Rep. Swalwell warns AG Barr to give Mueller report to Congress before Trump so he doesn't 'taint it'
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, on CNN. Image via screengrab.
March 22, 2019
On Friday, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was delivered to Attorney General Bill Barr.
In response to the report, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that President Donald Trump has zero "credibility" to critique the report since he refused to be interviewed in person.
Blitzer asked Swalwell what he was going to be looking for in the report.
"We want the full report and we want it now. We want it before the president is going to get it or able to make any edits," Swalwell said.
"Why should Congress get it before the president of the United States himself?" Blitzer asked.
"The president is a subject. It's inappropriate that he would even touch this. If he didn't do anything wrong he would keep his hands off of it and say the public could read every word, and every sentence. If he is not going to do that then I think it will taint its release," he said.
"I'll trust but we have to verify," he added. "So we will ultimately see the full report because the president is outnumbered. We have subpoena power. I think we will probably have to hear from Bob Mueller himself. I don't know how we could accept Mr. Barr's word without knowing whether there were lines Mueller wanted to pursue and was not able to. I think the American people will need to hear from Mueller."
"What will Democrats do if the attorney general declines to make everything available to Congress?" Blitzer asked.
"We'll fight and we'll win," Swalwell said. "The American people voted so we have the subpoena power now and we have the courts that will back us up."
"I do not want to hear from a president that was unwilling to go under oath as a subject of this investigation, attack a report where others so willingly did go under oath. He has no credibility. The state of the evidence will not include his testimony," said.
Swalwell added, "This is a test for the rule of law in our country right now. It's had a wrecking ball taken to it. And what we do next will determine whether it still stands.
Watch the full interview below via CNN: