Mueller report: Republicans block move to release Trump investigations to public

‘There is no good reason not to make the report public,’ says Democratic leader Chuck Schumer

Democrats vowed to continue their efforts to get the Mueller report released after Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell blocked an attempt to pass a measure aimed at making it public.

The Justice Department has not said whether it will release Robert Mueller’s full report into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and related matters.

Attorney General William Barr has provided a summary of the findings and informed Congress that Mueller had concluded the Trump campaign had not colluded with Russia, but said the probe left unresolved the question of whether Donald Trump engaged in obstruction of justice.

Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer attempted to a pass a non-binding resolution on the release of the Mueller’s full findings, arguing that “there is no good reason not to make the report public”.

But Mr McConnell blocked the measure, explaining that the Justice Department was still trying to work out what could and could not be released.

The majority leader said: “It’s not unreasonable to give the special counsel and the Justice Department just a little time to complete their review in a professional and responsible manner.”

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives voted in favour of making the report public, but the resolution has now been blocked in the Senate.

The measure does not set a deadline for the release of the report, and merely expresses a desire that it should be made publicly available.

On Monday, six House Democratic committee chairmen wrote to Mr Barr stating that his summary is “not sufficient” and asked to have Mr Mueller’s full report by 2 April.

Following a series of evening strategy meetings late in the day, Democrats vowed to continue their multiple investigations into Mr Trump and his associates.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, the California Democrat, said Mr Mueller’s conclusions would not affect his own committee’s counterintelligence probes.

“There may be other corrupt meetings between the Trump campaign and the Russians, there may be other profound financial conflicts of interest that are not mentioned in the Mueller report, and there may be unanswered questions even within what he did examine,” Mr Schiff said.

The FBI is reportedly ready to brief Senate and House leaders further on the counterintelligence findings of Mueller’s investigation.

The agency is ready to share the special counsel’s conclusions on whether Trump associates were compromised or influenced by the Kremlin in a private meeting, according to NBC News.

The president vented his anger at the conclusion of the Mueller probe and vowed investigations into unnamed political enemies who did “very, very evil” and “treasonous” things.

Mr Trump’s former chief adviser Steve Bannon said the president would “come off the chains” and is now “going to go full animal” after the end of the probe.

Additional reporting by agencies