According to a new release of information, more than 20 House Democrats are planning a 12-hour-long public reading of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. According to sources, the report on the Russian investigation will be read in its entirety on Thursday, minus the redacted parts.
A the forefront of the spectacle is Vice Chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee Mary Gay Scanlon. The Pennsylvania Democrat has been rallying other Democrats to join her in the public reading of the Mueller report, which found that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Besides the lack of evidence for collusion, the report noted that there are 10 different situations that could qualify as an obstruction of justice. It’s clear that this is the reason why the Democrats are trying so hard to get the report out to the public.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Scanlon said: “We’ve been saying for weeks that if you think there was no obstruction and no collusion, you haven’t read the Mueller report. So the ongoing quest has been, ‘How do we get that story out there while we are waiting for the witnesses to come in?’”
According to a statement from Scanlon’s office that was circulated to the media, Scanlon claims that the Mueller report “illustrates a presidency founded in opportunism, devoid of respect for public service and the rule of law” and that “this administration and its enablers do not want the American people hear the contents of this report.”
The Mueller report is already available for the public to read independently. The Democrats who are participating in the 12-hour reading of the report will be reading the same exact copy that is available to the public.
The DOJ was recently subpoenaed by the House Judiciary Committee to release the full unredacted report and the underlying materials that led to its conclusion. This demand was once rejected by Attorney General Bill Barr. In response to the request, the Committee voted last week to hold Attorney General Barr in contempt.
During the interview with the newspaper, Scanlon said that it would take approximately 12 to 14 hours to read through all 448 pages of Mueller’s report. The reading of the report will be divided up into shifts between Scanlon’s colleagues. The live-stream reading will take place in the House Rules Committee Room. The reading will then be made into an audiobook.
Besides Scanlon, the other participants reading the report will include Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and Rep. Jamie Raskin. Scanlon has denied that she and her fellow Democrats are engaging in a political stunt. She has said that “It’s not a ploy to keep anything going.”
Scanlon also said: “The Mueller report was a mandate from the Department of Justice that there be an investigation into these very troubling aspects about what was happening in our government. So you know, it may be inconvenient, it may be time-consuming, but it’s what we have to do.”
