PORTLAND, Ore. — The full 300-page Mueller report into obstruction and intereference of the 2016 election has yet to be released to the public, but most of the country is left speculating about its conclusions.
In fact, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) told reporters earlier this week Attorney General William Barr told him the report will pass through the White House to see if they want to make redactions to the report, according to a reporter from Reuters.
This tweet devolved into several articles from other organizations, claiming that the White House will be able to "edit" the full report.
We wanted to Verify: Can the White House edit the Mueller report?
Our sources are:
- Randall Samborn, a former assistant US attorney, and former spokesperson for the Special Counsel investigation of Valerie Plame's identity during the George W. Bush era
- Victoria Nourse, a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center abd executive director of the Center on Congressional Studies at Georgetown Law
- Tung Yin, a professor at the Lewis and Clark School of Law
According to Samborn, the attorney general was asserting the White House would have the ability to use executive privilege.
"It doesn't mean editing the report in the sense of re-writing, but it means redacting any information the White House thinks should not be disclosed," Samborn said.
Professor Yin said this could often include redacting portions that are classified, which is not unheard of.
"Or it may be rewriting parts of the report, which would be quite unusual (though also not unprecedented in other contexts," Yin said. "There is such a judicially-overseen process in federal criminal trials involving classified information, where the government may be able to offer "substitutions" or "summaries" of classified material to the defense."
Samborn added it's likely the House Democrats would issue a subpoena for the redacted information, if the White House chooses to omit any parts of the report.
Professor Nourse said it would be a "bad strategy" for the White House to edit the report in any way.
“[Pres. Trump] could order [Barr] to change things in the report because he is president," she said. "However, since everything tends to leak in Washington, this would be revealed, and Mueller could in fact testify before Congress about any changes.”
We can Verify: Yes, the White House could redact or edit parts of the Mueller report it deems are classified and shouldn't be released.
However, our experts agree further action would likely be taken by the House Democrats if portions of the report are omitted.
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