The battle is on for the release of the full Mueller report

22 months after Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey, and with six Trump associates and more than 20 Russian nationals under indictment, the Mueller investigation is finally coming to an end.

In a letter sent to Congress that summarized the final report of Mueller's investigation, U.S. Attorney General William Barr concluded that there is no evidence to suggest that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election.

But the report did not take a stance on the issue of obstruction of justice, saying "while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

U.S. Attorney General William Barr leaves his house after Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence of collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia, March 25, 2019. /VCG Photo 

Though the report brings an end to Mueller' s 22-month investigation into the alleged "collusion with Russia" and "obstruction of justice", it is likely to open a new chapter into a political fight within Congress over the release of the full report.

Why is the Department of Justice reluctant to release the full report?

As tensions were building up before the release of Barr's summary, top Democrats from six House committees issued a joint statement on Friday night asking for the release of the full report and also "the underlying evidence uncovered during the course of the special counsel's investigation."

Democrats argue the full report may contain crucial counterintelligence information about the link between Trump and Russia and executive privilege of the president may preclude evidence of wrongdoing from being released to Congress.

"Because the Justice Department maintains that a sitting president cannot be indicted, to then withhold evidence of wrongdoing from Congress because a sitting President cannot be charged is to convert Justice Department policy into the means for a cover-up," they wrote.

But as Barr wrote in the summary, since the report contains information pertaining to a grand jury investigation, absent of a criminal charge, it cannot be shared with the public. Disclosure of relevant materials requires further study within the Justice Department and consultation with the special counsel.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after briefing members of the U.S. Senate on his investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign on Capitol Hill, June 21, 2017. /VCG Photo

According to Professor Zhang Zhixin, associate research fellow at the Institute of American Studies at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, one reason the Department of Justice is reluctant to release the full document is out of fear that highly classified intelligence may be revealed. For example, the revelation that former national security adviser Michael Flynn was wiretapped during his conversation with the Russian ambassador to the U.S.

What will the Democrats do after this point?

The Democrats, on the other hand, are likely to push in full force for the release of the full report.

"They want to see much more about the evidence that Mueller compiled about the nature of the relationship between the Trump campaign and the Russian nationals and the conclusions the special counsel came to," said Professor David Hopkins, political scientist at Boston College, in an interview with CGTN Digital.

Since the attorney general is a Trump-appointee, he has the political incentive to interpret the special counsel's report in a way that is favorable to the president, Hopkins said.

Since Special Counsel Mueller did not reach any legal decision on the obstruction of justice, it is left to the hands of the Attorney General to decide if the action described amounts to an offence, wrote Barr in his four-page summary of the Mueller report. In this case, Barr made the decision that the evidence is not sufficient to establish that Trump committed an obstruction-of-justice offence.

This immediately raised objection from Democrats. Congressman David Cicilline, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, criticized Barr's decision in a TV interview that while it took Mueller 22 months to investigate, "Mr. Barr in 48 hours turns that around and say, 'Oh no, I've looked it. He's exonerated. He hasn't committed that offense."

Two top democrats, House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, also directed their attack against Attorney General Barr. They argued that Barr was biased against the special counsel's inquiry even before he came into office.

U.S. President Donald Trump is about to speak to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House, March 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

It was earlier reported that before he was nominated Attorney General by Trump, Barr, then a private citizen, sent a memo to the DOJ attacking Mueller 's investigation as "fatally misconceived".

But this does not mean that the four-page-summary is outright false. Presumably, if it were, the special counsel would be in a position to say so, cautioned Hopkins, the political scientist at Boston College. It probably entails the language and conclusion can be stated in a way that is more favorable to the president than a neutral reading of the report itself might suggest, he added.

How will a political fight within Congress play out?

"The House Democrats are likely to argue that though the evidence remains the same, their standard of indictment differs from the Attorney General's," a scholar on U.S. politics who prefers to stay anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject said.

Committee ChairmanAdam Schiff already raised the possibility of issuing a subpoena to Robert Mueller and others to testify before the committee and take it to court if necessary.

A day after Barr released his four-page summary, Democrats issued an April 2 deadline for Barr to turn over a copy of the report and also ask for transmitting the underlying evidence and materials to the relevant committees at that time.

Trump, in his latest announcement, said that it wouldn't bother him at all if the Mueller report was released but said that it is in the attorney general's hands to do so.

But the report is unlikely to be kept private indefinitely, said Professor Hopkins at Boston College, since the Trump administration deems the report a "complete exoneration", it makes it difficult to make a case for why it should be kept private.

The fight will probably be over how much is released and the question will be over how much Congress will be able to see the part that is not released, he added.

But the White House is likely to have a perceived political reason to drag out the release of the report as long as possible.

"Now the headlines and media coverage are very favorable towards Trump… It is in the interest of the Trump administration to have that be the story in the press," said Professor Hopkins.

Republicans also have differences of opinion when it comes to how to respond to Barr's summary.

Senate Judiciary chair Lindsey Graham said that it is time to move on, while the Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Barr insisted on Barr releasing as much of the report as possible. A few other Republicans also joined the call to ask for full transparency in the release of the report.

How can the result of the investigation be interpreted now that a battle of competing narratives from the two parties has begun? The Mueller investigation may be over, but the political battle goes on.

(Zeng Ziyi and Jiang Yichen contributed to the report)