A day before Robert Mueller is set to testify before Congress, FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted that he hasn’t “read every single word” of the Mueller report. That puts Wray on the list of top government officials who have said they didn’t real all, or any, of the special counsel’s findings on Russian election interference and President Trump’s 2016 campaign.
“Have you read the Mueller report?” Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, asked Wray as he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
“I’ve reviewed it,” the FBI director said. “I wouldn’t say I’ve read every single word.”
But Wray added that he considers Mueller — who is a former FBI director — to be a “consummate professional and a straight-shooter.” He said he has no reason to doubt the integrity of Mueller’s work.
More than a dozen members of Congress, from both parties, told Politico they hadn’t read all of Mueller’s 448-page, two-volume special counsel report. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, called it “tedious,” Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016, said he didn’t have to read it because he “lived it.” Sen. Tim Scott, R-South Carolina, asked, “What’s the point?”
An Economist/YouGov poll this month found that 50% of Americans hadn’t read any part of the Mueller report. A book version of the report, though, became a best-seller.
Mueller is scheduled to testify Wednesday before two House committees about his report, which concluded an investigation spanning nearly two years. The report exhaustively detailed Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, but did not establish that the Trump campaign “conspired” with Russia.
Mueller’s report also detailed 10 actions by President Trump during the investigation that could be considered obstruction of justice, but it did not draw a conclusion about whether he committed an obstruction offense. Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cleared the president on obstruction.
