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=== Don McGahn ===
=== Don McGahn ===
[[Don McGahn]] was reportedly ordered by President Trump to fire Mueller in 2017–2018. Trump also ordered McGahn to release a statement denying that Trump did so. McGahn reportedly refused to comply; "deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre," Mueller found, referring to [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/mcgahn-refused-trump-order-deny-mueller-firing-2019-4|title=White House counsel Don McGahn refused the president's order to publicly deny that Trump ordered him to fire Mueller|last=Relman|first=Eliza|website=[[Business Insider]]|access-date=2019-04-18 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> Trump called McGahn when he was home and "directed him to call the Acting Attorney General [[Matthew Whitaker]] and say that the Special Counsel had [[conflict of interest|conflicts of interest]] and must be removed."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-appointment-idUSKCN1RU21K|title=Trump curses Mueller appointment: 'This is the end of my presidency'|date=2019-04-18|work=[[Reuters]]|access-date=2019-04-18|language=en |df= mdy-all }}</ref>
[[Don McGahn]] was reportedly ordered by President Trump to fire Mueller in 2017–2018. Trump also ordered McGahn to release a statement denying that Trump did so. McGahn reportedly refused to comply; "deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential [[Saturday Night Massacre]]," Mueller found, referring to [[Watergate scandal|Watergate]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/mcgahn-refused-trump-order-deny-mueller-firing-2019-4|title=White House counsel Don McGahn refused the president's order to publicly deny that Trump ordered him to fire Mueller|last=Relman|first=Eliza|website=[[Business Insider]]|access-date=2019-04-18 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> Trump called McGahn when he was home and "directed him to call the Acting Attorney General [[Matthew Whitaker]] and say that the Special Counsel had [[conflict of interest|conflicts of interest]] and must be removed."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-appointment-idUSKCN1RU21K|title=Trump curses Mueller appointment: 'This is the end of my presidency'|date=2019-04-18|work=[[Reuters]]|access-date=2019-04-18|language=en |df= mdy-all }}</ref>


"The President's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests," the special counsel wrote.<ref name=":6" /><!-- == Impact == -->
"The President's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests," the special counsel wrote.<ref name=":6" /><!-- == Impact == -->

Revision as of 18:11, 18 April 2019

On April 18, 2019, Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election report was released by the Department of Justice.
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The order dated May 17, 2017, appointing a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections
Letter from Attorney General William Barr on March 24, 2019, to leaders of the House and Senate judiciary committees with a summary of the investigation

The Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election, often referred to as the Mueller Report, is the official report documenting Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 United States presidential election, allegations of coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Russia government, allegations of obstruction of justice,[1] as well as "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation."[2] The report was prepared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation from 2017 to 2019.

The 448-page report was publicly released, with redactions, on April 18, 2019.[3][4][5] Congress received the report 90 minutes after a press conference by Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein at 9:30 A.M. EST.[6]

Background

On May 17, 2017, Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel to take over and expand an existing counterintelligence investigation being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.[7] The special counsel also took over another FBI investigation into whether President Trump obstructed justice.[1]

The special counsel concluded the investigation and submitted the final report to the Attorney General on March 20, 2019.[8] Barr sent Congress a four-page letter detailing the findings of the final report two days later.[9][user-generated source?][10][11]

On April 18, Barr held a press conference accompanied by Rosenstein and a top Justice Department official to discuss contents of the report, redacted portions, and "ten episodes involving the President and discusses potential legal theories for connecting these actions to elements of an obstruction offense."[12][13] Barr also mentioned that Trump's legal team received the final redacted version of the report earlier in the week, adding that the president's lawyers "were not permitted to make, and did not request, any redactions."[14][13]

Findings

Barr summary

On March 22, 2019, Attorney General Barr sent Congress a four-page letter detailing the special counsel's conclusions regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and obstruction of justice.[9][user-generated source?] On Russian interference, Barr relayed how the special counsel found two ways in which Russia attempted to the election: firstly, disinformation through social media campaigns by the Internet Research Agency "to sow social discord"; and secondly, hacking computers for emails that came from the 2016 Clinton presidential campaign and Democratic National Committee.[9][user-generated source?][11] On obstruction of justice, Barr concluded that the special counsel "did not draw a conclusion - one way or the other - as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction."[15][16] "The Special Counsel's decision to describe the facts of his obstruction investigation without reaching any legal conclusions leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime." Barr concluded on obstruction of justice by saying "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."[6][13]

Final report

On April 18, 2019, a redacted version of the Special Counsel's final report was released to Congress and the public, with a less-redacted version sent to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.[12][17]

