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Seattle's 24-hour marathon to read the Mueller Report

caption: Kathryn Van Meter and Ezra Dickinson reading the Mueller Report around 4 a.m. on Saturday, July 20, 2019.
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Kathryn Van Meter and Ezra Dickinson reading the Mueller Report around 4 a.m. on Saturday, July 20, 2019.
KUOW photo/Casey Martin

Robert Mueller will answer questions from Congress on Wednesday about his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

So be honest, have you read the 448-page Mueller Report? Over the weekend a group of Seattleites did that — out loud.

The reading started at 8 p.m. Friday at Town Hall Seattle.

Over 100 volunteers broke off into pairs and took half hour shifts reading every word of the two-volume report.

“I am often stuck with not knowing how to engage in acts of service and this felt like a way to engage both in an active service and engage with my community," said Kathryn Van Meter after getting off stage.

Van Meter and Ezra Dickinson read their section around 4 a.m. Saturday.

“I feel kind of energized right now," Dickinson said. "I mean I'm energized to get in my car and drive home and go to sleep. But honestly I'm kind of jazzed after this experience. It's fun.”

caption: Readers sign a table with their assigned pages of the Mueller Report on Saturday, July 21st.
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Readers sign a table with their assigned pages of the Mueller Report on Saturday, July 21st.
KUOW PHOTO/ Casey Martin

The Muller Report can sometimes be a little dense; it’s full of legal terms and lots of redactions.

“Sometimes it's three pages of redactions," said Brian Faker, one of the producers of the show. "We're going to take a break now, stretch your legs, have a drink, and we'll be back after this redaction.”

Except for a few breaks, the reading was a nonstop 24-hour marathon.

The readers said they felt they owed Mueller for the years he put into the report.

“There's something about the marathon that sort of feels like this this is the least we can do in light of like the marathon that he did for so long," Van Meter said.

And said she now has a clearer understanding of Mueller’s investigation – or at least pages 123 through 129.

“That's where that lethal versus appropriate assistance Ukrainian weaponry comes in," she jokes. "Those are my pages."

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