WASHINGTON ON EDGE AS MUELLER SUBMITS REPORT
Trouble may not be over for Trump until details are out
washington — President Donald Trump remained silent on Saturday as lawmakers awaited the main findings of a 22-month investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into Russia’s role in the 2016 US election and any potential wrongdoing by Trump, whose legal woes go beyond the end of the inquiry.
US Attorney-General William Barr, who received a report on Friday from Mueller and was still reviewing it on Saturday, told lawmakers in a letter that he may be able to inform them of Mueller’s “principal conclusions as soon as this weekend”.
Senator Chris Coons, a Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump and his core team could still face legal risks even if the Mueller report does not find that they committed crimes. Trump’s business, his charity and his presidential transition operation remain under investigation, Coons said, and congressional Democrats would keep looking into his activities.
“It’s the end of the beginning, but it’s not the beginning of the end,” Coons told reporters on a telephone conference.
Under Department of Justice regulations, Barr is empowered to decide how much to disclose publicly and he said in the letter that he is “committed to as much transparency as possible”.
Barr arrived at the department building in Washington shortly before 10am on Saturday. He was reviewing the report, a Justice Department official said.
Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, has not commented to reporters or taken to Twitter, one of his favourite ways of communicating, on the completion of the investigation that has cast a shadow over the Republican’s two years in the White House. —
Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday submitted his long-awaited report into an explosive two-year investigation of Russian meddling in Donald Trump’s 2016 election — a probe the president denounces as a “witch hunt” and opponents say could fuel impeachment.
What the report says is confidential, but Attorney General Bill Barr wrote in a letter to Congress that he might be able to summarise its “principal conclusions” for Congress as early as this weekend.
The Mueller drama, filled with unprecedented allegations of collusion or even treason by a US president in league with Moscow, has dogged Trump since he took office following his surprise election defeat of Hillary Clinton.
Throughout, he has maintained that he is the victim of a “witch hunt,” while Democratic opponents, who won control of the lower house of Congress last year, say Trump has yet to adequately explain his links to Russia.
Mueller, a Vietnam war veteran and former FBI director, worked in near total secrecy for two years. With his mission as special counsel wrapping up, it is now up to Barr, appointed by Trump, to decide how much of the report to make public.
Public and political pressure for full disclosure is intense and Barr said he is “committed to as much transparency as possible.”
There was one key piece of information already confirmed by the justice department, however: Mueller is not recommending any further indictments.
Over the course of his probe, Mueller charged three-dozen individuals and entities, including 25 Russians and six former Trump aides.
But the news that no more indictments are planned means potentially vulnerable figures close to the president, including his son Donald Trump Jr and powerful son-inlaw Jared Kushner, will likely rest easier this weekend.
Trump himself made no comment from his Mar-a-Lago golf club resort in Florida, while he awaited the report. His spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the White House now looks “forward to the process taking its course.”
Even before the report sees light, Mueller’s previous indictments and court filings have revealed much about the most shocking investigation of a presidential election in US history.
Mueller described Russian government hackers and a social media troll farm working in a concerted effort to boost Trump over Clinton. It was after seeing scores of unexplained contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians, that the FBI launched a probe into possible collusion. Trump then fired Federal Bureaue of Investigation chief James Comey and as a result the investigation was put in the hands of a special independent prosecutor — Mueller. Avoiding any leaks to the media — a rare thing in Washington — Mueller’s crack team of lawyers brought charges against Trump associates Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, and Roger Stone.—
A man that didn’t get any votes, he’s going to write a report on me. people will not stand for it. there was no collusion. there was no obstruction. everybody knows it. It’s all a witch hunt.
Donald Trump,
US President I call on the trump administration to make Special Counsel Mueller’s full report public as soon as possible. No one is above the law.
Bernie Sanders,
US Senator