Mueller finds no proof of Trump collusion with Russia; AG Barr says evidence 'not sufficient' to prosecute

"(W)hile this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him," the special

By Pete Williams, Julia Ainsley and Gregg Birnbaum

Special counsel Robert Mueller found no proof that President Donald Trump criminally colluded with Russia and reached no conclusion about whether Trump obstructed justice, Attorney General William Barr told Congress on Sunday, while also announcing that he found insufficient evidence to pursue the matter further.

The bombshell findings were contained in a letter that Barr sent to lawmakers summarizing Mueller's report and that was made public.

Barr quoted Mueller's report, which he said stated: "(T)he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

READ: Barr's letter to Congress

The report makes it clear that Trump was not exonerated in his behavior, but simply found insufficient criminal evidence to prosecute.

On obstruction of justice, Barr wrote that the special counsel declined "to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment," leaving it up to the attorney general to choose whether to bring obstruction charges against the president. Barr declined to do so, he said in the letter to Congress, based on the evidence presented and Department of Justice guidelines around prosecuting a sitting president.

Mueller did not, Barr said, "draw a conclusion — one way or the other — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction."

"Instead, for each of the relevant actions investigated, the (Mueller) report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as 'difficult issues' of law and fact concerning whether the President's actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction," Barr wrote. "The Special Counsel states that 'while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.'"

Trump tweeted a short time later "Complete and Total EXONERATION."

Providing Mueller's "principal conclusions," as Barr has referred to them, to lawmakers came after the transmission of the special counsel's report to Barr on Friday that concluded an investigation which has resulted in the indictments of 34 people, infuriated the president and threw the administration into turmoil.

It remains unclear whether Mueller's full report will ever be made public.

The long-awaited end of the probe came almost two years after Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump" and "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

Among those who have been criminally charged are Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn; former campaign chairman Paul Manafort; longtime ex-political adviser Roger Stone; former personal lawyer Michael Cohen; and numerous Russian nationals. There have been a number of guilty pleas and convictions — but none of the charges have directly accused Trump or anyone in his orbit of conspiring with Russians to help Trump get elected in 2016.

There will be no more indictments now that the probe is over, NBC News has learned.

According to Barr's letter on Sunday, the special counsel's office employed 19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants and other professional staff.

In addition, Mueller 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 (which detail to whom and when someone made calls and from where), made requests of 13 foreign governments for evidence, and interview approximately 500 witnesses.

Trump refused be interviewed with Mueller — his lawyers said they were concerned about a "perjury trap" — but he did submit written responses to the special counsel's questions in November.

Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017 — eight days after Trump fired James Comey as FBI director. Comey had been leading the investigation into Russian meddling and any possible Trump campaign involvement.

The president initially said he'd removed Comey at the urging of Rosenstein and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but he later told NBC "Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt it was his decision, and the president cited his frustration with the Russia probe.

That fueled law enforcement concerns that Trump was trying to obstruct the investigation — fears that were heightened a day after the firing, when he hosted two Russian diplomats in the Oval Office. "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump told them, according to The New York Times. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That's taken off."

Those and other actions taken by the president since the probe began led Mueller to investigate whether Trump was trying to obstruct justice in the case, sources have told NBC News.

counsel said in his report.

MUELLER SENDS REPORT ON TRUMP INVESTIGATION TO AG BARR

By Dareh Gregorian

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday wrapped up his nearly two-year investigation into Donald Trump and Russia and sent his report to Attorney General Barr.

No details of Mueller's findings have been released, and it is not clear how soon the public will see them.

The transmission of the report to Barr concludes an investigation that has resulted in the indictments of 34 people, infuriated the president and thrown the administration into turmoil.

The long-awaited development comes almost two years after Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump" and "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."

To date, 34 people and three companies have been criminally charged in the sprawling probe, including Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn; former campaign chairman Paul Manafort; former political adviser Roger Stone; former personal lawyer Michael Cohen; and numerous Russian nationals. There have been a number of guilty pleas and convictions — but none of the charges have directly accused anyone in Trump's orbit of conspiring with the Russian intelligence operation to help Trump get elected in 2016.

It's unclear how detailed Mueller's report is, or when his conclusions may become public. According to Justice Department guidelines, his confidential report to the attorney general is supposed to explain "the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the special counsel."

The attorney general is required to report Mueller's findings to Congress "with an outline of the actions and the reasons for them," the guidelines say, but it's unclear how long that may take.

As the Mueller investigation picked up steam and various Trump associates were charged, the president increasingly went on the offensive, blasting it as a "witch hunt" and "a hoax," calling Mueller's investigators "angry Democrats" and singling out some who'd worked on the case. He labeled Cohen "a rat" for cooperating with investigators.

