Court: Release Some of Mueller Report  12/01 06:21

   A federal appeals court on Tuesday directed the Justice Department to 
disclose certain redacted passages from special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia 
investigation report that relate to individuals who were investigated by 
prosecutors but not ultimately charged.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday directed the Justice 
Department to disclose certain redacted passages from special counsel Robert 
Mueller's Russia investigation report that relate to individuals who were 
investigated by prosecutors but not ultimately charged.

   The ruling came in a public records complaint from the news organization 
BuzzFeed, which sued for an unredacted version of Mueller's report examining 
Russian election interference and possible ties to Donald Trump's 2016 
presidential campaign.

   Though the three-judge panel said a lower court judge was correct in ruling 
that certain portions of the report should remain redacted, it said in its 
opinion that other passages that BuzzFeed fought to see can be disclosed 
because they involve facts available elsewhere in the report and "do not 
contain new facts or stigmatizing material."

   In particular, the appeals court said the Justice Department must disclose 
redacted information about the Mueller team's decision to not prosecute an 
unnamed person -- whom BuzzFeed contends is likely Donald Trump Jr., Trump's 
oldest son -- for potential campaign finance violations.

   The Mueller report detailed how prosecutors looking at potential campaign 
finance crimes investigated a 2016 Trump Tower meeting at which Trump Jr. 
expected to received pejorative information about his father's Democratic 
opponent, Hillary Clinton, from a Russian lawyer. Ultimately, prosecutors 
decided against any charges related to that meeting.

   "The redacted passages contain no new facts; they contain no new information 
or descriptions of conduct that have not been made public elsewhere in this 
very Report. The privacy interests, then, are not robust, as no additional 
reputational or stigmatizing harm can result from the disclosure of the 
information contained therein," said the opinion from Judge Karen LeCraft 
Henderson.

   Other requested information can remain redacted, she said, because it 
contains "additional facts about individuals that are not disclosed or even 
intimated elsewhere in the Report."

   In a statement, BuzzFeed News Editor in Chief Mark Schoofs said it 
"enthusiastically applauds and welcomes today's unanimous ruling from three 
federal judges -- the result of months of dedicated, relentless legal work and 
investigative journalism to ensure that the workings of our government are 
transparent and readily accessible to the public."

   Mueller's 448-page report identified extensive contacts between Russians and 
Trump associates but ultimately found insufficient evidence to charge a 
criminal conspiracy to sway the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. 
Though investigators found multiple instances in which Trump sought to seize 
control of the Russia investigation, they did not reach a conclusion as to 
whether he had illegally obstructed justice.