We’re going to wrap up the blog for tonight. Thanks for following along.
Our full story is here. We’ll be back tomorrow with more reaction to Barr’s summary of Mueller’s report.
The Associated Press has these interviews with American voters, reacting to Barr’s summary of the Mueller report.
‘Maybe we can move on’
Stephen Turner, an electrical engineer from Belmont, North Carolina, is a Republican who voted for Donald Trump for president. He says he’s glad the Russia investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller is over.
“My first reaction is I’m glad ... I’m glad maybe we can move on,” Turner told The Associated Press. “The ones side that’s happy is happy. And the other side that’s not happy wants to do some more investigation.”
He says it’s time to move on “and actually do stuff for the country and not spend all these resources and time on these investigations.”
‘I’m surprised they couldn’t find anything to indict him’
Justin Linot, a truck driver interviewed in Derby, Kansas, is a registered Democrat. He expressed surprise at the outcome of the Russia investigation.
Speaking at a Starbucks in that suburb of Wichita, Kansas, the 36-year-old trucker said Sunday: “I am really surprised they weren’t able to find anything significant enough to be able to indict him.”
He says he thought special counsel Robert Mueller did a good job investigating, but doesn’t feel the public will necessarily ever learn the truth about Trump’s dealings with Russia. “I feel too many people haven’t told the truth to begin with,” adding he thinksTrump “has been treated more than fairly.”
‘They spent way too much money on it’
Luke Ahearn, a 29-year-old general contractor from New Orleans, was grocery shopping in its suburb of Metairie with his brother Sunday when he learned about the Mueller report’s outcome. Ahearn, who describes himself as a Trump supporter, questioned whether the time and money put into the two-year investigation was worth it.
“I just think they spent way too much money on it, too much time on it.”
Ahearn says he doubts whether it’s worth going through the effort of getting the entire report released, saying the country has a lot of other problems to deal with, adding, “Let’s move on to the next problem in our society.”
‘Democrats were sure he was guilty before the investigation started’
Morgan Raum, a 22-year-old senior at New York’s Barnard College who is active in campus Republican and Libertarian clubs, says the conclusion of the investigation confirmed her longtime doubts about allegations of collusion.
Raum said: “It took 22 months and I don’t really know how it could’ve taken this long to conclude nothing happened. For me the whole time it seemed pretty far-fetched.”
But Raum, who is from Manhattan, says she doesn’t expect the report to change the minds of many Democrats.
“They’ve been sure he (Trump) was guilty even before the investigation started,” she says.
‘I can’t believe he’s not implicated in some way’
Helen Jones, of Salt Lake City, Utah, says she is conservative and a registered Republican, but can’t stand Trump. The 72-year-old retired English professor said she voted for third-party candidate Evan McMullin in 2016.
She doesn’t expect anything “sensational” to come out of the Mueller report, but pointed to other ongoing investigations in New York and elsewhere involving Trump and those in his orbit.
She said, “I think it’s just the beginning. I can’t believe he’s not implicated in some way. Look at the people he’s surrounded himself with, they’re all crooks and liars.”
Jones said she hopes the entire report is released, but expect it to change the minds of her relatives who are strong Trump supporters - or her own mind, for that matter.
A longtime “political junkie” who closely followed Watergate, she believes this is another historical moment.
“I hope it’s a turning point in the Trump presidency,” she said. Still, doesn’t want Trump to be impeached.
“My preference would be he just gets elected out,” she said.
‘He was drug through the mud’
Trump supporter Richard C. Osburn of South Charleston, West Virginia, said the president was “drug through the mud” and wants his critics to give him a break.
The 52-year-old nurse said, “The things that the man’s doing to try to help the average worker in this country never gets recognized by the mainstream media. They would rather hate, hate, hate than recognize accomplishments. Those days have got to stop.”
Osburn, a longtime Republican voter, supported Trump in 2016. He said the Mueller report does not end questions about Trump and Russia.
