Washington – The Justice Department was expected to release the main findings as soon as Saturday from special counsel Robert Mueller’s long and contentious Russia…
Washington – The Justice Department was expected to release the main findings as soon as Saturday from special counsel Robert Mueller’s long and contentious Russia investigation, one day after Mueller wrapped up the probe that has cast a dark shadow over Donald Trump’s presidency.
Even with the details still under wraps, Friday’s end to 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 ensnare more Trump associates, including members of the president’s family.
For now, the report is accessible to only a handful of Justice Department officials while Attorney General William Barr prepared to release the “principal conclusions.”
Trump, who has relentlessly criticized Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt,” was on the golf course in Florida on Saturday, and House Democrats were planning to gather by phone later in the day as they waited for the Justice Department to send details of Mueller’s findings. Barr, who was at the department’s headquarters on Saturday morning, said in a Friday letter to the House and Senate Judiciary committees that he would share Mueller’s main findings as soon as this weekend.
The Justice Department said the report was delivered by a security officer late Friday to the office of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and then it went to Barr. Word of the delivery triggered reactions across Washington, including Democrats’ demands that it be quickly released to the public and Republicans’ contentions that it ended two years of wasted time and money.
The next step was up to Barr, who declared he was committed to transparency and speed.
The White House sought to keep some distance, saying it had not seen or been briefed on the report. Trump, surrounded by advisers and political supporters at his resort in Florida, stayed uncharacteristically quiet on Twitter.
With no details released at this point, it was not known whether Mueller’s report answers the core questions of his investigation: Did Trump’s campaign collude with the Kremlin to sway the 2016 presidential election in favor of the celebrity businessman? Also, did Trump take steps later, including by firing his FBI director, to obstruct the probe?
But the delivery of the report does mean the investigation has concluded without any public charges of a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia, or of obstruction by the president. A Justice Department official confirmed that Mueller was not recommending any further indictments.
That person, who described the document as “comprehensive,” was not authorized to discuss the probe and asked for anonymity.
That was good news for a handful of Trump associates and family members dogged by speculation of possible wrongdoing.
