Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky) has blocked a resolution to release the Mueller report again, arguing that full transparency should be aimed for instead of partisan oneupmanship, and demanding the release of documents that detail the Obama administration’s involvement in the 2016 election.
According to The Hill, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) asked his fellow lawmakers to vote to approve the resolution to release the documents in full in order to “fully understand what the Russians were trying to do” and for transparency reasons for the American people.
However, Paul has also aimed at transparency, and once again voted down the resolution on Thursday after Warner refused to make public any dealings former President Barack Obama and his administration had with the Clinton campaign during the 2016 elections:
Paul objected because Warner wouldn’t agree to amend the nonbinding House-passed resolution to include provisions calling for the public release of communications between several Obama-era officials including former President Obama, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan.
Paul argued that Congress still needs to figure out the “entire story” including the origins of the investigation into President Trump‘s campaign and a controversial research dossier compiled against then-candidate Trump.“I think it’s very important that we not turn our country into this back and forth where each successive party tries to use the apparatus of government to investigate the previous president,” Paul said.
“What we don’t know is was President Obama told that the evidence to get this investigation started was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign? We need to know that,” Paul continued.
Senate rules say that one Senator can block a resolution, and Paul fully intends to use this power until Democrats agree to release information that would give us a much larger understanding of what happened during the 2016 elections.
“It was so scandalous and so unverified and has turned out to be untrue, and yet this was the basis for the beginning of the investigation,” added Paul. “This was the basis for doing something extraordinary.”
This marks the fifth time the resolution has been blocked, but Paul isn’t alone. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has also shot down the resolution, as well as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who is currently wanting to give Mueller and Attorney General William Barr time to work out the form in which they’d like to release the report to the public.
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