Democrats are renewing their calls for the public release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s entire report in the wake of Attorney General William Barr releasing a summary Sunday of Mueller’s findings. Mueller concluded that the Trump campaign did not conspire or coordinate with the Russian government in Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
The special counsel’s office did not come to a conclusion on whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice, instead leaving it to the attorney general to determine whether Mr. Trump’s actions constituted a crime.
“While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Mueller’s report read.
Barr is expected to release more on the report after his summary in a Sunday letter to Congress, but Democrats have vowed to subpoena both Mueller and Barr about the nearly two-year long investigation.
Meanwhile, President Trump declared victory shortly after the summary was released, claiming it was a “complete and total exoneration.”
“This was an illegal takedown that failed and, hopefully, somebody’s going to be looking at the other side,” Mr. Trump told reporters in Florida before boarding Air Force One.
Follow along for live updates
Trump quotes Fox News, calls it a “good day for America”
President Trump issued his first tweet of the day in the wake of the report’s release, quoting Fox News’ Brett Baier.
“No matter your ideologies or your loyalties, this is a good day for America. No American conspired to cooperate with Russia in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 election, according to Robert Mueller, and that is good,” the tweet read.
After briefly tweeting out more favorable headlines from the morning news, Mr. Trump proceeded to retweet his weekend messages, once again emphasizing “no collusion” and wishing followers to have a “great day.”
Russian lawmakers react to Mueller news
Across the globe, lawmakers in Russia’s government are reacting to news of the investigation concluding.
Konstantin Kosachev, head of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Russian senate, said in a transalted Facebook post Sunday night that the report “proved what Russians knew from the start: no collusion between Trump or his team with the Kremlin.”
“There is no reason for us to celebrate it here in Russia – the accusations against us still stand. The ‘celebration’ takes place over there, in the U.S., among the pro-Trump part of the establishment. The rest are about to mourn,” he added, saying it’s been “two years of incessant lies.”
“Two years of high-level politics built on the notion of collusion. Collusion that supposedly explained Trump’s pro-Russia stance and that forced him to, effectively, take harsher measures towards Russia.”
Aleksei Pushkov, a Senator in the Russian government, tweeted that “from the the very start” Mueller’s investigation was “a biased, artificial, provocative, conspiratorial, designed-to-fuel-hatred towards Trump campaign. Its second goal was to demonize Russia and prevent any U.S. moves towards better relations with Moscow.”
William Barr’s letter to Congress and report highlights
Mueller did not determine whether or not Trump obstructed justice
Mueller’s investigation into alleged obstruction of justice made no determination about whether Mr. Trump committed a crime, instead deferring to the attorney general:
After making a “thorough factual investigation” into these matters, the Special Counsel considered whether to evaluate the conduct under Department standards governing prosecution and declination decisions but ultimately determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment. The Special Counsel therefore did not draw a conclusion — one way or the other — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction. Instead, for each of the relevant actions investigated, the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction.”
Barr determines obstruction evidence “not sufficient” to establish Trump committed crime
While Mueller did not make a judgment about potential obstruction, Barr said the available evidence was insufficient to determine the president broke the law.
After reviewing the Special Counsel’s final report on these issues; consulting with Department officials, including the Office of Legal Counsel; and applying the principles of federal prosecution that guide our charging decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.
No future indictments or sealed indictments
Barr writes that there are no outstanding indictments in the investigation nor any coming in the future:
During the course of his investigation, the Special Counsel also referred several matters to other offices for further action. The report does not recommend any further indictments, nor did the Special Counsel obtain any sealed indictments that have yet to be made public.
Barr vows to release “as much” of report as consistent with law
Barr says he intends to release as much information from the report as possible:
As I have previously stated, however, I am mindful of the public interest in this matter. For that reason, my goal and intent is to release as much of the Special Counsel’s report as I can consistent with applicable law, regulations, and Departmental policies.
Given these restrictions, the schedule for processing the report depends in part on how quickly the Department can identify the 6(e) material that by law cannot be made public. I have requested the assistance of the Special Counsel in identifying all 6(e) information contained in the report as quickly as possible.
House Judiciary asks DOJ to preserve documents related to probe
The House Judiciary Committee has asked the Justice Department, the FBI and the special counsel’s office to preserve all documents pertaining to Mueller’s investigation. Democrats will pursue this information as they try to make as much of the report public as possible.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said in an interview with CBS News that the Judiciary Committee should have Mueller testify in order to “bring in the facts and understand his theories and why he declined to do things like file charges.”
“We know that there were interference in our election, we need to know why and how that happened. We have an election right around the corner,” Cummings said Saturday.
Other investigations continue beyond Mueller
Although the special counsel probe has ended, investigations are continuing in Congress and in federal and state courts.
Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, has expanded the parameters of the committee’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Nadler, chair of House Judiciary, has launched an extensive investigation into whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey. In early March, the Judiciary Committee requested documents from 81 entities and individuals, from the White House to Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York has also launched investigations into Mr. Trump and the Trump organization.
Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who was fired by Mr. Trump in 2017, told “CBS This Morning” last week that unlike Mueller, the Southern District is not blocked from any wider investigations by Justice Department guidelines.
“They can look at crime as they see fit, “Bharara said. “They can bring a case against anyone they think that justice needs to be served. They don’t care how powerful you are, they don’t care what party you’re from, they don’t care what your assets are. They’re tough and aggressive and independent.”
The New York state attorney general has also launched inquiries into Mr. Trump’s business dealings.
