The Mueller Report Is Coming. Here’s What to Expect.
Neal Katyal for The New York Times
February 22, 2019
As multiple news outlets reported last week that special counsel Robert Mueller will soon wrap up his almost two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 American presidential election, former US acting solicitor general and Asia 21 Young Leader Neal Katyal ('08) discusses what the special counsel's final report is likely to mean for US President Donald Trump and his associates. Following is an excerpt of the op-ed published by The New York Times on February 21, 2019.
The special counsel Robert Mueller will apparently soon turn in a report to the new attorney general, William Barr. Sure, there is still a lot of activity, including subpoenas, flying around, but that shouldn’t stop Mr. Mueller.
The report is unlikely to be a dictionary-thick tome, which will disappoint some observers. But such brevity is not necessarily good news for the president. In fact, quite the opposite.
For months, the president’s lawyers have tried to discredit Mr. Mueller and this report, but their efforts may have backfired. A concise Mueller report might act as a “road map” to investigation for the Democratic House of Representatives — and it might also lead to further criminal investigation by other prosecutors. A short Mueller report would mark the end of the beginning, not the beginning of the end.
The report is unlikely to be lengthy by design: The special counsel regulations, which I had the privilege of drafting in 1999, envision a report that is concise, “a summary” of what he found. And Mr. Mueller’s mandate is limited: to look into criminal activity and counterintelligence matters surrounding Russia and the 2016 election, as well as any obstruction of justice relating to those investigations.
Read the full article here.