A-G sweats on how much of Mueller report to make public

US Attorney-General William Barr yesterday scoured Robert Mueller’s report deciding how much the public will get to see.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrives at his office on Friday. Picture: AFP

US Attorney-General William Barr and his advisers yesterday scoured special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia ­investigation, deciding how much congress and the public will get to see of the most anticipated brief to hit Washington in a decade.

Mr Mueller has recommended no new indictments, but Americans will have to wait until today for Mr Barr to release the “principal conclusions” of the special counsel’s 22-month investigation to determine its impact on Donald Trump’s presidency.

Republicans were buoyed by the news on Saturday that the report did not recommended any new indictments a move which means the President’s family, including his two sons and son-in-law Jared Kushner will not face charges ­resulting from the probe.

Republican congressman Steve Scalise said Mr Mueller’s decision not to pursue new indictments “confirms what we’ve known all along, there was never any collusion with Russia”.

But Mr Trump and his lawyers were more cautious, at least publicly. The Justice Department says a sitting president cannot be ­indicted and there are likely to be parts of the report critical of Mr Trump. The President remained silent on Twitter from his Florida resort as his lawyers awaited a copy of the report that sources ­described as “comprehensive”. Trump aides were wary claiming any public vindication before the full findings were known.

Mr Barr said he “remained committed to as much transparency as possible” as Democrats called for the report to be released in full. Mr Barr and his team are writing a summary of the report to send to congress although he said yesterday that the legislature would not receive a summary until today. Mr Barr will be under enormous pressure to release the report in its entirety with polls showing most Americans want that and even Mr Trump saying last week “let the people see it”.

Democrats were bracing themselves for a possible let-down in their expectations, after news that it would not recommend new ­indictments. But they said it need to be released without spin and without giving the White House a chance to interfere.

“Attorney-General Barr must not give President Trump, his lawyers or his staff a ‘sneak preview’ of special counsel Mueller’s findings or evidence, and the White House must not be allowed to interfere in decisions about what parts of those findings or evidence are made public,” Democrat leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement.

It is possible that the Presidents’ lawyers may seek to claim executive privilege over more sensitive parts of the report.

The Mueller investigation has examined an ever-expanding ­series of issues. These include Russian attempts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election and also whether members of the Trump campaign, up to and ­including Mr Trump, co-ordinated or colluded with Russia to undermine Mr Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton. Mr Mueller was also looking at whether Mr Trump obstructed justice in his decision to sack former FBI chief James Comey in May 2017 and also when he pressured then attorney-general Jeff Sessions to resign over his decision to recuse himself from the Russia probe. Mr Comey has claimed the President also wrongly pressured him to drop the FBI’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Mr Trump has denied these claims and has repeatedly attacked the Mueller investigation as a “political witch-hunt” led by a team of prosecutors who the President calls “angry Democrats”.

The investigation has so far ­resulted in charges against 34 ­people and three entities. Five former Trump associates have been charged including former campaign manager Paul Manafort, ­ex-deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, former personal lawyer ­Michael Cohen and ex-campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. A sixth former Trump associate and long-time friend Roger Stone was indicted in January and accused of lying to congress.

The former associates have faced charges ranging from bank and tax fraud, to lying to prosecutors and illegally funnelling hush money to women claiming to have had affairs with Mr Trump.

But none of these former associates was charged with illegally plotting with Russians to influence the 2016 election — a key part of Mr Mueller’s investigation.

Dozens of those charged by Mr Mueller were Russian military intelligence officers or citizens living in Russia, making it unlikely that they would ever face a US court.

Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia