Trump-Mueller report: Explosive document reveals '11 instances of possible obstruction' as Democrats attack 'partisan' handling
The president is claiming victory. Democrats say not so fast.
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Your support makes all the difference.The explosive, and much-anticipated, release of the Mueller report has come.
Just after attorney general William Barr stood behind a podium and largely seemed to defend Donald Trump, the damaging report was released, showing that Mr Trump attempted to fire Robert Mueller multiple times and that he said he thought his presidency was "f****d" after the special counsel was appointed.
Mr Barr has declined to prosecute Mr Trump for obstruction, a decision he announced last year. But, the special counsel investigation highlights an incredible amount of damaging nuance to that decision.
And, Democrats were quick to challenge the assumption that Mr Trump did not commit a crime, or that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Instead, the 400 page document detailed dozens of interactions between the Trump campaign and Russian officials seeking to flip members of the Trump team.
In addition, the report detailed a shocking propensity for White House officials to disregard the president when it comes to the Russia investigation — and that willingness to ignore the president could be a saving grace for Mr Trump.
According to the report, Mr Trump attempted repeatedly to get his staff to force Mr Mueller's firing. Those staff members just ignored him, though.
There's a lot to unpack — and we've done most of that work for you below.
Please read along for the updates we posted throughout the day — from Mr Barr's press conference, to the shocking revelations of the report, to the reaction as Washington transitioned into its next phase of the Trump presidency:
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There's apparently some differences of opinion on, well, what "no collusion" actually means:
Donald Trump wasn't subpoenaed by the special counsel's office because it would "delay" the investigation, according to the Mueller report:
"We made the decision in view of the substantial delay that such an investigative step would likely produce at a late stage in our investigation" special counsel wrote in the report. "We had sufficient evidence to understand relevant events and to make certain assessments without the President's testimony."
The report indicates that prosecutors believed they had a substantial amount of evidence against the president, but also that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted.
But, the Office of Legal Council Opinion "also recognizes that a President does not have immunity after he leaves office."
Mueller felt that the president's response to his team's questions were 'inadequate'Mr Trump's written response to Mueller's questions were pretty vague, apparently. The Mueller report states that the president said more than 30 times in his responses that he "does not 'recall' or 'remember' or have an 'independent recollection'" of incidents being asked about.
“The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment,” the report stated. “At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”
The Mueller report notes that the investigators were not actually looking for "collusion", because they did not believe that term to be a legal one
The issue they looked into was conspiracy, it states.
"In evaluation whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of 'collusion,'" the report reads.
"Collusion is not a specific offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal criminal law," the report continues.
Mr Trump once instructed his White House counsel, Don McGahn, to remove Robert Mueller from his post — and he was denied
That's according to testimony from Mr McGahn to the special counsel's office, and paints a part of a portrait indicating that Mr Trump's overall attempts to obstruct justice failed because he was thwarted.
Mr Trump also tried to get Jeff Sessions to fire MuellerMr Trump, according to the report, met in June 2017 with his former campaign aide, Cory Lewandowski, whom he dictated a message for former attorney general Jeff Sessions.
Mr Sessions had recused himself from the Mueller probe, but Mr Trump asked him to publicly state that the investigation was "very unfair" to the president, and that Mr Trump ''had done nthing wrong".
Mr Lewandowski did not deliver that message, and tried to get a different White House official to deliver it. Rick Dearborn, the White House official, was also "uncomfortable" with that task, and did not deliver the message.
The report states that Mr Trump attempted to influence the investigation, but that those in his circle refused to 'carry out orders'Mr Trump attempted on several occasions to get the Russia investigation canned. He asked former both FBI director James Comey and former White House counsel Don McGahn to stop the investigation. He also asked former campaign aide Corey Lewandowski to deliver a letter to former attorney general Jeff Sessions to end the Mueller investigation — Mr Lewandowski felt uncomfortable doing so, and tried to get another White House official to do it instead, but they refused.
Barr said he would not prosecute obstruction, but the Mueller report recognizes that Congress may do soSpecial counsel Robert Mueller declined to come to a conclusion on obstruction in his report, and Mr Barr said that the Justice Department had determined that there was not enough reason to charge.
That leaves Congress, and the Mueller report explicitly notes that those investigators have that power — and details repeated attempts by the president to squash the investigation, only to be thwarted.
“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President's corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law,” the report states.
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