We need to see the ‘actual facts.’ Time to release the Mueller report to the public.

Now that the Mueller report has been completed and the spinning has commenced, it is time for the public to review. We need to determine for ourselves if the investigation was a “witch hunt” as the President claims, or was a necessary judicial tool implemented to expose possible criminal behavior. We have the right to examine, analyze or line our birdcages with this report if we so choose.

We don’t need Hannity, Cuomo, McConnell or Pelosi manipulating the words and distorting the message. We don’t need Trump crowing about exoneration or Chuck Schumer extolling cover-up.

We the People need to decide for ourselves what the report says or does not say. Attorney General Barr’s summary is an inadequate ending to months of the agonizing obsession we endured at the hands of a vainglorious President and his salivating opponents. A four page summary penned by an official who called the investigation “asinine” is not a credible synopsis.

Although no additional indictments are forthcoming, the conclusion there was no wrongdoing should be validated or disputed by the targeted audience. We need to see the evidence, study Mueller’s words and read on and between the lines to conclude what is true or speculative.

A rarely harmonious U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution 420-0 favoring release of the report to the public. A nearly unanimous Kentucky delegation backed the resolution with only one holdout. The lone dissenter, Rep. Thomas Massie, without benefit of reading the report, opined the investigation wasted taxpayer dollars.

The rest of us should awaken our intellectual curiosity and come to our own conclusions. If there is truly nothing to hide, then let us read it. If there is complete exoneration of the President, let us believe it. We are a fatigued nation slammed by showmanship and rhetoric from all sides.

Let us see integrity guiding this process rather than political winds blowing hard from Congress and the White House. Whether we supported or maligned the Mueller investigation, the underbelly of political corruption was exposed and punished. Thirty-four indictments and prison time looming for the guilty are significant accomplishments for any prosecutor.

Redact, restrict and release the findings behind these prosecutions and let us see the rationale for sparing others the same fate. In defense of the Mueller investigation, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said it best, “our decisions are informed by our knowledge of the actual facts”. It is time for the public to have access to the actual facts, rather than conjecture. We have the right to know the truth.

Lexington resident Mary Woodward started her political career as a Kentucky Sixth District field representative for the Reagan-Bush ‘84 campaign and later served as a legislative assistant to Representative Larry J. Hopkins (R-KY (06)) in 1985 until his retirement in January 1993. She went on to serve in the administration of President George W. Bush at the Department of Defense and was one of the longest serving GOP political appointees at the Pentagon.