Robert Mueller described 11 instances in which Donald Trump or his campaign engaged in potential obstruction of justice and suggested Congress might prosecute these acts as crimes, according to explosive findings in the redacted version of the special counsel’s report released on Thursday.
Over almost 450 pages, portions of which remained hidden from public view, Mueller described in unprecedented detail Russian efforts to tamper with the 2016 US presidential election and the Trump campaign’s receptivity to certain “Russian offers of assistance to the campaign”.
Trump sought to claim the findings as a victory and vindication, repeating his characterization of the investigation as a “hoax” and adding that “it should never happen to a president again”. He added on Twitter: “GAME OVER” with a Photoshopped image himself on a Game of Thrones background.
But Democratic leaders rejected Trump’s claim of exoneration. The House judiciary committee chairman, Jerrold Nadler, said the Mueller report was “probably written with the intent of providing Congress with a road map” and that impeachment hearings were “one possibility”.
“The responsibility now falls to Congress to hold the president accountable for his actions,” Nadler said.
The redacted Mueller report released by the Department of Justice (DoJ) contains ample material Trump might not wish to highlight. Mueller said his investigation had discovered “multiple links between Trump campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government” and said “the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts”.
Passages of the report describe behind-the-scenes moments as the president fended off the advance of investigators, including a description of Trump’s reaction to the appointment of Mueller in 2017: “The President slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m fucked.’”
The report on the findings of the special counsel’s two-year investigation was delivered in two volumes, with Volume I devoted to the Russian efforts and Volume II devoted to alleged obstruction of justice by Trump and his campaign.
It includes lengthy legal musing by Mueller’s team about whether it would be appropriate to charge the president with a crime – a step Mueller ultimately elected not to take. But among the episodes of the president’s conduct that Mueller investigated as potential obstructions of justice were:
Trump’s efforts to fire Mueller.
Trump’s firing of the former FBI director James Comey.
Trump’s efforts to hijack oversight of the Mueller investigation.
Trump’s order to the White House counsel, Donald McGahn, to deny that Trump had tried to fire Mueller.
Trump’s conduct with regard to associates who have pleaded guilty to crimes, including Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen.
Trump’s “repeated efforts to get McGahn to create a record denying that the President had directed him to remove the special counsel” are held up for special scrutiny. Trump told McGahn twice to order the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, to fire Mueller, McGahn told Mueller.
“McGahn recalled the president telling him ‘Mueller has to go” and ‘Call me back when you do it’,” the report says.
“If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” the report continues. “However, we are unable to reach that judgment.
“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 report says.
While the Mueller report declines to recommend a prosecution by the justice department, Mueller notes that Congress might do so.
“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law,” the report reads.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday morning before the release of the redacted version of the report, the US attorney general, William Barr, sought to draw a “bottom line” under the report, making broad claims that it cleared the president of suspected wrongdoing, while pleading for Trump’s behavior to be considered in “context”.
“In assessing the president’s actions discussed in the report it is important to bear in mind the context,” Barr said. “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.”
In his press conference, Barr repeatedly claimed that Trump and his campaign associates had been cleared of suspected wrongdoing connected with Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election.
“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 American,” Barr said.
Mueller’s report said that contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives spanned business connections relating to the plans for a Trump property development in Moscow, along with invitations for campaign officials, including Trump, to meet Russian officials, including the president, Vladimir Putin.
However, the special counsel did not establish that there was an overarching conspiracy between Trump’s team and the Russian government, and found insufficient grounds to bring charges for incidents including the notorious Trump Tower meeting of June 2016.
Elsewhere, the report corroborates dozens of accounts of suspect contacts between Russian operatives and Trump campaign figures. Mueller confirmed that when Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, shared polling data with a Russian associate, he expected it to be shared with Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch with close ties to Putin’s administration.
He also confirmed reports that Carter Page, a Trump campaign adviser until September 2016, was “acquainted with at least two Russian intelligence officers”. Page was placed under surveillance by US intelligence after he left the campaign.
Mueller said his investigation was hindered by some witnesses lying to his team. Some Trump allies invoked their fifth amendment right not to incriminate themselves, he wrote, and some deleted electronic messages that could have been helpful. Donald Trump Jr declined to be interviewed voluntarily by Mueller’s team.
Barr said the White House had “fully cooperated” with the Mueller investigation, eliding Trump’s refusal of Mueller’s request that the president sit for questions about his conduct and his campaign.
While the Democratic leadership has stopped short of calling for impeachment proceedings, the release of the report opened multiple avenues of congressional activity that could spell trouble for Trump, including a subpoena issued by Nadler for the unredacted report and underlying evidence. Nadler also requested Mueller’s testimony before his committee “as soon as possible”.
Mueller confirmed that he had considered charging Donald Trump Jr and Jared Kushner, his brother-in-law, for their involvement in the Trump Tower meeting, but ultimately declined.
Mueller said that by meeting Russians to receive information valuable to the campaign, Trump Jr and Kushner could have fallen foul of campaign finance laws, which bar contributions by foreigners.
But among other factors, Mueller explained, he would have faced a high burden to prove that Trump Jr had a “culpable mental state”. He said prosecutors could not be confident that they would secure convictions, which justice department rules require.
Criminal charges brought by the justice department were ruled out after Barr said that he and Rosenstein had decided there was insufficient evidence to establish that Trump had committed obstruction of justice.
It remains a possibility, though unlikely, that Democratic leaders in the House will see material in the report that merits the framing of impeachment charges against Trump. The Mueller report could also provide political ammunition against Trump as he seeks re-election in next year’s presidential contest.