Top Republicans had originally shocked everyone with the surprising amount of support they voiced for the report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller. When the report was handed off to Attorney General William Barr just a few days ago, many high profile GOPers such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Lindsey Graham called for transparency from the Department of Justice and seemed very confident in the process. But now that the report’s contents are to be revealed soon, many of them seem to have had a change of heart.
It should be noted that House Republicans were ruthless in their demands for access to raw data when it was the Hillary Clinton email probe — but now that it seems like Trump might be in trouble, they’re going back on their own words. GOPers are now gearing up to keep a good portion of investigative material away from House Democrats to “protect the innocent” — which is ridiculous considering how few people actually believe Trump and his posse are free of wrongdoing.
Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), the committee’s ranking GOP member, expressed this change of heart on Fox News earlier today. He said, “It’s not the Department of Justice’s job to give” the House Judiciary Committee “what they want [to] go off on a purely partisan investigation that could lead towards impeachment.”
Another Republican, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), said to CNN:
I believe that we need to protect the innocent here, but to the extent that we cannot sacrifice national security interests and release as much information as possible, I certainly support that. Typically, prosecutors do not release information that would be harmful to the innocent. We need to make sure that we protect the innocent here.”
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee, also weighed in and said something very concerning:
The Mueller report… we can just burn it up. It is a partisan document.”
It seems that the Republicans are suddenly very nervous about what this report might mean for Trump, and they’re not only calling for secrecy but they’re also trying to make the Mueller report irrelevant. Do they know something we don’t?
Featured image via screen capture
