Trump news: Mueller report said to 'undoubtedly' contain evidence of conspiracy, as president rages over Jussie Smollett and Mexico
Nancy Pelosi calls William Barr's summary of the Mueller report 'arrogant' amid another day of chaos on Capitol Hill
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The Mueller report “undoubtedly” contains evidence of collusion between Donald Trump and Russia, according to Fox Business legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano, contradicting the verdict of attorney-general William Barr and risking the president’s ire.
House Oversight Committee chairman Elijah Cummings has meanwhile warned of a looming “constitutional crisis” ahead as Democrats express growing frustration at what they see as Republican efforts to prevent the full release of the FBI special counsel’s 700-page report into his 22-month investigation.
For his part, President Trump has been busy on Twitter hitting out at an array of targets, from the media to Mexico, Jussie Smollett and House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, whose resignation he has called for in response to the congressman's repeated allegations regarding conspiracy with the Kremlin.
A House Democratic aide who briefed reporters Thursday on condition of anonymity said Mr Barr does not intend to give Congress a complete copy of the report from special counsel Robert Mueller.
The aide said Mr Barr spoke with Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler late Wednesday and indicated he was redacting grand jury information from the confidential report. While grand jury information is often confidential, it can be unsealed in some situations.
Criminals who worked for Trump
Show all 5The aide added Mr Nadler offered to work with Mr Barr to have the information unsealed.
During her weekly press conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Mr Barr’s four-page synopsis “condescending” and “arrogant” and said Democrats need to draw their own conclusions about what Mr Mueller found.
The Democratic chairmen of six House committees have demanded that Mr Barr release the Mueller report to Congress by Tuesday.
Ms Pelosi also defended House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, who faced calls Thursday from Republicans to resign over his comments that there was significant evidence the president and his associates conspired with Russia.
Additional reporting by AP. See The Independent’s live reporting from Washington on Thursday below.
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Here's House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler on his expectation that attorney-general William Barr will not meet the agreed 2 April deadline to release the Mueller report, which he says he is "upset and concerned" by.
This poll is telling about the public's attitude to the Mueller report and should be chastening reading for the Republicans.
Donald Trump has been advised against issuing presidential pardons to his former staff as he celebrates his "complete and total exoneration" (it wasn't anything of the sort).
Trump mused about granting pardons at times during special counsel Robert Mueller's nearly two-year investigation. But according to his lawyers, the president has not been in active talks about using his pardon powers to help advisers who have pleaded guilty or been convicted, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn and ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
"The president is not going to consider pardons. He's not gonna give any pardons," said Rudy Giuliani, the president's outside attorney.
"If it ever happens, it has to happen in the future, but nobody has any promise of it, nobody should assume it. Of course, he has the power to do it, but I have no reason to believe he's going to use it."
Doing so would surely reignite the political firestorm whereas, Trump's aides argue, he would be much better off letting it lie and focusing on 2020.
Don Jr continues his appalling assault on the public consciousness through social media, with this doozy, a PornHub meme with which he at least admits his father is bright orange.
↵Bernie Sanders trolling Trump expertly here.
See also Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, coming after the bone spurs that kept Donald Trump out of serving in Vietnam.
An interesting analysis of President Trump's rhetoric and use of the word "evil" in the wake of the Barr letter on the Mueller report by John Avalon on CNN's New Day.
Trump is here compared to Frank Costanza, the irate father of George in Seinfeld, specifically an episode in which he stages an alternative Christmas celebration of his own devising known as Festivus, which features a ritual known as "The Airing of the Grievances".
Speaking of Seinfeld, the sitcom's former star Julia Louis-Dreyfus was asked last night about whether she expected to see a female president in her lifetime and answered accordingly:
Adam Schiff has lambasted his critics in a meeting of the House Intelligence Committee after Attorney General William Barr released a four-page summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"You might say that's all OK,” he said, describing the president’s campaign and its involvement in sharing polling data with Russians, the notorious Trump Tower meetings, reports of Jared Kushner attempting to set up a back channel with Russia and more.
“I think it's unpatriotic,” he continued. “And yes, I think it's corrupt and evidence of collusion."
Adam Schiff’s explosive rebuttal to the Barr summary follows a tweet Donald Trump posted earlier today calling for his resignation.
“Congressman Adam Schiff, who spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking, should be forced to resign from Congress!” the president wrote.
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