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No collusion.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation has
concluded, and he has now submitted his long-awaited report on
the findings of that probe to Attorney General William Barr, as
required by the special counsel law.

A senior Justice Department official has told CBS News that
Mueller is not recommending any further indictments. The Justice
Department also confirmed that the "principal conclusions" of
the report will be made public.

Barr will now summarize Mueller's report for lawmakers, also in
accordance with the law. It is not clear whether the report or
any part of it will be made public -- that's left to Barr's
discretion. In a letter to top lawmakers on the judiciary
committees, Barr said he anticipated that he might be able to
advise them of Mueller's principal conclusions "as soon as this
weekend."

Special counsel spokesperson Peter Carr said in a statement that
Mueller will be concluding his service in the coming days. A
small number of staff will remain to assist in closing the
operations of the office for a period of time.

A White House official confirmed that White House attorneys
Emmet Flood and Pat Cipollone are with President Trump at his
Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Clare Hymes contributed to this report.

2020 Democrats weigh in
Democratic presidential candidates are saying that Mueller's
report must be made public. He submitted his report to Barr on
Friday, and it is now up to Barr to decide how much of it sees
the light of day.

The packed field of presidential contenders sounded off after
the news broke that Barr received the report.

"Release the Mueller report to the American people," former
Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke tweeted.

"Special counsel Mueller's report should be made public without
any delay. The American people have a right to know its
findings," tweeted New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

That sentiment was echoed by California Sen. Kamala Harris,
who's campaigning in Dallas tonight. She also called for the
underlying evidence supporting the report to be released.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren took the development as a fundraising
opportunity -- directing supporters to add their name to a
petition demanding the public release of the report. Upon
signing, supporters are then directed to a donation page for the
Warren campaign.

Why the Mueller report could be good news for Trump

CBS News' Major Garrett reports the President Trump's attorneys
have an "expectation" that special counsel Robert Mueller's
final report will be good for the president.

"They feel in the end this will not have new indictments. The
report is done. The special counsel's office is essentially
shuttered and they believe not only legally, but importantly
politically, the president will be found to be largely, if not
completely in the clear," Garrett said.

One reason why the final report could be good news for Mr. Trump
is because the special counsel didn't press for a face-to-face
interview. Instead, Mr. Trump submitted a series of written
answers to the special counsel. In addition, White House lawyers
provided more than 20,000 documents and several advisers were
interviewed.

"The question now becomes can Congress get any farther -- if
there is somewhere to go that Mueller was not able -- [and
would]...have more powers than Robert Mueller had? Probably
not," Garrett said.

Attorney General William Barr sends letter to Congress
Barr has sent a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of
the Senate and House Judiciary Committees informing them of the
conclusion of Mueller's investigation.

"The special counsel has submitted to me today a 'confidential
report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions' he
has reached," Barr said in the letter. "I am reviewing the
report and anticipate that I may be in a position to advise you
of the special counsel's principal conclusions as soon as this
weekend."

mueller-letter.jpg

Barr also wrote that he would consult with Deputy Attorney
General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, and with Mueller
himself, to determine what information from the report could be
revealed to Congress and the public.

Handing over the report
The report was delivered by a security officer from the special
counsel's office to the deputy attorney general's office earlier
this afternoon, according to Justice Department spokeswoman
Kerri Kupec. Within minutes it was turned over to Barr.

Letters were delivered to staff directors on Capitol Hill at 5
p.m. The White House was notified at around 4:45 p.m.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expected to call
Mueller and thank him for his work on this for the last couple
of years. As soon as this weekend, Barr will deliver a summary
of the principal conclusions of the report to Congress.

Justice Department officials would not comment on the contents
of the report but called it "comprehensive."

House and Senate Judiciary Committees react
Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees were quick
to react to Barr's letter.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham noted in a
statement that the handover from Mueller to the attorney general
had been smooth, and he observed that according to Barr's
notification letter, "there were no areas of disagreement
between the Attorney General or the Acting Attorney General and
Special Counsel Mueller regarding courses of action."

