Attorney General William Barr is expected to provide Congress and the public his summary of the main conclusions from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Follow live updates here.
Robert Mueller was spotted leaving church this morning with his wife Ann in Washington, DC.
The White House is seen in the background of the photos.
Attorney General William Barr’s motorcade was seen arriving at the Department of Justice Sunday morning.
Barr announced in a letter to lawmakers on Friday that Mueller had submitted his report, and the newly minted attorney general said at the time he “may be in a position” to speak with lawmakers about “the special counsel’s principal conclusions as soon as this weekend.”
As of Sunday morning, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle continued to await the release by the Department of Justice on special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.
The White House has not received or been briefed on the Mueller report as of Sunday morning, a senior administration official tells CNN.
President Donald Trump and the aides who traveled with him to Palm Beach, Florida, are still in wait-and-see mode like the rest of Washington.
Over the weekend, Trump has voiced uncertainty over what Attorney General William Barr will do next, according to the people familiar with his reaction.
Two sources close to President Donald Trump told CNN Saturday that he’s happy special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is over, adding that there is now a wait-and-see approach for what may come next.
One source said “no one is panicking,” which was evidenced by the President casually going out to golf at Mar-a-Lago Saturday. The source added that “we’re letting it play out,” and said there is no war room set up right now in anticipation of the findings of Mueller’s investigation, unlike the Clinton White House after former independent counsel Ken Starr finished his investigation
Another official said it wasn’t a mistake White House lawyers Emmet Flood and Pat Cipillone are in Florida with Trump this weekend and that it could very well be that they are cautioning the President to lay low until they have a better understanding of what is in the report.
Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein are working together reviewing and analyzing special counsel Robert Mueller’s confidential report this weekend along with a select few advisers, according to a Justice Department official familiar with the process.
The official told CNN that Barr and Rosenstein are still at the Justice Department at this hour, and the “principal conclusions” that Barr promised lawmakers will be derived from the special counsel’s report.
The official said Barr has conveyed to his team that he still wants to get the conclusions to the Hill this weekend, though CNN reported that it’s not happening today.
The official also said the expectation continues to be that the document sent to Congress with the conclusions will be made public.
Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates’ case before Judge Amy Berman Jackson will be handed off to the DC US Attorney’s Office, special counsel Robert Mueller’s office said Saturday.
Gates continues to cooperate with prosecutors in several investigations and his sentencing before Jackson has been put off for more than a year since he pleaded guilty to two charges.
On Friday, Mueller handed his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election over to the Justice Department. His office is not recommending any new indictments.
Two other pending court cases that Mueller’s team alone had handled – the criminal prosecution of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and the pursuit of grand jury testimony from Andrew Miller, who is an associate of Roger Stone – do not yet have hand-off plans finalized.
The DC US Attorney’s Office is already involved in several of the other ongoing criminal cases brought by Mueller, including against Roger Stone, the accused Russian “troll farm” backer Concord Management and Consulting and a fight for subpoenaed documents from an unnamed foreign-owned company.
Jessie Liu, the current DC US Attorney, is President Donald Trump’s pick to be the associate attorney general, the No. 3 position at the DOJ.
Attorney General William Barr is not sending the “principal conclusions” of the special counsel’s report to lawmakers today, multiple Congressional sources and a DOJ official tell CNN.
In a letter to lawmakers yesterday, Barr wrote that he may be in a position to share them “this weekend.”
An aide to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary committee, says her office doesn’t expect to receive an oral briefing from Attorney General William Barr or the Justice Department on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report findings, rather it would be provided in writing, perhaps via email.
Attorney General Bill Barr will continue reviewing special counsel Robert Mueller’s confidential report today at the Justice Department, according to a Justice official.
Barr arrived at the Justice Department shortly before 10 a.m., ET.
In his letter to lawmakers on Friday, Barr wrote that he may be able to release the “principal conclusions” of the report as soon as this weekend.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s motorcade arrived at the Justice Department shortly after Barr.
