Mueller submits Trump-Russia inquiry report to U.S. attorney general

[rooster59]

Mueller submits Trump-Russia inquiry report to U.S. attorney general

By Sarah N. Lynch

 

FILE PHOTO: Special Counsel Robert Mueller (R) departs after briefing members of the U.S. Senate on his investigation into potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 21, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday handed in a long-awaited report on his investigation into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election and any potential wrongdoing by U.S. President Donald Trump, setting off a clamour from lawmakers in both parties for the document's release.

 

Mueller submitted the report to Attorney General William Barr, the top U.S. law enforcement official, the department said. The report was not immediately made public - Barr will have to decide how much to disclose - and it was not known if Mueller found criminal conduct by Trump or his campaign, beyond the charges already brought against several aides.

 

Mueller, a former FBI director, had been examining since May 2017 whether Trump's campaign conspired with Moscow to try to influence the election and whether the Republican president later unlawfully tried to obstruct his investigation.

 

Trump has denied collusion and obstruction. Russia has denied election interference.

 

The Russia investigation has cast a shadow over Trump's presidency and ensnared key figures including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, national security adviser Michael Flynn and personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who already have either been convicted or pleaded guilty to charges brought by Mueller.

 

The big question now is whether the report contains allegations of wrongdoing by Trump himself.

 

Barr, a Trump appointee who took up his post in February, told lawmakers in a letter that he may be able to provide information to Congress on the report's findings as soon as this weekend. Barr in his letter said he did not find any proposed actions by Mueller that were inappropriate or unwarranted.

 

Lawmakers from both parties, including the Democratic chairman and the top Republican member of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, called for prompt release of the report to key congressional committees and to the American public.

 

"I fully expect the Justice Department to release the special counsel’s report to this committee and to the public without delay and to the maximum extent permitted by law," said Doug Collins, the committee's senior Republican, in a statement.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer - the two top Democrats in Congress - said it was "imperative" that the full report be made public and that the White House play no role in determining what is released.

 

"The American people have a right to the truth. The watchword is transparency," they said in a joint statement.

 

Under the regulations governing special counsel investigations, the attorney general must share an outline of Mueller's report with Democratic and Republican leaders of the judiciary committees in Congress but it is largely up to him what to make public.

 

When the Justice Department announced the arrival of Mueller's report, Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

 

"The next steps are up to Attorney General Barr, and we look forward to the process taking its course. The White House has not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel's report," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

 

ELECTION MEDDLING

 

Trump has sought to discredit the investigation, calling it a "witch hunt" and accusing Mueller of conflicts of interest.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Moscow meddled in the election with a campaign of email hacking and online propaganda aimed at sowing discord in the United States, hurting Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and helping Trump.

 

Mueller's investigators have looked into a large number of contacts between people associated with Trump's campaign and Russia such as a meeting in New York's Trump Tower between members of the president's inner circle including his eldest son and a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer five months before the election.

 

Mueller sought to determine whether the campaign coordinated with Moscow, though it was not immediately clear whether the special counsel found evidence of a conspiracy.

 

Mueller also examined whether Trump committed obstruction of justice by trying to hinder the investigation, looking into acts such as urging FBI Director James Comey to drop a probe of Flynn's contacts with Russia, the subsequent firing of Comey, his attacks on the special counsel, dangling of pardons for former aides and the ouster of former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

 

Mueller has brought charges against 34 people, including Russian intelligence officers, and three Russian companies, including one described as a "troll farm."

 

Regardless of whether the report is released, Mueller's team already has signalled the direction of the investigation through indictments and hundreds of related court filings that have offered extensive details about Russian interference in the election.

 

Trump fired Flynn in February 2017 after it emerged that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and the FBI about his dealings with the then-Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak. In May 2017, he ousted Comey, whose agency had been leading the Russia investigation. Comey's firing led the Justice Department to appoint Mueller to take over the probe.

 

Congressional Democrats, who took over control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January, have said they plan to push for a release of the full Mueller report and said they would subpoena it and file suit if necessary.

 

A small number of House Democrats have pushed for Congress to impeach Trump and remove him from office but the party's leadership including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has urged caution. No president has every been removed from office via impeachment.

 

Several House committees in the meantime are conducting aggressive investigations of Trump and people around him.

 

The last president to be impeached by the House, Democrat Bill Clinton, was acquitted by the Senate in 1999 on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, meaning he was not removed from office.

 

In prosecuting Manafort, Mueller showed how the former campaign chairman made millions of dollars working for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, while also exposing his ties to a consultant who the special counsel said was connected to Russian intelligence. Manafort in the two cases prosecuted by Mueller's team was sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison.

 

The special counsel's case against Cohen revealed that Trump was negotiating to build a skyscraper in Moscow late into the 2016 campaign, contradicting statements from Trump at the time that he had nothing to do with the Russians.

