by Nick Givas
Democratic Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania listed special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings from the Russia probe on CNN Monday, and it’s not good news for Democrats.
“My reaction is a couple of things. We ought to recognize something good. Number one, special counsel Mueller completed his investigation with a team of able investigators and prosecutors, and I’m thankful that that investigation has come to a close,” she said on “CNN Today.”
“Number two, we should be glad that the preliminary finding that we know of the Mueller report is that there was no coordination, no conspiracy,” Dean said. “Notice the words that they used: no coordination, no conspiracy of the Trump campaign with Russia’s known interference with the 2016 election. Number three, there was known interference by Russia in a very serious and great way with the election of 2016. I hope this administration, and I’m certain Congress will take that very seriously, as we head into the next election.”
Dean’s statement is a vast departure from the Democratic narrative of collusion and obstruction of justice. Congressional Democrats had expressed concern that President Donald Trump would fire Mueller, but he was allowed to finish his investigation. Trump was also accused of blatant coordination and collusion, but Mueller’s report has cleared him and his campaign of such charges.
Dean did call Attorney General William Barr’s summary letter into question and asked why the entire report wasn’t released to the public for examination.
“But in terms of Barr’s letter, what I hope people will recognize is that it’s only a very partial summary,” she said. “It summarizes that first point. The second point that it makes is that Mueller was unable to say — to exonerate the president from obstruction of justice. That’s a very important telling second part.”
“And what you notice is the attorney general, in the four-page letter, offers only partial quotes, very little evidence of what that evidence was,” Dean continued. “All of that leads me to say we need to see the report. Congress needs to see the report, and the American people need to see the report. Even the president has said that.”
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Nick Givas is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Nick on Twitter.
