Trump explodes over Mueller report cover-up claims, with baseless suggestion story could be 'totally illegal'

Donald Trump has reacted angrily to reports members of Robert Mueller's investigative team are frustrated that damaging evidence about the president that they uncovered has not been revealed.

US newspapers including the New York Times and Washington Post had carried stories suggesting that those involved in the special counsel's probe were unhappy attorney general William Bar had chosen not to release sections of the full report they believe could implicate Mr Trump over obstruction of justice allegations.

But the president appeared to dismiss the reports, even making the apparently baseless suggestion that the New York Times had "no legitimate sources".

"The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report," he wrote on Twitter.

He continued: "In fact, they probably had no sources at all! They are a Fake News paper who have already been forced to apologise for their incorrect and very bad reporting on me!"

It is not clear what laws Mr Trump believes the New York Times could have violated in their reporting, or if he has any idea who the sources from the Mueller investigation were. It is also unclear how he would know that the reporters "had no sources at all" in reference to the story.

Mr Barr submitted a short letter to Congress last month just days after he received the full Mueller report, writing then that the investigation had concluded there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election

The attorney general then took things one step further, and announced that he had decided that the investigation did not warrant obstruction charges against the president — even though Mr Mueller explicitly noted that the evidence did not exonerate Mr Trump on the matter.

The letter was met with fierce criticism on Capitol Hill, where Democrats voted on Wednesday to give House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler the authority to subpoena Mr Mueller's full report. In that vote, Mr Nadler was also given the power to subpoena five former Trump administration officials who could provide valuable insight into how the president dealt with the special counsel investigation over the nearly two years it was active.

For his part, Mr Barr has promised to release a redacted version of the report to Congress sometime later this month, and Mr Nadler has said he will give the attorney general a chance to do so before using the subpoena power he has now been afforded.

The New York Times and Washington Post reports that had Mr Trump fuming on Thursday included interviews with investigators who said they believe that the evidence they uncovered was more damaging to the president than Mr Barr let on in his letter, but declined to remark on specifics related to the report and what may have been damaging. It is widely believed that the report has further details on Mr Trump's alleged efforts to thwart investigator efforts.

Mr Barr's office is currently combing through the report, reportedly in order to redact sensitive and classified information including grand-jury information, and information related to ongoing investigations.