The Mueller Report: on Principles & Values

Donald Trump: Trump challenged Russia to hack Hillary's email; Russia did

Within 5 hours of Trump's statement, GRU officers targeted for the first time Clinton's personal office. After candidate Trump's remarks, Unit 26165 created and sent malicious links targeting 15 email accounts. The investigation did not find evidence of earlier GRU attempts to compromise accounts hosted on Clinton's email domain. It is unclear how the GRU was able to identify these email accounts, which were not public.

Donald Trump: Mueller convicted three Trump aides of lying about Russia

John Bolton: Trump repeatedly tied Ukraine aid to investigating Biden

BOLTON: I could see that the issue was there. It was one reason I resisted the idea of having an early meeting by President Zelenskiy with President Trump or more phone calls than just the congratulatory calls we had. Because I feared that the president himself would put that on the table directly. And it would be much more difficult in those circumstances. But there wasn't any doubt. He said it to me directly that that's what he had in mind. There were other conversations, some involved Rudy Giuliani, where this connection was becoming clear. The conversation in August was the crispest indication of the linkage. Indirectly, and by clear implication, it had been growing for quite some time.

Q: The president denied it, tweeting, "I never told John Bolton that the aid to Ukraine was tied to investigations into Democrats, including the Bidens." Is the president lying?

BOLTON: Yes he is. And it's not the first time, either.

Joe Biden: We had to wait until after election to tell about it

BIDEN: In retrospect, there is something. We were informed by the director of central intelligence, that there was evidence that they were interfering in electoral process, trying to break in everything from machines, to changing voter registration. That was in August; Barack Obama was worried, if we spoke out against it, without having more proof and support, then what would have happened is they'd say we're trying to interfere in the election. And so it wasn't until after [the election]--before we left the White House--that we knew the detail of how deep they were. But we went to the Republican leadership in the House, they said, "no, we don't want any part of pointing this out." We had clear, overwhelming circumstantial evidence that it was being done. And Obama did confront Putin, saying that stop it. Putin denied he was doing it. We believed he was doing it.

Tommy Tuberville: Fight any attempt to discredit President Trump

Elizabeth Warren: Ignoring Mueller Report means president is above the law

WARREN: Of course I will.

Q: How?

WARREN: The obvious answer is to say, "First, read the Mueller report, all 442 pages of it." That showed how the president tried to obstruct justice, and when Congress failed to act at that moment, and that the president felt free to break the law again and again and again. And that's what's happened with Ukraine. We have to establish the principle: no one is above the law. We have a constitutional responsibility, and we need to meet it. But I want to add:

Julian Castro: Mueller Report is clear that Trump deserves impeachment

But too many folks in Congress have been spooked by 1998. The times are different. And in fact, I think that folks are making a mistake by not pursuing impeachment. The Mueller Report clearly details that he deserves it. And what's going to happen in the fall of 2020, if they don't impeach him, is that he's going to say, "You see? The Democrats didn't go after me on impeachment, and you know why? Because I didn't do anything wrong."

Conversely, if Mitch McConnell is the one that lets him off the hook, we're going to be able to say, "Well, sure, they impeached him in the House, but his friend, Mitch McConnell, Moscow Mitch, let him off the hook."

Kamala Harris: Trump should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice

HARRIS: I would never direct the Department of Justice to do whatever it believes it should do. But we all watched the Mueller testimony. I've read the report. There are 10 clear incidents of obstruction of justice by this president, and he needs to be held accountable. I have seen people go to prison for far less. And we have a person in the White House right now who has been shielded by a memo that says a sitting president cannot be indicted. The American people are right to say there should be consequence and accountability for everyone and no one is above the law, including the president.

Adam Schiff: Anyone excerpt the president would have been indicted

And your work speaks of a president who committed countless acts of obstruction of justice that in my opinion and that of many other prosecutors, had it been anyone else in the country, they would have been indicted.