Trump refused to sit for an interview with Mueller — his lawyers said they were concerned about a "perjury trap" — but he did submit written responses to Mueller's questions in November.

Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017 — eight days after Trump fired James Comey as FBI director. Comey had been leading the investigation into Russian meddling and any possible Trump campaign involvement. The president initially said he'd canned Comey at the urging of Rosenstein and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but later told NBC "Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt it was his decision, and cited his frustration with the Russia probe.

"And in fact when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won," Trump told Holt.

That fueled law-enforcement concerns that Trump was trying to obstruct the investigation — worries that were heightened a day after the firing, when he hosted two Russian diplomats in the Oval Office.

"I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job," Trump told them, according to The New York Times. "I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off."

Those and other actions taken by the president since the probe began led Mueller to investigate whether Trump was trying to obstruct justice in the case, sources have told NBC News.

The FBI probe into the campaign's alleged Russia ties started in July 2016 after a little-known Trump campaign foreign policy adviser, George Papadopoulos, told an Australian diplomat that the Russians had obtained thousands of emails that would embarrass Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The Australian government passed that information on to the FBI after hacked Democratic National Committee emails were posted online.

That wouldn't be the only hack. Russian cybercriminals targeted Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails, U.S. intelligence officials found. They were released online just hours after the "Access Hollywood" scandal threatened to sink Trump's campaign.

Adding to investigators' suspicions was Trump's often-abrasive deference to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he repeatedly praised as "tough" and "strong." He was also dismissive of U.S. findings that Russia was behind the cybercrimes, noting, "It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?"

Trump initially denied that he and his campaign had anything to do with any Russians — claims that have since fallen apart.

Flynn had sat with Putin at a dinner in Moscow in 2015, and would be fired from his job as national security adviser for misleading Vice President Mike Pence about the content of his conversations with a Russian diplomat. Cohen and Trump associate Felix Sater were in talks during the campaign to develop a Trump Tower in Moscow, which would reportedly come complete with a multimillion-dollar apartment for Putin. The president's son Donald Trump Jr. set up a meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian entourage after they offered unspecified "dirt" on Clinton’s campaign courtesy of the Kremlin.

"If it's what you say I love it," Trump Jr. said in accepting the meeting, which would include Manafort and Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner.

Trump Takes To Twitter To Rage On A Manic Monday

The child in chief has once again taken to his preferred platform for rage whining twitter, to complain about Robert Mueller and his investigation into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election.

pic.twitter.com/gCvjJypy2k

— Jamie York (@mediagonebad) August 20, 2018

pic.twitter.com/9lB3RR9cVm

— Gold Bug (@AmontilladoPoe) August 20, 2018

pic.twitter.com/dbQczFi6dn

— JW (@HenryBLowery) August 20, 2018

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— Charles H Norman (@dovnorman18) August 20, 2018

Things Donald Trump Doesn't Know

Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post not  Amazon. 
Despite what Donald Trump says in his Twitter rants.

The U.S. Postal Service isn't losing money by delivering packages for Amazon. They're charged the same bulk rate as any other large corporation.

Donald Trump stated that he would deploy U.S. military to the southern border. There's just one problem with that. Under the Posse Comitatus Act the military can't  arrest anyone. They can contact the U.S. Border Patrol

It was revealed that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is investigating Donald Trump for among other things, obstruction of justice while presently not being close to having charges laid against him.  The fool believes that because he's under investigation and not being criminally charged that he's been exonerated. 

‘The shutdown is actually underway anyway — all the time’; ‘Don Jr. thought he was the family dipsh*t’: Bill Maher (videos)

Bill Maher began Friday’s “Real Time” by talking about President Donald Trump desire to fire special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

“He only backed off after Don McGahn said, ‘You know this isn’t a TV show, right?'” Maher said. He went on to say that Trump thought he could fire Mueller because the special counsel quit Trump’s club and didn’t pay his bills.

“First Stormy Daniels and now Mueller? Has there been anyone who Trump hasn’t tried to f*ck on the golf course?” Maher joked.

Maher noted that even Donald Trump Jr. was asking “I thought I was supposed to be the family dipsh*t.”

Abbreviated pundit roundup: Trump tried to fire Mueller

We begin the roundup with analysis on the breaking news that Donald Trump wanted to fire FBI special counsel Robert Mueller back in June 2017. Here’s Derek Hawkins at The Washington Post pointing out Trump is a liar:

In August of last year, shortly after FBI agents raided the home of President Trump’s former campaign chairman, Trump was asked in a news conference whether he had considered firing Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel leading the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

“I haven’t given it any thought,” Trump said. “Well, I’ve been reading about it from you people. You say, ‘Oh, I’m going to dismiss him.’ No, I’m not dismissing anybody.”

