Trump-Mueller report: President retreats to Mar-a-Lago as Democrats issue subpoenas and talk impeachment
Document paints damning picture of a White House torn apart by lies and mistrust
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has flown to his private resort in Florida for the Easter holiday, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill issue subpoenas and discuss impeachment proceedings in the wake of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
The president exploded on Twitter the morning after the report’s release to the public, calling statements included in the nearly 450-page document “bulls**t.”
“Statements are made about me by certain people in the Crazy Mueller Report, in itself written by 18 Angry Democrat Trump Haters, which are fabricated & totally untrue,” he tweeted Friday. “Watch out for people that take so-called ‘notes,’ when the notes never existed until needed. Because I never agreed to testify, it was not necessary for me to respond to statements made in the ‘Report’ about me, some of which are total bullshit & only given to make the other person look good (or me to look bad).”
Meanwhile, the House Oversight Chairman has suggested the possibility of impeaching Donald Trump in the wake of the explosive Mueller report.
“A lot of people keep asking about the question of impeachment. We may very well come to that very soon,” Elijah Cummings said in an interview with MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
He added, “But right now, let’s make sure we understand what Mueller was doing, understand what [Attorney General William] Barr was doing, and see the report in an unredacted form, and all of the underlying documents.”
Mr Mueller laid out multiple episodes in which the president directed others to influence or curtail the Russia investigation after the special counsel’s appointment in May 2017.
The report says those efforts “were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests”.
The attorney general said on Thursday a version of the report with fewer redactions will be made available to a small group of lawmakers.
He said all redactions would be removed from that version of the report except those relating to grand-jury information.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow the blog a moment to load
Please allow the blog to load
Here’s more from me on Sarah Sanders attempting to defend herself on Good Morning America this morning in the wake of the Mueller report:
House Democrat Ted Lieu has posted the following message playing into Donald Trump's Game of Thrones tweets:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has released a statement condemning Donald Trump, saying, “The Mueller report shows how dense the Trump swamp is, how dishonest this president is, and how erratic this administration is.”
He added, “It’s no wonder the middle class is not making progress under this administration.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development will propose new guidelines barring all undocumented immigrants from receiving housing assistance, Ben Carson confirmed in a statement Thursday.
The secretary said his agency would seek to strengthen current verification processes and tighten restrictions that already deny housing assistance to certain undocumented immigrants.
Mr Carson, who was appointed by Donald Trump to lead the federal agency despite lacking any government experience, posted a link on Twitter to an article published by the rightwing website Daily Caller titled “SCOOP: HUD Planning Crackdown on Illegal Immigrants Taking Advantage of Public Housing” and wrote in a tweet: “Thanks to @realDonaldTrump’s leadership, we are putting America’s most vulnerable first.”
Senate Democrat Dick Durbin described Attorney General William Barr’s press conference yesterday as a “pathetic performance” that “put him in the Kirstjen Nielsen ‘just followed orders’ category of Trump officials” -
The House Judiciary Committee’s Democratic Twitter page has posted the following video about its decision to subpoena the report, writing, “If AG Barr was willing to release this evidence, which is so clearly damaging to @realDonaldTrump, just imagine what remains hidden from our view.”
Interesting note picked up by columnist Max Boot: the number of known contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russians increased by at least 38 thanks to the Mueller report, jumping from 102 to more than 140.
Here's more from me on the Trump administration's plans to tighten restrictions against undocumented immigrants seeking federal housing assistance:
Joe Biden, one of the strongest potential challengers for the Democratic presidential nomination, is likely to make his long-awaited entry into the 2020 presidential race next week, according to CNN.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments