Kamala Harris calls for AG Barr to testify on Mueller probe, as 2020 Dems seize on report drop

close

Video

Attorney General William Barr signals intention to proceed by the book on the Mueller report

Chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge breaks down the text of William Barr's letter to House and Senate Committee leaders.

The Democratic presidential contenders are uniformly calling for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election to be released publicly – while at least one high-profile candidate wants Attorney General Bill Barr to testify on the findings.

Minutes after the news broke Friday afternoon that the long-awaited report had been submitted to Barr, the White House hopefuls quickly fired off statements calling for the Trump administration to ensure the documents go public.

TRUMP TEAM CONFIDENT AFTER MUELLER REPORT DROP

“Attorney General Barr—release the Mueller report to the American public. Now,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tweeted.

“As Donald Trump said, ‘Let it come out.’ I call on the Trump administration to make Special Counsel Mueller's full report public as soon as possible. No one, including the president, is above the law,” Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote on Twitter.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California called for “total transparency” – then upped the ante by calling on Barr to testify.

“The Department of Justice launched the Special Counsel investigation to get to the bottom of foreign interference in the 2016 election and any other illegal actions. A declassified report must be made public immediately and Attorney General Barr must publicly testify under oath about the investigation and its findings, and provide all underlying materials to the appropriate Congressional committees,” the former California attorney general said in a statement.

Harris, Warren and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey have all started petitions to pressure the administration to release the report – though the White House has deferred to Barr on next steps. Booker also is using the report drop to raise money for his campaign.

“This report should be made public immediately,” he tweeted.

MUELLER NOT RECOMMENDING MORE INDICTMENTS: SOURCE

It was a similar sentiment on Twitter from former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas.

“Release the Mueller report to the American people,” he wrote.

Video

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said, “report should be made public without any delay. The American people have a right to know its findings.”

And Sen. Amy Klobuchar tweeted “BREAKING: The Mueller report is complete. Attorney General Barr must release the full report to the public. The American people deserve to know the facts.”

Mueller was appointed nearly two years ago to investigate the election tampering and any possible collusion between Moscow and Trump’s 2016 campaign to swing the presidential election in the then-GOP nominee’s favor. Barr and his team are now reviewing the report and creating a summary document that will be sent to Congress, and possibly released.

Former San Antonio, Texas mayor and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro tweeted that the “American people deserve to know the full truth about Russia’s interference in our democracy. The Special Counsel report must be publicly released in its entirety.”

Former three-term Rep. John Delaney wrote the “patriotic action for the Attorney General is to release the entire Mueller Report to the American people. We paid for it and this moment requires transparency.”