A report from the New York Times Thursday says otherwise: Trump not only considered ousting Mueller, he actually tried to do it.

David Graham at The Nation on the Saturday Night Massacre that wasn’t:

The episode adds new intrigue to the already transfixing dance between the president and the special counsel’s probe. Mueller is working to interview Trump in the near future, and has already extracted guilty pleas from two former aides, as well as indicting two more. The episode underscores Trump’s volatile temperament and tendency to act impulsively, and it once again thrusts McGahn and his office into the spotlight. [...]

Attempting to fire a special counsel would immediately bring back memories of the October 1973 “Saturday Night Massacre,” in which President Richard Nixon moved to dismiss the special prosecutor investigating Watergate. He was successful, but only after the attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned rather than dismiss Archibald Cox. A judge later ruled the firing was illegal, but at that point the greatest damage had already been done in political terms, and the firing came to be seen as the beginning of the end for Nixon’s presidency. The Times reports that in addition to telling McGahn to fire Mueller, Trump weighed removing Rosenstein. If either man had gone, it could have set off a replay of the Saturday Night Massacre.

Aaron Blake explains how this underscores the coverup angle, an angle that may put the White House in the most jeopardy:

The combination of [also considering firing deputy attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein] and Mueller's attempted firing, plus everything else, looks like an attempt to install more sympathetic law enforcement officials and possibly even cover up something nefarious. At the very least, it betrays a concern about what these people might find or accuse you of. And you know what else makes all of this look rather underhanded? The fact that Trump denied even considering firing Mueller.

Here is Margaret Hartmann’s take at New York Magazine:

Legality aside, McGahn reportedly argued that firing Mueller would be catastrophic for Trump’s presidency, as it would spark more questions about obstruction of justice. A source told the Post that McGahn didn’t deliver the resignation threat directly to Trump, but he was serious. McGahn told White House officials that Trump would not follow through on ordering Muller’s firing on his own, and the president backed off.

Paul Manafort, Who Once Ran Trump Campaign, Told to Surrender

Former Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his longtime business associate Rick Gates were indicted by a federal grand jury on 12 charges, including conspiracy against the U.S., Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office announced Monday.

Other charges against Manafort and Gates include money laundering, being an unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false foreign registration statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.

The indictment was unsealed Monday after Manafort and Gates were told to surrender to law enforcement.

It says, "In total, more than $75 million flowed through offshore accounts" and it refers to Manafort's "hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States."

 Paul Manafort and his former business associate Rick Gates were told to surrender to federal authorities Monday morning, the first charges in a special counsel investigation, according to a person involved in the case.

The charges against Mr. Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, and Mr. Gates, a business associate of Mr. Manafort, were not immediately clear but represent a significant escalation in a special counsel investigation that has cast a shadow over the president’s first year in office.

Mr. Gates is a longtime protégé and junior partner of Mr. Manafort. His name appears on documents linked to companies that Mr. Manafort’s firm set up in Cyprus to receive payments from politicians and businesspeople in Eastern Europe, records reviewed by The New York Times show.

The Trump Resignation End-Game? | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann

Washington Post: Trump lawyers exploring pardoning powers

By Carol D. Leonnig,, Ashley Parker,, Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger

states:

Some of President Trump’s lawyers are exploring ways to limit or undercut special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s Russia investigation, building a case against what they allege are his conflicts of interest and discussing the president’s authority to grant pardons, according to people familiar with the effort.

Trump has asked his advisers about his power to pardon aides, family members and even himself in connection with the probe, according to one of those people. A second person said Trump’s lawyers have been discussing the president’s pardoning powers among themselves.

Trump’s legal team declined to comment on the issue. But one adviser said the president has simply expressed a curiosity in understanding the reach of his pardoning authority, as well as the limits of Mueller’s investigation.

“This is not in the context of, ‘I can’t wait to pardon myself,” a close adviser said.

Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker (live on Rachel Maddow) said that trump has made no decision and is reading about presidential pardoning power.  It is presented to the reporters as trump trying to find out if he can pardon himself.  

Outside legal sources say that if he ever did that, it would go to the Supreme Court immediately.

Special Counsel Will Take Over FBI Russia Campaign Interference Investigation

by PETE WILLIAMS and KEN DILANIAN

Bowing to public and Congressional pressure, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Bob Mueller on Wednesday to be a special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, Justice Department officials said.

Mueller will take command of the prosecutors and FBI agents who are working on the far reaching Russia investigation, which spans multiple FBI field offices on both coasts.

Mueller led the FBI for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He is second only to J. Edgar Hoover for longest tenure for an FBI chief.

The FBI, with the help of the Treasury Department, the CIA and other agencies, has been examining evidence of possible contacts, money transfers and business relationships between a variety of President Trump's associates and Russian officials, sources say.