Mar.
24,
2019: Attorney General Barr releases summary of the Mueller's
report.
April 18, 2019: Attorney
General Barr releases redacted version of Mueller report.
“This is a complete and total
vindication of President
Trump.”
RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel
|
“The redacted report paints a stunning picture of bottomless
corruption.”
DNC Chair Tom Perez
|
The Attorney General
Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarks on the Release of
the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016
Presidential Election
Washington, DC ~ Thursday, April 18,
2019
Good Morning. Thank you all for being here today.
On March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded his
investigation of matters related to Russian attempts to interfere in
the 2016 presidential election and submitted his confidential report to
me pursuant to Department of Justice regulations.
As I said during my Senate confirmation hearing and since, I am
committed to ensuring the greatest possible degree of transparency
concerning the Special Counsel’s investigation, consistent with the law.
At 11:00 this morning, I will transmit copies of a public version of
the Special Counsel’s report to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the
House and Senate Judiciary Committees. The Department of Justice
will also make the report available to the American public by posting
it on the Department’s website after it has been delivered to Congress.
I would like to offer a few comments today on the report.
But before I do that, I want to thank Deputy Attorney General Rod
Rosenstein for joining me here today and for his assistance and counsel
throughout this process. Rod has served the Department of Justice
for many years with dedication and distinction, and it has been a great
privilege and pleasure to work with him since my confirmation. He
had well-deserved plans to step back from public service that I
interrupted by asking him to help in my transition. Rod has been
an invaluable partner, and I am grateful that he was willing to help me
and has been able to see the Special Counsel’s investigation to its
conclusion. Thank you, Rod.
I would also like to thank Special Counsel Mueller for his service and
the thoroughness of his investigation, particularly his work exposing
the nature of Russia’s attempts to interfere in our electoral process.
As you know, one of the primary purposes of the Special Counsel’s
investigation was to determine whether members of the presidential
campaign of Donald J. Trump, or any individuals associated with that
campaign, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government to
interfere in the 2016 election. Volume I of the Special Counsel’s
report describes the results of that investigation. As you will
see, the Special Counsel’s report states that his “investigation did
not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or
coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference
activities.”
I am sure that all Americans share my concerns about the efforts of the
Russian government to interfere in our presidential election. As
the Special Counsel’s report makes clear, the Russian government sought
to interfere in our election. But thanks to the Special Counsel’s
thorough investigation, we now know that the Russian operatives who
perpetrated these schemes did not have the cooperation of President
Trump or the Trump campaign – or the knowing assistance of any other
Americans for that matter. That is something that all Americans
can and should be grateful to have confirmed.
The Special Counsel’s report outlines two main efforts by the Russian
government to influence the 2016 election:
First, the report details efforts by the Internet Research Agency, a
Russian company with close ties to the Russian government, to sow
social discord among American voters through disinformation and social
media operations. Following a thorough investigation of this
disinformation campaign, the Special Counsel brought charges in federal
court against several Russian nationals and entities for their
respective roles in this scheme. Those charges remain pending,
and the individual defendants remain at large.
But the Special Counsel found no evidence that any Americans –
including anyone associated with the Trump campaign – conspired or
coordinated with the Russian government or the IRA in carrying out this
illegal scheme. Indeed, as the report states, “[t]he
investigation did not identify evidence that any U.S. persons knowingly
or intentionally coordinated with the IRA’s interference
operation.” Put another way, the Special Counsel found no
“collusion” by any Americans in the IRA’s illegal activity.
Second, the report details efforts by Russian military officials
associated with the GRU to hack into computers and steal documents and
emails from individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party and the
presidential campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton for the purpose of
eventually publicizing those emails. Obtaining such unauthorized
access into computers is a federal crime. Following a thorough
investigation of these hacking operations, the Special Counsel brought
charges in federal court against several Russian military officers for
their respective roles in these illegal hacking activities. Those
charges are still pending and the defendants remain at large.
But again, the Special Counsel’s report did not find any evidence that
members of the Trump campaign or anyone associated with the campaign
conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its hacking
operations. In other words, there was no evidence of Trump
campaign “collusion” with the Russian government’s hacking.
The Special Counsel’s investigation also examined Russian efforts to
publish stolen emails and documents on the internet. The Special
Counsel found that, after the GRU disseminated some of the stolen
materials through its own controlled entities, DCLeaks and Guccifer
2.0, the GRU transferred some of the stolen materials to Wikileaks for
publication. Wikileaks then made a series of document
dumps. The Special Counsel also investigated whether any member
or affiliate of the Trump campaign encouraged or otherwise played a
role in these dissemination efforts. Under applicable law,
publication of these types of materials would not be criminal unless
the publisher also participated in the underlying hacking
conspiracy. Here too, the Special Counsel’s report did not find
that any person associated with the Trump campaign illegally
participated in the dissemination of the materials.
Finally, the Special Counsel investigated a number of “links” or
“contacts” between Trump Campaign officials and individuals connected
with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential
campaign. After reviewing those contacts, the Special Counsel did
not find any conspiracy to violate U.S. law involving Russia-linked
persons and any persons associated with the Trump campaign.
So that is the bottom line. After nearly two years of
investigation, thousands of subpoenas, and hundreds of warrants and
witness interviews, the Special Counsel confirmed that the Russian
government sponsored efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016
presidential election but did not find that the Trump campaign or other
Americans colluded in those schemes.
After finding no underlying collusion with Russia, the Special
Counsel’s report goes on to consider whether certain actions of the
President could amount to obstruction of the Special Counsel’s
investigation. As I addressed in my March 24th letter, the
Special Counsel did not make a traditional prosecutorial judgment
regarding this allegation. Instead, the report recounts ten
episodes involving the President and discusses potential legal theories
for connecting these actions to elements of an obstruction offense.
After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the
report, and in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other
Department lawyers, the Deputy Attorney General and I concluded that
the evidence developed by the Special Counsel is not sufficient to
establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice
offense.
Although the Deputy Attorney General and I disagreed with some of the
Special Counsel’s legal theories and felt that some of the episodes
examined did not amount to obstruction as a matter of law, we did not
rely solely on that in making our decision. Instead, we accepted
the Special Counsel’s legal framework for purposes of our analysis and
evaluated the evidence as presented by the Special Counsel in reaching
our conclusion.
In assessing the President’s actions discussed in the report, it is
important to bear in mind the context. President Trump faced an
unprecedented situation. As he entered into office, and sought to
perform his responsibilities as President, federal agents and
prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking
office, and the conduct of some of his associates. At the same
time, there was relentless speculation in the news media about the
President’s personal culpability. Yet, as he said from the
beginning, there was in fact no collusion. And as the Special
Counsel’s report acknowledges, there is substantial evidence to show
that the President was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that
the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his
political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks. Nonetheless,
the White House fully cooperated with the Special Counsel’s
investigation, providing unfettered access to campaign and White House
documents, directing senior aides to testify freely, and asserting no
privilege claims. And at the same time, the President took no act
that in fact deprived the Special Counsel of the documents and
witnesses necessary to complete his investigation. Apart from whether
the acts were obstructive, this evidence of non-corrupt motives weighs
heavily against any allegation that the President had a corrupt intent
to obstruct the investigation.
Now, before I take questions, I want to address a few aspects of the
process for producing the public report that I am releasing
today. As I said several times, the report contains limited
redactions relating to four categories of information. To ensure
as much transparency as possible, these redactions have been clearly
labelled and color-coded so that readers can tell which redactions
correspond to which categories.
As you will see, most of the redactions were compelled by the need to
prevent harm to ongoing matters and to comply with court orders
prohibiting the public disclosure of information bearing upon ongoing
investigations and criminal cases, such as the IRA case and the Roger
Stone case.
These redactions were applied by Department of Justice attorneys
working closely together with attorneys from the Special Counsel’s
Office, as well as with the intelligence community, and prosecutors who
are handling ongoing cases. The redactions are their work
product.
Consistent with long-standing Executive Branch practice, the decision
whether to assert Executive privilege over any portion of the report
rested with the President of the United States. Because the White
House voluntarily cooperated with the Special Counsel’s investigation,
significant portions of the report contain material over which the
President could have asserted privilege. And he would have been
well within his rights to do so. Following my March 29th letter,
the Office of the White House Counsel requested the opportunity to
review the redacted version of the report in order to advise the
President on the potential invocation of privilege, which is consistent
with long-standing practice. Following that review, the President
confirmed that, in the interests of transparency and full disclosure to
the American people, he would not assert privilege over the Special
Counsel’s report. Accordingly, the public report I am releasing
today contains redactions only for the four categories that I
previously outlined, and no material has been redacted based on
executive privilege.
In addition, earlier this week, the President’s personal counsel
requested and were given the opportunity to read a final version of the
redacted report before it was publicly released. That request was
consistent with the practice followed under the Ethics in Government
Act, which permitted individuals named in a report prepared by an
Independent Counsel the opportunity to read the report before
publication. The President’s personal lawyers were not permitted
to make, and did not request, any redactions.
In addition to making the redacted report public, we are also committed
to working with Congress to accommodate their legitimate oversight
interests with respect to the Special Counsel’s investigation. We
have been consulting with Chairman Graham and Chairman Nadler
throughout this process, and we will continue to do so.
Given the limited nature of the redactions, I believe that the publicly
released report will allow every American to understand the results of
the Special Counsel’s investigation. Nevertheless, in an effort
to accommodate congressional requests, we will make available to a
bipartisan group of leaders from several Congressional committees a
version of the report with all redactions removed except those relating
to grand-jury information. Thus, these members of Congress will
be able to see all of the redacted material for themselves – with the
limited exception of that which, by law, cannot be shared.
I believe that this accommodation, together with my upcoming testimony
before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, will satisfy any need
Congress has for information regarding the Special Counsel’s
investigation.
Once again, I would like to thank you all for being here today. I
now have a few minutes for questions.
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
April 18, 2019
STATEMENT ON RELEASE OF FULL MUELLER REPORT
“President Trump has been fully and completely exonerated yet again.
Now the tables have turned, and it’s time to investigate the liars who
instigated this sham investigation into President Trump, motivated by
political retribution and based on no evidence whatsoever. There
is simply no denying that ‘spying did occur’ on the Trump campaign
during the 2016 election, as Attorney General Barr himself noted in
testimony before Congress. Barr went on to testify that there was
a 'failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelon [of the
FBI]… [and] I feel I have an obligation to make sure that government
power is not abused.’ Now that the collusion and obstruction
conspiracy theories have been exposed for the pathetic hoaxes they
always were, the Obama-era DOJ and FBI must answer for their misdeeds
and the scam that they perpetrated against the American people.
Justice will be served.”
- Brad Parscale, Campaign Manager
Republican National Committee
April 18, 2019
RNC Statement on the Mueller Report's Finding of No Collusion:
WASHINGTON — Republican
National
Committee
(RNC)
Chairwoman
Ronna
McDaniel
released
the
following
statement
on
the
release
of the Mueller Report:
"This is a complete and total vindication of President
Trump," said Chairwoman McDaniel. “It is increasingly clear that
the only scandal here is the Obama administration’s repeated failure to
act against Russian cyber meddling. Instead, they prioritized spying on
a political opponent – the Trump campaign – and used a phony
DNC-funded dossier as justification.
"It is now time to get to the bottom of how an investigation based off
of fake and partisan information began in the first place. After
two years and over $35 million, American taxpayers deserve answers and
the integrity of our democratic process depends on ensuring this never
happens again."
###
______________________
Republican National Committee
April 18, 2019 - Michael Joyce
Since
we
already know how the Democrats are going to respond to the public
Mueller report today, if you’re going to play along with the Democrat
games to move the goalposts and continue their political vendetta
against President Trump, then keep track of their responses by
playing “Easily Predictable Dem Responses to Mueller Report
BINGO!”
Americans for Limited Government
For Immediate
Release Contact:
Robert
Romano
April 18, 2019
Mueller report vindicates Trump, no conspiracy or coordination with
Russia
April 18, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government
President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in
response
the final report by Special Counsel
Robert Mueller:
“Robert Mueller’s report is a slam dunk vindication of President Trump,
who was the victim of an intelligence agency operation designed to
entrap him and those around him in process crime snares, even as they
knew that there was not a sufficient basis to say there was any
conspiracy by Trump, his campaign or any American with Russia to
interfere with the election. Mueller himself writes that ‘the
evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump
Campaign conspired or coordinated with representatives of the Russian
government to interfere in the 2016 election,’ which was defined as
operations to do with hacking the DNC and John Podesta emails and an
inconsequential social media campaign by a Russian company.
“This is unequivocal, but not a surprise to anyone who was profiteering
off of this fake news driven conspiracy theory. Former Director
of National Intelligence James Clapper, who is no friend to President
Trump, said in March 2017, ‘We had no evidence of collusion.’
“Additionally, lead FBI investigator and proven Trump hater, Peter
Strzok texted his then lover, FBI agent Lisa Page, that ‘there’s no big
there there’ in talking about the Russia case.
“And even former CIA Director Michael Morell is quoted in March 2017 as
saying, ‘There is no fire, at all.’
“Yet our nation and those associated with the Trump campaign,
transition team and administration were subjected to about a three-year
long investigation, including nearly two years by a special counsel who
was appointed to investigate something that everyone knew was
false.
“Professional Trump critics like former CIA Director John Brennan were
regulars on MSNBC stoking the collusion fires later claiming that he
perhaps had ‘bad information.’ The partisan media outlets like ABC,
NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC along with the entire Corporation for Public
Broadcasting taxpayer funded hierarchy breathlessly repeated planted
rumor after planted rumor promising viewers that this time, they really
had Donald Trump.
“And today in the aftermath of the collapse of their delusion, they
cling to their age old approach to attack the messenger, Attorney
General William Barr, because the pedestal they had built for the
special counsel was too high for them to tear down in time to not have
egg on their faces.
“No conspiracy with Russia by Trump is great news for America.
One could hope that the left-wing corporate media machines will
learn a lesson and return to journalism, but that is not what they are
— instead they are advocates getting paid to culturally transform
America. If anything good is to come out of this national
embarrassment, it is my hope that the media emperors who have been
running around with no clothes are finally seen for the frauds that
they are, and as a result, the public denies them the one thing they
need — viewers and listeners. In doing so those who have
perpetuated this Russian collusion fraud through hours upon hours of
anti-Trump coverage will be denied the dollars from selling soap to
those very viewers who they colluded to trick into believing that
Donald Trump was a traitor to his country.
“Now, the Attorney General needs to get to work to determine who abused
the legal protections in place to stop this kind of intelligence abuse
and take all available measures against them to make certain that this
never happens again, as well as recommend reforms to ensure that the
FISA Court ceases to be a rubber stamp for spying.”
To view online:
https://getliberty.org/2019/04/mueller-report-vindicates-trump-no-conspiracy-or-coordination-with-russia/
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government
at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at
media@limitgov.org to
arrange
an
interview.
###
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi/Senate
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
April 18, 2019
Pelosi, Schumer Call For Special Counsel Mueller to Provide
Public Testimony In House And Senate
Washington, D.C. – Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate
Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer released the following joint statement
calling for Special Counsel Robert Mueller to provide public testify in
the House and Senate as soon as possible.