 

The special counsel also indicted longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone, a Republican operative and a self-proclaimed political "dirty trickster." Stone is accused of telling members of Trump's campaign that he knew in advance of plans by the WikiLeaks website to release emails damaging to Clinton that were stolen by Russia.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-23

 

 

[Cryingdick]

It's looking so far like it was what many suspected the infamous "nothing burger" This thread should be fun for a laugh.

[Prissana Pescud]

another white wash. Another washing of the hands. It is a sad day for US when an investigation concludes that if you have power

and influence in US, you are above the law. Another reason why the rest of the world withdraws our support for you.

You are now an isolationist economy, so go it alone. Meanwhile China is making friends is on the arise. Fool US.

[Cryingdick]

25 minutes ago, Prissana Pescud said:

another white wash. Another washing of the hands. It is a sad day for US when an investigation concludes that if you have power

and influence in US, you are above the law. Another reason why the rest of the world withdraws our support for you.

You are now an isolationist economy, so go it alone. Meanwhile China is making friends is on the arise. Fool US.

 

Yeah China is making all kinds of "friends" through enslaving them with debt. Anyway this is about what amounted to a witch hunt not China.

[Puchaiyank]

Mueller reports after 2 years of investigations...there was no conclusion between Trump and Russians during the 2016 elections...

 

Republicans: This ends the farce...now let's get on with the business of running the country.

 

Democratics: This is just the beginning!       ????

[Prissana Pescud]

Sad day for democracy when a 2 year investigation sends many minions to jail and fails to find that the bosses of the minions were involved.

Power and corruption wins again.

[Cryingdick]

4 minutes ago, Prissana Pescud said:

Sad day for democracy when a 2 year investigation sends many minions to jail and fails to find that the bosses of the minions were involved.

Power and corruption wins again.

 

They were all sent to jail on charges not even related to the probe. Even Cohen who was testifying before congress before he got thrown in prison said there was no collusion.

[Tug]

Wow you guys are good holey cow know all the answeres before anyone has read the report but back to reality it will be a fight to look at that report Donald will do his level best to hide delay obscure lie ect ect it’s what he does

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, Tug said:

Wow you guys are good holey cow know all the answeres before anyone has read the report but back to reality it will be a fight to look at that report Donald will do his level best to hide delay obscure lie ect ect it’s what he does

 

All news channels here in the USA even the main stream nightly news are reporting no new indictments. That would include Trump obviously. So now that's out of the way we can get back to passing an infrastructure bill and begin making America great again. 

[TopDeadSenter]

1 minute ago, Cryingdick said:

So now that's out of the way we can get back to passing an infrastructure bill and begin making America great again. 

Not so fast. There now needs to be a serious investigation into how the witch hunt started. Did democrat players really pay dodgy spy Steele to gin up the dossier that started it all? Does Steele himself these days still stand by his dossier? This farce has overshadowed Trumps term so far. As I have said before, if the witch hunt was kicked off for political reasons by Trumps opponents, and does not prove he colluded with Russia to cause Clinton to lose her rightful victory, the clock must be reset to zero. Trump must be allowed to restart his first term. No other option in my mind.

[Longcut]

25 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Not so fast. There now needs to be a serious investigation into how the witch hunt started. Did democrat players really pay dodgy spy Steele to gin up the dossier that started it all? Does Steele himself these days still stand by his dossier? This farce has overshadowed Trumps term so far. As I have said before, if the witch hunt was kicked off for political reasons by Trumps opponents, and does not prove he colluded with Russia to cause Clinton to lose her rightful victory, the clock must be reset to zero. Trump must be allowed to restart his first term. No other option in my mind.

I agree. Where is the Special Counsel investigating the Democrats? Someone started this and now has to answer for it. Too much money was wasted on this witch hunt. The American taxpayer deserves to know. 

[simple1]

1 hour ago, Cryingdick said:

It's looking so far like it was what many suspected the infamous "nothing burger" This thread should be fun for a laugh.

There are dozens of sealed indictments arising from the Mueller investigation. You have no idea whatsoever what they allege, plus of course what will be alleged by State level investigations. Nor what the Mueller team have recommended for further action. At this stage you and others are only making assertions based upon assumptions.

[Cryingdick]

4 minutes ago, simple1 said:

There are dozens of sealed indictments arising from the Mueller investigation. You have no idea whatsoever what they allege, plus of course what will be alleged by State level investigations. Nor what the Mueller team have recommended for further action. At this stage you and others are only making assertions based upon assumptions.

 

If you say so.... it is known now there are no new indictments from Mueller. The state level stuff will be from when Trump wasn't in office. Checkmate.

[Puchaiyank]

5 minutes ago, simple1 said:

There are dozens of sealed indictments arising from the Mueller investigation. You have no idea whatsoever what they allege, plus of course what will be alleged by State level investigations. Nor what the Mueller team have recommended for further action. At this stage you and others are only making assertions based upon assumptions.

Another...the farce must go on at all costs...this is their only hope at unseating the President...don't look back as you will see voters leaving the sinking ship...

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, Puchaiyank said:

Another...the farce must go on at all costs...this is their only hope at unseating the President...don't look back as you will see voters leaving the sinking ship...

