Barr offered 6 Democrats a less redacted Mueller report. They didn't look at it.
Ahead of his Wednesday Senate and Thursday House testimonies about the report, Attorney General William Barr offered to let six Democrats and six Republicans see parts of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report the general public didn't, Politico reports. Yet despite Democrats' constant demands for Barr to release more of the report to the public, only two Republicans took advantage of that.
The top four members of both the House and Senate Judiciary committees were offered the less redacted report, as were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). Only Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and House Judiciary Ranking Member Doug Collins (R-Ga.) actually looked at it, with both telling Politico it didn't "change" any of their feelings from the first report.
Barr offered up the less redacted report at Justice Department headquarters last week, and also would let lawmakers choose one staffer to see it too, per Politico. The report moved to a secure room on Capitol Hill this week. McConnell has said he'd likely go look on Thursday and McCarthy said he was "satisfied' with the redacted report, but no Democrats gave Politico explanations for holding out.
In Barr's Wednesday testimony, Graham acknowledged again that he'd seen the confidential version of the report, though he said he hadn't "read it all." Given that grand jury information still remains redacted even in the confidential version that top lawmakers could've seen, no one really has.