The Mueller Report, officially entitled Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election is an extraordinary document, systematic, detailed (472 pages) and thoroughly researched and documented (2,381 footnotes). News media pundits have summarized its high points, congressional Democrats say they need more information, and President Trump has asserted that it proves there no collusion with the Russians and no obstruction of justice.
But the report itself deserves wider reading and more scrutiny and analysis than it has received. So far, for instance, no member of Congress seems to have announced that he or she has read the entire report. The media have moved on to the confrontation between the president and the House of Representatives over who can testify in House hearings. The report itself has moved into the background too soon. Historians can help encourage people to read, reflect on, and perhaps take action on, one of the most important documents in American history. We need to be more emphatic in asserting history's role in bringing clarity to complex public issues.
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