Last updated on March 25, 2019
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BREAKING:
At around 4:15 PM CST on Friday, March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III submitted his report to Attorney General William Barr for review and subsequent delegation to Congress.
At 2:45 PM CST on
As it stands, none of the actual report has been made public, and so far there have been no leaks due mostly to the fact that only a select few officials from The U.S. Department of Justice and The White House Counsel have actually laid eyes on the full report.
Nonetheless, Attorney General William Barr has sent a letter to Congress stating that the Mueller report President Trump did not commit a crime, although he has not been exonerated.
View the letter here.
On Sunday:
Attorney General William Barr has just submitted a letter detailing the contents of Robert Mueller’s findings to The United States Congress.
View the letter here.
Representative Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the chairman of the House judiciary committee says that President Trump did not
“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’”
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) March 24, 2019
Trump continues to be relaxed at his Mar-A-Lago Estate in Florida where he has attended dinners and played golf. Presumably, the President and his associates are happy that no further indictments have been filed against the president in connection with the Mueller Investigation.
On Twitter today…. President Trump bolstered his classic rhetoric.
Good Morning, Have A Great Day!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2019
MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2019
The Indictments
According to a senior DOJ Official, Mueller has not and will not issue any more indictments through and/or in connection with his new report. This does not, though, prohibit The Southern District of New York, Northern Virginia, and any other investigations into the president from issuing indictments and/or criminal charges.
Barr’s Letter
Mr. Barr submitted a 4-page single-spaced letter to the 116th Congress detailing the important points the full report makes. The important point to make is that this letter is an interpretation of the report. It is NOT the final report.
In addition to this reality, Mr. Barr is a Trump appointee. This means that his interpretation could leave out important points about the actual report. While as an attorney Mr. Barr must be fair and straight, this is just a relatively informal letter to Congress detailing (and potentially excluding) specific points about Mueller’s report.
The letter is an interpretation, not a report.
Before submitting his actual letter, Attorney General William Barr wrote a page-length letter to all members of the 116th Congress where he stated he is most likely to bring “principal conclusions as soon as this weekend”.
The Counts
Over the course of nearly two years, there have been 5 people sentenced to prison, 7 guilty pleadings, 39 people and or entities charged, and a total of 199 criminal counts in connection with this ongoing investigation. Yet the President continues to liken the collusion probe to a hoax using terms like “witch hunt”.
The Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice is saying that the conclusions made by Robert Mueller, and his team do not conclude The President has obstructed justice but it does not exonerate him to and with future criminal counts.
Sources near The Department of Justice say that William Barr has left the DOJ building for the night. As for Mueller and his team, a speedy collection of cars and security was the scene when they left their undisclosed location in Washington, DC just after 4 PM EST on Friday, March 22. He has not returned to learn more about Rosenstein and Barr’s findings. Mueller was not consulted about Mr. Barr’s letter to Congress whatsoever.
Just after 5:00 PM EST, photographers captured Attorney General William Barr leaving The Department of Justice Building for the night.
View the letter here.
The White House
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued a statement on Twitter regarding the administration’s knowledge of the contents of Mr. Mueller’s Report. She said via Twitter “The next steps are up to Attorney General Barr, and we look forward to the process taking its course. The White House has not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel’s report.”
When the letter was submitted, Donald Trump was at his Mar-A-Lago Estate in Florida where he
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sander put out the first official statement about Mueller’s findings via Twitter.
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.”
— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) March 24, 2019
President Trump has made the second official statement via Twitter stating:
No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2019
Sanders and Trump both have flawed information because the letter, written by a political appointee, states a quote from the report saying the findings do not exonerate the president. At Mar-A-Lago, Trump echoed the same message in person.
The 2020 Candidates
As a 22 month federal investigation regarding collusion with a foreign government comes to an end, it provides a great opportunity for the 2020 Democratic candidates to begin attacking Trump and his team. They have done that exactly… particularly via Twitter.
Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders have been particularly unfiltered through these important times…
Bernie Sanders took a blatant approach to demanding the facts…
I don’t want a summary of the Mueller report. I want the whole damn report. https://t.co/VU1oNfBMK0
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 24, 2019
While Kamala Harris used this as grounds to continue campaigning on transparency…
The Mueller report needs to be made public, the underlying investigative materials should be handed over to Congress, and Barr must testify. That is what transparency looks like. A short letter from Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General is not sufficient.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) March 24, 2019
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Jay Doherty
2019
