Key takeaways from Robert Mueller's Russia report

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Key takeaways from Robert Mueller's Russia report

2019-04-19 02:52 Last Updated At：03:00

President Donald Trump may not have obstructed justice, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Robert Mueller's 448-page report takes the American public inside the room with Trump as he expressed fear that the special counsel would end his presidency and made several attempts to get the people around him to curtail the probe into his campaign and Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Ultimately, Mueller found Trump's inner circle saved him from himself. They refused to carry out orders that could have crossed the line into obstructing justice.

Some key takeaways from the report:

TRUMP TRIED TO INFLUENCE THE RUSSIA PROBE

Mueller details several occasions.

Some occurred in public. Others behind closed doors. Trump ordered his White House counsel to try to have Mueller removed. He directed his former campaign manager to deliver a message to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to make a public statement calling the investigation "very unfair." He also wanted Sessions to announce that Trump had done "nothing wrong" and to say that the investigation's scope had been limited.

But people around Trump either refused or quietly allowed the matters to drop.

"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 special counsel wrote.

NO COLLUSION, BUT NO EXONERATION

Barr was generally right weeks ago when he released Mueller's key findings.

The special counsel did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. He did not recommend charging any Trump associates as agents of the Russian government or with campaign finance violations.

But on the question of obstruction, Mueller said there was evidence on both sides of the question. He said some of Trump's actions related to potential "garden variety" obstruction.

"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. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment," Mueller wrote.

IS THE REPORT GOOD OR BAD FOR TRUMP?

It depends on who you ask.

Trump's legal team claimed "complete vindication" by the report, and Barr emphasized at his news conference that there was no evidence of collusion.

Trump even tweeted out a Game of Thrones themed meme, saying "For the haters and the radical left Democrats — Game Over."

But the report describes in detail a president driven to interfere in the probe out of fear that it would "call into question the legitimacy of his election" and his own uncertainty that his family or associates may have violated the law.

Mueller wrote that on multiple occasions Trump did things that were "capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations." Some of that was in private, one-on-one encounters that witnesses relayed to the special counsel.

But the president's public acts also raised questions that they could have led witnesses to feel intimidated or alter their testimony, moves that Mueller said were equally threatening to the "justice system's integrity."

IGNORANCE OF THE LAW WAS A DEFENSE

That was the case for Donald Trump Jr. and a Trump Tower meeting with a Russian lawyer.

In June 2016, Trump Jr. agreed to take the meeting despite it being described in emails as part of a Russian government effort to help his father. Trump Jr. was looking for dirt that could be used against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The meeting raised questions about whether Trump Jr. and others violated the federal ban on foreign contributions to American political campaigns.

But Mueller, who interviewed many of the participants in the meeting, said he didn't find that he could bring a case.

The special counsel wrote that it was unlikely the government could prove that Trump, Jr. and others in the meeting "had general knowledge that their conduct was unlawful."

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

For complete coverage of the Mueller report, go to https://www.apnews.com/TrumpInvestigations

New storms pummel the South as a week of deadly weather marches on

2024-05-09 22:16 Last Updated At：22:21

COLUMBIA, Tenn. (AP) — A wave of dangerous storms began washing over parts of the South early Thursday, a day after severe weather with damaging tornadoes and large hail killed at least three people in the region.

A heavy line of storms swept into Atlanta near the end of the morning rush hour. Busy hub airports in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, reported delays Thursday morning. Tornado warnings were issued for parts of Tennessee and Alabama.

The storms continue a streak of torrential rains and tornadoes this week from the Plains to the Midwest and, now, the Southeast. At least four people have died since Monday. The weather comes on the heels of a stormy April in which the U.S. had 300 confirmed tornadoes, the second-most on record for the month and the most since 2011.

Storms had already left more than a quarter-million customers without power Thursday in North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Missouri, according to PowerOutage.us.

A storm Wednesday in northeastern Tennessee damaged homes, injured people, toppled power lines and trees, and killed a 22-year-old man in a car in Claiborne County, north of Knoxville, officials said. A second person was killed south of Nashville in Columbia, the Maury County seat, where officials said a tornado had likely touched down and homes were blown off their foundations.

Bob Booth had just gotten home to Columbia from Georgia and was sitting down to watch television when he heard a “crazy racket.”

“I get up and look out, and it was all hell breaking loose outside,” Booth said. “Then the top half of one of my trees goes down across the road.”

Booth said he was told it would be a while before his power was restored. One neighbor, he said, lost all trees except one that would have destroyed his house: “So that guy is blessed."

Schools were closed Thursday in several Tennessee counties. Some districts north of Atlanta canceled in-person classes or delayed start times because of storm damage overnight that included fallen trees on houses and vehicles around Clarkesville. No injuries were reported there.

“We’re just trying to clean up right now and wait for the next round,” said Lynn Smith, director of the Habersham County Emergency Management Agency.

Torrential rains led to a flash flood emergency and water rescues northeast of Nashville. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary ground stop at Nashville's main airport, and the weather service issued a tornado emergency, its highest alert level, for nearby areas.

In North Carolina, a state of emergency was declared Wednesday night for Gaston County, west of Charlotte, after a storm that toppled power lines and trees, including one that landed on a car. One person in the car was killed, and another was taken to a hospital, officials said.

The storms followed heavy rain, strong winds, hail and tornadoes in parts of the central U.S. on Monday, including a twister that ripped through an Oklahoma town and killed one person. On Tuesday, the Midwest took the brunt of the bad weather. Tornadoes touched down in parts of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, according to the weather service.

Michigan's Kalamazoo area was hard hit as a FedEx facility was ripped apart, with downed power lines trapping about 50 people.

Tornadoes were also confirmed near Pittsburgh, in central Arkansas and in northern West Virginia. The West Virginia twister was at least the 11th tornado this year in the state, which sees two tornadoes in an average year.

Both the Plains and Midwest have been hammered by tornadoes this spring.

Cappelletti and White reported from Detroit. Associated Press journalists around the country contributed to this report, including Jeff Amy, Joey Cappelletti, Ed White, Rio Yamat, Heather Hollingsworth, Colleen Slevin, Jim Salter, Kathy McCormack, Sarah Brumfield, Beatrice Dupuy, Alexa St. John, Adrian Sainz, John Raby and Lisa Baumann.

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