‘THIS IS THE END,’ TRUMP FEARED
WAS CERTAIN PROBE WOULD SINK PRESIDENCY BUT NOW BOASTS OF COMPLETE VICTORY SPECIAL COUNSEL DETAILS TRUMP’S REPEATED ATTEMPTS TO QUASH INVESTIGATION LYNN SWEET ON THE ILLINOIS ANGLES
WASHINGTON — Public at last, special counsel Robert Mueller’s report revealed to a waiting nation Thursday that President Donald Trump tried to seize control of the Russia probe and force Mueller’s removal to stop him from investigating potential obstruction of justice by the president. Trump was largely thwarted by those around him.
In the Justice Department’s redacted version of the report, Mueller laid out multiple episodes in which Trump directed others to influence or curtail the Russia investigation. Those efforts “were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests,” Mueller wrote.
The report’s bottom line largely tracked the findings revealed in Attorney General William Barr’s four-page memo released a month ago — no collusion with Russia but no clear verdict on obstruction — but it added new layers of detail about Trump’s efforts to thwart the investigation.
The release represented a moment of closure nearly two years in the making but also the start for a new round of partisan warfare.
A defiant Trump tweeted “Game Over,’’ but in a joint statement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer wrote that “one thing is clear: Attorney General Barr presented a conclusion that the president did not obstruct justice while Mueller’s report appears to undercut that finding.”
After nearly two years, the twovolume, 448-page redacted report made for riveting reading: