Carbajal Comments on Mueller Report
"The Report Did Not Exonerate," He Said
Congressmember Salud Carbajal is reserving judgment on whether or not President Trump obstructed justice until after he has seen the entirety of the Mueller report. “We need to wait until we have all the evidence,” said Carbajal. His vote was included in a unanimous bipartisan House of Representatives March 14 vote asking for the report to be made public. Most recently, a handful of Democratic leaders are asking for a complete copy of the report by April 2. The March 24 summarizing memo by Attorney General William Barr does not suffice, said Carbajal. “It raises more questions than it answers.”
One of the most pressing questions Carbajal has about the memo is about the inconsistencies. Carbajal quoted the memo, “the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction.” Carbajal emphasized that the report set out evidence on both sides. However, Barr goes on to write that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
Carbajal would like to revisit the question of whether crimes of obstruction were committed. “The report did not exonerate,” said Carbajal. Carbajal said that the only way to move forward now is to put forward the full report, be transparent, and examine the findings. Carbajal reminded the Independent that five Trump senior campaign members pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the Mueller probe. Twenty-eight others were charged, 26 of which are Russians, said Carbajal. “That’s really important stuff.”
The report is especially timely with the 2020 elections just around the corner. The report is a necessary step in learning from past mistakes, said Carbajal. “We have to understand the details to ensure [election interference] never happens again.”
