structure was created by a provision in the Patriot Act combined with the notification provisions of the National Security Act. The intelligence committees have a lawful right, virtually unbounded, to foreign intelligence information in the possession of the intelligence agencies of the executive branch.
Federal law requires that the attorney general provide to the director of national intelligence any foreign intelligence information collected during a criminal investigation. Then the director must by law provide it to the intelligence committees of Congress — either by sending a notification or acting in response to a request from the committees. The director has an obligation to inform policymakers, including Congress, of intelligence assessments so that they can take steps to protect the American people.
The Mueller investigation wasn’t a criminal investigation. It was, at its base form, meant to “investigate any links and/or collusion between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump”, as well as whatever interference from Russia that occurred. If something arose that was criminal, they could do something about it. So, only a very small portion of the investigation ended up being criminal, and most of that was process crimes, and had nothing to do with foreign intelligence.
The process is not a partisan tool or a method to take down President Trump. It’s about national security.
So, it’s a partisan tool and method to take down the President Trump.
As a nation in 2001 we learned a very painful lesson, that keeping vital foreign intelligence from the intelligence agencies, and ultimately Congress, must give way in the face of potential terrorist attacks.
Yes, Vickie Divoll, who was general counsel for the Senate Intelligence Committee from 2001 to 2003 and is a former deputy legal adviser to the C.I.A.’s Counterterrorist Center, just compared this to 9/11 (say, which Party put in the rules about sharing intelligence between agencies?)
