Today, as special counsel Robert S. Mueller III enters the fourth quarter of his investigation, the questions are familiar ones for the 116th Congress: How much truth do you want? And how much truth do you owe the American people? My bottom line is the same as it was in 1973: It isn’t enough for the special counsel to complete his investigation and then have his report buried in a drawer at the Justice Department or censored by those appointed by the subject of the investigation. Mueller’s report and full findings must be made public for Congress and the American people to read. It is the only way to pull our country together around the truth, which after all should be the standard.

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I don’t know what Mueller has found or will find. I know there is much that is deeply disturbing in the indictments that are already public. But I know that if the president is as innocent as he has argued from day one, then he should want Mueller’s report to be public and transparent, rather than rebutted and censored as Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, has suggested he will do.

Our country is as polarized as we have been in recent memory. President Trump’s tweets and tantrums about Mueller’s inquiry do a disservice to anyone who simply wants the truth about Russia’s attacks on our elections and whether any Americans conspired with it. That is why the public needs to see the special counsel’s full, unvarnished findings for itself — with redactions to protect only information that is classified or otherwise restricted by statute. Only by reading the evidence and conclusions that detail how Russia carried out its attacks and whether any members of the Trump campaign committed additional crimes can the country protect itself from future threats and assess accountability.

The good news is that I hear some voices emerging in Congress across partisan lines, green shoots of statesmanship after a winter of silence. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) have co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that would protect not just this special counsel but also all future special counsels from political interference. Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) recently introduced legislation that would require the Justice Department to release the special counsel’s findings to Congress and the public.

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William P. Barr, the president’s nominee to become attorney general, has signaled he may not, under certain conditions, release the evidence that Mueller uncovers. But the American people have a right to see as much information from the special counsel’s investigation as possible. This decision should not be left to the attorney general alone, even if it means using congressional tools — from subpoena power to the appropriations process — to make the report public.

To those who argue that it is hopeless to expect the president’s party to do more than rubber-stamp his attacks on Mueller through silence or action, I’d remind them of where we found ourselves in 1973. President Richard M. Nixon had carried 49 states in the 1972 election. He would remain popular with a majority of Republicans until the day he left office. But we drew the line, nonetheless. There is a proper place for Congress to take Mueller’s findings and hold anyone who committed a crime accountable, including the president.

It will take all of us — Republicans, Democrats and none of the above — joining once again to make sure Mueller can release his findings for everyone to read. If that happens, I am confident we will emerge stronger , as Ernest Hemingway wrote, “at the broken places.”