“It’s never going to go away,” he said. “This is what the media has to understand. (Democrats) absolutely despite this man. It’s all about their own agenda. They’re hell-bent on finding anything.”
Osburn said he’s satisfied with what he’s seen in the Mueller report and criticized Democrats for pressing for the investigation.
‘Mueller was between a rock and a hard place’
Sue Arani, an accountant, was walking her dog and checking news on her phone Sunday in downtown Los Angeles. The 57-year-old Arani is originally from Iran but has been a US citizen since 1981. She describes herself as “Republican leaning,” but says she voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential contest.
Arani said the full report should “absolutely” be made public immediately, “in the name of full transparency.”
She says the public must see the report, “especially before the next election.” She also says the White House shouldn’t be allowed to spin the results: “Trump is famous for lying too much.”
Arani trusts Mueller: “I’m sure, based on his excellent reputation, that he did a complete job in his investigation. But he is in between a rock and a hard place, politically.”
Arani personally believes that there was likely collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. “But it’s possible that a lot of stuff wasn’t disclosed from the lower levels to the top (within the campaign). They might have kept Trump in the dark on purpose, so he could stay beneath it all. Maybe that was his idea too.”
And here is Adam Schiff calling for the full report to be made public so “the American people can judge for themselves”.
Mueller spent two years investigating obstruction of justice and found evidence that “does not exonerate” Trump. Barr took two days to set aside that evidence.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 24, 2019
The entire report must be published and evidence provided to Congress so the American people can judge for themselves.
Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to establish conspiracy, notwithstanding Russian offers to help Trump’s campaign, their acceptance, and a litany of concealed interactions with Russia.
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) March 24, 2019
I trust Mueller’s prosecutorial judgement, but the country must see the evidence.
What is the process from here?
Carl Tobias, the Williams chair in law at the University of Richmond in Virginia, has gives this sense of potential ways forward.
“The process from here will probably involve many House and some Senate Democrats pressing to make the entire report public,” Tobias tells the Guardian.
“For example Reps. Nadler and Schiff have already urged this and threatened to call Mueller and Barr to testify. The public may never see the full report. However my sense is that House and Senate chairs of committees with relevant jurisdiction like judiciary and intelligence are likely to see much, if not all, of the report.”
Tobias says that Trump and Pence’s claims that the report totally exonerates and vindicates Trump are “ludicrous”. “The Mueller report and AG Barr’s letter to Congress both expressly state that Trump was not exonerated by the report,” he says.
“ The report did not exonerate Trump except to the extent that it found no collusion with Russia on which to prosecute. However. Mueller investigated much else in addition to collusion with Russia, most notably obstruction of justice, which the DOJ may pursue and the House committees clearly will pursue.
“There also are all of the Trump organization and Trump’s business dealings that could expose Trump to criminal and/or civil liability... In other words, Trump may be vulnerable on many fronts to legal challenges.”
I never thought I’d see the day where Democrats are visibly upset that the President of The United States DIDN’T collude with the Russians.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 25, 2019
Guardian columnist Richard Wolffe has written that while Democrats may be disappointed by today’s announcement, the Mueller report has actually “done Democrats a huge favour”.
Instead of a battle over impeachment and technical definitions of collusion, Democrats will be able to focus on general concerns around corruption, he writes.
Much like last year’s elections, the Mueller report has done Democrats a huge favor. Winning both the Senate and House would have set up a titanic clash between Congress and the White House, the kind of clash White Houses have often won in time for re-election.
In the same way, a clear and damning Mueller report would have set up a titanic clash over impeachment: a process that would fail in this Republican-controlled Senate, no matter the evidence presented.
There will be many Democrats disappointed Mueller did not scream “Guilty!” and that impeachment remains on hold. But party leadership, and election veterans, know short-term disappointment offers a long-running advantage.
It means a year of more congressional revelations and a year of more indictments. It means the 2020 election can be forward-looking about Trump’s fitness for office, rather than backward-looking about the last election.
It means more consideration of corruption and less talk of collusion.
Voters, as well as lawyers, may struggle to define collusion and to prove conspiracies beyond reasonable doubt. Even when a presidential candidate goes on national TV to ask the Russians to hack his opponent’s emails.
But what voters readily understand is the stench of corruption around a man who promised to drain the swamp. Populism tends to lose its popularity when the populists are more concerned with personal profit than public service.
That full opinion piece is here.
Trump is already fundraising off the summary pic.twitter.com/RY7CoU87cO
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) March 25, 2019
'America is the greatest place on earth' – Trump triumphant as he arrives at the White House
The president has arrived in Washington DC from Florida.
Marine One touched down on the south lawn at 7:04 PM. The president exited three minutes later wearing a red tie and navy overcoat.
Members of the pool peppered him with questions about the Mueller report. POTUS approached the pool, and said: “I just want to tell you, America is the greatest place on Earth. The greatest place on Earth.”
He didn’t take any questions, and proceeded into the South Portico.
Marianne Williamson, a Democratic presidential hopeful has released a statement responding to Barr’s summary.
The Attorney General giving us a ‘summary’ of Robert Mueller’s findings is like someone saying to their spouse, ‘Honey, let me just give you a summary of where I was late last night.’ The American people didn’t wait for two years to hear a ‘summary,’ and it’s particularly concerning given who’s doing the summarizing. This is part of a larger pattern of obfuscation: the government appearing to empower us while actually withholding information.
The American public is deeply vested in knowing the total and complete truth regarding the Mueller report. Now more than ever the public needs to see the Special Counsel’s full report. Outstanding questions on obstruction of justice and other matters need to be answered. A summary letter is not enough. That is not clarity or transparency.”
'A great day for America' – Mike Pence responds to Mueller report
Pence has called the Mueller report a “total vindication” of the president, disproving “reckless accusations by many Democrats and members of the media”.
His full statement is below.
Updated
Hi, this is Kate Lyons taking over from Joanna Walters, thanks for following along our live coverage of today’s dramatic events.
Former director of the FBI James Comey has posted a photograph of himself with the caption “So many questions”.
You and me both, Comey.
So many questions. pic.twitter.com/66KaR52Kk8
— James Comey (@Comey) March 24, 2019
Comey wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times last week about the imminent release of Mueller’s report. He wrote that the main thing he was hoping for was “a demonstration to the world — and maybe most of all to our president and his enablers — that the United States has a justice system that works because there are people who believe in it and rise above personal interest and tribalism.”
Even though I believe Mr. Trump is morally unfit to be president of the United States, I’m not rooting for Mr. Mueller to demonstrate that he is a criminal. I’m also not rooting for Mr. Mueller to “clear” the president. I’m not rooting for anything at all, except that the special counsel be permitted to finish his work, charge whatever cases warrant charging and report on his work...
I have no idea whether the special counsel will conclude that Mr. Trump knowingly conspired with the Russians in connection with the 2016 election or that he obstructed justice with the required corrupt intent. I also don’t care. I care only that the work be done, well and completely. If it is, justice will have prevailed and core American values will have been protected at a time when so much of our national leadership has abandoned its commitment to truth and the rule of law.
It’s been a fast-paced afternoon. Here’s a summary of the events since this afternoon:
- Attorney General William Barr sent a four-page letter to the US Congress with his summary of the report by special counsel Robert Mueller into allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia and obstruction of justice by the president and others.
- Barr had received the report from Mueller on Friday afternoon local time in Washington.
- The biggest headline coming from the summary immediately was the Barr reported the Mueller investigation found no collusion between Trump or his election campaign and the Russian government.
- Barr also told Congress in the letter that while the report does not conclude that Trump committed a crime in relation to obstruction “it also does not exonerate him”.
- Trump’s inner circle of family members and aides have declared him completely exonerated. Republicans are openly celebrating.
- Democrats keep reminding Trump that he has not been cleared of obstruction and that the federal criminal investigations and the congressional investigations underway into his conduct relating to a range of matters from campaign finance laws, to his taxes to collusion and obstruction, continue.
Updated
My colleague David Smith has just published his latest report from Washington. I excerpted a little earlier and the full story is on the Guardian US front page online. In another portion, David points out that the Mueller summary:
‘Leaves open the question of whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI director James Comey and drafting an incomplete explanation about his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower.
However, on the charge of collusion with Russia, which has hung over the White House and intrigued the world for two years, the president wascleared. Barr noted: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Donald Trump Jr, whose June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer was seen by many as collusion in plain sight, lamented “more than 2 years of non-stop conspiracy theories from CNN, MSNBC, Buzzfeed and the rest of the mainstream media, as well as daily lies and smears coming from Democrats in Washington”.
The Trump 2020 campaign sent out an email with the subject heading “COLLUSION HOAX!” and a video about what it described as “Democrats’ reckless, false charges”.
Brad Parscale, the campaign manager, offered a preview of how the president is likely to use the investigation during the election next year.
“Today marks the day that President Trump has been completely and fully vindicated by special counsel Robert Mueller, exposing the Russia collusion conspiracy theory for the sham that it always was and catching Democrats in an elaborate web of lies and deceit,” he said.’
Updated
There’s going to be no mercy from the White House and Trump’s shock troops, such as Rudy Giuliani, for the bulk of the mainstream media in the days ahead, you can be sure of that. It’s going to be hard-charging forward from all parties, however, and we at the Guardian will continue to report the facts and the reactions from both sides to unfolding news events.
First, let’s mention that what we’ve seen from the Mueller summary so far is that what thsi is not “absolute victory” for the president. Giuliani just told Fox News:
“I say this is a complete and absolute victory. I mean way beyond anybody could have expected a year ago with all this crazy fake news that’s going on. First of all absolutely no collusion by anyone in the Trump campaign. So you have to wonder why did this investigation start in the first place and why did we wait 40 million dollars? Second, no obstruction.”
On with Giuliani in a moment, but just to let you know, the president is almost at the White House now and despite his grim demeanor upon alighting from Air Force One he was, reportedly, nothing short of jovial on the flight back from West Palm Beach, Florida, after his weekend at Mar-a-Lago, where he first digested the summary of the Mueller report issued by attorney general William Barr.
Rudy Giuliani slams "phony charge" of collusion that spurred probe of Trump and his campaign, demands counter-investigation
Giuliani continued to slam the investigation of the president, telling Fox:
“One of the reasons I’ve been so passionate is I know there was no collusion. I’ve known this is a phony charge from the very beginning. And we put the United States through this with all these exaggerated statements from these Democrat politicians, that they have evidence that he colluded, where is this evidence? The president has told me numerous times, no other president should ever have to go through this. I think there has to be a full and complete investigation with at least as much enthusiasm as this one, to figure out where did this charge emanate, who started it, and who paid for it.”
Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and now a lawyer for and long-time staunch ally of Donald Trump, spoke to Fox News a little bit ago and he’s not holding back on his indignation at the unfair ordeal he feels the president has been put through.
On Trump’s reaction to Attorney General William Barr’s summary of the Mueller Report, Giuliani said:
“I think that the president is absolutely correct to be very, very upset. You know it reminds me of Secretary Donovan’s statement when he was acquitted and he said ‘Where do I go to get my reputation back?’ I mean this is a horrible thing. It is the President of the United States, it is a very tough man, but it is absolutely definitive that he was being investigated for a crime that never happened. There was never any collusion. I can tell you that because I was on that campaign.”
Here he is referring to Ray Donovan who was labor secretary under Ronald Reagan and was acquitted in a 1987 fraud case where he had long been accused of having mob ties. Upon his acquittal, he demanded to know where he could go to get his reputation back.
