These Petitions Demand That Robert Mueller's Report Be Made Public

Special counsel Robert Mueller submitted his completed report on Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election to Attorney General William Barr on Friday evening, after nearly two years and countless tweets from President Donald Trump discrediting the investigation. Now, a number of elected officials have started petitions to release Mueller's report to the public so that Americans can see for themselves what the findings are.

Barr wrote in a letter Friday that he was "reviewing the report and anticipate that I may be in a position to advise you of the Special Counsel's principal conclusions as soon as this weekend," according to NPR. But Barr isn't required to release any part of Mueller's report, and The Hill reported that any portions he does release publicly "will be redacted to conceal sensitive national security information or grand jury material."

But a number of elected officials have spoken out with firm requests that the report be made public. President Trump himself said on Wednesday, according to The Hill, “Let it come out. Let people see it. We’ll see what happens. Let’s see whether or not it’s legit.”

On March 14, the House voted almost unanimously that Mueller's report should be made public once it's completed, NPR reported. Now, a number of lawmakers have created petitions demanding just that.

The following Democrats (many of them 2020 presidential candidates) have created petitions on their websites, which you can sign by clicking the links on their names: Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut; Sen. Bernie Sanders; Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Sen. Kamala Harris; and Sen. Cory Booker. Though they didn't create petitions of their own, a number of Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, also joined calls that the report be released to the public, according to NPR.

There's also a Change.org petition calling for the release of the report. In a tweet that shared a link to the petition, Change.org wrote, "All eyes are on Attorney General William Barr, and whether he will release the #MuellerReport to the American public. Will you stand with nearly 70% of American voters who are pushing for the report to be made available to the American people?"

The American Civil Liberties Union also created a petition, which you can read and potentially sign here. It argues that "the American people have a right to know if President Trump and his associates coordinated with Russia to interfere in our elections. And we need the facts about any attempt to interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation."

Though Barr had said Friday that he might release a summary of the report's findings, but The Washington Post reported that he wouldn't be able to finish that work by Saturday. An unnamed source also reportedly told The Hill that congressional committees would not be briefed on the report and there would be no details about the report released on Saturday.

So far, the contents of the report are unknown, but the lawmakers and the majority of the American public are eager to see the findings.