House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff warned that Democrats would issue a subpoena for Robert Mueller's report on Russian election interference and possible conspiring with the Trump campaign if the report wasn't made public. The California representative said the committee was prepared to sue the Trump administration over the report during a Sunday appearance on ABC News's This Week.
"We will obviously subpoena the report. We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress. We will take it to court if necessary," Schiff said. "In the end, I think the [Justice] Department understands they're going to have to make this public. I think [Attorney General William] Barr will ultimately understand that as well."
When asked if the committee was prepared to take the Trump administration to court over the matter, Schiff replied, "Absolutely."
"We are going to get to the bottom of this. We are going to share this information with the public. And if the president is serious about all his claims of exoneration, then he should welcome the publication of this report," Schiff continued.
Rep. Adam Schiff tells @GStephanopoulos there is "ample evidence of collusion of the campaign and it's very much in the public record."
— ABC News (@ABC) February 24, 2019
"Whether that will amount to a criminal conspiracy... we'll have to wait for Bob Mueller to tell us." https://t.co/QsQZaHIUKA pic.twitter.com/4IhNcuz1j9
An anonymous senior official within the Justice Department said Mueller's report was likely not going to be made public anytime soon, despite speculation that Mueller had wrapped the investigation and would be releasing his final report as early as this week, ABC News reported on Friday.
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, had previously suggested that Mueller might neverrelease a report on his findings, telling CNN's Cuomo Prime Time on Wednesday that the special counsel would likely have to decide how and when the "endless" investigation will wrap.
"Let's see if there's a report to even discuss. And let's see when these endless investigations actually end. The American people want their elected officials to focus on issues and my boss is," Conway said, adding it would be "up to Mr. Mueller" to decide whether or not to share his findings, whatever they may be, with the public.
Mueller's office did, however, file a more than 800-page sentencing memo under seal regarding Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort on Friday, though the report didn't reveal how many years Manafort may have to spend in prison for lying to prosecutors.