You would not tell us whether you would have indicted the president but for the OLC only that you could not. So the Justice Department will have to make that decision when the president leaves office, both as to the crime of obstruction of justice and as to the campaign finance fraud that individual one directed and coordinated and for which Michael Cohen went to jail.

Adam Schiff: Congress must decide on impeachment, not Mueller

You would not tell us whether the counterintelligence investigation revealed whether people still serving within the administration pose a risk of compromise and should never have been given a security clearance, so we must find out.

We did not bother to ask whether financial inducements from any Gulf nations were influencing U.S. policy since it is outside the four corners of your report, and so we must find out.

You would not tell us whether the president should be impeached, nor did we ask you since it is our responsibility to determine the proper remedy for the conduct outlined in your report. Whether we decide to impeach the president in the house or we do not, we must take any action necessary to protect the country while he is in office.

Adam Schiff: Trump accepting assistance from Russians is criminal

Schiff, in his closing questions to Mueller, asked if "knowingly accepting assistance from a foreign government," to which Mueller responded "a crime."

Schiff continued, adding that if knowingly accepting assistance from a "foreign government during a presidential campaign is an unethical thing to do."

"And a crime in certain circumstances," Mueller responded.

Schiff questioned whether public officials acting unethically "exposes them to compromise particularly in dealing with foreigners."

"True," Mueller responded again.

Schiff, in that brief interaction, helped cut to the center of why the Russia investigation was so critical--and why America needs to pay attention to the results.

Donald Trump: Mueller: Presidents may not be indicted for obstruction

Lieu said, "I'd like to ask you the reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of the O.L.C. opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?" he asked, referring to the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

"That is correct," Mueller said. That assertion directly contradicted the report itself and Mueller's statement in May describing it, in which he said that he and his team had decided not to decide whether to charge the president because of the O.L.C. opinions.

By afternoon,˙˙Mueller walked back the inconsistency, saying that Lieu had incorrectly described his decision. "What I wanted to clarify is the fact that we did not make any determination with regard to culpability in any way," Mueller said.

Jim Sensenbrenner: Mueller should have decided impeachable conduct

MUELLER: Our mandate does not go to other ways of addressing conduct; our mandate goes to developing the report.

SENSENBRENNER: There are a couple of statements that you made, "This is not for me to decide," and the implication is this was for this committee to decide. Now, you didn't use the word "impeachable conduct" like Starr did. But there was no statute to prevent you from using the words "impeachable conduct."

Steve Chabot: Mueller did not determine any impeachable conduct

CHABOT (R-OH): Director Mueller, my Democratic colleagues were very disappointed in your report. They were expecting you to say something along the lines of why President Trump deserves to be impeached, much as Ken Starr did relative to President Clinton 20 years ago. Well, you didn't, so their strategy had to change. Now they allege that there's plenty of evidence in your report to impeach the president, but the American people just didn't read it. And this hearing today is their last best hope to build up some sort of groundswell across America to impeach President Trump. That's what this is really all about today.

Ted Lieu: Trump committed all three elements of obstruction of justice

MUELLER: Correct.

LIEU: The second element of obstruction requires a nexus to an official proceeding. You wrote, "by the time of the president's meeting on June 19, 2017, the existence of a grand jury investigation was public knowledge." That would constitute a nexus because a grand jury investigation is an official proceeding, correct?

MUELLER: Yes.

LIEU: The final element of the crime of obstruction to justice [is] intent. You wrote, "the president's effort to limit the scope of the special counsel's investigation was intended to prevent further investigative scrutiny of the president & his campaign's conduct.". That's in the report, correct?

MUELLER: That is in the report.

Ted Lieu: Trump committed obstruction but presidents can't be indicted

MUELLER: That is correct.

LIEU: The fact that their orders by the president were not carried out, that is not a defense to obstruction of justice because a statute itself is quite dry. It says that as long as you endeavor or attempt to obstruct justice, that would also constitute a crime.

MUELLER: I'm not going to get into that at this juncture.

Beto O`Rourke: Can't let Trump abuse power; must act to save democracy

O'Rourke: Yes. If we set a precedent that a candidate who invited the participation of a foreign power, a president who sought to obstruct the investigation into the invasion of our democracy, if we allow him to get away with this with complete impunity, then we will have set a new standard, and that is that some people, because of the position of power and public trust that they hold, are above the law. And we cannot allow that to stand. So we must begin impeachment now so that we have the facts and save this democracy. And if we've not been able to do that, our Department of Justice will pursue these facts and ensure that there are consequences, there is accountability, and there is justice.

John Delaney: Trump could be prosecuted, but it's not an issue for voters

Delaney: I guess there's always a first. This president, who is lawless, should not be above the law. But I will tell you, the one thing when you're out doing as much campaigning as I've done, this is not the number-one issue the American people ask us about. They want to know what we're going to do for health care, how we're going to lower pharmaceutical prices, how we're going to build infrastructure, what we're going to do to create jobs in their communities. These kind of kitchen-table, pocket-book issues are actually what most Americans care about. They never ask about the Mueller Report.

Donald Trump: No collusion, if you read the Mueller Report as I did

STEPHANOPOULOS: They didn't examine collusion. He laid out evidence of obstruction.

TRUMP: Oh, are you trying to say now that there was collusion even though he said there was no collusion?

STEPHANOPOULOS: He didn't say there's no collusion.

TRUMP: He said no collusion.

STEPHANOPOULOS: He said he didn't look at collusion.

TRUMP: George, the report said no collusion.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Did you read the report?

TRUMP: Uh, yes I did, and you should read it, too.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I read every word.

TRUMP: Alright, let's go. You should read it, too, George.

Pete Buttigieg: Not up to the president to decide who should be prosecuted

Doug Collins: No collusion; no obstruction

We see the report -- this was the call for the Democrats to start impeachment. They've been wanting to impeach this president since November of 2016. They've never liked him. They use any excuse to begin the impeachment process. But what we found was is no collusion. There was no charge of obstruction.

Justin Amash: President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct

• Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller's report.
• President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct.
• Partisanship has eroded our system of checks and balances.
• Few members of Congress have read the report.

Justin Amash: Mueller Report revealed crimes & violations of public trust

1. They say there were no underlying crimes. In fact, there were many crimes revealed by the investigation.
2. They say obstruction of justice requires an underlying crime. In fact, obstruction of justice does not require the prosecution of an underlying crime.
3. They imply the president should be permitted to use any means to end what he claims to be a frivolous investigation. In fact, the president could not have known whether every single person Mueller investigated did or did not commit any crimes.
4. They imply "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" requires charges of a statutory crime or misdemeanor. In fact, the Constitution implies conduct that violates the public trust.

Justin Amash: Trump obstructed justice despite no Russia collusion

[Trump's defenders also say that] "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" requires charges of a statutory crime or misdemeanor. In fact, "high Crimes and Misdemeanors" is not defined in the Constitution and does not require corresponding statutory charges. The context implies conduct that violates the public trust--and that view is echoed by the Framers of the Constitution and early American scholars.

Tom Steyer: Mueller report says Trump obstructed justice

Special Counsel Mueller laid out strong evidence that Trump obstructed justice, and (as he considered himself bound by Justice Department guidance against indicting a sitting president) invoked Congress's responsibility to enforce checks and balances to ensure no one branch of government becomes too powerful.

The stage is already set for a Trump reckoning. The impeachment process would remind voters why they don't approve of this lawless president.

Bill Weld: 500 prosecutors: we'd indict Trump based on Mueller evidence

• The President's efforts to fire Mueller and to falsify evidence about that effort;

  The President's efforts to limit the scope of Mueller's investigation to exclude his conduct; and

  The President's efforts to prevent witnesses from cooperating with investigators probing him and his campaign.

Bill Weld: 500 prosecutors: Letting Trump go risks system of justice

As former federal prosecutors, we recognize that prosecuting obstruction of justice cases is critical because unchecked obstruction?--?which allows intentional interference with criminal investigations to go unpunished?--?puts our whole system of justice at risk. We believe strongly that, but for the OLC memo, the overwhelming weight of professional judgment would come down in favor of prosecution for the conduct outlined in the Mueller Report.

Donald Trump: Based on Mueller report, we'd indict Trump if not president

• The President's efforts to fire Mueller and to falsify evidence about that effort;

  The President's efforts to limit the scope of Mueller's investigation to exclude his conduct; and

  The President's efforts to prevent witnesses from cooperating with investigators probing him and his campaign.

Donald Trump: Letting Trump go risks system of justice

Donald Trump: Mueller Report documents 77 lies by Trump campaign

Topics of lies:
• 31 Trump Tower Moscow
• 25 Trump Tower meeting and other Russian contacts
• 13 Comey firing & fallout
• 8 Other topics

• 53 to the public (including press conferences)
• 12 to Mueller or other authorities
• 10 to Congress
• 2 Undetermined

Donald Trump: OpEd: strong evidence of collusion by Trump campaign

1. Trump was receptive to a Campaign adviser's (George Papadopoulos) pursuit of a back channel to Putin.
2. Kremlin operatives provided the Campaign a preview of the Russian plan to distribute stolen emails.
3. The Trump Campaign chairman and deputy chairman (Paul Manafort and Rick Gates) knowingly shared internal polling data and information on battleground states with a Russian spy; and the Campaign chairman worked with the Russian spy on a pro-Russia "peace" plan for Ukraine.
4. The Trump Campaign chairman periodically shared internal polling data with the Russian spy with the expectation it would be shared with Putin-linked oligarch, Oleg Deripaska.

Donald Trump: OpEd: Russia helped Trump so they'd control eastern Ukraine

Supplemental information and analysis:A senior prosecutor in the Special Counsel's Office said that the Aug. 2 meeting goes "very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel's Office is investigating."

Caveats:Although Kilimnik and Manafort shared the view that Trump's support for the Ukraine peace plan would help it succeed, "the investigation did not uncover evidence of Manafort's passing along information about Ukrainian peace plans to the candidate or anyone else." The Report then notes that Manafort lied to the Special Counsel Office about the peace plan & his meetings with Kilimnik. Also, Kilimnik continued "to promote the peace plan into the summer 2018."

Donald Trump: OpEd: criminal act to try to get A.G. to unrecuse

Consider only two examples. The first is the particularly ugly section concerning Trump's efforts to get then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to "unrecuse." Another example: Mueller reports that after the news broke that Trump had sought to get then-White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire the special counsel, Trump sought to get McGahn to deny the story. He also sought to get him to create an internal record denying the story. McGahn refused.

Donald Trump: OpEd: impeachable act to fire FBI's Comey

While there may be viable technical defenses against a criminal charge here, there simply is no plausible way to understand this fact pattern as a good-faith exercise of presidential power.

Donald Trump: OpEd: impeachable act to investigate Hillary Clinton

This is not obstruction of justice in any criminal sense. It's rather the opposite of obstruction of justice; it's the initiation of injustice. So I don't think it's plausibly sound in terms of criminal law. But it is molten-core impeachment territory. Consider: The president of the United States was trying to induce the attorney general of the United States to initiate a criminal investigation based on no known criminal predicate against a private citizen whom he happened to dislike.

Donald Trump: OpEd: Trump's crew tried to collude, like Keystone Kollusion

Here's the key point: If there wasn't collusion on the hacking, it sure wasn't for lack of trying. Indeed, the Mueller report makes clear that Trump personally ordered an attempt to obtain Hillary Clinton's emails; and people associated with the campaign pursued this believing they were dealing with Russian hackers. And Donald Trump Jr. was directly in touch with WikiLeaks--from whom he obtained a password to a hacked database. None of these incidents amount to crimes. But the picture it all paints of the president's conduct is anything but exonerating. Call it Keystone Kollusion.

