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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We're continuing to dig through the report after a first initial read. Here's how you, too, can comb over the massive document.
After Russia managed to hack the DCCC, it began accessing its network and searching comprised computers for files containing search terms like “Hillary,” “DNC,” “Cruz” and “Trump.”
The GRU managed to obtain more than 70 gigabytes of data from the DCCC’s file servers. It used sites like DCLeaks to post stolen documents from Clinton Campaign individuals.
The Mueller report confirms GRU officers were behind other major sources for stolen documents, including Guccifer 2.0, despite that hacking entity attributing its DNC server hack to a lone Romanian hacker.
That hacking entity sent stolen data to a US journalist whose name has been redacted from the Mueller report.
The Mueller report recounts numerous examples of contacts between Russian operatives and the Trump campaign — but who knew a fashion influencer would be swept up in the probe.
Mira Duma, who founded the fashion site Buro 24/7, reached out to Ivanka Trump on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. The Trumps declined an invitation to the event she was inviting them to due to Donald Trump’s “very grueling and full travel schedule” as a presidential candidate.
The Mueller report also discusses the alleged existence of “pee tapes” that claim to show Donald Trump engaging in sexual conduct with Russian prostitutes during his trip to the country for the 2013 Miss Universe Pageants.
Michael Cohen received a text from a Russian businessman 30 October 2016 that said “Stopped flow of tapes from Russia but not sure if there’s anything else. Just so you know….”
The existence of compromising tapes surrounding Donald Trump in Russia appear to have been confirmed in the Mueller report.
In a second message, Rtskhiladze wrote to Michael Cohen about "compromising tapes of Trump rumored to be held by persons associated with the Russian real estate conglomerate Crocus Group, which had helped host the 2013 Miss Universe Pageant in Russia.”
Donald Trump spent the weekend before he fired James Comey writing draft edits to his statement that went along the lines of, “While I greatly appreciate you infroming me that I am not under investigation … I believe the American public — including Ds and Rs — have lost faith in you as Director of the FBI.”
He was scared of leaks, repeatedly telling Stephen Miller not to tell anyone about what they were working on because he didn’t want it to be reported.
"The President stated on more than 30 occasions that he "does not 'recall' or 'remember' or have an 'independent recollection'" of information called for by the questions. Other answers were "incomplete or imprecise."" (Page 417)
In determining whether Donald Trump obstructed justice, lawmakers will look to the Mueller report and specific moments of the president's actions.
According to page 288, "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."
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)
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