WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday that he expects to release a redacted version of the special counsel’s Trump-Russia investigation report “within a week” as he defended his handling of the document.
Barr told members of Congress at his first public appearance since receiving special counsel Robert Mueller’s report that his earlier projection of releasing a version by mid-April still stood. The nearly 400-page report is being scoured now to remove grand jury information and details relating to pending investigations.
The redactions will be color-coded and accompanied by notes explaining the decision to withhold information, he said.
Democrats scolded Barr over his handling of the report, telling him they were concerned that a summary of its main conclusions he released last month portrayed the investigation’s findings in an overly favorable way for President Donald Trump.
Rep. Nita Lowey, the Democratic chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, said she was taken aback that Barr had reduced Mueller’s report to a four-page letter in just two days. That letter said that Mueller did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and Trump associates, and that Barr did not believe the evidence in the report was sufficient to prove the president had obstructed justice.