A little surprising, the president, in a long coat over his suit and signature red tie, has not walked over to talk to reporters gathered on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews. He has walked straight over to Marine One and boarded the helicopter that will transport him now to the White House.
Reporters who were on the plane with him from Florida were apparently not given many details from the Mueller report. The president spent the flight pouring over AG Barr’s letter to congressional committee chairmen, talking with his aides and watching the television news.
He looked rather grim when he exited AF1 just now, but apparently was very happy on the flight.
Donald Trump is descending the steps of Air Force One at the air force base near the capital.
Nadler says he will use subpoena powers if necessary to get the full Mueller report handed over to Congress, and he wants attorney general William Barr to appear before the House judiciary committee.
Air Force One has arrived at Joint Base Andrews, in Maryland. Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is speaking in New York now, reminding the president that he has NOT been exonerated by the special counsel.
Senator Kamala Harris, Democrat of California, and a candidate for the White House in 2020 has tweeted while on the campaign trail in Atlanta, Georgia, as she vies to become the nominee next year.
She posted: “The Mueller report needs to be made public, the underlying investigative materials should be handed over to Congress, and Barr must testify. That is what transparency looks like. A short letter from Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General is not sufficient.”
David Smith’s new report going live shortly, but it’s worth noting from his report yesterday that Trump’s son, Donald Jr, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, appear to be in the clear in terms of Mueller’s investigation, in relation to their contacts with Russians during the election campaign.
David wrote: After an investigation costing millions of dollars and spanning 674 days, hundreds of interviews, thousands of documents and criminal charges against 34 individuals – including six in Trump’s inner circle – Mueller will not recommend any further indictments. It therefore appeared that Trump’s son, Don Jr, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, were off the hook.
This was despite both men attending a meeting at Trump Tower (in New York) in June 2016 with a Russian lawyer to hear potentially damaging information about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. “If it’s what you say I love it,” Don Jr wrote in an email to Rob Goldstone, a British publicist who arranged the meeting. Prosecutors said the Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya, was an agent for the Kremlin. Don Jr and Goldstone claim that she offered nothing of substance and wasted their time.
Kushner, now a senior White House adviser, asked Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak in December 2016 to set up a secure communications channel at the Russian embassy. He also met that month with Sergei Gorkov, a Russian espionage officer who heads a Russian state-owned bank under US sanctions. Kushner has insisted there was no discussion of sanctions or specific policies.
CNN is reporting now on a development, which they are headlining: “Special Counsel deliberated with DoJ about issuing a subpoena for Trump to be interviewed.” The cable news channel is saying that Robert Mueller deliberated with the Department of Justice about whether he should issue a subpoena to oblige the president to sit down for an interview with the special investigation team. Mueller wanted one, Trump didn’t want to do one, there were some written questions and answers, but Trump was never interviewed in person during the investigation.
Significantly, CNN is reporting that Mueller didn’t seek a subpoena because the case (of alleged collusion between Trump and/or his campaign and Russia) “did not have the merits” or the evidence to warrant a subpoena.
Mueller reportedly discussed subpoenaing the president with DoJ officials, but never made a formal request to issue one.
Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, reckons it’s time everyone moved on. Nothing to see here! Some beg to differ, to be sure.
Here is his statement this evening:
“Our country welcomes this long-overdue conclusion. After two years, two congressional investigations, and now the closure of a Special Counsel investigation with unfettered authority to investigate ‘any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Campaign of President Donald Trump,’ it is abundantly clear, without a shadow of a doubt, there was no collusion. Furthermore, the nearly unlimited scope, resources, and subpoena power of the Special Counsel has allowed his team to fully pursue any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation. This case is closed.
“As we officially close this chapter, it is important for us to learn from the moment. As we look back, Democrat leaders acted irresponsibly and threw caution to the wind to damage and distract from the work the Trump administration is doing on behalf of our fellow citizens. While this conclusion is an embarrassment to those Democrats, it is more discouraging to think of the opportunity costs to our country.
