Mueller report battle taking shape
Barr could release first summary of findings on Sunday
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr scoured special counsel Robert Mueller’s confidential report on the Russia investigation with his advisers Saturday, deciding how much Congress and the American public will get to see about the two-year probe into President Donald Trump and Moscow’s efforts to help his candidacy
Barr was on pace to release his first summary of Mueller’s findings on Sunday, people familiar with the process said.
The attorney general’s decision on what to finally disclose seems almost certain to set off a fight with congressional Democrats, whowant access to all ofMueller’s findings — and supporting evidence— onwhetherTrump’s 2016 campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the election and whether the president later sought to obstruct the investigation.
No announcement was expected Saturday asBarrandDeputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller and oversaw much of his work, analyzed the report and labored to condense it into a summary letter ofmain conclusions.
Mueller delivered his full report to Barr on Friday.
Barr has said he wants to release as much as he can under the law. That decision will require him to weigh the Justice Department’s longstanding protocol of not releasing negative information about people who aren’t indicted against the extraordinary public interest in a criminal investigation into the president and his campaign. Democrats are already citing the department’s recent precedent of norm-breaking disclosures, including during the Hillary Clinton email investigation, to argue that they’re entitled to Mueller’s entire report and the
underlying evidence he collected.
Even with the details still underwraps, Friday’sendto the 22-month probe without additional indictments by Mueller was welcome news to some in Trump’s orbit who had feared a final round of charges could target more Trump associates or members of the president’s family.
The WhiteHouse sought to keep its distance, saying Saturday it had not been briefed on the report. Trump, whohas relentlessly criticized Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt,” went golfing and was uncharacteristically quiet on Twitter. Not so one of his guests, musician Kid Rock, who posted a picture with the president and the tweet, “Another great day on the links! Thank you to POTUS for having me and to EVERYONE at Trump International for being so wonderful. What a great man, so down to earth and so fun to be with!!”
In a possible foreshadowing of expected clashes between the Justice Department and Congress, House Speaker Nancy P el os is aid in a letter to members that Barr’s offer to provide a summary of principal conclusionswas “insufficient.”
Pelosi later told Democrats on a conference call that she would reject any kind of classified briefing on the report and that the information must be provided to Congress in a way thatwould allowlawmakers to discuss it publicly.
The conclusion of Mueller’s investigation does not remove legal peril for the president. He faces a separate Justice Department investigation in New York into hush money payments during the campaign to twowomen who say they had sex with him years before the election. He’s also been implicated in a potential campaign finance violation by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who says Trump asked him to arrange the transactions. Federal prosecutors, also in New York, have been investigating foreign contributions made to the presi- dent’s inaugural committee.
In a Saturday conference call to strategize on next steps, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a warning for his fellow Democrats, some of whom have pinned high political hopes onMueller’s findings: “Once we get the principal conclusions of the report, I think it’s entirely possible that that will be a good day for the president and his core supporters.”
A handful of Trump associates and family members have been dogged by speculation of possible wrongdoing. They include Donald TrumpJr., whohad a role in arranging a Trump Tower meeting at the height of the 2016 campaign with a Kremlin-linked lawyer, and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was interviewed at least twice by Mueller’s prosecutors.
All told, Mueller charged 34 people, including the president’s former campaign chairman, PaulManafort, his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and three Russian companies. Twenty-five Russians were indicted on charges related to election interference, accused either of hacking Democratic email accounts during the campaign or of orchestrating a social media campaign that spread disinformation on the internet.
Five Trump aides pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate withMueller and a sixth, longtime confidant RogerStone, is awaiting trial on charges that he lied to Congress and engaged in witness tampering.
Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel, said Saturday that the case of former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates will be handed off to theU.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Gates was a key cooperator in Mueller’s probe and court papers show he continues to help with several other federal investigations.
Justice Department legal opinions have held that sitting presidents may not be indicted. But many Democrats say Trump should not be immune from a public accounting of his behavior.