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Clear Your Calendar, We Finally Know When The (Redacted) Mueller Report Is Coming Out

by Morgan Brinlee
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images News/Getty Images

After nearly two years of speculation, at least some of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russia investigation will finally be made public. A redacted version of Mueller's report will be released Thursday, The Washington Post reported officials from the Justice Department have said.

A Justice Department spokesperson told The Washington Post on Monday that the agency planned to release Mueller's nearly 400 report to both Congress and the public on Thursday morning. Bustle has reached out to the Department of Justice for confirmation and comment.

Of course, parts of the report won't be made public. According to The Los Angeles Times, both the Department of Justice and the special counsel's office have reviewed each word of the report, using a color coding system to mark certain things for redaction due to their classified or protected nature. The paper reported that in discussing the report before a Senate panel last week, Attorney General William P. Barr expressed surprise that Mueller hadn't put together a vetted summary of his findings, which the Department of Justice could have quickly made public.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Barr claimed every page of Mueller's hefty report included a warning of "6(e) material," meaning there was information that, because of Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure regarding grand jury evidence, couldn't be shared publicly. But — and this is where the color-coded redaction system comes in — officials are also reviewing the report for anything that might fall into three other categories of protected information: material classified by U.S. intelligence agencies or their allies, information regarding ongoing investigations, and anything that might "unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties," the paper reported.

Speaking before a Senate panel last week, Barr said he would not use that final category to redact information in an effort to protect the reputational interests of President Donald Trump. "I'm talking about people in private life, not public-office holders," he said.

While it's unclear how much of Mueller's report will be redacted, too much could spur action from Congress. According to The Washington Post, the House Judiciary Committee is ready to subpoena the Department of Justice for any redacted sections if it deems it necessary.

President Trump continued to dismiss and degrade Mueller's Russia investigation on Monday as news of the report's release broke. "The Mueller Report, which was written by 18 Angry Democrats who also happen to be Trump Haters (and Clinton Supporters), should have focused on the people who SPIED on my 2016 Campaign, and others who fabricated the whole Russia Hoax," he tweeted. "Since there was no Collusion, why was there an Investigation in the first place!" he asked in a follow-up tweet. "Answer - Dirty Cops, Dems and Crooked Hillary!"

Trump has previously claimed that Mueller's report represented "a complete and total exoneration" for him, despite Barr having told Congress otherwise. In a summary of Mueller's principal conclusions that Barr had provided Congress with in March, he noted that Mueller had said that "while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

Thursday's release of a redacted version of Mueller's report may shed more light onto the issue of whether or not Trump has been exonerated.