Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said the House's resolution calling for the public release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report was nothing more than a failed attempt by Democrats to divide Republicans.
“It was a political stunt by the Democrats who felt that they could divide Republicans into voting no upon it because at the end of the day after I looked at it, when they dropped it … they said this is nothing but simply a first-year law student’s restatement of what the regular regulations say that Mr. [Attorney General William] Barr is going to have to do,” he said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.“This is the sad part we're at right now, Maria. They have no agenda. They have nothing that they can actually put on the floor. So they wasted an entire week of the American taxpayers' dollar to actually put a report on the floor that said nothing, basically except the same thing the regulations say that Mr. Barr needs to do.”He continued: “So we just called their bluff and just said, fine, we can vote for this, because this is exactly what Bill Barr said he's going to do.”
The resolution passed unanimously, and President Trump said even he had called on Republicans to support the measure because transparency “makes us all look good.”
“On the recent non-binding vote (420-0) in Congress about releasing the Mueller Report, I told leadership to let all Republicans vote for transparency,” he tweeted on Saturday. “Makes us all look good and doesn’t matter. Play along with the game!”
On the recent non-binding vote (420-0) in Congress about releasing the Mueller Report, I told leadership to let all Republicans vote for transparency. Makes us all look good and doesn’t matter. Play along with the game!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2019
Mueller’s findings are expected to be out in the coming weeks.