US Judge orders govt hand over unredacted Mueller report

A US Judge has ordered the government to hand over unredacted portions of former Special Counsel Robert Muellers Russia probe report, giving a boost to the ongoing Democratic impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.

Judge Beryl Howell, appointed by former President Barack Obama, on Friday also ordered unredacted "underlying transcripts or exhibits" of Mueller's report to be provided to the House Judiciary Committee, reports Efe news.

Howell instructed the Justice Department to deliver the documents before October 30. The Department said it was reviewing the ruling.

"Tipping the scale even further toward disclosure is the public's interest in a diligent and thorough investigation into, and in a final determination about, potentially impeachable conduct by the President described in the Mueller Report," Howell's ruling said.

It added that the House Judiciary Committee has shown it needs the material "to avoid a possible injustice in the impeachment inquiry, that this need for disclosure is greater than the need for continued secrecy".

Although Trump's supporters have argued that an impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because the House has not held a formal vote, the judge said that "even in cases of presidential impeachment, a House resolution has never, in fact, been required to begin an impeachment inquiry".

Mueller closed his investigation of the "Russian plot" in March after almost two years of research.

The censored version of its report, which the Justice Department released in April, concluded that there was no evidence that Trump's campaign team was colluding with Russia during his 2016 election campaign, but also cast doubt on whether Trump obstructed justice.

To resolve these questions, the Democratic opposition sought to review the original report behind closed doors, exercising the legislature's constitutional duty to oversee the US executive.

Trump then used his executive power to block the opposition's request to access the uncensored version of Mueller's report, leading Democrats to resort to the courts.

During the impeachment of former president Richard Nixon over the Watergate scandal in 1974, the Supreme Court significantly checked the ability of US leaders to use this power to prevent the hand over of information to Congress.

Democrats opened an impeachment inquiry against Trump a month ago, considering him to have betrayed national security and the Constitution by asking Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son over alleged possible corruption.

( With inputs from IANS )