Sen. Richard Blumenthal Tuesday insisted his statement that the "evidence is pretty clear" that there was collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia holds true despite the outcome of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, and demanded full transparency of his documents.
"We need to see the Mueller report, not just the [Attorney General William] Barr summary of it," the Connecticut Democrat told CNN's "New Day." "Full transparency and disclosure are critical. The American people deserve it. They paid for that investigation. They need to know all of the evidence and facts that led Robert Mueller to his conclusion."
Mueller "did not, and I repeat, not, exonerate the president on obstruction of justice," Blumenthal insisted. "The two are closely related because obviously criminal intent, which is essential to committing and charging a crime, may have been lacking because of that obstruction of justice. And that's why the American people need to know all of the facts."
Blumenthal said he does trust Mueller's judgment, but he also wants to see how close his evidence came to meeting the high standard of being beyond a reasonable doubt needed to bring charges.
"Even if there are no criminal charge charges, remember this attack on our democracy is what prompted the investigation at the outset, the Russians attacking our democracy," said Blumenthal.
He also said he thinks Mueller should testify before Congress, but he does not "deeply respect and trust the Barr summary, which was designed to frame the message before the information was available and he succeeded in creating headlines."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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