Rep. David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island, vowed to “argue vociferously” to have special counsel Robert Mueller testify before the House Judiciary Committee.
Cicilline told CNN Mueller’s testimony would be valuable because he’d able to “walk the country through the report, walk the country through the findings he made, the evidence he collected, the conclusions he came to.”
Watch the moment:
The Republican National Committee is putting a positive spin on special counsel Robert Muller’s report Friday evening.
In talking points provided to its lists of supporters and obtained by CNN, the RNC says, “After two years, millions of taxpayer dollars, and multiple Congressional investigations confirming there was no collusion, it’s good this report has finally concluded.”
Though the reports findings have yet to be made public, the RNC is emphasizing that Mueller is not recommending any new indictments. Additionally, the talking points highlight that, “Since day one, the White House and Trump campaign have cooperated with investigators, turned over millions of pages of documents and participated in dozens of interviews.”
The talking points also slam the “dead wrong” speculation that there was interference with the special counsel during the investigation.
The RNC also calls on Democrats to “drop their politically-motivated calls for never-ending investigations.”
The Electronic Privacy Information Center has sued the Department of Justice to release special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report to Attorney General William Barr regarding the prosecutorial decisions in his investigation— and other nonpublic records from the investigation.
The new Freedom of Information Act lawsuit came less than two hours after the Justice Department announced the Mueller investigation’s wrapped up Friday night.
The group also points out to the court a number of other documents Mueller was to prepare and transmit to the attorney general during his tenure.
The group first asked the Justice Department in November 2018 for a wide swath of non-public records in the special counsel investigation.
The Justice Department said the unusual circumstances of the request allowed the agency more time to decide what to release — but DOJ also noted it could not “identify a particular urgency” to get information to the public quickly, according to the lawsuit.
Many other lawsuits already exist in the same federal court, from other groups seeking slivers of documents and disclosures related to Mueller’s investigation. Some have been successful to a limited extent, winning the public release so far of emails between the special counsel’s office and the media, and, in other situations, the unsealing of some court records, for instance.
The White House and President Trump’s advisers are already framing today’s development as a positive sign.
One person told CNN “we won” and that the campaign has been absolved because there weren’t any charges related to conspiracy or obstruction.
“Zero indictments means we’re clear,” the source said. The source also said it’s an embarrassment for Democrats.
One White House official added “the fat lady has sung.”
The official also pointed out not one single Trump associate has been (or will be) charged with any collusion or any wrongdoing on the campaign or while Trump was in office.
The source added that it’s “absolutely embarrassing” for Democrats and the media who have been saying collusion for more than two years.
A Trump campaign adviser told CNN that “it’s a great day for America … we won.”
Attorney General William Barr has left for the evening, a Justice Department official said.
Earlier today, a department official said Barr was reading special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel’s office, said Mueller “will be concluding his service in the coming days.”
Lawmakers are expected to receive the principal conclusions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, in writing, from Attorney General William Barr this weekend, according to a Justice Department official.
And that distillation from Barr will be made public, the official said.
Special counsel Robert Mueller has finished his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and turned over his final report to Attorney General William Barr.
In a letter to lawmakers Friday afternoon, Barr said he might be ready to share Mueller’s “principal conclusions” with Congress “as soon as this weekend,” and a Justice Department official said that information may be made public.
But it’s unclear how much of Mueller’s full work the public will see — or when it will be released.
Here are the looming questions:
Attorney General William Barr is still at the Justice Department, and he’s reading special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, a Justice official said.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was expected to leave the Justice Department sometime in mid-March, doesn’t have a departure date at this time.
Special counsel Robert Mueller “will be concluding his service in the coming days,” according to Peter Carr, spokesman for the special counsel’s office.
Carr went on to say, “A small number of staff will remain to assist in closing the operations of the office for a period of time.”