“This should be a lesson to my Democrat colleagues that chasing imagined scandals and following a partisan investigatory agenda will not result in any meaningful change for the country. In fact, it will do the opposite. I understand that Democrats today are struggling with their own deep divisions and that it might be easier to attack President Trump than work together for a common cause. But after months upon months of manufactured outrage on this issue, it is time we move on for the good of the nationand focus on the job we were sent to Washington to do: work to address the real challenges facing our country.”
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy says: 'This case is closed.'
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has just effectively scrunched Barry’s summary of the Mueller report into a ball and flung it in House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s eye. “Case closed,” he just concluded in a statement. Stand by for the full text.
Updated
My colleague in Washington, David Smith, writes:
An exultant Donald Trump declared political victory and himself vindicated on Sunday, after the special counsel found that his election campaign did not collude with Russia.
It appeared to be a death blow to those who had pinned their hopes on Robert Mueller chasing Trump out of office in a replay of the Watergate scandal. But Democrats refused to concede defeat, arguing that the American public deserves to see the full report, not a Trump-appointed attorney general’s four-page summary of it.
Even so, the president, who long derided the investigation as a “witch hunt”, led a chorus of Republicans and other allies in gloating over the failure to find a smoking gun. The tone could hardly have been described as magnanimous...
...Trump’s claim of “total” exoneration was not accurate. In his summary of the obstruction of justice issue, Barr wrote that that while Mueller’s report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, “it also does not exonerate him”. This leaves open the question of whether Trump obstructed justice by firing FBI director James Comey and drafting an incomplete explanation about his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower.
However, on the charge of Russian collusion, which has hung over the White House and intrigued the world for two years, the president was cleared. Barr noted: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
David’s report will be going live soon, this is your sneak peek and we’ll launch that online and add a link here asap.
Updated
Pelosi and Schumer issue statement
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, have just released a statement. It’s pretty scathing of AG Barr, and it reads: “Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers. The fact that Special Counsel Mueller’s report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public without any further delay. Given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the Special Counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report.
“And most obviously, for the president to say he is completely exonerated directly contradicts the words of Mr. Mueller and is not to be taken with any degree of credibility.
“Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents so that the Committees can proceed with their independent work, including oversight and legislating to address any issues the Mueller report may raise. The American people have a right to know.”
Democratic Senator Chris Coons says full Mueller report must be given to Congress
Delaware’s Democratic Senator Chris Coons, a member of the judiciary committee, just demanded that Congress have access to the full Mueller report. He also wants relevant committees in Congress to have full access to any and all materials members might want, in order to continue their own investigations into Donald Trump, his campaign and his administration. But he acknowledges the top line from the Mueller summary.
He told CNN a few moments ago, by telephone: “It’s a good thing that Robert Mueller did not conclude that our president conspired with a foreign power.”
But he added that the summary, which is all members of Congress have seen so far, leaves “wide open the question of obstruction” and said other investigations must proceed. The chief probes still underway are those in the House into subjects ranging from collusion to obstruction to corruption and Trump’s taxes, and by federal investigators in New York into possible campaign finance violations involving hush money to Stormy Daniels.
Updated
Everyone’s been on the edge of their seats waiting for the Mueller report for so long, but NBC’s Katy Tur’s baby appears to be happy to wait a little longer ... A CBS correspondent (um, her husband Tony Dokoupil) just tweeted: @KatyTurNBC is anchoring her third straight hour of Mueller coverage while fully nine months pregnant, and I am in complete and total awe.
.@KatyTurNBC is anchoring her third straight hour of Mueller coverage while fully nine months pregnant, and I am in complete and total awe.
