Overview

During the first week of June, 2019 The PBS NewsHour aired a five-part series which highlighted the essential findings of the Mueller report.

Following this Overview is a chronological list of each part with links to videos and transcripts, along with key information and quotes from each part. Included in the list are other key events related to the findings of the Mueller report including:

The Mueller report consists of two volumes. Volume one covers Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Volume two covers obstruction of justice.

Read the entire 448-page redacted Mueller report here.

View a timeline of the entire Mueller investigation here.

Mar 22, 2019:

Robert Mueller delivered his report to Attorney General William Barr, ending his two-year investigation.

Mueller delivers report to Justice, ending investigation | The Hill

Mar 24, 2019:

Attorney General William Barr sent a four-page letter to Congress outlining the "principal conclusions" of the Mueller investigation. Read the letter here.

Barr's letter states that the Mueller investigation "...did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."

Barr's letter also quotes what is stated in the Mueller Report regarding obstruction of justice saying "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

Barr's letter also states the following:

After reviewing the Special Counsel's final report on these issues; consulting with Department officials, including the Office of Legal Counsel; and applying the principles of federal prosecution that guide our charging decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.

Our determination was made without regard to, and is not based on, the constitutional considerations that surround the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting president.

President Trump tweeted "No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!", which, regarding obstruction, directly contradicts what Mueller said in his report.

Source:

Fabian, Jordan. (Mar 24, 2019). "Trump on Mueller report: 'Complete and total exoneration'". The Hill. Retrieved 2019-11-01.

Kirby, Jen. (Mar 24, 2019). "Read: Attorney general delivers summary of special counsel's report". Vox. Retrieved 2019-11-01.

Mar 27, 2019:

Mueller sent a letter to Attorney General Barr asking him to release the redacted report to Congress and to the general public as soon as possible to help "alleviate the misunderstandings that have arisen" regarding the conclusions reached by Mueller in his report. His letter also states:

The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office's work and conclusions [bold added for emphasis]. We communicated that concern to the Department on the morning of March 25. There is new public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.

Source:

Gonzales, Richard. (Apr 30, 2019). "Mueller's Letter To Barr Complained That Trump-Russia Report Summary Lacked 'Context'". NPR. Retrieved 2019-11-01.

May 1, 2019:

Attorney General Barr appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer questions regarding the Mueller report.

Read Barr's opening statement (released yesterday prior to testimony) here.

Watch video of Barr's testimony on C-Span here.

William Barr Hearing: Highlights of His Testimony | The New York Times

May 29, 2019:

Robert Mueller delivered a statement about the investigation, as well as announcing that he was resigning from the Department of Justice.

The first volume of the report details numerous efforts emanating from Russia to influence the election [bold added for emphasis]. This volume includes a discussion of the Trump campaign's response to this activity, as well as our conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy [bold added for emphasis].

And in the second volume, the report describes the results and analysis of our obstruction of justice investigation [bold added for emphasis] involving the president. The order appointing me special counsel authorized us to investigate actions that could obstruct the investigation...And as set forth in the report, after that investigation if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so [bold added for emphasis].

We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime [bold added for emphasis]. The introduction to the Volume II of our report explains that decision. It explains that under long-standing department policy, a president can not be charged with a federal crime while he is in office [bold added for emphasis]. That is unconstitutional. Even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that too is prohibited.

The Special Counsel's Office is part of the Department of Justice, and by regulation it was bound by that department policy. Charging the president with a crime was, therefore, not an option we could consider [bold added for emphasis].

The department's written opinion explaining the policy makes several important points that further informed our handling of the obstruction investigation. First, the opinion explicitly explicitly permits the investigation of a sitting president because it is important to preserve evidence while memories are fresh and documents available...And second, the opinion says that the Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing...So that was Justice Department policy. Those were the principles under which we operated, and from them, we concluded that we would — would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime.

Source:

Seipel, Arnie. (May 29, 2019). "READ: Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Full Statement". NPR. Retrieved 2019-10-28.

Jun 3, 2019:

PBS aired Part 1 of it's five-part series entitled "Inside the Mueller report, a sophisticated Russian interference campaign".

This part discusses Volume one of the Mueller report, specifically Mueller's two essential findings regarding Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election:

• Russia carried out a social media campaign promoting Donald Trump
• Russian intelligence carried out an operation to hack into computers in an effort to hurt the Hillary Clinton campaign

An organization known as the IRA (Internet Research Agency), based in St. Petersburg, Russia, was the primary entity responsible for the social media campaign.

The Russian GRU (Russia's largest intelligence service) was responsible for hacking into DNC (Democratic National Committee) and Hillary Clinton campaign computers, and established a relationship with Wikileaks to make hacked documents available to the public.

In addition:

Mueller says the Russians directly targeted our election systems. They used cyberattacks against private technology firms that make election software, as well as officials in several states and county governments.