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

Senate Judiciary
?
@senjudiciary
Chairman @LindseyGrahamSC statement on Attorney General Barr's
notification to the committee regarding the Mueller
investigation. https://bit.ly/2WhDuUJ

793
2:54 PM - Mar 22, 2019
528 people are talking about this
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler does not plan to
return to Washington from New York this weekend, according to
his spokesperson.

Nadler pressed for transparency in a tweet: "A.G. Barr has
confirmed the completion of the Special Counsel investigation.
We look forward to getting the full Mueller report and related
materials. Transparency and the public interest demand nothing
less."

The chair and ranking member of the Senate Intelligence
Committee also received copies of Barr's letter.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer quickly released a joint statement calling for Barr "to
make the full report public and provide its underlying
documentation and findings to Congress." They also demanded that
Barr not give Mr. Trump, his lawyers or staff a "sneak preview"
of the findings or evidence and said "the White House must not
be allowed to interfere in decisions about what parts of those
findings or evidence are made public."

Some members of Congress have called on Mueller to testify
before Congress, including 2020 presidential candidate Sen.
Kamala Harris.

Democratic candidates react to Mueller filing
The packed field of Democratic presidential contenders took to
social media almost immediately after the news broke that Barr
had the report in his possession.

"Release the Mueller report to the American people," former
Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke tweeted. "Special counsel Mueller's
report should be made public without any delay. The American
people have a right to know its findings," tweeted New York Sen.
Kirsten Gillibrand.

Numerous other candidates also called on Barr to release the
report to the public.

White House reacts to the submission of the Mueller report
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders released a statement
about Mueller's submission of the report to Barr saying that the
White House has not been briefed on the report.

"The next steps are up to Attorney General Barr, and we look
forward to the process taking its course. The White House has
not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel's report,"
Sanders tweeted.

Mr. Trump's personal attorneys Jay Sekulow and Rudy Giuliani
also released a statement.

"We're pleased that the Office of Special Counsel has delivered
its report to the Attorney General pursuant to the regulations.
Attorney General Barr will determine the appropriate next
steps," they wrote.


Sarah Sanders
?
@PressSec
The next steps are up to Attorney General Barr, and we look
forward to the process taking its course. The White House has
not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel’s report.

20.7K
2:16 PM - Mar 22, 2019
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7,485 people are talking about this
Attorneys depart Mueller’s team in advance of report dropping
Multiple prosecutors on Mueller's team of attorneys in the
special counsel's office have been announcing their departures
in recent weeks, signaling that the investigation was winding
down.

Special counsel spokesperson Peter Carr confirmed to CBS News
this week that Zainab Ahmad, a top terrorism prosecutor,
concluded her detail with the special counsel's office. Lead
special counsel prosecutor Andrew Weissmann's departure from the
team was also reported by CBS to be imminent.

Here's a look at Mueller's team of prosecutors

Who's been charged so far?

Currently, Mueller's probe has yielded seven guilty pleas and
99.5 months in prison served, and 34 individuals and three
separate companies have been charged.

President Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was
one of the first Trump associates to serve time in prison as
part of Mueller's probe. Manafort was indicted on a total of 25
counts in two jurisdictions. The charges ranged from conspiracy
to launder money to acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign
principal.

Here's a look at who else has been charged.
charged.jpg
CBS NEWS
Reporting by Clare Hymes and Emily Tillett

House voted for public release of report, Senate blocked it
The House of Representatives voted to pass a non-binding
resolution in mid-March, calling for the public release of
special counsel Robert Mueller's final report into the FBI's
investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election,
but Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, blocked the
vote in the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, of New York, called for
a unanimous consent on the resolution, which had passed the
House in a 420-0 vote. However, Graham objected after Schumer
refused to amend the resolution to include a provision on
appointing a special counsel to investigate misconduct at the
Justice Department related to the FISA warrant against former
Trump campaign official Carter Page.

"Was there two systems of justice in 2016? One for the
Democratic candidate and one for the Republican candidate?"
Graham asked on the Senate floor.

Reporting by Emily Tillett and Grace Segers

Trump says report should be made public

President Trump has said he looks forward to the release of
Mueller's findings, and opined that they should be made public
upon their release.

"Let it come out, let people see it... and we'll see what
happens," Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday.

The president previously said it is "totally up to" Attorney
General William Barr whether and when the special counsel's
report is released.

