Mueller's work done, Americans wonder what it means

With the long-awaited special counsel's investigation done but its contents still shrouded in mystery, Americans waited for details, yawned with boredom or stayed fixed to their long-cemented positions on President Donald Trump, the man at the probe's center.

For all the expected splash of Robert Mueller's report, it arrived with more of a thud, thanks to the secrecy surrounding it. And few saw any reason to think it would sway many opinions in a divided republic.

Emily Miller, a 22-year-old Democrat who is a senior at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said so much had already come out since Trump took office, and few supporters of his were shaken. She didn't think anything about Mueller's report would change that, just as she didn't see anything steering Democrats away from seeking impeachment.

This Oct. 16, 2018 photo shows Emily Miller at Brown University in Providence, R.I. With the long-awaited special counsel’s investigation done but its contents still shrouded in mystery, Americans waited for details, yawned with boredom or stayed fixed to their long-cemented positions on President Donald Trump, the man at the probe’s center. Miller said so much had already come out since Trump took office, and few supporters of his were shaken. She didn’t think anything about Mueller’s report would change that, just as she didn’t see anything steering Democrats away from seeking impeachment.(AP PhotoJennifer McDermott)

"It just shows how polarized we are at the moment," she said, "and it's very hard to change people's minds, even with factual evidence."

Mueller has worked in virtual silence as a stream of charges have flowed forth against 37 people and companies. From the start, with his appointment on May 17, 2017, some have framed his work as a battle of good and evil of biblical proportions.

And on the 675th day, Mueller finished his work, and he rested. But nothing immediately changed for those who had watched with bated breath.

For Mark Itzen, a 64-year-old social worker from Levittown, Pennsylvania, it was a frustrating reality.

"The most disturbing thing for me is that we don't know the details," the Democrat said. "I thought we have the right to know right off the bat after all this anticipation."

Expectations remained high for some sort of explosive revelation, but what exactly it might be remained anyone's guess.

For liberals who welcomed the investigation with gleeful shouts of "It's Mueller Time!" and anxiously awaited justice that aligns with their view of Trump as antichrist, it seemed the endless billows of smoke would surely produce evidence of fire. For conservatives who subscribed to the president's view of the probe as a witch hunt and dismissed it as the misguided tomfoolery of a bitter opposition whose search for retribution is as loopy as its policies, it seemed certain to bring exoneration to Trump and maybe even a roadmap for future victory by him and his party.

Jason Cox, a 51-year-old farmer in Campbellsville, Kentucky, who voted for Trump in 2016 and plans to again next year, saw it the way Trump framed it -- as a witch hunt.

"It didn't turn out, it seems to me, the way Democrats wanted," he said. "I think Pelosi and Schumer are going to just keep beating and badgering and looking for something."

Stan Pearson, 69, a retired math professor in Newport News, Virginia, was among Trump detractors who had high hopes for the report: The start of impeachment proceedings and charges of treason. He called Trump's election the "worst experiment ever in our history," and is not convinced Attorney General William Barr will release the full report.

"We may well have to settle for what we can salvage," Pearson said.

Paul Rosenzweig, a fellow at the conservative R Street Institute and a former legal adviser to Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation, said the public's expectations of Mueller were overblown — in part because the investigation has been poorly explained by a press that has persisted in suggesting the report would be a blockbuster.

"It's exclusively media hype with a little bit of political spin," he said. "Mostly it's been the media looking for a hook and trying to make Mueller into more than he is."

Still, many were exhausted by the unending onslaught of political news alerts and had paid less and less attention to the investigation. Others said they were disgusted by politicians on both sides.

"I really intensely dislike the way things are going in DC right now," said Ken Block, a 53-year-old Republican from Barrington, Rhode Island, who owns a software engineering company and wants to see the Mueller report made public though he concedes he wouldn't read the whole thing. "No one is a hero there in my mind right now."