Donald Trump: OpEd: would face criminal charges if not president

Privately, the two prosecutors, who were then employed in the special counsel's office, told other Justice Department officials that had it not been for the unique nature of the case--the investigation of a sitting president--they would have advocated that he face federal criminal charges.

Given the Justice Department's longstanding doctrine that a president cannot face criminal indictment while in office, Mueller suggested in his report that Congress could still act: the special counsel made more than twenty references in his report to Congress's impeachment power.

Donald Trump: OpEd: Trump met three criteria for obstruction of justice

[The three criteria are]: First, such cases need to prove that there was an "obstructive act," that the suspect had taken an action that could impede a criminal investigation. Second, the motivation of the person had "corrupt intent." The third essential element of any obstruction charge is that there needs to be a "nexus of a proceeding," meaning that a person must demonstrably have understood that whomever he was aiming to protect was under criminal investigation.

Bill Weld: Trump used power of Oval Office to protect himself

Following the release of the Mueller report, Trump claimed with his usual arrogance and ignorance that he has been vindicated. In truth, the Mueller report revealed that Trump is a one-man crime wave.

Time and again, Trump tried to use the power of the Oval Office to protect himself and his associates from the consequences of their actions. The only defense Trump has to obstruction of justice is that he was too incompetent to carry it off. Over the past two years, several Trump aides derailed his criminal conspiracies by distracting the president, or simply ignoring him. Trump's failure to stop Bob Mueller does not negate how hard he tried.

Bill Weld: Five Trump associates convicted; maybe 12 more redacted

Trump pressured then-FBI Director James Comey to go easy on National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, hoping Comey could "see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go." When Comey refused to put Trump and his inner circle above the law, Trump fired him. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.

Bill Weld: Mueller Report found ten instances of possible obstruction

Whether this clear pattern of obstruction warrants impeachment is the purview of the House of Representatives. But regardless of what they decide, the facts revealed in the Mueller report confirm that Trump is not to be trusted.

Just as concerning, the report reveals his tenuous grasp on government and the chaos within his administration. No one in his administration trusts him, they feel free to ignore his orders, and they are as dishonest with him as he is with them. No government can function effectively this way. There is a crisis of trust in this presidency.

Joni Ernst: Obama administration misused power to spy on Trump

Ernst did not specify which of the federal government's actions she considers "spying." The senator was responding to a question from the group about special counsel Robert Mueller's report, a redacted version of which was released last week.

Barack Obama: Dec. 2016: Russia influenced election to benefit Trump

In February, Trump pulled Comey aside in the Oval Office and, referring to the FBI's investigation [and] asked him to "let this go," according to Comey's account.

Shortly after, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he would rescue himself from any investigation of the 2016 campaign. The recusal came after The Washington Post reported that during the presidential campaign, Sessions, had twice met with Russia's ambassador to the United States. Sessions had not disclosed the meetings when he was asked at his confirmation hearing about contacts between Russians and the Trump campaign.

Bernie Sanders: Mueller Report: Russia bought pro-Bernie social media ads

The IRA's Twitter operations created individual U.S. personas, and also operated a "hot network" of automated Twitter accounts, that enabled the IRA to amplify existing content on Twitter.

The IRA continuously posted original content to the accounts while also communicating with U.S. Twitter users directly (through public tweeting or Twitter's private messaging). The IRA used many of these accounts to attempt to influence U.S. audiences on the election.

The IRA provoked reactions from users and the media. Multiple IRA-posted tweets gained popularity. U.S. media outlets also quoted tweets from IRA-controlled accounts and attributed them to the reactions of real U.S. persons. Individualized accounts included @MissouriNewsUS (an account with 3,800 followers that posted pro-Sanders and anti-Clinton material).

Democratic Party: Russia hacked into Party computers & released via WikiLeaks

Military Units 26165, a cyber-unit of the GRU, carried out the computer intrusions. Unit 26165 was sub-divided into departments with different specialties. One department, for example, developed specialized malicious software ("malware") while another department conducted large-scale spearphishing campaigns.

On April 18, 2016, GRU officers gained access to the DNC network via a virtual private network (VPN) connection between the DCCC and DNC networks. Unit 26165 compromised more than 30 computers on the DNC network, including the DNC mail server and shared file server.

Donald Trump: Mueller appointed to investigate Trump after Comey firing

On May 9, 2017, Trump snapped; the president unceremoniously fired Comey. He conveyed the news in a terse letter, hand-delivered to FBI headquarters.

Trump's closest aides had warned him that the move could trigger a political uproar and lead to an expansion of the Russia inquiry--and it did. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill cried foul. The FBI, already deep into its investigation of election interference, now feared that the most powerful man in the country was trying to obstruct its work.

Robert Mueller was appointed to lead an independent investigation of interference in the 2016 election and other matters that might stem from the inquiry. It was a broad mandate.

Donald Trump: Mueller results: 7 guilty pleas and 34 indictments

Mueller's team racked up an extraordinary record. His prosecutors charged thirty-four people, including twenty-six Russian nationals. They secured guilty pleas from seven people, including a former national security adviser and the chairman of Trump's campaign. They reconstructed day-to-day interactions of Trump's closest aides and his adult children, exploring dozens of instances of Russian contacts with the Trump campaign. They documented the Russian attack on American democracy in breathtaking detail, even tracing individual keystrokes of Russian military officers in Moscow.

Donald Trump: Focus in school was "creating mischief"

Donald Trump grew up in a 23-room manse in Queens, a faux Southern plantation house with a Cadillac limousine in the driveway. He attended private school from kindergarten on; his focus in school, Trump told The Washington Post in 2016, was "creating mischief, because, for some reason, I liked to stir things up and I liked to test people.. It wasn't malicious so much as it was aggressive."

In second grade, he said, he punched his music teacher in the face. He got into trouble often. Before eighth grade started, his father sent him to military school.

Donald Trump: Campaign manager convicted: conspiracy with Ukraine & Russia

Mueller's 24-page statement of offenses describes all of Paul Manafort's crimes. He agreed that he conspired against the US by illegally laundering through offshore accounts the $60 million he earned in Ukraine from 2006 to 2016. He evaded $15 million in US taxes. He failed to register as a foreign lobbyist while helping his Ukraine clients press their views in Washington.

The conduct outlined by Mueller painted a devastating portrait of Donald Trump's campaign chairman. Manafort had volunteered to work for Trump for free but was drowning in debt at the time. He appeared eager to use his campaign role to angle for money from his wealthy patrons in Ukraine and Russia, working in concert with an alleged Russian intelligence asset. His service for Trump coincided with the ramp-up of Russians intervention in the US election and a ratcheting-up of Trump's pro-Russia campaign rhetoric.

Donald Trump: Trump's lawyer convicted of lying to Congress about Russia

The special counsel's office would reveal that Cohen met with its investigators seven times. The motive for his lying to Congress was to "minimize links" between the Moscow project and Trump. [Cohen was imprisoned in May 2019, after the publication of the Mueller Report].

Donald Trump: Barr/Trump's Mueller conclusion: no collusion;no obstruction

The letter was a political windfall for President Trump. No one else would be indicted, Barr wrote, Mueller had declined to make a prosecution judgement on the question of whether Trump obstructed justice, but instead had described the facts he had found and noted "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." Barr wrote that he [and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein,] reviewed the question themselves and determined the evidence was "not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense." Trump seized on the letter to declare he had been vindicated.

