• On Friday, Mueller handed in his report as to whether or not Trump’s team colluded with Russia during the election to Attorney General William Barr, recommending no further indictments.
• In a summary on the report, Barr says that Mueller concluded that there was no collusion, but did not say one way or the other about obstruction of justice.
• Trump is counting this as a big win for himself, but Democrats want the full report released to the public.

Barr’s Summary

Robert Mueller’s report concluded that President Donald Trump’s campaign did not conspire with Russia during the 2016 election. However the report did not exonerate Trump from obstruction of justice, according to Attorney General William Barr.

On Friday, Special Counsel Mueller turned in his report on his two-year-long investigation into Russia’s interference with the 2016 election to the attorney general. At the time, he recommended no additional indictments.

On Sunday, Barr released a letter to Congress that contained a four-page summary of Mueller’s report. Barr’s summary said the report was broken down into two parts, the first being Russia’s interference in the 2016 election.

According to Mueller’s findings, there were two main efforts by Russia, one from the Internet Research Agency, and one from the Russuian government. The investigation has already resulted in arrests regarding both of these efforts.

The investigation did not find, however, that Trump or his colleagues aided these efforts. Barr quoted Mueller’s report, saying,  “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

The second part of the report centered around obstruction of justice, but the findings were not conclusive.

“The Special Counsel therefore did not draw a conclusion – one way or the other – as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction,” Barr said in his letter.

He also went on to quote the Special Counsel, which said in their report, “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

So what does this mean? In their report, the Special Counsel outlined the various activities investigated, and the arguments on each side. They drew no conclusions, and instead left it up to Attorney General Barr to decide if the actions constituted as criminal behavior.

In his letter to congress, Barr said he discussed the report with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and that they “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.”

What Does This Mean for Trump?

Many view this as a big win for Trump and his administration. The Special Counsel found there was no conspiracy or collusion in the campaign, and while they did not say either way if he obstructed justice, the Attorney General said there was not enough evidence, which was enough for Trump to take to Twitter to make a statement.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders went on the TODAY Show on Monday morning, backing up Trump’s comments. Anchor Savannah Guthrie asked Sanders, “Would you acknowledge that it is incorrect for the president to call this a total exoneration?”

“Not at all. It is a total and complete exoneration,” Sanders said. “And here’s why. They special counsel, they said they couldn’t make a decision one way or the other. The way that process works is that they then leave that up to the AG. The AG and the Deputy AG went through and based their decision on Mueller’s investigation.”

Push to Release the Report

On the other side, democrats are arguing that Mueller’s full report should be released.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a joint statement calling for the report to be made public, given biases the Attorney General may have.

“Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers,” the statement read.  “The fact that Special Counsel Mueller’s report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public without any further delay.  Given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the Special Counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report.”

Others like Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris took to Twitter to demand the full report.

The democratic leaders are not alone in wanting the report to be made public. Earlier in the month, the House voted 420-0 to demand the Department of Justice release Mueller’s full investigation to lawmakers, and as much as possible to the public. This vote was non-binding and does not mandate anything, but it does put pressure on Barr.

So will we ever get to see the report? That still remains unclear. In his letter to congress, he said the report remains confidential, but also added that he was aware of the “public interest in this matter.”

“For that reason, my goal and intent is to release as much of the Special Counsel’s report as I can consistent with applicable law, regulations, and Departmental policies,” Barr stated.

What those laws, regulations, and policies could limit is also unclear, but material in the report is likely relevant to other investigations, or could be a security risk. So if the public were to see it, there is a good chance that there would be heavy redactions.

Many are also debating whether or not Trump would be able to use Executive Privilege to prevent the public from seeing certain parts of the report. This could include internal communications and private conversations involving the president. But right now, whether or not he could use it is up in the air. It is also unclear if he would want to, as in the past he tweeted in support of the Republicans voting for transparency regarding the report.

If the Department of Justice were to not make the report public, Representative Jerry Nadler said he would be willing to take legal action. On CNN, he said he would go so far as to take it to the Supreme Court if necessary.

Well we will try to negotiate and we will try everything else first,” said Nadler. “But if we have to, yes, we will certainly issue subpoenas to get that information.”

“And you’re going to be willing to take that up to the supreme court if you have to,” anchor Dana Bash asked.

“Absolutely,” Nadler responded.

See What Others Are Saying: (Wall Street Journal) (Washington Post) (CBS)

• President Donald Trump said he was never thanked for John McCain’s funeral during a speech on Wednesday.
• Trump also said that he “never liked” the late senator.
• Many people, Republicans included, are upset by these remarks, even going so far as to call Trump “deplorable.”

What did Trump Say?

Several Republican leaders have spoken out against President Donald Trump after he claimed he was never thanked for veteran and Senator John McCain’s funeral.

“I’ve never liked him much,” Trump said of McCain, starting what ended up being a five-minute-long series of attacks against the late politician during a speech in Lima, Ohio.

During this speech, Trump brought up McCain’s choice to not vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Trump also criticized the work McCain did for veterans and brought up his funeral.

“And I gave him the kind of funeral he wanted,” Trump said. “Which as president, I had to approve. I don’t care about this. I didn’t get a thank you, that’s okay. We sent him on the way. But I wasn’t a fan of John McCain.”

When McCain passed in August of 2018, Trump approved military transport for his services in Washington D.C. However, the president was not invited to attend the services himself. McCain only extended the invitation to former presidents, asking both George W. Bush and Barack Obama to speak.

These comments are the latest in Trump’s most recent strick of attacks against McCain. On March 16 and 17, he sent out a series of tweets accusing him of spreading the intelligence dossier that contained information about his administration.

