That long-awaited report on the Justice Department’s role in the Bush administration’s torture program could finally be ready to see the light of day.
During his testimony before Congress today, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the report, by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, is “in its last stages,” and that he expects it will be released by the end of the month.
Watch:
The OPR report, five years in the making, is focused in part on whether Bush DOJ lawyers violated laws or internal guidelines when they wrote memos that approved torture. The Washington Post reported in May that a draft of the report recommended disciplinary action by state bar associations — though not, apparently, criminal prosecution — against former DOJ lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee.
And in August, the New York Times reported that the study recommends reopening nearly a dozen prisoner abuse cases, some of which involve the death of detainees in U.S. custody.
So: What’s the betting that we get this report right around 4:30pm on November 27 — the Friday after Thanksgiving?