Finally:

The question is, did the Russians' effort change or affect votes? Mueller doesn't address it, instead writing that the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and states are still investigating.

Source:

Desjardins, Lisa; Brangham, William. (June 3, 2019). "Inside the Mueller report, a sophisticated Russian interference campaign". PBS. Retrieved 2019-10-26.

Bipartisan Senate report reaffirms intelligence findings that Russia meddled in 2016 elections | The Hill

RUSSIAN ACTIVE MEASURES CAMPAIGNS AND INTERFERENCE IN THE 2016 U.S. ELECTION | intelligence.senate.gov

Background to 'Assessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections' | dni.gov

Jun 4, 2019:

PBS aired Part 2 of it's five-part series entitled "Why 'numerous links' between Trump campaign and Russia didn’t add up to conspiracy".

For more than 100 pages, Robert Mueller lays out scores of Russian contacts with the Trump campaign or the Trump presidency. Mueller writes: "Based on the available information, the investigation didn't establish such coordination." Mueller reached that conclusion even though, he writes, there were numerous links between the campaign and the Russians, that several people connected to the campaign lied to his team and tried to obstruct their investigation into their contacts with the Russians.

One more thing Mueller points out investigators couldn't get all the information they wanted. Donald Trump Jr. never agreed to an interview, the same with several key Russians. Some witnesses lied to investigators initially. Some campaign aides deleted their texts. And Mueller states the president's written answers were inadequate. Mueller specifically says it's possible this missing information could shed new light on the investigation.

Source:

Desjardins, Lisa; Brangham, William. (June 4, 2019). "Why 'numerous links' between Trump campaign and Russia didn't add up to conspiracy". PBS. Retrieved 2019-10-27.

Jun 5, 2019:

PBS aired Part 3 of it's five-part series entitled "What the Mueller report says about Trump's firing James Comey".

In his statement delivered on May 29, 2019 Mueller made it clear that the Department of Justice was not going to charge Trump with committing a crime (because department policy prohibited it).

So, then, why investigate? The report states that a president can be indicted after leaving office. In his report, the special counsel is thinking of the future, writing: "We conducted a thorough, factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials were available."

Mueller says the job of assessing whether a sitting president broke the law, and what to do about it, belongs to Congress.

Mueller's report concludes that the evidence doesn't establish that the termination of Comey was designed to cover up a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mueller says there's substantial evidence that the catalyst, the thing that pushed the president to do it, was Comey's unwillingness to tell the public that the president wasn't under investigation.

But, of course, Comey's firing led directly to the appointment of the special counsel [Robert Mueller] and an investigation of the president.

Source:

Desjardins, Lisa; Brangham, William. (June 5, 2019). "What the Mueller report says about Trump's firing James Comey". PBS. Retrieved 2019-10-27.

Jun 6, 2019:

PBS aired Part 4 of it's five-part series entitled "Mueller's obstruction of justice probe on Trump, explained".

In the Mueller report's second volume, the special counsel lays out 10 incidents of potential obstruction of justice by President Trump. In each, Mueller identifies the obstructive action, what it obstructed and what the president’s intent was in performing it. In some cases, he found "substantial evidence" of obstruction, but in others, none.

Mueller's conclusions range from a clear no evidence of obstruction to cases with substantial evidence. Those cases, those with the most evidence, center on the president's attempts to fire or limit special counsel Mueller himself.

Mueller recounts a scene in the Oval Office that day where Attorney General Jeff Sessions tells the president that Mueller's been appointed. And the president says: "Oh, my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I'm (EXPLETIVE DELETED)." Top aide Hope Hicks testifies later that she had only seen the president like that one other time, when the "Access Hollywood" tape came out during the campaign.

June 14, The Washington Post reveals that the president is under investigation for obstruction of justice. According to Mueller, three days later, President Trump tells White House counsel Don McGahn to call acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to say Mueller has conflicts and can't serve anymore. The president says Mueller has to go. McGahn doesn't comply.

Now, this is all based on McGahn's testimony. Mueller points out the president publicly disputes much of it. But, in the end, Mueller finds McGahn highly credible, reporting that he reacted strongly to the president's words. Mueller writes:

McGahn packed up his office, prepared to submit a resume letter and told Chief of Staff Reince Priebus the president had asked him to do crazy (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

On June 19, 2017, President Trump asks his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to take a note to Attorney General Jeff Sessions directing Sessions to say publicly, "I am going to meet with the special prosecutor and let the special prosecutor move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections," meaning Robert Mueller wouldn't investigate what happened in the 2016 election. Lewandowski never passed on that message.

On page 89, he [Mueller] writes: "Substantial evidence indicates the attempts to remove the special counsel were linked to investigations of the president's conduct."

Page 97: "Substantial evidence indicates that the president's effort to limit the special counsel's investigation was intended to prevent further scrutiny of the president's and his campaign's conduct."

