Mueller report: DOJ releases summary

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Robert Mueller delivered the results of an investigation into possible collusion in the 2016 presidential election to Attorney General William Barr on Friday, ending a two-year saga that, at times, pitted the president against his own Justice Department.

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On Sunday, the Department of Justice delivered a summary to the House Judiciary Committee.

Update 10:25 p.m. EDT March 24: President Donald Trump was at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, when he first learned the details of what Attorney General William Barr said in his summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report for Congress, according to the Associated Press.

The AP cited White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, who briefed reporters aboard Air Force One as the president was flying back to Washington.

“This is very good,” Gidley said the president told him.

The president watched TV in his office aboard Air Force One and made phone calls according to CNN, which described the atmosphere during the flight as “jovial.”

Update 8:25 p.m. EDT March 24: Vice President Mike Pence weighed in on Attorney General William Barr's summary of the Mueller report Sunday, issuing a statement calling the report "a total vindication of the President of the United States."

“After two years of investigation, and reckless accusations by many Democrats and members of the media, the Special Counsel has confirmed what President Trump said (all) along; there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election,” Pence said.

“This total vindication of the President of the United States and our campaign should be welcomed by every American who cherishes the truth and the integrity of our elections,” he said.

Update 7:45 p.m. EDT March 24: Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Sen. Dianne Feinstein called Attorney General William Barr's four-page summary on the Mueller report "inadequate." Feinstein said in a statement Sunday that Barr's summary "demonstrates why Congress needs to obtain the full report and underlying evidence."

She also said she’ll call on Barr to release the whole report and underlying material to Congress for proper Congressional oversight of the investigation.

Feinstein said Barr was obviously biased in his summary of the report.

“Mueller elected to describe the facts, leaving it to Attorney General Barr to decide whether the president committed a crime. However, months ahead of his nomination,  Barr wrote a 19-page memo concluding the president couldn’t commit obstruction, so it’s no surprise he reached the same conclusion now,” she said in the statement.

Update 7:00 p.m. EDT March 24: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement on Attorney General William Barr's summary of special prosecutor Robert Mueller's report.

Pelosi and Schumer said Barr’s letter “raises as many questions as it answers.”

The pair are calling for the Justice Department to release the full report.

“The fact that Special Counsel Mueller’s report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public,” Schumer said on social media.

The statement calls into question Barr’s ability to be objective about the Mueller report.

“Given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the Special Counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report,” according to Pelosi and Schumer’s statement.

“And most obviously, for the president to say he is completely exonerated directly contradicts the words of Mr. Mueller and is not to be taken with any degree of credibility,” the statement said.

Update 6:00 p.m. EDT March 24: The Mueller report is divided into two parts, according to the summary Attorney General William Barr sent to Congress Sunday.

The first part of the report describes the Mueller team’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and outlines Russia’s attempts to influence the election, including the crimes committed by people associated with the Russian government, Barr said.

A primary focus for the Mueller team was whether any Americans, and specifically associates of President Donald Trump, worked with the Russians in interfering with the election, which would be a federal crime.

“[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” according to the Mueller report.

>> Related: Mueller report: Trump claims 'Complete and Total’ exoneration

The second part of the report, according to Barr’s summary, focuses on whether Trump obstructed justice.

The Mueller report leaves “unresolved whether the president’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction,” Barr said in his summary.

“While the report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him” on obstruction allegations, Barr said.

Mueller left a decision on obstruction of justice charges against Trump to the Justice Department.

Barr confirmed he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided that Trump’s conduct did not constitute a crime.

>> Related: What is in the Mueller report?

Update 5:20 p.m. EDT March 24: The Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, responded to President Donald Trump's statement Sunday afternoon that the Mueller report offered him "complete and total exoneration."

Nadler disputed Trump’s characterization of the report, clarifying what Mueller actually said in the report.

“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,’” Nadler said

Nadler also confirmed his plan to call Attorney General William Barr to testify before the committee.

“In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before (the House Judiciary Committee) in the near future, Nadler said on Twitter.

Update 5:10 p.m. EDT March 24: Attorney General William Barr detailed the resources special prosecutor Robert Mueller used during his two-year investigation in his summary of the report to Congress.

