Question

Summary of The Mueller Report, for those too busy to read It all by Thomas Patterson (AS SAID AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TERM, It is available for $6.95 in Kindle format via Amaron). Students should read this summary, which is a fourth of the length of the original report. The Report focuses on the question of whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice in his efforts to impede and discredit the Special Counsel's Investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump Campaign conspired with the Russians to tip the election in Trump's favor

Answer 1

The Mueller Report, officially titled Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election, is the official report documenting the findings and conclusions of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 United States presidential election, allegations of conspiracy or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia, and allegations of obstruction of justice. The report was submitted to Attorney GeneralWilliam Barr on March 22, 2019,and a redacted version of the 448-page report was publicly released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 18, 2019. It is divided into two volumes. The redactions from the report and its supporting material are under President Trump's temporary "protective assertion" of executive privilege as of May 8, 2019, preventing the material from being passed to Congress,despite earlier reassurance by Barr that Trump "confirmed" he would not exert privilege.

Volume I of the report concludes that the investigation did not find sufficient evidence that the campaign "coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities".Investigators ultimately had an incomplete picture of what happened due to communications that were encrypted, deleted or unsaved, as well as testimony that was false, incomplete or declined.However, the report stated that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was illegal and occurred "in sweeping and systematic fashion",but was welcomed by the Trump campaign as it expected to benefit from such efforts.It also identifies links between Trump campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government,about which several persons connected to the campaign made false statements and obstructed investigations. Mueller later stated that his investigation's conclusion on Russian interference "deserves the attention of every American".

Volume II of the report addresses obstruction of justice. The investigation intentionally took an approach that could not result in a judgment that Trump committed a crime,abiding by an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion that a sitting president is immune from criminal prosecution,fearing that charges would affect Trump's governing and preempt impeachment,and feeling that it would be unfair to accuse Trump of a crime without charges or a trial.As such, the investigation "does not conclude that the President committed a crime"; however, "it also does not exonerate him", with investigators not confident of Trump's innocence.The report describes ten episodes where Trump could have obstructed justice while president and one before he was elected,noting that he privately tried to "control the investigation". The report further states that Congress can decide whether Trump obstructed justice and take action accordingly, referencing impeachment.

On March 24, Barr sent Congress a four-page letter detailing the report's conclusions. On March 27, Mueller privately wrote to Barr, stating that the March 24 Barr letter "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office's work and conclusions", and that this led to "public confusion".Barr declined Mueller's request to release the report's introduction and executive summaries ahead of the full report.Also on March 24, Barr's letter stated that he and for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that the evidence was "not sufficient to establish" that Trump had obstructed justice.On May 1, Barr testified that he "didn't exonerate" Trump on obstruction as "that's not what the Justice Department does";and that neither he nor Rosenstein had reviewed the underlying evidence in the report.In July 2019, Mueller testified to Congress that a president could be charged with crimes including obstruction of justice after they left office.[46] In 2020, a Republican-appointed federal judge decided to personally review if the report's redactions were legitimate, due to Barr's "misleading" statements about the report's findings leading the judge to suspect that Barr had tried to establish a "one-sided narrative" favorable to Trump.

Impetus for investigation

Further information: Dismissal of James Comey

On May 9, 2017, President Donald Trumpdismissed the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, who had been leading an ongoing Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into links between Trump associates and Russian officials.This investigation began in July 2016 due to the unwitting revelation by foreign policy advisor George Papadopoulosthat the Trump campaign knew, before anyone else, that the Russians possessed emails stolen from Hillary Clinton.

Over 130 Democratic lawmakers of the United States Congress called for a special counselto be appointed in reaction to Comey's firing. CNN reported that within eight days of Comey's dismissal, an FBI investigation on Trump for obstruction of justice was opened by the acting FBI Director at the time, Andrew McCabe, who cited multiple reasons including Comey's firing.After McCabe was later fired from the FBI, he confirmed that he had opened the obstruction investigation, and gave additional reasons for its launch.

Scope and mandate

According to its authorizing document,which was signed by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on May 17, 2017, the investigation's scope included allegations that there were links or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government as well as "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation".The authorizing document also included "any other matters within the scope of 28 CFR § 600.4(a)";enabling the special counsel "to investigate and prosecute" any attempts to interfere with its investigation, "such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses".

Trump has vacillated in his view of the report, initially saying, "The Mueller report was great. It could not have been better," then one month later characterizing it as a "total 'hit job'", then one month later as "a beautiful report".

The Mueller Report reported that Donald Trump's campaign staff, administration officials, and family members, his Republican backers, and his associates lied or made false assertions, whether intentional or unintentional, to the public, Congress, and authorities.

On March 25, when the Barr letter had been released but not the report itself, Trump said of the special counsel's findings: "It's one hundred percent the way it should have been." He further commented on the investigation, its potential origins, and its witnesses: "There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things," adding that they would need to be "looked at".