Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election meddling and obstruction of justice claims will be made public “within a week”, US attorney general William Barr has said. 

Mr Barr said the report, which is nearly 400 pages long, will have colour-coded redactions but each one would include an explanatory note about why the information was being kept secret.

He also declined to say whether the White House had been briefed on the report, raising suspicions that Donald Trump may have been given a heads’ up about the full findings. 

Currently just a four-page summary of Mr Mueller’s top-line conclusions has been released which was written by Mr Barr, an appointee of Mr Trump.

Mr Mueller concluded there was no conspiracy between Mr Trump or his campaign aides and the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election, according to Mr Barr’s summary, which was released last month. 

Click Here: Cardiff Blues Store

However the summary also stated that Mr Mueller did not clear Mr Trump over obstructing the investigation, deciding instead to hand the decision to the Justice Department.

Mr Barr and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, then decided no crime had been committed. 

The publication of the full redacted report promises to be a key moment in the fallout from the investigation, now complete, which hung over Mr Trump’s presidency for 22 months. 

Leading Democrats have accused Mr Barr of putting a positive spin on Mr Mueller’s findings in his summary, while Mr Trump has claimed “complete exoneration” from the investigation. 

Answering questions about his summary for the first time during an appearance before House and Senate appropriations committees, Mr Barr said the full report would soon be published. 

Mr Barr also said that Congress would not initially get an unredacted version of the Mueller report, despite Democrats demanding just that. He said he would be happy to discuss the issue again after the redacted report was published. 

One other response also raised eyebrows. Mr Barr was asked whether the White House had seen or been briefed on the full contents of the report beyond what was contained in his public letters. 

“I’ve said what I’m going to say about the report today,” Mr Barr responded, declining to rule it out. He added that he would not respond further until the report had been published. 

Mr Barr also declined to say if Mr Trump was correct to claim he had received “complete exoneration” from the Mueller report. 

Mr Mueller actually said that the report did not “exonerate” the president over obstruction of justice, according to Mr Barr’s four-page summary. Instead he handed that decision to the Justice Department.