By Ameara Ditsche
Staff Writer
When Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, it sent a large portion of the population into a spiral of confusion. Many found it hard to believe that people would actually vote for him. Soon after his win was announced, conspiracies ensued. One of the most popular theories, was that the Russian government had some kind of interference in the election results.
The biggest reasoning for this is for the seemingly close relationship between Trump and Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Trump has condoned Putin’s actions several times and met with him in Finland in 2018, which led to many Americans believing he colluded with Russia to skew the election in his favor.
Robert Mueller —the special counsel in charge of the investigation— however, has concluded that Trump is innocent on this charge. He has faced much backlash since due to the fact that his full report was not released. The concluding statement was just delivered by Attorney General William Barr.
The problem with this that it forces citizens to blindly believe Mueller’s conclusion. If the full report is released, then readers have the opportunity to make a decision for themselves. This is a case of government corruption, so why should people just believe what a government official tells them?
There is plenty reason to believe Trump has Russian ties, whether it be an actual hacking or just shady financial planning, there is damning evidence. His campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was caught handing over poll information to a Russian associate. Trump even fired James Comey, former FBI Director and Michael Flynn, former National Security Adviser. As well as suspected ties to the Democratic National Committee email hacking of 2016.
It is easy to believe that Russia had a role in the 2016 election. It is difficult to change the minds of those who think so. The least that officials can do is release the full report to ease these minds.This way people can make decisions with accurate information and if it truly was a fair investigation, the nation can move on. If the investigation was fair, then there is no r ea son it should not be public information.
The full report is allegedly over 300 pages, which is an awful lot of evidence to be deemed unworthy of the public eye. How can anyone be sure Mueller wasn’t biased or paid off? The Trump administration has been caught paying off executive staff before.
Trump, of course, is already celebrating what is a huge victory for him. Assuming that it was all a hoax and his name is cleared.
After the plethora of demands that it be released, Barr announced that a redacted version of the report will be released by mid-April, if not sooner. This is a step in the right direction, although it would be smart to save judgements until the report is released and it can be seen what is redacted.
Another reason why Americans are demanding to see the full report, was because the process was tax-funded. Since the U.S. operates on a “no taxation without representation” policy, it is only right that the people get a voice in the investigation’s result.
U.S. politics has always been a dirty game. Presidents and other officials have been caught doing illegal activity and acting in a corrupt manner many times before. Society relies on the media to be a bridge between them and officials, as well as being gatekeepers and watchdogs.
By not releasing the full report, the Department of Justice is not only hiding valuable information of the people, but also squashing freedom of press. News outlets and independent writers alike have been covering the entire Mueller Probe and have been well informed the whole way.
Why stop now? The Mueller report will become an important historical document, please let us read it before our grandkids do as an AP US History DBQ.