Barr said the Mueller team “employed 19 lawyers who were assisted by a team of approximately 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants, and other professional staff. The Special Counsel issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records, issued almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses.”

Barr said Mueller’s report also does not recommend any further indictments.

Update 4:50 p.m. EDT March 24: President Donald Trump and members of his administration feel vindicated by the Mueller report.

Trump just sent his first tweet on the report since Robert Mueller sent it to the Justice Department on Friday.

“No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!,” the president wrote.

His press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued this statement after Attorney General William Barr sent a summary of Mueller’s report to Congress Sunday afternoon.

"The Special Counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction. AG Barr and DAG Rosenstein further determined there was no obstruction. The findings of the Department of Justice are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.”

Update 4:15 p.m. EDT March 24: The summary included these points:

-The investigation by special prosecutor Robert Mueller did not find President Donald Trump or any of his campaign team coordinated with the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, according to a summary Attorney General William Barr sent to Congress Sunday.

-The probe also did not find sufficient evidence that the president illegally obstructed justice, but the Mueller team stopped short of exonerating the president, according to The Associated Press.

-Barr’s summary said Mueller did not reach any conclusions on the president’s conduct.

-Barr also said in the summary that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein did not consider constitutional questions relating to criminal charges against a sitting president in reaching their conclusion, the AP reported.

UPDATE 3:30 p.m. EDT March 24: Rep. Jerry Nadler said the Department of Justice issued a letter saying it is "determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgement" in terms of the findings in the report.

Related: What is in the Mueller report?

Nadler tweeted quotes from the letter, which can be read in full here.

UPDATE March 24 3:10 p.m. EDT: Congress has been told to expect a Mueller report summary with in the hour, The Associated Press reported, according to two unnamed sources familiar with plans from the Justice Department.

UPDATE 2:30 p.m. EDT: President Donald Trump has been relatively quiet leading up to the release of the report, according to The Associated Press. Sources not authorized to speak publicly claim Trump is relieved no new indictments have come from the probe.

The AP reported that Trump has been in Palm Beach, Florida, over the weekend, golfing and spending time with family. He's also been less engaged on Twitter, only posting "Good Morning, Have A Great Day!" and "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Sunday morning.

UPDATE 9 p.m. EDT March 23: 

Attorney General William Barr scoured special counsel Robert Mueller's confidential report on the Russia investigation with his advisers Saturday, deciding how much Congress and the American public will get to see about the two-year probe into President Donald Trump and Moscow's efforts to elect him, according to The Associated Press.

Barr was on pace to release his first summary of Mueller’s findings on Sunday, people familiar with the process said.

UPDATE 1:50 p.m. EDT March 23: Congress will not receive a summary of Mueller's findings  Saturday, multiple media outlets have reported.

The Washington Post cited a "senior Justice Department official" for this information, while Politico tweeted that "two sources familiar with the discussion" confirmed the news.

President Trump flew Friday to his Mar-a-Lago resort with senior White House officials and lawyers, The Washington Post reported.

Original report: The delivery of the report to Barr officially concludes the probe that has cast a shadow over the Trump administration from its earliest days.

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Trump, who flew to Florida on Friday, has not yet commented on the report. Press secretary Sarah Sanders said the White House would not be seeing the report -- at least not for now.

Barr, in a one-page letter, told Congressional leaders he would be able to advise them of the “principal conclusions” of the report as soon as this weekend.

In the letter, Barr confirmed that there was no requests made by Mueller to take a specific action – such as subpoenaing a witness – that was not granted by the DOJ.

“There were no such instances during the Special Counsel’s investigation."

It is up to Barr how much of the report Congress or the public will be able to see. Trump has said he would not care if the report was released to the public.

According to an anonymous DOJ source, there will be no further indictments born out of the investigation, meaning Mueller’s work is done.

Related: Who has Robert Mueller already indicted in his investigation?

Since the investigation began in May of 2017, Mueller’s team of prosecutors has indicted or accepted plea deals from 35 people.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, issued a joint statement, saying “it is imperative for Mr. Barr to make the full report public and provide its underlying documentation and findings to Congress. . . . The American people have a right to the truth.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.