Donald Trump: Campaign supplied Russians, without knowing it was Russia

In sum, the [Mueller] investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election through the social media campaign carried out by the IRA. IRA employees violated US law through these operations, principally by undermining through deceptive acts the work of federal agencies charged with regulating foreign influence in U.S. elections.

Donald Trump: Russia made up voter fraud story & Trump campaign re-posted

Posts from the IRA-controlled Twitter account @TEN_GOP were cited or retweeted by multiple Trump Campaign officials, including Donald J. Trump Jr., Eric Trump, & Kellyanne Conway. These posts included allegations of voter fraud, as well as allegations that Secretary Clinton had mishandled classified information.

Donald Trump: Mueller Report: Russia bought pro-Trump social media ads

To reach larger U.S. audiences, the IRA purchased advertisements from Facebook that promoted the IRA groups on the newsfeeds of U.S. audience members. According to Facebook, the IRA purchased over 3,500 advertisements, and the expenditures totaled approximately $100,000.

IRA-purchased advertisements referencing candidate Trump largely supported his campaign. The first known IRA advertisement explicitly endorsing the Trump Campaign was purchased on April 19, 2016, for its Instagram account "Tea Party News" asking US persons to upload photos with the hashtag "#KIDS4TRUMP." In subsequent months, the IRA purchased dozens of advertisements supporting the Trump Campaign, predominantly through the Facebook groups.

Donald Trump: Mueller: firing Comey is obstruction if Russia probe delayed

Firing Comey would qualify as an obstructive act if it had the probable effect of impeding the investigation--for example, if the termination would have the effect of delaying the investigation or providing the President with the opportunity to appoint a director who the President perceived as more protective of his personal interests.

On March 20, 2017, Comey had announced that the FBI was investigating Russia's interference in the election, including "an assessment of whether any crimes were committed." It was widely known that the FBI, as part of the Russia investigation, was investigating the hacking of the DNC's computers--a clear criminal offense.

Donald Trump: Trump: no Russia probe; Mueller: yes, Comey was running it

At the time the President fired Comey [on May 9], a grand jury had not begun to hear evidence related to the Russia investigation and no grand jury subpoenas had been issued.

Donald Trump: Trump: no connection to Russia; Mueller: yes, hotel business

Although the President publicly stated during and after the election that he had no connection to Russia, the Trump Organization, through Michael Cohen's repeated briefings, was pursuing the proposed Trump Tower Moscow project through June 2016.

In addition, some witnesses said that Trump privately sought information about future WikiLeaks releases [of Russian email hacks]. More broadly, multiple witnesses described the President's preoccupation with press coverage of the Russia investigation and his persistent concern that it raised questions about the legitimacy of his election.

Donald Trump: Attempted to fire Special Counsel, but staff refused

That weekend, the President called McGahn and directed him to have the Special Counsel removed because of asserted conflicts of interest. McGahn did not carry out the instruction for fear of being seen as triggering another Saturday Night Massacre and instead prepared to resign. McGahn ultimately did not quit and the President did not follow up with McGahn on his request to remove the Special Counsel.

Donald Trump: Trump: Mueller has conflict; Mueller: no, it's obstruction

Substantial evidence, however, supports the conclusion that the President in fact directed McGahn [on June 17] to call Rosenstein to have the Special Counsel removed.

On June 16, 2017, the President publicly acknowledged that his conduct was under investigation by a federal prosecutor, tweeting, "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director!"

Substantial evidence indicates that the President's attempts to remove the Special Counsel were linked to the Special Counsel's oversight of investigations that involved the President's conduct--most immediately, to reports that the President was being investigated for potential obstruction of justice.

Hillary Clinton: Focus of Putin & Russia in 2016 was hacking Hillary's email

A little more than a year into his investigation, Mueller made this much clear: he knew exactly who carried out the hack, and how they did it. In Mueller's 29-page indictment of a dozen officers of the Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU, Mueller described in granular detail how the group hacked the emails, then laundered the stolen messages through fake online personas so they could be shared to influence voters.