— tonydokoupil (@tonydokoupil) March 24, 2019
Updated
Here are the other reactions from some leading Republicans so far, from this succinct Axios report:
- Senate Judiciary chair Lindsey Graham: “Bad day for those hoping the Mueller investigation would take President Trump down. Great job by Mr. Mueller and his team to thoroughly examine all things Russia. Now it is time to move on, govern the country, and get ready to combat Russia and other foreign actors ahead of 2020.”
- House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, : “As we officially close this chapter, it is important for us to learn from the moment. As we look back, Democrat leaders acted irresponsibly and threw caution to the wind to damage and distract from the work the Trump administration is doing on behalf of our fellow citizens. While this conclusion is an embarrassment to those Democrats, it is more discouraging to think of the opportunity costs to our country.”
- House Oversight ranking member Jim Jordan: “No collusion! No obstruction! It’s time to move on.”
- House Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins: “The special counsel’s investigation was long, thorough & conclusive: There was no collusion. There is no constitutional crisis. As the report states, “the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference.”
Updated
Kellyanne, unplugged. Here’s the tweet: “ Congratulations @POTUS @realDonaldTrump Today you won the 2016 election all over again. And got a gift for the 2020 election. They’ll never get you because they’ll never “get” you.
Congratulations @POTUS @realDonaldTrump
— Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) March 24, 2019
Today you won the 2016 election all over again.
And got a gift for the 2020 election.
They’ll never get you because they’ll never “get” you. #MuellerReport#NoCollusion#NoObstruction#Went2MichiganNotMoscow pic.twitter.com/gFqLLLb1fS
Updated
Axios has quickly drawn together a good summary of GOP reaction to the crucial fragments we’ve heard from the Mueller report so far. Here’s the top: Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation drew immediate praise from top Republicans, who declared vindication for President Trump after Mueller found no campaign conspiracy or coordination with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Yes, but: House Judiciary Committee chairman representative Jerrold Nadler was quick to point out that Barr’s letter was not the end of the inquiry, noting that Barr wrote in his summary that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” In a tweet, Nadler added that his panel “will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify” in the near future.
More of that in a sec, need to get to Kellyanne’s tweet pronto, hang onto your wigs.
Updated
Goodness, suddenly the GOP loves Bob Mueller. Or at least - surprise! - Lindsey Graham does. Lindsey Graham: “Bad day for those hoping the Mueller investigation would take President Trump down. Great job by Mr. Mueller and his team to thoroughly examine all things Russia,” the Senator said.
Former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, who has been very critical of Donald Trump, at one point saying that Trump’s access to nuclear codes is ‘pretty damn scary’, gave a very balanced comment on the report’s summary on Sunday. Clapper said that when he was about to leave his government post in 2017, Clapper said intelligence agencies “did not have direct evidence of collusion then” between Trump or his campaign and the Kremlin during the 2016 election. He added on CNN a few minutes ago: “We had faith then and we do now in Bob Mueller.”
Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren quickly called on Friday, when it was announced the report was finished, for it to be made public. She reiterated that on Sunday, and clearly voicing suspicion in the way the findings are so far coming out only in dribs and drabs, which all go in the president’s favor. She said on Twitter: “Congress voted 420-0 to release the full Mueller report. Not a “summary” from his handpicked Attorney General. AG Barr, make the full report public. Immediately.”
Congress voted 420-0 to release the full Mueller report. Not a "summary" from his handpicked Attorney General. AG Barr, make the full report public. Immediately.
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) March 24, 2019
Updated
Denny Heck then pointed to all the people who have been indicted as a result of the Robert Mueller investigation, some of who have pleaded or been found guilty and others of whom are still going through the court process. These include once-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former Trump lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, who was very briefly national security adviser at the start of the administratino in 2017, political fixer Roger Stone, Russian operatives and more.
Heck, a Democrat, said of the Mueller investigation, which Trump repeatedly called a witch hunt: “if it was a witch hunt there were an awful lot of witches found, and their names are Manafort, Cohen, Flynn, and right on down the line.”
Updated
Democrat Denny Heck, a member of the House intelligence committee, just took issue on CNN with Trump and his henchfolks’ definitive statements that he has been exonerated on the point of obstruction of justice.
Trump, dressed in a dark suit and red tie, on the tarmac with the sound of aircraft engines in the background as he was about to board his flight said the report amounted to “complete exoneration.”
Heck said: “There was no exoneration. Period. Full stop.” He agreed with the president that great harm had been done to America, but said that was from Russian interference in the 2016 election, which Trump had consistently refuted, despite the fact that US intelligence chiefs said there had been, Heck said.
He then took up a theme he has returned to a number of times in recent months, as tension rose while everyone awaited Mueller’s report, namely the topic of the fairness of the investigation at all.
“It’s a shame our country had to go through this, it’s a shame that your president had to go through this. Before I even got elected, this began, and it began illegally,” he said.
He then concluded: “This is an illegal take-down that failed.”
Trump often riffs for many minutes to the following press pool but he kept this short. He spoke tersely and then cut off and headed for his flight.
The president then said that the notion of collusion between himself or those working for his election campaign and the Russian government, or operatives connected to the Kremlin was: “The most ridiculous thing I have ever heard.” He then address the subject of obstruction of justice, which was part of Mueller’s investigation. The report said it could not conclude there was no obstruction, but also that the president was not exonerated.
Trump said: “There was no obstruction, none whatsoever. It was a complete and total exoneration.”
Trump: 'This was an illegal take-down that failed'
Donald Trump just spoke to reporters before boarding Air Force One in Florida. He said: “After a long look, after a long investigation, after so many people have been so badly hurt, after not looking at the other side, after a lot of bad things happened, a lot of very bad things happened for our country, it was just announced there was no collusion with Russia.”
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Trump has tweeted: “No Collusion. No Obstruction. Complete and total exoneration. Keep America Great.”
No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2019
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Donald Trump is on his way from Mar-a-Lago to the airport. CNN has already predicted that he’s going to gloat about Mueller’s report.
MSNBC producer Kyle Griffin, who is prolific on Twitter, just picked some important holes in Sarah Sanders’ tweet. He tweeted of her post: “This is not accurate. As @KatyTurNBC just stated on air, Mueller did not “not find any obstruction.” Mueller didn’t draw a conclusion one way or the other. Barr’s letter: “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Word had just come from the pool of reporters who, on rotation, report on and travel with the president to send dispatches on his actions, that Donald Trump will speak on this before he leaves Florida today. He has been at his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders just tweeted that: “The Special Counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction. AG Barr and DAG Rosenstein further determined there was no obstruction. The findings of the Department of Justice are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.”
My colleagues Oliver Laughland and Martin Pengelly write that US attorney general William Barr on Sunday handed a summary of the special counsel’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election to members of Congress.
It revealed that Robert Mueller found no “Trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly co-ordinated” with Russian operatives during the 2016 campaign.
The report shows that Mueller has not filed any further criminal indictments following an almost two-year-long investigation that has seen some of Donald Trump’s closest advisers criminally prosecuted and convicted.
The special counsel was also unable to draw a conclusion “one way or the other” whether Trump or anyone in the White House obstructed justice during the investigation.
Read on here for the unfolding Guardian report.
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US attorney general William Barr on Sunday handed a summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election to members of Congress.
The headline finding was that no “Trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly co-ordinated” with operatives connected to the Russian government during the presidential campaign.
On questions about the potential obstruction of justice by the president, the report “does not conclude that Trump committed a crime”. Significantly, however, the report also says that Mueller’s investigation “also does not exonerate him”.
Rudy Giuliani, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers, told CNN the report “completely exonerated” the president, while White House press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that it was a “total and complete exoneration”.
After almost two years of work by Mueller and a string of indictments of people in Trump’s inner circle, many will be surprised – and critics and opponents of the president dismayed – by the main conclusions described by Barr.
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