Mueller examined 10 instances of potential obstruction, Barr says — live updates

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CBSN

The Justice Department has posted the Mueller report here.

Attorney General William Barr previewed the release of the long-anticipated report by special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Barr held a press conference Thursday morning to discuss the report’s release.

The report will be delivered on CDs to Capitol Hill at 11 a.m. before being posted publicly on the special counsel’s website, Barr said.

Barr said Mueller found no evidence of anyone connected to the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians to interfere in the 2016 elections.

“The Special Counsel’s report did not find any evidence that members of the Trump campaign or anyone associated with the campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its hacking operations,” Barr said. “In other words, there was no evidence of Trump campaign “collusion” with the Russian government’s hacking.

He said Mueller had examined 10 instances of potential obstruction of justice, but said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did not find the evidence to be sufficient to establish Mr. Trump obstructed justice.

Barr also said he has no objection to Mueller testifying before Congress. House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler quickly issued a formal request for Mueller’s testimony.

Democratic members of Congress raised concerns on Wednesday about the timing of the release, blasting the Justice Department for preparing to release it only after Barr’s press conference.

Mr. Trump tweeted a “Game of Thrones” reference soon after the press conference, with a graphic that read “Game Over.” He was scheduled to speak at an event at the White House shortly before the report was delivered to lawmakers.

Highlights from Barr’s press conference

Top Republican on House Judiciary Committee reacts to Barr

11:01 a.m.: Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, reacted to Barr’s press conference, tweeting that there was “no cover up when there’s nothing to cover up.”

Nadler issues formal request for Mueller to testify

10:22 a.m.: Nadler formally requested Mueller testify before the House Judiciary Committee no later than May 23. He sent a letter to Mueller requesting his testimony “as soon as possible.”

— Brian Pascus

Barr has no objection to Mueller testifying

10:10 a.m.: Barr said Mueller made no determination on obstruction independent of Justice Department guidelines saying a sitting president could not be indicted.

He said Mueller did not indicate he wanted to leave the determination of whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice to Congress. Barr said he has no objection to Mueller appearing before Congress to discuss the report.

He said the report was not Mueller’s report: “It’s the report he did for me.”

He did not answer a question about why he held the conference before the public had a chance to read the report.

— Grace Segers

​Barr confirms Trump’s attorneys saw the redacted report ahead of time

10:05 a.m. Barr confirmed in his remarks to reporters that the president’s personal attorneys have already seen the redacted report — before Congress had a chance to see it “earlier this week.”

“In addition, earlier this week, the president’s personal counsel requested and were given the opportunity to read a final version of the redacted report before it was publicly released,” Barr said. “That request was consistent with the practice followed under the Ethics in Government Act, which permitted individuals named in a report prepared by an Independent Counsel the opportunity to read the report before publication. The president’s personal lawyers were not permitted to make, and did not request, any redactions.”

Kathryn Watson

Barr explains redactions in Mueller report

9:58 a.m.: Barr said most of the redactions, which were determined by Justice Department officials in concert with special counsel investigators, were related to ongoing investigations. He also said no one outside the Justice Department has seen the unredacted report, referring to Democratic concerns that Mr. Trump had reviewed the report.

He said the redactions will fall into four specific categories:

  • Grand jury material.
  • Material that would reveal sources and methods
  • Material related to ongoing investigations
  • Material that concerns unindicted persons of interests

“There were no redactions done by anyone outside this group and no one outside this group proposed and no one outside this department has seen the non-redacted report,” Barr said on Thursday.

Barr said the White House counsel had reviewed the redacted report to determine whether the president should assert executive privilege over some information in the report. In the interest of transparency, Barr said, the president did not assert executive privilege over any part of the report.

He said the Justice Department was working to “accommodate Congress” to address their “legitimate” concerns about the report and its process.

He also said the Justice Department would provide a bipartisan group of members of Congress “a version of the report with all redactions removed, except for grand jury material.”

— Grace Segers and Brian Pascus

​Mueller examined 10 instances of potential obstruction

William Barr: What Mueller found on Trump and obstruction of justice

9:51 a.m.: Barr addressed Mueller’s decision not to make a determination as to whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice. Barr said the report identifies 10 instances which could be considered obstruction of justice, and provided evidence as to whether these instances amounted to obstruction.

Barr said he and Rosenstein had some disagreements with Mueller’s legal theories, and determined based on evidence provided that Mr. Trump did not obstruct justice. He also said Mr. Trump had faced an “unprecedented” situation when coming into office, and his frustration about the investigation was normal.

“The president was frustrated and angered by the sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency,” Barr said.

— Grace Segers

Barr: Mueller “found no collusion by any American”

William Barr: Mueller found no collusion

9:45 a.m.: Barr said the first volume of Mueller’s report pertained to Russian interference in the 2016 election, and reiterated Mueller concluded there was no collusion with the Trump administration.

“We now know that the Russian operatives who perpetrated these schemes” did not cooperate with Trump campaign officials, Barr said.