Notably, Mueller did not include any Americans in the indictment, and he similarly spared the anti-secrecy organization WikiLeaks.

Hillary Clinton: Trump challenged Russia to hack Hillary's email; Russia did

The indictment alleged, "At or around the same time they also targeted 76 email addresses at the domain for the Clinton campaign."

Hillary Clinton: Mueller Report: Russia bought anti-Hillary social media ads

IRA Facebook groups active during the 2016 campaign covered a range of political issues and included purported conservative groups (with names such as "Being Patriotic," "Stop All Immigrants," "Secured Borders," and "Tea Party News").

Throughout 2016, IRA accounts published an increasing number of materials supporting the Trump Campaign and opposing the Clinton Campaign. As early as March 2016, the IRA purchased advertisements that overtly opposed the Clinton Campaign. For example, on April 6, 2016, the IRA purchased advertisements for its account "Black Matters," calling for a "flashmob" of U.S. persons to take a photo with #HillaryClintonForPrison2016 or #nohillary2016." IRA-purchased advertisements featuring Clinton were, with very few exceptions, negative.

Jeff Sessions: Recusal from Mueller investigation for conflict of interest

The recusal came after The Washington Post reported that during the presidential campaign, Sessions had twice met with Russia's ambassador to the US. Sessions had not disclosed the meetings when he was asked at his confirmation hearing about contacts between Russians and the Trump campaign. "I did not have communications with the Russians," Sessions had said.

At a news conference, Sessions insisted that his recusal was not a reaction to the Post's reporting. Sessions told advisers in the months that followed that he had no choice in the matter. The investigation was of Trump's campaign and its relationship with a foreign power. How could Sessions oversee that without raising questions about whether he had a conflict of interest?

Jeff Sessions: Tendered resignation after Special Counsel Mueller appointed

That weekend, the President called McGahn and directed him to have the Special Counsel removed because of asserted conflicts of interest. McGahn did not carry out the instruction for fear of being seen as triggering another Saturday Night Massacre and instead prepared to resign. McGahn ultimately did not quit and the President did not follow up with McGahn on his request to remove the Special Counsel.

Jerrold Nadler: Mueller Report shows evidence of Trump's obstruction

Some Democrats immediately said that the report provided evidence the president committed a crime. "Even in its incomplete form," Representative Jerry Nadler (D-New York), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement, "the Mueller report outlines disturbing evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice and other misconduct." Nadler vowed to press on with the investigations of Trump as Republicans called for them to end.

Steve Scalise: Apologize to America for smear campaign against Trump

Some Democrats vowed to press on with the investigations of Trump as Republicans called for them to end. "Democrats who have been running around for the last two years making outlandish claims about the president and his family ought to apologize to the American people for misleading them and the press about this smear campaign," said Representative Steve Scalise (R-Louisiana), the Republican whip. "This report. delivered a death blow to their baseless conspiracy theories."

Adam Schiff: Investigation necessary to expose Russian interference

The Mueller report makes it absolutely crystal clear that this investigation was absolutely necessary because it revealed a widespread, systemic effort by the Russians to help the Trump campaign. And that is the overriding conclusion of this report. We need to put our emphasis on making sure that kind of intervention never happens again.

Rudy Giuliani: No obstruction; Trump didn't testify to avoid perjury trap

He demonstrated in the case of [former FBI Director James] Comey that he could fire someone and not interfere in the investigation because immediately it was taken up by someone else.

It's kind of ridiculous to go after a man for obstruction when he was falsely accused; he was defending himself. His intent in each one of these situations is easily explained as an intent to not get framed.

You know why he didn't testify before them? Because they were going to trap him into perjury like they did with Flynn. If you think I'm a fool? I would have been disbarred if I let him testify.

Lincoln Chafee: Mueller investigation a waste of money