WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller's report to Attorney General William Barr about the conclusions of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election is over 300 pages long, a Justice Department official said on Thursday.
The report's length was first reported by The New York Times.
The size of the report, which was delivered to Barr last Friday, suggests Mueller provided substantial evidence to back up his conclusions, raising new questions about how much of that evidence the public will see.
Barr released a four-page summary on the report on Sunday, sparking Democrats on the Hill to demand the Mueller's full findings by April 2.
The Justice Department has said it will release a version of the Mueller report in "weeks not months," but sensitive information contained in the original report will not be included.
Mueller concluded that despite multiple Russian efforts to interfere, neither President Donald Trump nor anyone in his campaign cooperated with the Russian government to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. He did not, however, make a decision on whether Trump’s behavior during the investigation should be charged as an obstruction of justice. Barr took it upon himself to decide that the president had not obstructed justice and indicated in his letter to Congress that the Justice Department would not be pursuing charges.
The Washington Post reported that Mueller’s report is less than 1,000 pages. A Justice Department official declined to give a more narrow range than 300 to 1,000 pages.
The length of Mueller’s report has become the source of great interest since Barr’s four-page summary was released on Sunday.
In his letter summarizing Mueller’s findings, Barr said, "The report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction."
Democrats have said Barr should release the evidence Mueller compiled on the issue of obstruction in order to understand how Mueller and Barr both reached their decisions.
Former FBI Director James Comey, who started the Russia investigation, said he was confused by Mueller’s lack of a decision on the obstruction question as well as Barr’s decision not to charge it based on the fact that there was no underlying crime.
Democrats are weighing their legal options and have considered issuing a subpoena in order to see the full report, NBC News has reported.
CORRECTION (March 27, 2:35 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the deadline that Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have set for the attorney general to release the Mueller report to Congress. It is April 2, not April 3.