“The special counsel found no evidence that any American including anyone associated with the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government or the IRA,” Barr said, referring to the Internet Research Agency. “Put another way, the special counsel found no collusion by any American.”

Barr also said Mueller found that no member of the Trump campaign assisted in disseminating information gained by Russian hacking through services such as WikiLeaks. However, he did say Mueller confirmed the Russian government attempted to interfere in the 2016 election.

Grace Segers

Barr sending report to Congress at 11 a.m.

Trump Russia Probe
Attorney General William Barr speaks about the release of a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report during a news conference, Thursday, April 18, 2019, at the Department of Justice in Washington. Patrick Semansky / AP

9:37 a.m.: Barr started his press conference shortly after 9:30 a.m., saying the report will be made available at 11 a.m. to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. Barr was joined at the conference by Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller.

Grace Segers

Trump tweets musical montage of him saying “no collusion”

9:19 a.m.: Shortly before Barr’s press conference, the president tweeted out a musical montage of him declaring there was “no collusion” in recent months.

The 54-second video, tweeted with the words, “No Collusion – No Obstruction!” shows the president repeatedly insisting he is innocent of any such accusations. It’s unclear who created the video or whether it was paid for with taxpayer dollars.

Grace Segers

How to download and read the Mueller report on the special counsel’s website

9:00 a.m.: After Barr’s press conference at 9:30 a.m., the report will be delivered to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on compact discs at some point between 11 a.m. and noon.

Shortly thereafter, the report will be posted on the special counsel’s website at justice.gov/sco. The Justice Department has reportedly taken steps to shore up its website to avoid crashing.

— Stefan Becket

Trump decries “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!”

8:30 a.m.: The president fired off his second tweet of the day, striking a familiar tone:

Stefan Becket

Barr to discuss executive privilege and interactions with White House

barr.jpg
Cameras captured Attorney General William Barr leaving his home Thursday morning. CBS News

8:00 a.m.: At his press conference, Barr will address whether the White House invoked executive privilege over any aspects of the report, a Justice Department spokesperson said. He will also seek to clarify the interactions between the Justice Department and the White House about the report over the past few weeks and discuss the process for how redactions were made.

The press conference is expected to last 20 to 30 minutes. The spokesperson described Barr’s demeanor as “calm” Thursday morning.

— Paula Reid

Why Barr is holding a press conference before the report is released

What to look for in Mueller report: Indictable, impeachable, or contemptible conduct

7:30 a.m.: Jonathan Turley, a CBS News legal analyst, said on “CBS This Morning” he believes Barr hopes to use his press conference to explain how the report’s redactions were made. However, he acknowledged Mr. Trump’s opponents will read this move as an attempt to spin the report in favor of the administration.

“There’s going to be so much spin in this city it’s going to knock the Earth off its rotational axis,” Turley said. Turley, who has known Barr for many years, said he did not believe the attorney general was holding the press conference to carry water for the president, but to provide more information about how the redactions were decided.

“He’s going to lay out how these things are done so the American people understand what they’re about to see and how it came about,” Turley said.

Turley said the most consequential portion of the report may deal with whether the president committed obstruction of justice. Mueller did not make a determination on this issue, leaving Barr to determine Mr. Trump had not obstructed justice.

“The obstruction section of the report is likely to have the meat of what we’re looking for, as opposed to collusion,” Turley said.

Grace Segers

Democrats want Barr to cancel press conference

7:00 a.m.: House Democrats, furious that Barr will speak to the press an hour and a half before Congress and the public are set to see the redacted report, have called on Barr to cancel his press conference.

“The central concern here is that Attorney General Barr is not allowing the facts of the Mueller report to speak for themselves but is trying to bake in the narrative about the report to the benefit of the White House,” Nadler said Wednesday evening alongside Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Ted Deutch, Val Demings and Madeleine Dean. Nadler accused Barr of staging a “media campaign” on behalf of the president.

As country waits for Mueller report, AG accused of trying to protect Trump

Nadler, Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel also released a joint statement calling on Barr to cancel the conference.

“This press conference, which apparently will not include Special Counsel Mueller, is unnecessary and inappropriate, and appears designed to shape public perceptions of the report before anyone can read it,” the committee chairs said in the statement released Wednesday evening.

Grace Segers

Pelosi and Schumer call on Mueller to testify publicly

6:30 a.m.: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released an early-morning statement calling on Mueller to testify in both the House and Senate:

“Attorney General Barr’s regrettably partisan handling of the Mueller report, including his slanted March 24th summary letter, his irresponsible testimony before Congress last week, and his indefensible plan to spin the report in a press conference later this morning — hours before he allows the public or Congress to see it — have resulted in a crisis of confidence in his independence and impartiality. We believe the only way to begin restoring public trust in the handling of the Special Counsel’s investigation is for Special Counsel Mueller himself to provide public testimony in the House and Senate as soon as possible. The American people deserve to hear the truth.”