Trump claims that McCain delivered the dossier to the FBI prior to the 2016 election. However, many counter this, saying the senator did not pass the information over until after.

Republicans Speak Out

Many people have criticized the president’s remarks, accusing him of being out of line, including members of his own party.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga) said on a radio show that his attacks on McCain are “deplorable.”

“It was deplorable what he said,” Isakson claimed. “That’s what called it on the floor of the Senate seven months ago. It will be deplorable seven months from now if he says it again. And I will continue to speak out.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) also spoke out, and called McCain an “American hero.”

“He’s an American hero and nothing will ever diminish that,” said Graham, who has generally been supportive of Trump since his election. “I think the president’s comments about Senator McCain hurt him more than they hurt the legacy of Senator McCain.”

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah,) who has been critical of Trump in the past, called him out once again.

Former California Governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger also spoke to the Atlantic about Trump’s continued attacks on McCain, and called them unacceptable.

“An attack on him is absolutely unacceptable if he’s alive or dead,” Schwarzenegger said. “But even twice as unacceptable since he passed away a few months ago.”

Bridget McCain, the senator’s adopted daughter, who usually refrains from the public eye, also took to Twitter to condemn the president.

Other GOP leaders, like Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), Sen. Martha McSally, (R-Ariz), and Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) tweeted in response to the comments but did so without naming Trump. Instead, they took time to thank McCain for his work and service.

Lou Dobbs Defends Trump

While many on the right chose to defend McCain instead of Trump, some did take the side of the president. During his show on Fox Business, Lou Dobbs justified Trump’s attacks and denounced those who were criticizing them.

“Now there’s a reason for those nasty remarks,” he said. “There’s a history between those two men. And the people who were attacking him, including Mitch McConnell, attacking the president for his views on Johnn McCain is asinine.”

See What Others Are Saying: (Washington Post) (New York Times) (Fox News)

• Michael Cohen claimed in his testimony before Congress that then-candidate Trump was aware of the hacked Democratic National Committee emails before they were released.
• Cohen said he was in the room when Trump received a call from Roger Stone, who said he had just spoken to Julian Assange.
• Cohen alleged that Trump “knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it.”

Wiki Leaks & DNC Hack

Some of the most highly anticipated moments from Michael Cohen’s congressional hearing came in the discussion regarding Russia and collusion.

However, because of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, Cohen was unable to provide much information that was not already known to the public.

One of the biggest claims Cohen did make in his testimony was that then-candidate Trump knew about the Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails that were hacked before the DNC convention in the summer of 2016:

“A lot of people have asked me about whether Mr. Trump knew about the release of the hacked Democratic National Committee emails ahead of time. The answer is yes.”

Cohen also stated that he was present during a phone call Trump received from former Republican strategist Roger Stone, regarding a call Stone had with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:

“In July 2016, days before the Democratic convention, I was in Mr. Trump’s office when his secretary announced that Roger Stone was on the phone. Mr. Trump put Mr. Stone on the speakerphone. Mr. Stone told Mr. Trump that he had just gotten off the phone with Julian Assange and that Mr. Assange told Mr. Stone that, within a couple of days, there would be a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Mr. Trump responded by stating to the effect of ‘wouldn’t that be great.’”

Roger Stone

The question of what exactly Stone knew about WikiLeak’s email plan has long been a mystery, and Mueller’s recent indictment of Stone did not provide answers.

In January, Stone was indicted on charges of obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. The special counsel cited emails in which Stone was trying to get in touch with Assange, but did not make any definitive claims about what Stone learned.

Cohen’s claims come as new information for two reasons. First, he said that Stone claimed to have gotten information to Assange directly.

Second, Cohen said Stone told Trump himself about Assange and the emails, which many believe is significant because Stone has denied having any communication with Assange before the email dump.

Assange’s lawyer Barry Pollack denied that the phone call Cohen described happened, saying in a statement:

“Roger Stone did not have the telephone call Michael Cohen described Stone claiming to have had with Julian Assange […] It is ironic that while Stone and Cohen have both been charged with lying, and the public tries to untangle those lies, Mr. Assange apparently faces criminal charges in the Eastern District of Virginia for his role in publishing truthful information.”

Russian Collusion

Cohen partially provided an answer to the question of whether or not Trump collided with Russia, stating that he did not have direct evidence, but did have suspicions: “Questions have been raised about whether I know of direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. I do not. I want to be clear. But, I have my suspicions”

Cohen went on to say that something clicked in his mind after the media reported that there had been a meeting in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr., others from the campaign, and Russians, in addition to an email that set up the meeting with the subject line: “Dirt on Hillary Clinton.”

Cohen said he remembered that in early June 2016, Don Jr. came into a room, walked behind his father’s desk, and spoke in a low voice. He recalled that he could clearly hear Don Jr. saying: “The meeting is all set.” To which Trump responded “Ok good…let me know.”

Cohen said that nothing went on in Trump world without Trump’s knowledge and approval, and because of this, he believes that Trump must have known about the meeting.

He also claimed that Trump directed Trump Tower Moscow negotiations during the campaign and lied about it:

“To be clear: Mr. Trump knew of and directed the Trump Moscow negotiations throughout the campaign and lied about it. He lied about it because he never expected to win the election. He also lied about it because he stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project.”

Cohen was asked numerous questions about Russia and WikiLeaks throughout the hearing. While he did provide some new information, he rejected answering many of the questions, citing the ongoing Mueller investigation, and reiterating to the Congress members and the public that they would just have to wait.

Watch the full coverage here:

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