Attorney General William Barr once again reiterated that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report found that President Donald Trump and his campaign did not collude with Russia. He also stressed that he and Rosenstein did not find evidence that Trump obstructed justice.
You can read Barr’s full statement here at the DOJ website.
Volume 1 of the Mueller report discusses Russia’s attempt to interfere with our 2016 election. However, Mueller and his team did not find evidence that President Donald Trump or anyone in his campaign conspired or coordinated with any Russians:
First, the report details efforts by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company with close ties to the Russian government, to sow social discord among American voters through disinformation and social media operations. Following a thorough investigation of this disinformation campaign, the Special Counsel brought charges in federal court against several Russian nationals and entities for their respective roles in this scheme. Those charges remain pending, and the individual defendants remain at large.But the Special Counsel found no evidence that any Americans – including anyone associated with the Trump campaign – conspired or coordinated with the Russian government or the IRA in carrying out this illegal scheme. Indeed, as the report states, “[t]he investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons knowingly or intentionally coordinated with the IRA’s interference operation.” Put another way, the Special Counsel found no “collusion” by any Americans in the IRA’s illegal activity.Second, the report details efforts by Russian military officials associated with the GRU to hack into computers and steal documents and emails from individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party and the presidential campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton for the purpose of eventually publicizing those emails. Obtaining such unauthorized access into computers is a federal crime. Following a thorough investigation of these hacking operations, the Special Counsel brought charges in federal court against several Russian military officers for their respective roles in these illegal hacking activities. Those charges are still pending and the defendants remain at large.But again, the Special Counsel’s report did not find any evidence that members of the Trump campaign or anyone associated with the campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its hacking operations. In other words, there was no evidence of Trump campaign “collusion” with the Russian government’s hacking.
The redactions took place with the help of Mueller’s team. They had to redact information that apply to ongoing investigations like Roger Stone.
He also said NO REDACTIONS happened based on executive privilege. Trump chose not to do thais to stay in step with transparency. The White House and counsel saw the report before its release due to the Ethics in Government Act that allows people named in a report to see it.
Barr also said that he has “no objection” to letting Mueller, who is still a DOJ employee, testify before Congress.
From CBS News:
At his press conference, Barr will address whether the White House invoked executive privilege over any aspects of the report, a Justice Department spokesperson said. He will also seek to clarify the interactions between the Justice Department and the White House about the report over the past few weeks and discuss the process for how redactions were made.The press conference is expected to last 20 to 30 minutes. The spokesperson described Barr’s demeanor as “calm” Thursday morning.
CBS legal analyst Jonathan Turley said “he believes Barr hopes to use his press conference to explain how the report’s redactions were made.” Other topics include discussions of executive privilege and interactions with the White House.
The DOJ will only have journalists with “Justice Department hard badges, a permanent form of press credential, although there will be a livestream of the event broadcast on the Justice Department website.”
The public release of the report will come out later Thursday morning. This version will have redactions related to Roger Stone’s case since it’s still going on.
Other redactions include “grand jury and classified information as well as portions relating to ongoing investigations and the privacy or reputation of uncharged ‘peripheral’ people.”
Certain members of Congress will “receive the version of the report without certain redactions,” but we do not know yet which ones. The rest of Congress will receive the redacted version.
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