"I'm just tickled to death like everybody else that this thing is finally over with," said David Kennedy, 65, a retired businessman and former politician in Harlan County, Kentucky, who is a Democrat but voted for Trump. "Trump will be able to prove that it's just been a witch hunt or not and let the public make their own mind up. But man, everybody in this country is wore out over that nonsense."

Contributing to this report were Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Claire Galofaro in Louisville, Kentucky; Allen Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina; Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island; Lindsay Whitehurst in Salt Lake City, Utah; and Adam Beam in Frankfort, Kentucky.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will pull the majority of its troops from Chad and Niger as it works to restore key agreements governing what role there might be there for the American military and its counterterrorism operations, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Both African countries have been integral to the U.S. military’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations across the Sahel region, but Niger’s ruling junta ended an agreement last month that allows U.S. troops to operate in the West African country. In recent days, neighboring Chad also has questioned whether an existing agreement covered the U.S. troops operating there.

The U.S. will relocate most of the approximately 100 forces it has deployed in Chad for now, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Thursday at a press briefing.

“As talks continue with Chadian officials, U.S. AFRICOM is currently planning to reposition some U.S. military forces from Chad, some portions of which were already scheduled to depart. This is a temporary step as part of the ongoing review of our security cooperation, which will resume after Chad’s May 6th presidential election," Ryder said.

In Niger, the majority of the 1,000 U.S. personnel assigned there also are expected to depart, Ryder said.

U.S. and Nigerien officials were expected to meet Thursday in Niger's capital, Niamey, “to initiate discussions on an orderly and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces," the State Department said in a statement late Wednesday. Follow-up meetings between senior Pentagon and Niger officials are expected next week “to coordinate the withdrawal process in a transparent manner and with mutual respect,” Ryder said.

Called status-of-forces agreements, these deals allow the U.S. to conduct critical counterterrorism operations within both countries' borders and have supported military partner training. The reversals have prompted concern that U.S. influence in Africa is losing ground to overtures from Russia and China.

Relations have frayed between Niger and Western countries since mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president in July. Niger’s junta has since told French forces to leave and turned instead to Russia for security.

Earlier this month, Russian military trainers arrived to reinforce the country’s air defenses and they brought Russian equipment, which they would train Nigeriens to use.

Niger plays a central role in the U.S. military’s operations in Africa’s Sahel region, a vast region south of the Sahara Desert. Washington is concerned about the spread of jihadi violence where local groups have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida and the Islamic State groups.

Niger is home to a major U.S. air base in the city of Agadez, about 920 kilometers (550 miles) from the capital, which is used for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations. The U.S. also has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in training Niger’s military since beginning operations there in 2013.

Officials from the State Department, U.S. Africa Command and the Pentagon will work with Chad’s government to make the case for U.S. forces to continue operations, Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Adm. Christopher Grady said Wednesday.

Grady told The Associated Press in an interview that if both countries ultimately decide the U.S. cannot remain, the military will have to look for alternatives to run counterterrorism missions across the Sahel.

“If we are asked to leave, and after negotiations that’s the way it plays out, then we are going to have to recalculate and figure out a new way to do it,” Grady said.

The news of the departure of U.S. forces in Chad was first reported by The New York Times.

FILE - Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Adm. Christopher Grady, right, arrives for a closed door briefing about the leaked highly classified military documents, on Capitol Hill, April 19, 2023, in Washington. Grady says there's been no final decision on whether or not all U.S. troops will leave Niger and Chad. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

US to pull troops from Chad and Niger as the African nations question its counterterrorism role

US to pull troops from Chad and Niger as the African nations question its counterterrorism role

FILE - A U.S. and Niger flag are raised side by side at the base camp for air forces and other personnel supporting the construction of Niger Air Base 201 in Agadez, Niger, April 16, 2018. The United States is attempting to create a new military agreement with Niger that would allow it to remain in the country, weeks after the junta said its presence was no longer justified, two Western officials told The Associated Press Friday April 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Carley Petesch, File)