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Minnesotans have mixed reactions to release of Mueller report

Some say they trust and believe Attorney General William Barr, others are waiting for Congress to get its hands on the 400+ page document.

SAINT PAUL, Minn. — The birds were chirping on Twitter Thursday, singing songs like #MuellerReport, Barr and #TrumpColluded; all of which were trending topics Thursday.

President Trump joined the frenzy with a tweet of his own, tweeting out a photoshopped Game of Thrones-themed picture of himself that read “Game Over.”

The topic was also big on the streets of St. Paul.

"I have some skepticism but I'm interested in how it turns out,” St. Paul resident Gregory Poferl says.

Everyone seemed to have an opinion on the release of the long-awaited Mueller Report.

"I think we have the right to know what they discovered,” St. Paul resident Patti Murphy says.

Some say they believe and trust Attorney General William Barr and how he interprets Mueller's report. Others say they’re waiting for someone who wasn't hired by the president to weigh in.

"It's gotta be more eyes on it than just the attorney general's eyes that get a chance to see it and the White House,” St. Paul resident Andy Dawkins says.

Mitchell Hamline law professor Eric Janis feels the same way, seeing a concerning conflict of interest.

"The Attorney General is under the direct supervision of the President. So, when it's the President who is being investigated, you have a built-in conflict of interest there," Janis says.

And he says that conflict of interest could have been avoided had Mueller himself made a decision on whether to prosecute the President for obstruction.

Barr decided to step in, saying no he wouldn't, breaking a political norm that Janis says usually prevents officials from making legal decisions about their boss.

"I would expect Congress to then dig deeper and they may come to a different conclusion about the meaning of the facts," Janis says.

Right now, Congress has the same access we all do to this 400-plus page report.

Democrats are now pushing to get an unredacted, version and to question Mueller himself.

"The special counsel's report was not an exoneration,” Janis says. “It was, one could say, an open question.”

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