The following is an editorial for Fireside Chats with Ryan, a political editorial column. All views, thoughts and opinions belong solely to the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Drury Mirror.

On March 22, 2019, a special counsel appointed by President Trump and Congress concluded a two-year investigation into the 2016 Presidential Election. The council, nicknamed the Mueller Probe and the Russian Investigation, was led by veteran FBI director Robert Mueller.

The investigation led to the indictment of several key figures close to the Trump campaign, including Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort, his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and even Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen. The day of the conclusion of the investigation, a fully-typed report was submitted to the Department of Justice by the special counsel. The report itself was more than 300 pages long.

According to Attorney General William Barr (and President Trump himself), because the report has not led to an indictment of the president, he’s exonerated of any and all crimes he has been accused of in regards to Russian collusion. If that were the case, then why hasn’t the report been released yet to members of Congress?

Asking for answers

Republicans would like to lead us to believe that there’s no need to release the full report, especially since the Attorney General released a four-page summary of the report just a few days after the Mueller report’s release. Unfortunately for their logic, Republicans have already set a precedent for releasing government reports.

In 1998, a document was released named “The Starr Report.” The document was the culmination of four years of investigation into sexual harassment allegations levied against then-President Bill Clinton, including allegations of perjury and obstruction of justice. In the end, the Starr Report was nearly 450 pages long.

The report was released fully to the public by a Congressional vote just two days after the report was submitted to Congress. To add to this, the report was released on the internet before any member of Congress had even read it.

Preserving justice, creating transparency

The real question is, why can’t the Mueller Report be given the same authority that the Starr Report had almost 20 years ago? If President Trump is really as innocent as he and other Republicans claim, then he would have no problem releasing the report to the public. The report was supposed to be released to the House of Representatives by the end of the day Tuesday, April 2, though the deadline was missed. A vote in the House Wednesday, April 3, was passed along party lines approving a subpoena to receive the full, unedited report.

Barr has stated he would be willing to supply his ‘version’ of the Mueller report, as in one that has been heavily redacted of sensitive information that could implicate President Trump.

If democracy and justice are to persevere, then the full Mueller report must be released. There can be no excuses now that the investigation has finally concluded. The American people deserve to know.

Article by Ryan Smith.