The US Department of Justice improperly censored portions of the Mueller report dealing with potential criminal charges and Russia’s hacking of the Democratic National Committee, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
In response to a complaint brought by BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold, US District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that Attorney General William Barr’s department must release the redacted segments — including portions related to the 2016 Trump campaign’s interest in DNC emails stolen by Russia — by November 2, a day before the US election.
According to BuzzFeed, the ruling means the Justice Department “will be obliged to unveil at least 15 previously blacked-out pages from volume one of special counsel Robert Mueller’s 448-page report” on Russian electoral interference.
In March 2020, the same judge, appointed to the bench by former President George W. Bush, chastised Attorney General Barr for having issued a “distorted” and “misleading” summary of the Mueller report.