Wyden to review redacted Mueller report ‘line by line’

(Update: Adding press secretary comments)

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., talked about the Mueller report due for release later in the week, as well as the tussle over President Trump’s tax returns and housing tax credits during a live interview Monday evening on NewsChannel 21.

As a senior member of the Senate Intelligence committee, Wyden said, “I intend to go over that report line by line and make sure that those redactions are in the national interest, and not in effect about preventing political embarrassment.”

“Redactions are supposed to be about protecting national security, not political security,” he said.

Walden is among lawmakers who have called for Congress to receive the full, unredacted Mueller report, as well as underlying investigative materials, so members can review whether information was improperly withheld from the public.

“As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he regularly reviews classified and highly sensitive information,” said Wyden’s Oregon press secretary, Hank Stern. “There is no reason the special counsel’s report should be treated differently.”

On a broader view, under administrations of both parties, the senator said, “there’s way too much classification, to protect someone’s political tailbone.”

Asked about President Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns, Wyden said that for 40 years, every candidate for president has released them as a “bipartisan tradition … because releasing tax returns is the lowest ethical bar for a president or a candidate.”

It’s important, he said, as “a bird’s-eye view into whether or not you may .have a conflict that runs contrary to representing the best interests of the country.”

“I never thought we would have a president or a major-party candidate who wouldn’t do this,” the senator said. In his view, Section 6103 is “in effect, a legal requirement that the Internal Revenue Service ‘shall’ make the president’s tax returns available to the Finance Committee or the Ways and Means Committee, in pursuit of our constitutional obligations.”

“I think the law is crystal clear – there is no confusion about this,” he said.

On the affordable housing issue, Wyden said it’s clear “we’ve got a housing crunch everywhere in this state.” He said he’s proposed expanding the low-income housing tax credit and to extend the program to the middle class as well.