U.S. Rep. Ed Case, Hawaii’s newest congressman who had promised to take a wait-and-see approach to the investigation of President Trump by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, said Thursday he was shocked by revelations in the 448-page redacted version of the report.
Speaking to reporters at the State Capitol, Case said an unedited version needs to be released immediately, and that Congress should turn to the courts if the Trump administration is unwilling to do so.
鈥淐learly what I have read of the report is highly disturbing and although Mr Mueller did not find overt collusion, certainly many, many people turned a blind eye鈥 to Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, Case said.
鈥淭here is compelling evidence鈥 that a number of people engaged in activities that 鈥渃ould rise to the level of a crime,” said Case, a moderate Democrat.
Contrary to Trump鈥檚 assertion that the report found there was no collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice, Case said the report makes a strong case for the opposite.
鈥淗e has not been exonerated 鈥 Nobody can read that report and consider that the president has been exonerated.鈥
Case said that the summary of the report released in March by Attorney General William P. Barr misled the American public.
鈥淚 think you see a pretty deliberate effort to cherry-pick for interpretations鈥 that would place Trump in a favorable light, Case said.
President Trump has called the investigation a “witch hunt” that is interfering with getting things done in Washington.
Case acknowledged that the investigation has been 鈥渉ighly divisive,鈥 but added, 鈥渢he fact that (investigations) are polarizing and disruptive does not mean that you don鈥檛 do them. That is our job.”
His views were echoed from Vietnam by U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono.
鈥淒espite the Attorney General鈥檚 attempt to spin the Mueller Report in Donald Trump鈥檚 favor, it鈥檚 clear the Special Counsel鈥檚 investigation found serious wrongdoing by the President and many of his associates,鈥 the Hawaii Democrat said in a statement Thursday.
Hirono is participating in a military fact-finding mission to Asia with Senate colleagues.
鈥淭he Special Counsel also confirmed what our intelligence community had already unanimously concluded: that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election to elect Donald Trump,鈥 she said.
鈥淎lthough the Special Counsel felt he couldn鈥檛 meet the high bar necessary to prove criminal conspiracy with the Russians, he demonstrated that Donald Trump and his campaign were willing to engage with our foremost adversary to gain an advantage in the 2016 election. This is just wrong, plain and simple.”
The redacted report released Thursday provided evidence that the Russians had sought to interfere with the U.S. election to derail the campaign of Hillary Clinton and promote Trump.
鈥淭he Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,鈥 the report stated.
It also found that the Russians had hacked the Democratic National Committee鈥檚 computer network, causing sensitive emails to be publicly released, some of them through the organization Wikileaks.
At a press conference in Washington on Thursday, 聽the full Mueller report did not find 鈥渁ny evidence that members of the Trump campaign or anyone associated with the campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its hacking operations.鈥
In early April, Case told voters at a town hall meeting in Ewa Beach that he did not believe the initial Mueller report, as represented by Barr, merited an effort to impeach the president.聽But he said that he would be willing to pursue the impeachment of Trump if he believed the facts showed that the president had behaved unacceptably.
鈥淚 am not shy about exercising that responsibility if I feel it鈥檚 warranted,鈥 Case said at the time.
On Thursday, Case said that he continues to believe that impeachment may not be the way to proceed.
But he urged people to read the report for themselves.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 read this report without re-evaluating your conclusions to date,鈥 Case said.
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About the Author
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A Kailua girl, Kirstin Downey was a reporter for Civil Beat. A long-time reporter for The Washington Post, she is the author of "The Woman Behind the New Deal," "Isabella聽the Warrior Queen"聽and an upcoming biography of King Kaumualii of Kauai. You can reach her by email at聽kdowney@civilbeat.org.