US Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday turned over his long-awaited final report on the contentious Russia investigation that has cast a dark shadow over Donald Trump’s presidency, entangled Trump’s family and resulted in criminal charges against some of the president’s closest associates.
The comprehensive report, still confidential, marks the end of Mueller’s probe but sets the stage for big public fights to come.
Media reports said the next steps are up to Attorney General William Barr, to Congress and, in all likelihood, federal courts.
Barr is “going to review this report and will decide how much of it to make public. He says he will release something as soon as this weekend that functions as a summary of the central findings of the special counsel.”
With no details released at this point, it’s not known whether Mueller’s report answers the core questions of his investigation: Did Trump’s campaign collude with the Kremlin to sway the 2016 presidential election in favor of the celebrity businessman? Also, did Trump take steps later, including by firing his FBI director, to obstruct the probe?
But Tucker says the delivery of the report does mean the investigation has concluded without any public charges of a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and Russia, or of obstruction by the president.
Mueller is not recommending any further indictments in the Russia probe, a Justice Department official confirmed Friday.
