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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An extremely noteworthy quote here from Robert Mueller essentially supporting Congressional efforts to apply obstruction of justice laws to the president: "The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President's corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law." (Page 220)
"In analyzing the President's intent in his actions towards Cohen as a potential witness, there is evidence that could support the inference that the President intended to discourage Cohen from cooperating ... because Cohen's information would shed adverse light on" Trump. (Page 367)
Even some of the footnotes in this massive report contain explosive information, including this: "On October 30, 2016, Michael Cohen received a text from Russian businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze that said, 'Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there's anything else. Just so you know .... '" (Page 239)
Peter Smith and Barbara Ledeem got back in touch in September 2016 to update each other on their efforts, according to the report.
Ms Ledeem claimed at that time to have obtained "troves of emails" from what she called the "dark web." To authenticate these, Erik Prince hired a technical advisor. (Page 64)
Mr Smith repeatedly claimed access to the "33k deleted Emails." He also drafted "multiple emails stating or intimating that he was in contact with Russian hackers." But the special counsel's report did not find evidence of this, concluding "The investigation did not establish that Smith was in contact with Russian hackers or that Smith, Ledeem, or other individuals in touch with the Trump Campaign ultimately obtained the deleted Clinton emails."
Ivanka Trump received an email from Lana Erchova, on behalf of her former husband, Dmitry Klokov, offering his assistance towards Donald Trump’s campaign. He was the director for external communications of Unified Energy System, a major Russian electricity company.
The email encouraged Ivanka to google her husband, writing, “If you ask anyone who knows Russian to google my husband Dmitry Klokov, you’ll see who he is close to and that he has done Putin’s political campaigns.”
Ivanka sent the email to Michael Cohen, who googled Mr Klokov and incorrectly determined he was a former Olympic weightlifter.
Because Rob Porter knew Rachel Brand, Trump asked him to sound her out about being AG. "In asking him to reach out to Brand, Porter understood the President to want to find someone to end the Russia investigation ... although the President never said so explicitly." (Page 320)
"...the evidence does indicate that a thorough FBI investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the President personally that the President could have understood to be crimes or that would give rise to personal and political concerns." (Page 288)
Donald Trump defied his advisers by repeatedly reaching out to former FBI Director James Comey and told his aides the Department of Justice would be willing to issue a statement denying he was the subject of an investigation.
Mr Comey told officials that “there was nothing obstructive about the calls from the President, but they made Comey uncomfortable.”
The Department did not want to issue a statement due to “potential political ramifications.”
The Mueller report describes Russia’s Internet Research Agency as having “carried out the earliest Russian interference operations identified by the investigation.”
A heavily-redacted portion of the report’s executive summary to volume one appeared to begin describing an “intelligence-gathering mission” IRA employees were sent on in mid-2014 to the US. Their instructions have seemingly been redacted.
There appear to be discrepancies in the stories Robert Mueller was told about Donald Trump’s contacts with intelligence officials about the FBI investigation.
While some said he had “asked Coats to intervene with Comey and ‘stop’ the investigation,” others said he was simply urging “officials to get the word out that the president had not done anything wrong related to Russia.”
He said these were “not interpreted by the officials who received them as directives to improperly interfere with the investigation.”
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