Will Robert Mueller’s report be released to the public? Trump says it’s ‘up to the attorney general’

President Donald Trump appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday to speak on a variety of controversial topics, including Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into alleged collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign team and the Kremlin. But the president didn’t have all the answers.

When asked whether he would release Mueller’s final report to the public when it is completed, Trump kept his responses brief: it’s not up to him.

“I don’t know”

The president’s interview with CBS anchor Margaret Brennan was filmed just days after acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker announced that he believes Mueller’s investigation, which Trump has often referred to as a “witch hunt,” is “close to being completed” after nearly two years.

Mueller is now expected to release a thorough report, but whether that report will be made public is a different story.

“Would you make the Mueller report public because you say there’s nothing in there?” Brennan asked Trump before noting that “Congress can subpoena it anyway, though.”

“Totally up to the attorney general,” the president replied.

Not satisfied, Brennan pressed further, this time asking whether Trump would “have a problem” if the final report was made public. But the president remained firm.

“That’s up to the attorney general,” Trump reiterated. “I don’t know. It depends. I have no idea what it’s going to say.”

Future in limbo

The Justice Department is under no obligation to make the report public, particularly in light of its potential content, which could have national security implications.

Regardless, the decision to release the report will likely be made by Whitaker — a staunch Trump supporter and the former chief of staff for his predecessor, Jeff Sessions, who has held the role since Sessions’ resignation in November 2018 — or Trump’s pick to replace his former AG, William Barr, who is in the midst of his own confirmation hearings in the Senate.

Barr has publicly stated that if the decision were up to him, he would keep the report confidential. But it won’t be up to him if the Senate doesn’t confirm him before the report’s release, and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote on Barr has been delayed until Thursday at the earliest.

For his part, Mueller has not indicated his preferences for the release of his report.

As for when everyday Americans could get to see the contents of this months-long probe? Only time will tell.