Mueller report summary: Every detail in the explosive Trump-Russia investigation document
The most explosive updates from the highly-anticipated report
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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.
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Here are the 11 examples of possible obstruction on the part of the president, according to the Mueller report:
1 The Campaign’s response to reports about Russian support for Trump
2 Conduct involving FBI Director Comey and Michael Flynn
3 The President’s reaction to the continuing Russia investigation
4 The President’s termination of Comey
5 The appointment of a Special Counsel and efforts to remove him
6 Efforts to curtail the Special Counsel’s investigation
7 Efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence
8 Further efforts to have the Attorney General take control of the investigation
9 Efforts to have McGahn deny that the President had ordered him to have the Special Counsel removed
10 Conduct towards Flynn, Manafort, and redacted
11 Conduct involving Michael Cohen
The Mueller report also notes several times Donald Trump used public speaking moments to deny and mislead listeners about his Russia connections. The report says he repeated “I have nothing to do with Russia” five times during a press conference.
The report also directly contradicts the president’s claims that he “decided not to” pursue a Trump Tower Moscow project, nothing, “The Trump Organisation, however, had been pursuing a building project in Moscow — the Trump Tower Moscow project — from approximately September 2015 through June 2016, and the candidate was regularly updated on developments, including possible trips by Michael Cohen to Moscow to promote the deal and by Trump himself to finalise it.”
The Mueller report provides somewhat of an inside look into how the president decided to withhold information about the Trump Tower Moscow deal during public statements.
“Cohen recalled speaking with Trump after the press conference about Trump’s denial of any business dealings in Russia, which Cohen regarded as untrue,” the report reads. “Trump told Cohen that Trump Tower Moscow was not a deal yet and said, “Why mention it if it is not a deal?”
The president’s former lawyers told prosecutors that campaign advisers “had developed a part line that Trump has no business with Russia and no connections to Russia.”
Hope Hicks told the Special Counsel’s office that Donald Trump viewed the US Intelligence Community’s findings of Russian interference in the 2016 election as his “Achilles heel.”
Her thinking, according to the report, was that “even if Russia had no impact on the election, people would think Russia helped him win, taking away from what he accomplished.”
The report details how Justice Department officials attempted to notify the White House of their concerns surrounding former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
The report also says the FBI had previously opened a probe into Flynn’s Russia connections, and that his meetings with Sergei Kislyak were central focuses in that investigation.
Donald Trump repeatedly asked his aides to work on finding Hillary Clinton’s missing emails, and Mike Flynn took that request to several people.
Barbara Ledeen and Peter Smith were two of those people. Mr Smith is an investment advisory “active in Republican politics,” the report says. Both of them had previously worked to uncover the emails.
The two discussed a proposal to get the emailed “purloined by our enemies.”
The Mueller report says that, despite Donald Trump’s denials, “substantial evidence corroborates” ex-FBI Director James Comey’s account of his 14 February meeting in the Oval Office with the president in which he was told he was “way clear” to end an investigation into Mike Flynn.
The report also notes that “while the President said he ‘hoped Comey could ‘let Flynn go,’ rather than affirmatively directing him to do so, the circumstances of the conversations show that the President was asking Comes to close the FBI’s investigation into Flynn.”
"With respect to Manafort, there is evidence that the President's actions had the potential to influence Manafort's decision whether to cooperate with the gov't. The President and his personal counsel made repeated statements suggesting that a pardon was a possibility." (Page 343)
After being asked by Mike Flynn to continue his efforts, Peter Smith started a company, KLS Research, "in furtherance of his search for the deleted Clinton emails," according to the report.
The report states that the other purpose of the company was "to manage funds Smith raised in support of his initiative." (Page 63)
Another example of the president attempting to limit the investigation: "On June 19, 2017, the President met one-on-one with Corey Lewandowski in the Oval Office and dictated a message to be delivered to Attorney General Sessions that would have had the effect of limiting the Russia investigation to future election interference only." (Page 302)
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