Grassley: Mueller Report Coming ‘Within a Month’

HEWITT: Now when do you expect the Special Counsel, Mueller, in whom I have great confidence, to finish his work? I know that you’re going to vote for Bill Barr. Your colleague, Senator Blumenthal, quite expectedly he’s always wrong, is going to vote against him. I know you will vote for him. But neither of those votes have anything to do with when Mueller gets done. When do you expect to see the Special Counsel’s report?

GRASSLEY: Within a month, if we see it. But here’s where Blumenthal and I are on the same page, maybe for different reasons. Blumenthal is on a bill with me, because he wants this report out, I suppose, because it’s going to make Trump look bad. I look at it from this standpoint. I don’t care what the report says. We paid $25 million, maybe $35 million to do it, and the public ought to know what their $25 or $35 million bought. And except for national security and privacy of individuals, those would be understandably redacted, everything else, I think, ought to be out.

HEWITT: I agree. I want to see it all unless we’re compromising a method or a source. Did you think, you’ve watched the FBI for a long time. You’ve held oversight for as long since I was in the Department of Justice. When they arrested Roger Stone, was that over the top, in your opinion, Chuck Grassley?

GRASSLEY: The answer is…

HEWITT: All of the FBI agents, etc?

GRASSLEY: Yeah, the answer is yes. But even more deplorable is the fact that somebody within the organization or close to the organization, and it may have been somebody just recently on the outside, told CNN about it so they could be there.

HEWITT: So do you, do you expect, last question, what do you expect from Bill Barr? Is he going to clean this up? I think Chris Wray is a great FBI director. I think Bill Barr is experienced. Do you expect this department to get straightened out?

GRASSLEY: I, it doesn’t matter who’s head of it. There’s some institutional problems, and one of the institutional problems is they don’t have the proper respect for whistleblowers. I’ve changed some legislation within the last couple years on that issue, but not enough. And there’s going to be every resistance. And if people don’t want to listen to whistleblowers and do what whistleblowers said, that’s a cultural problem within the organization that’s got to change, and I discussed this with Wray when he was up for confirmation. And he, everybody keeps telling me they’re going to have respect for whistleblowers. They’re going to listen to them, but it just doesn’t always turn out that way.

HEWITT: And a last question, do you expect that we are going to find that there was any collusion or conspiracy between the president of the United States and Russia?

GRASSLEY: No. No. And getting back to your previous question, I tell people whoever, whatever department they’re going to head, either you run the bureaucracy, or it’s going to run you.

HEWITT: Well said. Senator Grassley, I look forward to talking to you early and often. Good work on the Finance Committee. And tell Senator Graham you’re there as his wingman. Get them moving. Let’s get these judges confirmed. I always appreciate talking to you, Senator.

GRASSLEY: Thank you very much. Goodbye.