A brief timeline of the investigation
Mueller's probe has spanned multiple jurisdictions and Trump
associates over the past two years.
Here are some key dates from the Mueller probe:
2013: The FBI conducts interviews of Trump associates Paul
Manafort and Carter Page as it relates to conducting business
with foreign actors.

2014: The Internet Research Agency (IRA) leads Russian efforts
to interfere in the U.S political system, including the 2016
presidential election.

July 2015: The FBI opens investigation into Hillary Clinton's
use of private email server while she was secretary of state.

September 2015: The FBI becomes aware of Russian hack into DNC
tries to inform DNC

June 9, 2016: Paul Manafort, Jared Kushner and Donald Trump Jr.
meet at Trump Tower with Russian lawyer who promised "dirt" on
Hillary Clinton. The meeting was arranged by Trump Jr. and Rob
Goldstone, the publicist for pop star Emin Algarov. Goldstone
told Trump Jr. that the information comes from the Kremlin

October 7 2016: WikiLeaks releases messages stolen from the
personal email account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman,
John Podesta.

January 6, 2017: The Office of the Director of National
Intelligence releases a declassified version of a highly
sensitive report accusing the Kremlin of organizing a
sophisticated influence campaign "to help President-elect
Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary
Clinton." Both President Obama and President-elect Trump are
briefed on the report. They are both also briefed on a 35-page
dossier compiled by former British spy, Christopher Steele, that
alleges the Kremlin had compromising information on President-
elect Trump.

January 20, 2017: Donald Trump is sworn in as 45th president.
CBS News reports investigators are looking at business ties
between Trump associates and Russia and are tracking finances of
some of the hackers linked to attacks on U.S. political
organizations. Manafort's name surfaces

February 14, 2017: In a private meeting in the Oval Office,
President Trump asks FBI Director Comey to end the investigation
into Flynn. Comey documented the meeting in a memo. Trump said
to Comey in the meeting, "I hope you can see your way clear to
letting this go, to letting Flynn go." He adds, "He is a good
guy, I hope you can let this go." Comey responds and agrees that
Flynn "is a good guy."

March 20, 2017: Testifying before the House Intelligence
Committee, FBI Director James Comey confirmed the existence of a
federal investigation into possible collusion between the Trump
campaign and the Russian government.

May 9, 2017: President Trump fires FBI Director James Comey.

May 17 , 2017: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appoints
Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to oversee a "full and
thorough investigation of the Russian government's efforts to
interfere in the 2016 presidential election." He also authorizes
Mueller to investigate "any matters that arose or may arise
directly from the investigation," and "any other matters" within
the scope of the special counsel law.

October 30, 2017: Former Trump aides Paul Manafort and Rick
Gates are indicted on various charges, including conspiracy and
money laundering. On the same day, George Papadopoulos pleads
guilty to making false statements to the FBI and agrees to
cooperate with federal investigators.

December 1, 2017 : Michael Flynn pleads guilty to making false
statements to the FBI and agrees to cooperate with the special
counsel.

February 16, 2018: The Justice Department announces charges
against 13 Russian nationals and three companies for operating a
sophisticated network designed to meddle in the 2016 American
election and aid the candidacy of Donald Trump.

February 23, 2018: Rick Gates pleads guilty to lying and
conspiracy against the U.S.

April 4, 2018: Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan, of Skadden Arps,
is sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $20,000 for making
false statements to investigators about work he had done for
Ukraine.

August 21, 2018: Federal jury finds Manafort guilty of eight
criminal counts, including tax fraud. The court declares a
mistrial on 10 other counts faced by Manafort

August 21, 2018: Michael Cohen pleads guilty to violating
campaign finance laws and other charges. He says the president
instructed him to make payments to two women during the
presidential campaign to prevent them from publicly discussing
affairs they claim to have had with Mr. Trump

September 7, 2018: George Papadopoulos is sentenced to serve two
weeks in prison and pay nearly $10,000 for lying to federal
investigators.

March 13, 2019: Manafort receives final sentence from District
of Columbia federal court. He'll serve over seven years in
prison combined for convictions in Virginia and the District of
Columbia.

https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/mueller-report-release-today- trump-campaign-russia-election-fbi-investigation-end-2019-03-22/
 

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