--- title: William Barr's Letter to Congress About the Mueller Report description: Attorney General William Barr submitted a letter to Congress Friday confirming that Robert Mueller submitted his report on Trump and Russia. canonical: https://time.com/5557334/mueller-report-william-barr-letter-congress/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-22T22:03:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:26:04.457Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read William Barr's Letter to Congress Confirming the Mueller Report og:description: The Attorney General told Congress he is 'committed to as much transparency as possible' og:url: https://time.com/5557334/mueller-report-william-barr-letter-congress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb48a92111f96269c/698947374ee262f394314392/william-barr-letter-congress-mueller-report.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Read the Full Text of William Barr's Letter to Congress Confirming the Mueller Report og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read William Barr's Letter to Congress Confirming the Mueller Report twitter:description: The Attorney General told Congress he is 'committed to as much transparency as possible' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb48a92111f96269c/698947374ee262f394314392/william-barr-letter-congress-mueller-report.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read William Barr's Letter to Congress Confirming the Mueller Report > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=815c95be-90c7-4ea9-b65b-f513208fb39e&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation [Watch (HLS stream): How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jtYJYHg3.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2018-12-06. As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern._ by [Kathy Ehrich Dowd](https://time.com/author/kathy-dowd/) ## Kathy Ehrich Dowd Mar 22, 2019 10:03 PM UTC As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern. by [Kathy Ehrich Dowd](https://time.com/author/kathy-dowd/) ## Kathy Ehrich Dowd Mar 22, 2019 10:03 PM UTC After receiving [Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s highly anticipated report](http://time.com/5557315/mueller-report-trump/) on President Donald Trump and Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 election, Attorney General [William Barr](http://time.com/5503496/william-barr-hearing-testimony-trump-mueller/) told Congress that he is “committed to as much transparency as possible.” In a letter addressed to ranking member of the Senate and House Committees on the Judiciary on Friday, Barr stated that he is currently reviewing the report and “I may be in a position to advise you of the Special Counsel’s principal conclusions as soon as this weekend.” Barr also noted that when Mueller delivered the report, the Special Counsel stated “that the Attorney General may determine that public release of” this notification “would be of the public interest.” “I have so determined,” Barr wrote. Read Barr’s full letter below.  Attorney General Bill Barr notified Congress on Friday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had completed his report and submitted it to him for review. Justice Department --- > “” --- ## Transcript Donald Trump has changed his story several times during the Russia investigation. As Special Counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern. Here's how it works. Trump begins by broadly denying that something happened. First, he denied that Russians had hacked Democratic emails. But I notice any time anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians. She doesn't know if it's the Russians doing the hacking, maybe there is no hacking. The campaign also denied that it had any contacts with Russia. I joined this campaign in the summer, and I can tell you that All the contact by the Trump campaign and associates was with the American people. [ MUSIC ] And Trump denied that he had any business connections with Russia in July of 2016. Just weeks after his former lawyer Michael Cohen stopped working on a project to bring a Trump Tower to Moscow. So I mean I have nothing to do with Russia. I don't have any jobs in Russia. I'm all over the world, but we're not involved in Russia. As facts emerge which make the denial harder to maintain, Trump downplays their significance. He did that when he admitted Democratic emails had been hacked but cast doubt on who did it. I think it was Russia but I think it was probably other people and / or countries and I see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really knows. Nobody really knows for sure He did it when he admitted that his campaign chair, son, and son- in- law had met with a Kremlin- connected lawyer in Trump Tower during the election. He took a meeting with a lawyer from Russia. It lasted for a very short period and nothing came of the meeting. And he did it when he argued that the Trump Tower Moscow project was not a big deal. Everybody knew about it. It was written about in newspapers It was a well known project, and so he's lying about a project that everybody knew about. I mean, we were very open with it. We were thinking about building a building. This deal was a very public deal. Everybody knows about this deal. I wasn't trying to hide anything. [ MUSIC ] Finally, Trump makes an Mission, but argues that it's not that important. He did that when he argued that Russian medling had no influence on the election. Well, Russia's actions had no impact at all on the outcome of the election. Let me be totally clear in saying that, and I've said this so many times, I accept our intelligence Mention communities conclusion. That Russia's meddling in the the 2016 election took place. He did it when he argued that meetings with foreign nationals promising dirt on a political opponent are routine. So I think from a pratical standpoint Most people would have taken that meaning. It's called opposition research or even research into your opponent. I've had many people, I have only been in politics for two years, but I've had many people call up, OG, we have information on this factor or this person or, frankly, Hillary That's very standard in politics. And he did it when he argued there would ne nothing wrong wit perusing a business deal with a foreign government while running for president. We decided, I decided ultimately not to do it. There would have been nothing wrong if I did do it. If I did do it, there would've been nothing wrong. That was my business. Even if he was right, it doesn't matter. Because I was allowed To do whatever I wanted during the campaign. I was running my business. A lot of different things during the campaign. One problem for Trump with this pattern, it undercuts other denials he's made. And it raises the question, if there was nothing wrong with it, why deny it in the first place? 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