By BRENT MARTIN

St. Joseph Post

United States Sen. Roy Blunt says the report released by special counsel Robert Mueller should allow Congress to put accusations the Trump campaign colluded with Russia behind it, so it can concentrate on other issues.

A summary of the report released by the attorney general says it found no evidence the president’s campaign conspired with Russia during the 2016 election.

“I think that it was a significant thing for the administration, for the president, and for the country,” Blunt, a Republican, tells St. Joseph Post. “No matter how much the other side doesn’t want to get that issue behind us, I think the Mueller report will largely put that issue behind us and we need to be talking about things like the economy, people’s families, and what we can do to create more opportunity in the country.”

Attorney General William Barr says he plans to release a redacted version of the report to Congress by the middle of the month. According to the Justice Department, the Mueller report is 400 pages long, not including references. In a four-page summary of the report, Barr stated it contained no evidence the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia during the president’s campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Barr also concluded the president did not commit obstruction.

Barr says Mueller is working with the Justice Department to black out portions of the report before it is released to members of Congress. The portions redacted would be deemed to compromise national security, interfere with ongoing investigations, and infringe on personal privacy of those not accused of a crime.

Blunt agrees with the attorney general that portions of the report needs to be blacked out before release.

“There’d be substantial amounts of it that would and should be redacted,” Blunt says. “It would impact who you talked to and how you talked to them as well as how we know some of the things we know about Russia and the world generally.”

Blunt says it is proper to protect the identity of those interviewed, but not found to have committed any crime.

“If there is other information there, I think the long-term view of the Justice Department has been, no, it’s not our job to talk about bad things people may have done that were not criminal, not part of the justice system. Just because you know it doesn’t mean you’re supposed to talk about it,” according to Blunt.

Blunt serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee and hopes it wraps up its investigation soon.