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Casey hopes Biden will run, stops short of endorsement

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Democrats ask for Mueller files, Republicans say ‘move on’

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; In an interview at the Times Leader on Monday, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey made it clear he wants Special Counsel Robert Mueller&#8217;s report released to the public.</p><p>&#8220;If Attorney General William Barr can make a determination as quick as he did on obstruction &#8230; they should try to make a rather expeditious recommendation about what&#8217;s classified, what&#8217;s grand jury secrecy, and then get the report out there,&#8221; Casey (D-Scranton) said.</p><p>He was, of course, only one of the region&#8217;s congressional delegation weighing in, but Casey expanded on his thoughts while visiting the paper to talk about his support for early child care funding.</p><p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s really important that it become public as fast as possible,&#8221; Casey added, saying that making the report public is vital to understanding Russian efforts to influence the 2016 race, and preventing a repeat.</p><p>&#8220;This wasn&#8217;t just about holding American officials accountable &#8212; though that was important &#8212; this was important to holding Russians accountable,&#8221; Casey said. &#8220;We&#8217;ve still got to pursue that, and the good news is that now we know a lot more about how they interfered with our election.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to make damn sure they don&#8217;t do it in 2020,&#8221; Casey added. &#8220;Or people in both parties, including the president, should make damn sure.&#8221;</p><p>Casey called a four page summary from the Attorney General &#8220;insufficient.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I am particularly concerned that the issue of obstruction of justice remains an open question,&#8221; he added. &#8220;Attorney General Barr&#8217;s letter provided his own view about obstruction, but not that of Special Counsel Mueller. This fact only reinforces why the full report must be made public.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Meuser: </strong><strong>&#8216;No collusion&#8217;</strong></p><p>U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser said after an extensive two-year investigation, it is now clear &#8220;without any doubt&#8221; that what the President has said all along is true &#8212; there was no collusion between the Trump Campaign and Russia.</p><p>&#8220;Special Counsel (Robert) Mueller had access to every witness, all the relevant information, and came to this conclusion,&#8221; Meuser said. &#8220;This was the thorough investigation that the Democrats tried to litigate themselves in the media.&#8221;</p><p>The Associated Press reported that congressional Democrats clamored for the Justice Department to release the entire document and not just the summary from Attorney General William Barr. Barr&#8217;s four-page document said Mueller did not find that Trump&#8217;s campaign &#8220;conspired or coordinated&#8221; with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election &#8212; knocking down arguments from Democrats who have claimed there was evidence of such collusion.</p><p>But Mueller reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, according to Barr&#8217;s summary, instead setting out &#8220;evidence on both sides&#8221; of the question and stating that &#8220;while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.&#8221;</p><p>Absent a recommendation from Mueller, Barr stepped in and decided there wasn&#8217;t sufficient evidence to establish that the president obstructed justice.</p><p>&#8220;Make no mistake, the Democrats will continue to pursue investigations of the President for purely political reasons,&#8221; Meuser said. &#8220;As Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said, &#8216;Democrat leaders acted irresponsibly and threw caution to the wind to damage and distract from the work the Trump administration is doing on behalf of our fellow citizens. While this conclusion is an embarrassment to those Democrats, it is more discouraging to think of the opportunity costs to our country.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Meuser went on to say, &#8216;They can grasp at straws, but no investigation they conduct will have the scope or depth of Special Counsel Mueller&#8217;s.&#8221;</p><p>Meuser then repeated the words of Republican Whip Steve Scalise, who said, &#8220;I&#8217;m glad Attorney General Barr has acted swiftly to release the conclusions of this report that vindicates President Trump and gives credence to the claims that this was a witch hunt that cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Toomey statement</strong></p><p>U.S. Senator Pat Toomey, R-Lehigh Valley, said he&#8217;s pleased Mueller was allowed to complete his investigation unimpeded.</p><p>&#8221;I believe it&#8217;s in the national interest for Attorney General Bill Barr to be as transparent as possible about the investigation&#8217;s findings with Congress and the public &#8212; consistent with the law and longstanding Department of Justice policy,&#8221; Toomey said. &#8220;I have shared this view with the Attorney General.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Cartwright statement</strong></p><p>U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Moosic, said, &#8220;If it is correct that the Mueller report shows that there was no conspiracy, and if the president is found not to have attempted to obstruct justice, we should all be greatly relieved. I look forward to seeing the special counsel&#8217;s full report.</p><p>&#8220;It is also my hope that the president will cooperate with Congress as we continue to conduct oversight over his administration. As elected officials, it is our constitutional responsibility to serve as a check on the executive branch, and it would be improper for the administration to ignore congressional oversight requests.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL101618Meuser1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Meuser </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL101618Meuser1-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Meuser </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Toomey-10-09-2016_mug-cmyk-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Toomey </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Toomey-10-09-2016_mug-cmyk-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Toomey </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL101118Cartwright1-copy-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Cartwright </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL101118Cartwright1-copy-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Cartwright </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL032619casey3-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is seen visiting with the Times Leader editorial board to talk about child care issues, the Mueller report and the 2020 election. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_TTL032619casey3-1.jpg</photo3><caption3>U.S. Sen. Bob Casey is seen visiting with the Times Leader editorial board to talk about child care issues, the Mueller report and the 2020 election. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Casey, other lawmakers weigh in on Mueller probe</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle. The Associated Press contributed to this story.</p></shirttailMeta></div>