“Attorney General Barr’s regrettably partisan handling of the Mueller
report, including his slanted March 24th summary letter, his
irresponsible testimony before Congress last week, and his indefensible
plan to spin the report in a press conference later this morning —
hours before he allows the public or Congress to see it — have resulted
in a crisis of confidence in his independence and impartiality.
We believe the only way to begin restoring public trust in the handling
of the Special Counsel’s investigation is for Special Counsel Mueller
himself to provide public testimony in the House and Senate as soon as
possible. The American people deserve to hear the truth.”
Chairs of Six House Committees
Apr 18, 2019
HOUSE CHAIRS ISSUE STATEMENT ON RELEASE OF SPECIAL COUNSEL
MUELLER’S REPORT
Washington, DC – Today,
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam B.
Schiff, Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, Committee on
Oversight and Reform Chairman Elijah E. Cummings, Committee on
Financial Services Chairwoman Maxine Waters, Committee on Foreign
Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel, and Committee on Ways and Means
Chairman Richard Neal issued the following joint statement on the
release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report:
“Despite a series of statements and letters by Attorney General Barr
which mischaracterized Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings –
beginning with his four-page summary almost a month ago, his
congressional testimony last week, and today’s misleading press
conference – the Special Counsel’s report speaks for itself and
explicitly does not exonerate the president. Attorney General Barr
misrepresented important aspects of the Special Counsel’s findings and
provided the White House advance access to the report.
“Taken as a whole, Mueller’s report paints a damning portrait of lies
that appear to have materially impaired the investigation, a body of
evidence of improper contacts with a foreign adversary, and serious
allegations about how President Trump sought to obstruct a legitimate,
and deeply important, counterintelligence investigation.
“We are profoundly troubled by the astonishing efforts by President
Trump identified in the report to obstruct the investigation, including
his attempts to remove the Special Counsel and encourage witnesses to
lie and to destroy or conceal evidence. In direct contradiction
to the statements of the Attorney General this morning that the Special
Counsel did not consider Department of Justice policy against indicting
a sitting president, the Special Counsel stated that ‘fairness concerns
counseled against potentially reaching that judgment [of criminal
conduct] when no charges can be brought.’ Nor do we believe it was the
Attorney General’s place to make such a judgment, either, and it is now
apparent that the Special Counsel expressed no desire to have Barr make
that decision himself. Instead, as the Special Counsel undoubtedly
anticipated, it must fall to Congress to assess the President’s
improper, corrupt and immoral conduct in an effort to obstruct the
investigation.
“Despite redactions that appear to obscure important details, the
Special Counsel’s report finds that the Russian government interfered
in the 2016 election in a ‘sweeping and systematic’ fashion in order to
assist the candidacy of Donald Trump, and that the Trump campaign was
aware of those efforts and expected it would benefit electorally from
Russia’s efforts. Contrary to Attorney General Barr’s statements, the
report catalogues the extensive interactions between Russian officials
and agents and Trump campaign associates of a profoundly compromising
nature. The report details how Russia deployed a multi-faceted
intelligence operation and sought to exploit and influence the Trump
campaign and transition, while the Trump campaign, beginning with
candidate Trump, sought to benefit from a hostile foreign intelligence
operation.
“The report also details the multiple convictions of Trump campaign
officials and associates secured by the Special Counsel for crimes
related to obstructing the investigation, which hampered the
investigation, according to the Special Counsel. In addition, the
report outlines efforts to destroy evidence, conceal evidence through
encrypted apps, and otherwise interfere with the Special Counsel’s
ability to conduct this investigation. This apparent coordinated
effort to cover up illicit contacts and links with Russia should
concern all Americans, whether or not criminal charges were
brought.
“Although the details of the report are shocking, much of it still
remains redacted and many questions remain. We must get the full
report and the underlying evidence, including grand jury material, in
order to perform our constitutional duties, including deciding whether
new legislation is necessary. Special Counsel Mueller’s fact-gathering
has concluded. It is now Congress’ responsibility to review and assess
the evidence.”