US attorney general William Barr to face Congress on Mueller report

U.S. Attorney General William Barr will appear before a U.S. congressional panel on Tuesday for the first time since Special Counsel Robert Mueller completed his report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller turned his confidential report over to Barr on March 22 following a 22-month-long probe into whether Donald Trump may have colluded with Russia during his 2016 presidential campaign and whether Trump later obstructed inquiries into the matter.

On March 24, Barr released a four-page letter to Congress laying out what he said were Mueller’s main findings.

Democrats have called for the report to be released in full.

Barr has insisted that he is being as transparent as he can be and that he wrote the letter to share the main investigative findings with the public as soon as possible while he and other law enforcement officials review the full report.

He has vowed to give copies to Congress by mid-April after lawyers from the special counsel’s office and the Justice Department have had time to redact classified materials, secret grand jury testimony and information related to open investigations.

Last week, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee prepared subpoenas that they plan to issue to the Justice Department if Barr does not agree to release the Mueller report in full.

Barr is not expected to divulge many new details on the report when he speaks to the appropriations committee on Tuesday.

His written testimony, released to the media on Monday, makes no mention of it and instead focuses on making the case for more funding to address issues including immigration enforcement, combating violent crime and opioids.

Barr is slated to testify before a U.S. Senate appropriations panel on Wednesday.