U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton is now demanding answers from the Department of Justice after confirming that he read the full unredacted version of the Mueller report, according to Law & Crime.
Walton has ordered the DOJ to answer questions “regarding certain redactions of the Mueller Report” at a hearing now set for July 20.
According to the report, Walton had been critical of Attorney General William Barr’s response to the Mueller Report before. In 2019, Walton called Barr’s findings “distorted.” And now that Walton has read the Mueller Report in unredacted form, he is more concerned than ever about Barr’s response to it.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, Walton — like so many other Americans — has been working remotely. But the judge, Naham notes, has “made clear that he has some questions that the DOJ cannot answer remotely.”
Walton asserted, “Having reviewed the unredacted version of the Mueller Report, the court cannot assess the merits of certain redactions without further representations from the Department (of Justice). However, because the court must discuss the substance of the redactions with the Department, and because such a discussion cannot occur remotely due to the lack of a secure connection between the Court and the Department…. the status conference currently scheduled for June 18, 2020, is VACATED.”
With Walton having “vacated” the June 18 conference, he has ordered the DOJ to appear at the July 20 hearing in order to “address the court’s questions regarding certain redactions of the Mueller Report.”
Read the full report HERE.
