Nearly 7-In-10 Say Mueller's Final Report Should Be Made Public

AG William Barr must release Mueller's final Russia report, when it is finally submitted

A recent poll demonstrates that the American people, by-and-large, want an impending report from Russia special counsel Robert Mueller to be made public once it is submitted to the attorney general.

By law, Attorney General William Barr, who will receive Mueller's final report, will determine whether it becomes public or not. Democrats have said they will subpoena the report to make it public should Barr decide not to do so.

If Barr does indeed decline to release the report, it would be a serious injustice to the American people.

We've been aware since 2016 that Russia worked to interfere with our nation's elections, to sow doubts in voters and to prop up Donald Trump to win the presidency. An investigation into that matter deserves to be seen and scrutinized by the public.

Much more than that, however, Americans deserve to know what role their president played in the entire ordeal. There's substantial evidence, already made public, that Trump and members of his inner circle were cozying up to the Russians before and during the 2016 campaign.

One way or another, whether Trump is exonnerated or proof of malfeasance is uncovered, the American people deserve to know. Save for the redacted portions of any report that are done for national security reasons, the public deserves to know the truth, after months and years of investigation, what exactly was going on.

I'm not alone in thinking this way — in fact, nearly 7-in-10 Americans agree that the special counsel's final report, whenever it is submitted, should be made accessible to the public at-large.

That's not too difficult of an ask to make, and for Barr to make happen. For the sake of accountability, and for the American people to know whether their president is an agent of Russia or not, Barr must make the report public. And Democrats would be justified in compelling him to do so, should Barr make the errant decision to try and hide the report.

Featured image credit: James Ledbetter/Flickr