 

Funny how quiet it has become most of the usual suspects are absent. 

[simple1]

15 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

If you say so.... it is known now there are no new indictments from Mueller. The state level stuff will be from when Trump wasn't in office. Checkmate.

No new indictments, but what is alleged in the sealed indictments? Personally I'm sure State investigations will uncover criminal activities - money laundering and so on. In Australia during the 80s when trump was bidding for a casino license, Oz federal police identified trump financial interaction with organised crime and refused his application - does the leopard change its spots - No.

[Cryingdick]

Just now, simple1 said:

No new indictments, but what is alleged in the sealed indictments. Personally I'm sure State investigations will uncover criminal activities - money laundering and so on. In Australia during the 80s when trump was bidding for a casino license, Oz federal police identified trump financial interaction with organised crime and refused his application - does the leopard change its spots - No.

Time will tell. For now it is vindication. 

[simple1]

1 minute ago, Cryingdick said:

Time will tell. For now it is vindication. 

Which government official/s have formally proven 'vindication' at this point? 

[canuckamuck]

Time to go after Hilary and corruption in the FBI.

[Cryingdick]

1 minute ago, simple1 said:

Which government official/s have formally proven 'vindication' at this point? 

 

That there is no new indictments of any kind. You ramble about sealed indictments as if you are privy to what they are if there are any. Then you get into state level crap which we have to give the presumption of innocence. I am done responding to you if you are unable to see the significance of this.

[simple1]

18 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

That there is no new indictments of any kind. You ramble about sealed indictments as if you are privy to what they are if there are any. Then you get into state level crap which we have to give the presumption of innocence. I am done responding to you if you are unable to see the significance of this.

It is on the public record there are sealed indictments as an outcome of the Muller investigation. You would understand why State level investigations have been initiated i.e. trump cannot pardon convictions. You may will be tired of being unable to supported your claims - so be it - let's see what the facts turn out to be.

[keemapoot]

12 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

Time will tell. For now it is vindication. 

So far, the big mouth himself has been silent, so if that is true I expect him to be blaring that out on twitter soon. At this point, it looks good for him, but let's wait for the actual report. By the way, my opinion is that if Mueller found really bad stuff about Trump that showed he is unfit to be President, he will find a way to release that even if not by this Attorney General. Let's stay calm until we know more.

[Chomper Higgot]

If the report is a ‘nothing burger’ release it in its entirety to the public so everyone can see exactly what it is.

 

If the report is not released in its entirety to the public, what is being hidden from the public?

[Cryingdick]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

If the report is a ‘nothing burger’ release it in its entirety to the public so everyone can see exactly what it is.

 

If the report is not released in its entirety to the public, what is being hidden from the public?

 

Trump said release it. The house voted 420-0 to do so at his urging. 

[Chomper Higgot]

18 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

That there is no new indictments of any kind. You ramble about sealed indictments as if you are privy to what they are if there are any. Then you get into state level crap which we have to give the presumption of innocence. I am done responding to you if you are unable to see the significance of this.

What’s the source of the claim that there are no new indictments?

 

Have you read the report?

[Puchaiyank]

5 minutes ago, keemapoot said:

So far, the big mouth himself has been silent, so if that is true I expect him to be blaring that out on twitter soon. At this point, it looks good for him, but let's wait for the actual report. By the way, my opinion is that if Mueller found really bad stuff about Trump that showed he is unfit to be President, he will find a way to release that even if not by this Attorney General. Let's stay calm until we know more.

Of course he will find a way to leak classified information to the New York Times and Washington Post...that is what deep state operatives do..."un-named sources within the Trump administration revealed today...".   Sad for America's future...no one can ever be trusted!

????

[Cryingdick]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

What’s the source of the claim that there are no new indictments?

 

Have you read the report?

 

The source is every major news channel in the USA whether liberal or fox. ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, WAPO, NYT, Bloomberg.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Trump said release it. The house voted 420-0 to do so at his urging. 

I gave you a like for that, because yes the House did vote unanimously to release the report, not so the Senate.

 

I don’t recall Trump saying release the report, and if he did, well he said the same thing about his tax returns.

 

I personally do not believe Trump should have any say in the matter, but let’s not argue over that.

 

Let me ask you, do you yourself support the release of this report in its entirety to the House and too to the public?

[Psimbo]

Its pretty clear which way most of the commentators above lean!

 

Tango man is a a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic. bigoted Richard Cranium who treats women with disdain- that will always be the case. 

[Cryingdick]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

I gave you a like for that, because yes the House did vote unanimously to release the report, not so the Senate.

 

I don’t recall Trump saying release the report, and if he did, well he said the same thing about his tax returns.

 

I personally do not believe Trump should have any say in the matter, but let’s not argue over that.

 

Let me ask you, do you yourself support the release of this report in its entirety to the House and too to the public?

 

Then you are very wrong and should take the time to educate yourself. Trump said he wanted the report released and urged the house to vote to do so. Please inform yourself