Who Is Ag Barr Using to Review Mueller Probe
Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday turned over his long-awaited terminal report on the contentious Russian federation investigation that has cast a night shadow over Donald Trump'south presidency, entangled Trump's family unit and resulted in criminal charges against some of the president'southward closest associates.
The comprehensive report, yet confidential, marks the end of Mueller's probe but sets the phase for big public fights to come. The next steps are up to Trump's attorney general, to Congress and, in all likelihood, to federal courts.
The Justice Department said Mueller delivered his final report to Attorney General William Barr and officially ended his probe of Russian ballot interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. The report will at present be reviewed by Barr, who has said he will write his own business relationship communicating Mueller'due south findings to Congress and the American public.
Quick advisory
Barr said he could send his account to Congress quickly.
``I am reviewing the report and anticipate that I may be in a position to propose you of the special counsel's principal conclusions as shortly equally this weekend,'' Barr said in his letter the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate Judiciary committees.
With no details released at this indicate, it's not known whether Mueller's report answers the cadre questions of his investigation: Did Trump'south campaign collude with the Kremlin to sway the 2016 presidential election in favor of the glory man of affairs? As well, did Trump take steps later, including past firing his FBI manager, to obstruct the probe?
Simply the delivery of the written report does mean the investigation has concluded without any public charges of a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia, or of obstruction past the president.
Information technology'due south unclear what steps Mueller will take if he uncovered what he believes to exist criminal wrongdoing by Trump, in lite of Justice Department legal opinions that take held that sitting presidents may not be indicted.
The mere delivery of a confidential study volition set off immediate demands, including in the Democratic-led House, for full release of Mueller'southward findings. Barr has said he wants to brand as much public as possible, and whatsoever efforts to withhold details will prompt a tussle between the Justice Department and lawmakers who may subpoena Mueller and his investigators to prove earlier Congress. Such a motility by Democrats would likely exist vigorously contested past the Trump administration.
The conclusion of Mueller's investigation does non remove legal peril for the president. Trump faces a divide Justice Department investigation in New York into hush money payments during the campaign to two women who say they had sexual practice with him years before the election. He'due south likewise been implicated in a potential campaign finance violation by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who says Trump asked him to suit the transactions. Federal prosecutors, as well in New York, have been investigating foreign contributions made to the president's countdown committee.
Russian assault
No matter the findings in Mueller's report, the investigation has already illuminated Russia'southward set on on the American political system, painted the Trump entrada every bit eager to exploit the release of hacked Autonomous emails and exposed lies by Trump aides aimed at covering upwardly their Russian federation-related contacts. Over the 21-month investigation, Mueller has brought charges against 34 people, including half-dozen aides and directorate to the president, and 3 companies.
The special counsel brought a sweeping indictment accusing Russian military intelligence officers of hacking Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democratic groups during the 2016 ballot. He charged another group of Russians with carrying out a large-calibration social media disinformation campaign against the American political procedure that also sought to help Trump and hurt Clinton.
Closer to the president, Mueller secured convictions against a campaign chairman who cheated banks and dodged his taxes, a national security adviser who lied well-nigh his Russian contacts and a campaign aide who misled the FBI about his knowledge of stolen emails.
Cohen, the president'due south former lawyer, pleaded guilty in New York to entrada finance violations arising from the hush money payments, and in the Mueller probe to lying to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal. Some other Trump confidant, Roger Rock, is awaiting trial on charges that he lied about his pursuit of Russian-hacked emails ultimately released past WikiLeaks. It's unclear whether any of the aides who have been convicted, all of whom accept pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigators, might angle for a pardon. Trump has left open the idea of pardons.
Trump defenses
Along the mode, Trump lawyers and advisers repeatedly evolved their public defenses to bargain with the onslaught of allegations from the investigation. Where one time Trump and his aides had maintained that there were no connections between the entrada and Russian federation, by the finish of the probe Trump chaser Rudy Giuliani was routinely making the argument that even if the two sides did collude, it wasn't necessarily a offense. The goalpost shifting reflected the administration's challenge in adopting a atypical narrative to fend off allegations.
Equally central to Mueller's work is his enquiry into whether the president tried to obstruct the investigation. Since the special counsel's appointment in May 2017, Trump has increasingly tried to undermine the probe by calling it a ``witch hunt'' and repeatedly proclaiming in that location was ``NO COLLUSION'' with Russia. Just Trump besides took certain acts equally president that caught Mueller's attention and have been scrutinized for possible obstruction.
One week before Mueller's date, Trump fired FBI Managing director James Comey, later saying he was thinking of ``this Russia matter'' at the time.
He mercilessly harangued Chaser Full general Jeff Sessions for recusing from the Russia investigation two months earlier Mueller was named special counsel, a move that left the president without a perceived loyalist atop the probe. And he helped draft a misleading statement on Air Strength I as a Trump Tower meeting between his eldest son and a Kremlin-connected lawyer was near to become public.
The meeting itself became part of Mueller's investigation, entangling Donald Trump Jr. in the probe. Mueller'south team as well interviewed the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, multiple times.
Even as Trump blasted Mueller'southward team, his White House and campaign produced thousands of documents for the special counsel, and dozens of his aides were interviewed. The president submitted written answers to Mueller regarding the Russian federation investigation, but he refused to be interviewed.
Source: https://www.voanews.com/a/mueller-concludes-russia-probe-delivers-report-to-ag-barr/4843451.html
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