Bloomberg Businessweek

6

 AGENDA

○ Americans need a full, transparent accounting of what

happened during the 2016 presidential campaign

BLOOMBERG OPINION

Written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board ILLUSTRATION BY PETER GAMLEN

Michael Cohen’s appearance before the House Committee

on Oversight and Reform was surely a spectacle. The former

personal lawyer to President Donald Trump, who had spent

a decade lunging at anyone who threatened Trump’s image

or interests, marshaled his own attack on the president’s

character and behavior.

Cohen also documented his testimony with financial

statements and canceled checks. This was meant to com-

pensate for his own damaged credibility. But in revealing the

hard evidence, he also demonstrated why it’s essential that

the most prominent presidential investigation—special coun-

sel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the

2016 election—ultimately makes its evidence public.

There is no guarantee that this will happen. Regulations

require Mueller to produce “a confidential report explain-

ing the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the

Special Counsel.” He must submit his findings to Attorney

General William Barr, and Barr must notify Congress of the

report’s completion. But the attorney general is not required

to share its details. Nor is he compelled to make those find-

ings public. In his confirmation hearings before the Senate,

Barr conspicuously declined to promise he would, saying

Make the Report Public

only that he would provide as much transparency as possible

“consistent with the law.”

That’s not good enough. Russian sabotage of the 2016 elec-

tion is a matter of vital public concern as well as national

security. High-ranking members of the Trump campaign and

Trump’s former White House national security adviser have

already pleaded guilty to crimes.

Of course, the special counsel must be careful not to

speculate—or impugn the reputations of people who aren’t

charged with crimes. But Mueller should lay out in as detailed

a manner as possible what his team has learned, regardless

of whether or not that information results in criminal indict-

ments. This becomes especially important if Mueller follows a

U.S. Department of Justice rule that a sitting president cannot

be indicted. If indictment is off the table and only informa-

tion that leads to an indictment can be made public, then this

president and all his successors in perpetuity essentially will

be rendered unaccountable.

And the job of the U.S. Congress, as it embarks on what

promises to be a long series of hearings having to do with

President Trump’s behavior and policies, will be that

much harder.

The only way for the public to digest the complexity of

the Russian attack, and for Congress to either act on that

information or move on from it with confidence, is for the

investigation’s scope and implications to be clear. Four in five

Americans say Mueller’s full report should be released. Barr

and Congress must see that it is. 

Premier Li Keqiang holds the closing press conference of

the National People’s Congress, China’s biggest political

event of the year, on March 15. Li has already warned of

a “tough economic battle ahead’’ as the country’s growth

shows signs of slowing (page 27).

 Tesla presents a new

SUV on March 14. The

Model Y will be slightly

bigger and more expensive

than Model 3 but will have

a shorter range.

 Data on U.S. retail sales

are due on March 11. The

most recent report showed

a surprise drop amid turmoil

in financial markets and the

government shutdown.

 Global central bankers

and heads of financial

institutions meet in

Basel March 12-13 for a

conference at the Bank of

International Settlement.

 The Bank of Japan

unveils its interest rate

decision on March 15, with

Governor Haruhiko Kuroda

discussing his outlook at a

press conference.

 China releases a slew of

economic data on March 14,

including the country’s

latest industrial production,

fixed-asset investment,

and retail sales figures.

 Spain celebrates the

Las Fallas street festival

from March 15 in Valencia,

culminating in fireworks

and the burning of giant

puppets to usher in spring.

 China’s Growth Engine Sputters

Bloomberg Businessweek March 11, 2019