Democrats called for special counsel Robert Mueller’s full report to be publicly released after Attorney General William Barr sent Congress members a short summary Sunday afternoon that essentially vindicated President Donald Trump.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee, first shared excerpts from the letter with the public and quickly tweeted that the Justice Department: “owes the public more than just a brief synopsis and decision not to go any further in their work.”

Moments later, Nadler announced he planned to call Barr to testify before the committee “[i]n light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department.”

Notably, Mueller himself was not involved in the creation of the letter sent to members of Congress.

There must be full transparency in what Special Counsel Mueller uncovered to not exonerate the President from wrongdoing. DOJ owes the public more than just a brief synopsis and decision not to go any further in their work. — (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) March 24, 2019

Democrats cut a sharp contrast with their Republican counterparts, who seemed eager to elide over the fact that Barr’s letter did not exonerate the president. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was quick to offer this spin: “The cloud hanging over President Trump has been removed by this report,” he said.


But dozens of his Democratic colleagues flooded Twitter expressing uncertainty and piling on pressure for the full release of the report.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, noted that the House voted unanimously earlier this month in favor of releasing the full Mueller report.

“Not a ‘summary’ from is handpicked Attorney General,” Warren tweeted. “AG Barr, make the full report public. Immediately.”

Congress voted 420-0 to release the full Mueller report. Not a "summary" from his handpicked Attorney General. AG Barr, make the full report public. Immediately. — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) March 24, 2019

Maybe Barr’s interpretation is right. Maybe it’s not. But why the heck would we be ok with an ally of President, appointed because of his hostility to the Mueller investigation, tell us what the report says? Give Congress the report. Give the public the report. Now. — Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) March 24, 2019

Minutes later, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) echoed Warren on Twitter: “Maybe Barr’s interpretation is right. Maybe it’s not. But why the heck would be we be [okay] with an ally of President, appointed because of his hostility to the Mueller investigation, tell us what the report says?”

I suppose I could construct a more clever way to say this but just give us the document. — Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) March 24, 2019

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) was straight to the point. “[J]ust give us the document,” he tweeted.

One question:

What the Mueller probe established, according to the AG, is that the Russians hacked the DNC and engaged in an aggressive, covert campaign to influence our election.

So why did @realDonaldTrump stand next to Putin in Helsinki and meekly accept his denials? — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) March 24, 2019

David Axelrod, a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama, raised another point. Since the Mueller probe established that Russia hacked Democratic National Committee (DNC) servers in an attempt to influence the 2016 election, Axelrod asked why Trump has so readily accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s denials of wrongdoing.


Meanwhile, former interim DNC chair Donna Brazile, now a Fox News contributor, said on the network that she was “personally relieved that no American got involved” as Russia “attempted to destroy our democracy.”