Federal judge orders DOJ to release unredacted pages of the Mueller report

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Buzzfeed by requiring the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to release unredacted pages from the Mueller report.

On Tuesday, November 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed a lower court's ruling to withhold the pages from the previously released Mueller’s report.

According to The Washington Times, there are four pages that will now be unredacted. Those pages detail who was investigated but did not face charges in connection with the probe into special counsel Robert Mueller’s alleged Russian election campaign plot.

Buzzfeed, according to The Times, argues that the pages "have information on why an unnamed person, likely Donald Trump Jr., was not prosecuted for potential campaign finance violations." The pages are also said to "have details on people who were investigated, but not charged for making false statements, as well as insight into decisions that 'appear' to relate to contacts between Mr. Trump and the Russian government."

“We determine after our own in-camera review of the report that these passages show only how the government reached its declination decisions and do not contain new facts or stigmatizing material,” the 18-page opinion states.

Since the redacted pages only contain information that has already been made public, the court insists the latest disclosure should not lead to “additional reputational or stigmatizing harm.”