Stefan Becket

What you won’t see in the report

Barr told members of Congress he would make as much of the report public as possible, but would redact sections based on four criteria:

  • Information from the grand jury
  • Classified information
  • Material related to ongoing investigations
  • Any information which would “unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.”

Grand jury information, which includes witness information, can be obtained in court. Some grand jury records in the Whitewater investigation into President Bill Clinton and an investigation into President Richard Nixon were released. However, those records were released after the House Judiciary Committee began impeachment proceedings.

Nadler has expressed wariness about impeaching Mr. Trump, and may argue in court that the materials can be obtained without formal impeachment proceedings.

Barr said during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing that the report will be color-coded with accompanying “explanatory notes” describing the basis for each redaction.

Barr made waves in a hearing before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee by suggesting that “spying did occur” on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, saying he will investigate the origins of the Mueller report.

“I am not saying that improper surveillance occurred. I’m saying that I am concerned about it and looking into it, that’s all,” Barr said. His testimony left Democrats to assume Barr is carrying the president’s water on this issue, as Mr. Trump seized upon the allegations his campaign had been surveilled.

Grace Segers

Who was charged in the Mueller probe

Mueller’s probe yielded seven guilty pleas, and 34 individuals and three separate companies were charged.

President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was one of the first Trump associates to serve time in prison as part of Mueller’s probe. Manafort was indicted on a total of 25 counts in two jurisdictions. The charges ranged from conspiracy to launder money to acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal.

charged.jpg
CBS News

Trump attorneys working on a counter-report

The president’s personal attorneys have been working on a counter-report to rebut Mueller’s findings. This counter-narrative has been in the works for months and they have continued to edit it this week. The length of the report has varied, although Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said “they are trying to make it concise.”

Giuliani said Wednesday his team is confident the Mueller report “can be answered real simple.” They will emphasize that Mueller found no chargeable wrongdoing and there were no charges of collusion or obstruction against president or anyone else.

There is no indication the president’s legal team has seen the Mueller report, so this is based on publicly available information and what they know from working with their client in this investigation.

The White House is working separately from the president’s personal attorneys and are taking a more low-key approach. They will read the redacted report and issue a statement as they did with the four-page letter from Barr.

— Paula Reid

Democrats prepare for the release of the report

Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has said Congress is “entitled to see all” of Mueller’s report, doubling down on his demand that the Justice Department provide his committee with the findings of the nearly two-year Russia investigation with no redactions.

“Congress has a right to the entire report with no redactions whatsoever so we can see what’s there,” Nadler said on “Face the Nation” earlier in April. “We’re entitled to see it because Congress represents the nation. And Congress has to take action on any of it. So we’re entitled to see all of it.”

Nadler said he would go to court to obtain secret grand jury testimony that might be included in the unredacted report.

“We would have to go the court to get the release of the grand jury information but that has happened successfully in every previous situation,” Nadler said. “And it’s not up to the attorney general to decide with respect to that or with respect to other material that he decides Congress can’t see.”

Members of other congressional committees have also called for greater information on the report.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a Democrat, and GOP ranking member Devin Nunes came together in a rare bout of bipartisanship to demand “full visibility” into the findings, citing the probe’s counterintelligence origins and the committee’s own statutory oversight responsibilities.

In a letter dated March 27 and addressed to Barr, Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray, the committee leaders asked to be provided with “all materials, regardless of form and classification, obtained or produced by the Special Counsel’s Office in the course of the investigation.”

Schiff and Nunes said those materials should include records related to the investigation’s scope and subjects as well as any “raw reporting” related to intelligence or counterintelligence matters. They also requested a briefing for the full committee from Mueller himself, alongside members of his senior team and relevant law enforcement and national security officials.

— Olivia Gazis and Camilo Montoya-Galvez

Republicans plan to react to the report

The president’s allies have also been preparing for the release of the report. One House GOP aide says their office is looking for details in the obstruction section of Mueller’s report that Democrats may try to “harp on.” GOP aides will play “devil’s advocate” as they comb through the report to know how best to respond to Democratic attacks.

“We really expect Democrats to harp on the redactions” to imply there was something “nefarious” or “damning” redacted, and try to respond to that, the GOP aide said.

A second House GOP aide expressed concern about the unknowns of the “palace intrigue” that could be in the report, and said Thursday can only be perceived an upside for Democrats, since it doesn’t take 400 pages to say “no collusion, no obstruction.”

“The reality is that Barr’s letter said essentially, as understood by I think certainly Republicans and probably the American people, basically you said you know there was no collusion and there was essentially no obstruction,” the second GOP aide said. “So now we’ve got 400 pages to read on Thursday. And the reality is that it doesn’t take 400 pages to say no collusion, no obstruction. So I think, I think Thursday’s going to be a day where you’ll see the Democrats making a lot of molehills into mountains. They’re going to be looking for anything in there, and certainly I think Thursday’s kind of all upside for them because in their estimation anything that doesn’t say no collusion, no obstruction is probably good news.”

— Kathryn Watson

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