Mueller report summary: Every detail in the explosive Trump-Russia investigation document
The most explosive updates from the highly-anticipated report
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report has finally been released to the public — and we're beginning to get a sense of what's inside.
The Department of Justice released a redacted version of the report into Russian interference in the 2016 election Thursday following a press conference held by Attorney General William Barr.
The Independent's Chris Riotta, Victoria Gagliardo-Silver and Lily Puckett reviewed the report, finding numerous examples of inappropriate contacts between Russian operatives and members of the Trump campaign throughout the 2016 presidential election, as well as extensive business discussions between Mr Trump and his associates to discuss a major real estate project in Moscow as he was running for the White House.
Mr Trump’s efforts to influence the Russia investigation “were mostly unsuccessful,” according to the report, but that was because the people surrounding the president “declined to carry out orders to accede to his requests.”
Mr Mueller’s report details instances by several officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former White House counsel Don McGahn and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, ignoring or refusing the president's requests to interfere in the investigation.
The most heavily redacted portion of the report appears in its first section, which covers Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and examines contacts between Russian representatives and the Trump campaign. The report concludes there was no criminal culpability by Trump aides.
Several pages in that first section are almost entirely blacked out. The report’s second section, examining possible obstruction by Mr Trump, appeared more lightly redacted.
The Justice Department’s careful excisions begin as early as the fourth page of the report.
Mr Barr said he was withholding grand jury and classified information as well as portions relating to ongoing investigation and the privacy or reputation of uncharged “peripheral” people.
In referencing an oligarch who headed up a team of Russian tech experts who used US social media to exploit American political controversies, Justice officials blacked out details about the man’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Additional reporting by AP. Check out The Independent's initial live-read of the document below.
Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load
Robert Mueller opens much of his second volume in the report by outlining Donald Trump’s legal defense provided to his offices about his obstruction allegations.
The Special Counsel report then outlines the legal framework for determining obstruction of justice charges. Examples include things like witness tampering, “corruptly” obstructing and other investigative and evidentiary considerations.
As we're combing over the Mueller report, Democrats are demanding the Special Counsel testify before the US House of Representatives:
Mueller’s investigation found that “in some instances, the [Trump] campaign was receptive” to Russian offers of help in the presidential election. In other instances campaign officials “shied away”, Mueller wrote. “Ultimately, the investigation did not establish that the campaign co-ordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the report says.
Donald Trump instructed Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks to mislead the public about the Trump Tower meeting after he heard the email setting up the meeting was ‘really bad’ and that the story would be ‘massive’.
The president asked for false statements at least three times in 2017, according to the report.
Here, Robert Mueller outlines the initial examples of possible obstruction his team received after his appointment as Special Counsel.
Based off of the below examples, Robert Mueller concluded there was sufficient evidence to continue investigating the president’s possible obstruction of justice, according to his report.
According to the report, Trump campaign aides “reacted with enthusiasm to reports” of Russian hacking efforts.
“Some witnesses said that Trump himself discussed the possibility of upcoming releases,” the report says, though what those releases may be were redacted.
The report confirms Donald Trump Jr's communications with WikiLeaks, including snippets of his DMs with their Twitter account. Following their first DM sent to him 20 September, Trump Jr sent an email hours later to senior campaign staff about it, writing "seems like it's really wikileaks asking me as I follow them and it is a DM. Do you know the people mentioned and what the conspiracy they are looking for could be?" (page 60)
As we're combing over the document, Reuters has put together an interesting view at the number of redactions included in the Mueller report:
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments