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As it happenedended

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Mueller report: 'No indictments' after special counsel delivers report on Trump-Russia probe

White House says the next steps are 'up to Attorney General William Barr'

New York

Friday 22 March 2019 23:35 GMT

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Donald Trump launches furious tirade against Mueller on White House lawn as he calls Comey a 'bad cop'

Special counsel Robert Mueller has submitted a report to the attorney general’s office, signalling the end to a two year investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US election.

Mr Mueller did not recommend any further indictments, a senior Justice Department official said. Although no specific information from the report has been made available yet, this announcement may suggest no more criminal charges against Donald Trump associates from the investigation.

The report has been handed to Attorney General William Barr, who President Trump selected at the end of 2018.

Donald Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida when the Justice Department announced the reports arrival.

In response to the report White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said: “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.”

Mueller investigation: The key figures

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1/12Mueller investigation: The key figures

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Robert Mueller is the special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, and potential obstruction of justice by the president. Mr Mueller has a pristine reputation in Washington, where he was previously in charge of the FBI. Throughout his investigation, he and his team have been notoriously tight lipped about what they know and where their investigation has led.

REUTERS

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Former FBI director James Comey was the catalyst that led to the appointment of special counsel Robert Mueller. Mr Comey was fired by the president after Mr Trump reportedly asked him to drop his own Russia investigation. Mr Trump has long maintained that the investigation is a "witch hunt".

AFP/Getty Images

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein had authority over the special counsel investigation for much of the two years it has been active. Mr Rosenstein found himself with that responsibility after then-attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from that oversight.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Attorney general Jeff Sessions's decision to recuse himself from oversight of the special counsel investigation may have cost him his job in the end. Mr Sessions resigned last year, after weathering a contentious relationship with Donald Trump who vocally criticised his attorney general for taking a step back. Mr Sessions recused himself from the oversight citing longstanding Justice Department rules to not be involved in investigations overseeing campaigns that officials were apart of.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Attorney General William Barr is currently responsible for oversight of the special counsel investigation. Mr Barr's office will be the first to receive the Mueller report when it is finished. His office will then determine what portion or version of that report should be delivered to Congress, and also made public.

EPA

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Michal Cohn is the president's former personal lawyer, who has been helping the special counsel investigation as a part of a plea deal over financial crimes, and campaign finance crimes, he has pleaded guilty to. Among those crimes, Cohen admitted to facilitating $130,000 in hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 campaign. Cohen has said he did so at the direction of Mr Trump. Cohen has also admitted that he maintained contacts with Russian officials about a potential Trump real estate project in Moscow for months longer than Mr Trump and others admitted. The talks continued well into 2016 during the campaign, he has said.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Stormy Daniels has alleged that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006, soon after Melania Trump gave birth to Baron Trump. The accusation is of particular importance as a result of the $130,000 hush money payment she received to keep quiet about the affair during the 2016 campaign.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Paul Manafort was Donald Trump's former campaign chairman. Manafort was charged alongside Rick Gates for a slew of financial crimes, and was convicted on several counts in a Virginia court. He then pleaded guilty to separate charges filed in a Washington court. Manafort has been sentenced to just 7.5 years in prison for his crimes — in spite of recommendations from the special counsel's office for a much harsher sentence.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

George Papadopoulos was one of the first individuals associated with the Trump campaign to be charged by the Mueller probe. He ultimately received a 14 day prison sentence for lying to investigators about contacts he had with Russian officials.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Roger Stone is a well known political fixer and operative, who has made a name for himself for some dirty tactics. He has been charged by the Mueller probe earlier this year, and he has been said to have had prior knowledge that WikiLeaks planned on publishing stolen emails from the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016.

Getty Images

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Rick Gates was charged alongside former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for a range of crimes. Gates, who worked alongside Manafort for a pro-Russia Ukrainian political party. The two were charged with conspiracy and financial crimes. Gates pleaded guilty.

AP

Mueller investigation: The key figures

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn was one of the first casualties of the Russia scandal, and was forced out of his position in the White House weeks after Donald Trump took office. Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to "willfully" making fraudulent statements about contacts he had with Russian officials including former Russian ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Flynn then lied to Vice President Mike Pence about that contact.

REUTERS

After news of Mr Mueller finishing his report, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer spoke to press, emphasising the party message that the report “must be made public.”

“The White House must not be allowed to interfere in what parts of the report are made public,” Mr Schumer said. “The demand of the public is overwhelming ... it will be made public.”

The US special counsel’s investigators have looked into a large number of contacts between people associated with Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

Mr Mueller sought to determine whether the campaign coordinated with Moscow, though it was not immediately clear whether the special counsel found evidence of a conspiracy.

Follow events as they happened below

Additional reporting by Reuters

The president has given an interview to Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business and says of his possible 2020 opponents:

On the Golan Heights, he says:

More generally:

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 11:00

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Clinton have been mocking Jared Kushner over Elijah Cummings' letter.

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 11:06

President Trump has two men in mind for the two vacant seats on the board of the Federal Reserve, according to Bloomberg.

One is Stephen Moore, 59: Founder of the conservative Club for Growth, ex-Wall Street Journal executive, senior economist on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and an analyst for CNN. He's a a close friend of White House economic guru Larry Kudlow and advised the 2016 campaign on its economic campaign and is currently chief economist at the Heritage Foundation.

The other is Herman Cain, 73: A former executive at Burger King and CEO of Godfather's Pizza, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, losing out to Mitt Romney after his campaign was derailed by five allegations of sexual harassment, all of which he denied.

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 11:26

White House counsel Pat Cipollone yesterday refused a request from Congress for documents relating to conversations between President Trump and Russian premier Vladimir Putin during a summit last July in Helsinki, Finland.

The men met for two hours with only interpreters present.

In a joint statement, House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Eliot Engel and House Oversight and Reform Committee chairman Elijah Cummings denounced the denial as part of a "troubling pattern by the Trump administration of rejecting legitimate and necessary congressional oversight."

The House Democrats say they are now planning their "next steps".

"President Trump’s decision to break with this precedent raises the question of what he has to hide. We will be consulting on appropriate next steps. Congress has a constitutional duty to conduct oversight and investigate these matters, and we will fulfill that responsibility," they wrote.

Here's more on the problem from Tom Embury-Dennis.

Trump administration refuses to hand over documents to congressional investigatorsCommittee chair condemns White House over 'unprecedented level of stonewalling'

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 11:48

With President Trump's use of inflammatory rhetoric again under the spotlight, the guilty plea of pipe bomber Cesar Sayoc yesterday provided a sobering reminder of its potential consequences.

The Florida native confessed to sending rudimentary bombs by post to critics of Donald Trump, including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, CNN, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, George Soros and the actor Robert De Niro.

Cesar Sayoc pleads guilty to mailing pipe bombs to Donald Trump's criticsThe 57-year-old who faces life in prison, sobbed in the dock

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 12:10

Here's Madeline Ruth Somerville for Indy Voices on the prospect of a Joe Biden-Stacey Abrams ticket in the 2020 race.

US Election: Stacey Abrams would be a great choice for Joe Biden's VP — but a better one for presidentThere's no doubting that Biden is beloved to many Americans. Rumours today suggest he may be considering running alongside Stacey Abrams, with her as VP. But another old white dude at the helm isn't what the country needs after Trump

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 12:30

A lot of talk about magic in Washington today for some reason...

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 12:45

Here's President Trump promoting his new Fox interview with Maria Bartiromo.

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 12:51

More from Donald Trump's latest Fox interview.

He's now accused John McCain of handing on the Steele Dossier for "very evil purposes".

As for this, well... It's not how I remember it.

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 13:05

A real business-as-usual tweet from Donald Trump - praise from a Fox and a Friends contributor.

Think he meant to say "front line".

Joe Sommerlad22 March 2019 13:20

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