Obstruction of justice

The special counsel did not charge Trump for obstruction of justice due to no "underlying crime" and many of the attempts were carried "in plain view". Mueller's office said that they weighed whether to charge Trump but did not because "we recognized that a federal criminal accusation against a sitting President would place burdens on the President's capacity to govern and potentially preempt constitutional process for addressing presidential misconduct."[18]

Russian connections with the Trump Campaign

The special counsel identified two methods the Russian government tried to communicate with the Trump campaign. "The investigation identified two different forms of connections between the IRA and members of the Trump Campaign…First, on multiple occasions, members and surrogates of the Trump Campaign promoted — typically by linking, retweeting, or similar methods of reposting — pro-Trump or anti-Clinton content published by the IRA through IRA-controlled social media accounts. Additionally, in a few instances, IRA employees represented themselves as U.S. persons to communicate with members of the Trump Campaign in an effort to seek assistance and coordination on IRA-organized political rallies inside the United States,” the report states.[18] The special counsel found that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump cited or retweeted content from IRA-controlled social media accounts.

Secondly, the report details a meeting at Trump Tower in June 2016. The intent of the meeting was to exchange "dirt" on the Clinton presidential campaign. There was speculation that Trump Jr. told his father. However, the special counsel could not find any evidence that he did.[18] The office declined to pursue charges for two reasons: the office “did not obtain admissible evidence” that would meet the burden of proof principle beyond a reasonable doubt that the campaign officials acted with general knowledge about the illegality of their conduct; secondly, the office expected difficulty in valuing the promised information that “exceeded the threshold for a criminal violation” of $2,000 for a criminal violation and $25,000 for a felony punishment.[19]

Don McGahn

Don McGahn was reportedly ordered by President Trump to fire Mueller in 2017–2018. Trump also ordered McGahn to release a statement denying that Trump did so. McGahn reportedly refused to comply; "deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre," Mueller found, referring to Watergate.[20] Trump called McGahn when he was home and "directed him to call the Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed."[21]

"The President's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests," the special counsel wrote.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Brown, Pamela; Herb, Jeremy. "The frantic scramble before Mueller got the job". CNN. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  2. ^ "Order No. 3915-2017". United States Department of Justice. May 17, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ Matt Zapotosky, Carol D. Leonnig, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Devlin Barrett (April 17, 2019). "Mueller report will be lightly redacted, revealing detailed look at obstruction of justice investigation". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 17, 2019. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Axelrod, Tal (April 17, 2019). "DOJ plans to release 'lightly redacted' version of Mueller report Thursday: WaPo". The Hill. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  5. ^ LaFraniere, Sharon (April 17, 2019). "The Mueller Report Will Be Released on Thursday. Here's a Guide". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Calia, Mike; El-Bawab, Nadine (April 17, 2019). "Attorney General William Barr will hold a press conference to discuss Mueller report at 9:30 am ET Thursday". CNBC. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  7. ^ "Special counsel will take over FBI Russia campaign interference investigation". NBC News. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  8. ^ Breuninger, Kevin (March 22, 2019). "MUELLER PROBE ENDS: Special counsel submits Russia report to Attorney General William Barr". CNBC. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  9. ^ a b c Barr, William (March 24, 2019), "English: The Attorney General" (PDF), Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, retrieved April 18, 2019[user-generated source?]
  10. ^ "Attorney General Barr to appear before Congress for the first time since Mueller report was completed". CNBC. April 9, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Read Attorney General William Barr's Summary of the Mueller Report". The New York Times. March 24, 2019. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  12. ^ a b Pramuk, Jacob (April 18, 2019). "Mueller report recounts 10 episodes involving Trump and questions of obstruction". CNBC. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  13. ^ a b c "Mueller finds no collusion with Russia, leaves obstruction question open". American Bar Association. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  14. ^ "Barr says 10 'episodes' of Trump potential obstruction probed; AG disagreed with Mueller legal theory". NBC News. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  15. ^ "Mueller report: Investigation found no evidence Trump conspired with Russia, leaves obstruction question open". USA Today. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  16. ^ Gurman, Sadie (March 25, 2019). "Mueller Told Barr Weeks Ago He Wouldn't Reach Conclusion on Obstruction Charge". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  17. ^ "Special Counsel's Office". United States Department of Justice. October 16, 2017. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  18. ^ a b c "Mueller decided Trump's obstruction attempts were not 'conscious wrongdoing,' report shows". NBC News. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  19. ^ Hamilton, Colby (April 18, 2019). "Mueller Considered Prosecuting Trump Tower Meeting Participants: Report". New York Law Journal. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  20. ^ a b Relman, Eliza. "White House counsel Don McGahn refused the president's order to publicly deny that Trump ordered him to fire Mueller". Business Insider. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  21. ^ "Trump curses Mueller appointment: 'This is the end of my presidency'". Reuters. April 18, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
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