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House judiciary committee subpoenas full Mueller report

By Ed Adamczyk
Attorney General William Barr (L), Acting Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O'Callaghan (C) and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speak to reporters about the Mueller report Thursday at the Justice Department. Photo by Erik S. Lesser/UPI
Attorney General William Barr (L), Acting Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed O'Callaghan (C) and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speak to reporters about the Mueller report Thursday at the Justice Department. Photo by Erik S. Lesser/UPI | License Photo

April 19 (UPI) -- The chairman of the House judiciary committee on Friday subpoenaed the full, non-redacted version of the Justice Department's Russia report, doing so with power the panel received two weeks ago.

The panel authorized subpoena power on April 3 in case the committee sought more information blacked out of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller. Friday, Rep. Jarrold Nadler issued the subpoena for the complete report and underlying documents from the inquiry.

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Nadler said the Justice Department must comply with the subpoena by May 1.

The report, released Thursday, was issued with nearly 1,000 redactions -- areas blacked out because officials said they contain sensitive materials like grand jury information and matters related to other federal investigations.

Attorney General William Barr told Nadler and Senate judiciary committee chairman Lindsey Graham late Thursday they could see a less redacted version of the report in a "secure" reading room.

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The report Thursday detailed how Mueller's team arrived at its conclusion that there's no evidence to prove cooperation between Trump's campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential race. It also detailed several episodes that raised the question of whether Trump obstructed justice by attempting to curtail Mueller's inquiry -- a prospect the report does not clear Trump of.

"We need the entire report, unredacted, and the underlying documents in order to make informed decisions," Nadler told ABC News Friday. "That subpoena will come in the next couple of hours, including the grand jury evidence."

Friday, the Kremlin emphasized that Mueller's report offered no compelling evidence of Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election.

"In the form in which it has been published, the Mueller report contains no new information. All this information has already been published by various media outlets," Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's press secretary, said. He added Russia has insisted from the start that "whatever investigators did, they would find no [Russian] meddling, because there was no meddling."

The report cited numerous examples of Internet Russian propaganda designed to interfere with the election and explained contacts between Russians and Trump campaign officials.

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Peskov was also critical of investigations involving Russian businessmen and the Trump campaign. He said in most cases, the businessmen informed Putin of relevant information from their discussions with the campaign.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, and Sergei Gorkov, head of the state-owned Russian bank Vnesheconombank, were among several Russian banking and business leaders mentioned in Mueller's report.

"[Businessmen] attract investment, and so the more contacts they have, the better," Peskov said. "They look for new contacts, and communicate with the relevant officials in the government, and this goes on in all countries."

Other Russian officials agreed.

"The report confirms the absence of any arguments to the effect Russia allegedly intervened in the U.S. election," said Georgy Borisenko, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's North American Department. "Not a single piece of evidence is there. The authors of the report have in fact confessed they have nothing to report."

Leonid Slutsky, leader of the Russia's parliamentary foreign affairs committee, warned the accusations have had an effect on already shaky U.S.-Russia relations.

"[The investigation is] having a negative effect on global stability and security," Slutsky said. "Politicians in Washington must finally come to their senses and realize that such activities have brought the world to the brink of war."

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In Tweets Friday, Trump called comments from "18 Angry Democrat Trump Haters" in the report "fabricated & totally untrue."

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