Regarding Attorney General Jeff Sessions previously recusing himself from overseeing the Russian investigation:

The president repeatedly pressured Sessions to unrecuse himself and retake control of the investigation. But Mueller finds only a reasonable inference, not specific evidence, that this was meant to protect the president.

Regarding Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort:

Mueller investigated whether Mr. Trump floated potential presidential pardons for them in order to influence their testimony or cooperation with the special counsel. Mueller writes, "The evidence regarding Flynn is inconclusive," but, with Manafort, "The evidence indicates Mr. Trump wanted Manafort to believe a pardon was possible."

Regarding Michael Cohen:

Mueller looks at whether the president directed his lawyer to lie to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. The report says, "While there is evidence the president knew that Cohen has made false statements," Mueller also writes, "The evidence doesn't establish that the president directed or aided Cohen's false testimony."

Source:

Desjardins, Lisa; Brangham, William. (June 6, 2019). "Mueller's obstruction of justice probe on Trump, explained". PBS. Retrieved 2019-10-27.

These are the 10 episodes Mueller investigated for obstruction of justice | Vox

Does the Mueller report exonerate Trump? I asked 12 legal experts. | Vox

Jun 7, 2019:

PBS aired Part 5 of it's five-part series entitled "What came out of the Mueller report? Here's what you need to know in 6 minutes".

So what did it find? First, that the Russians attacked the 2016 election. The Mueller report is loaded with examples of how Russian operatives launched what they call information warfare on the U.S. They wanted to distract and inflame voters to benefit Donald Trump's candidacy and to damage Hillary Clinton's. And while Mueller shows the Trump campaign worked with individual Russians, he found the evidence didn't show any conspiracy or coordination by the Trump campaign.

Mueller's report lays out a long string of examples where it finds evidence, sometimes substantial evidence, that the president tried to obstruct justice.

Overall, Mueller writes:

The evidence does point to a range of personal motives animating the president's conduct. Those include concerns the investigation would call into question the legitimacy of his election and whether certain events could be seen as criminal activity by the president, his campaign or family.

Because of this policy, on the issue of obstruction, Mueller put his conclusion this way:

If we had had confidence that the president clearly didn't commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime.

On the question of what to do now, Mueller points to Congress.

The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.

Mueller lists all of the court cases triggered by his probe. So far, a total of 34 people have been indicted. The vast majority of those are Russian nationals. But the investigation also led to a three-year prison sentence for Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen on fraud and campaign finance violations. Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is serving seven-and-a-half years on charges unrelated to the campaign. Manafort's deputy, Rick Gates, and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn both pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and have yet to be sentenced.

Meanwhile, another big case is heading to trial. Trump confidant Roger Stone is charged by Mueller with obstruction and lying to Congress about his contacts with WikiLeaks and the release of Democratic documents stolen by the Russians.

And there are more than a dozen other ongoing cases Mueller cites, but those are fully redacted, and we just don't know who or what is involved.

Part 5 concludes with a quote from Mueller:

If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly didn't commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report doesn't conclude that the president committed a crime, it also doesn't exonerate him.

Source:

Desjardins, Lisa; Brangham, William. (June 7, 2019). "What came out of the Mueller report? Here's what you need to know in 6 minutes". PBS. Retrieved 2019-10-27.

Jul 24, 2019:

Robert Mueller testified before the House Judiciary and House Intelligence Committees.

Watch video of Mueller's House Judiciary Committee testimony on C-Span here.

Watch video of Mueller's House Intelligence Committee testimony on C-Span here.

Highlights from Mueller's testimony:

• Representative Jerrold Nadler (Democrat-New York):
  

  Now, in fact, your report expressly states that it doesn't exonerate the president.

• Robert Mueller:
  

  It does.

• Representative Jamie Raskin (Democrat-Maryland):
  

  You found evidence that the president engaged in efforts — and I quote — "to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation." Is that right?

• Robert Mueller:
  

  That's correct.

• Representative David Cicilline (Democrat-Rhode Island):
  

  An unsuccessful attempt to obstruct justice is still a crime; is that correct?

• Robert Mueller:
  

  That is correct.

• Representative Val Demings (Democrat-Florida):
  

  According to your report, page nine, volume one, witnesses lied to your office and to Congress. Those lies materially impaired the investigation of Russia interference, according to your report and that lies by Trump campaign officials and administration officials impeded your investigation.

• Robert Mueller:
  

  I would generally agree with that.

• Republicans questioned Mueller about the people he chose to be a part of his team of investigators, attempting to paint the investigation as partisan and political rather than unbiased and legal.
• Robert Mueller:
  

  We strove to hire those individuals that could do the job. I have been in this business for almost 25 years. And in those 25 years, I have not had occasion once to ask somebody about their political affiliation. It is not done. What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job and do the job quickly and seriously and with integrity.

Source:

Brangham, William. (July 24, 2019). "Partisan divide fuels Mueller hearings on a historic day". PBS. Retrieved 2019-11-02.

4 takeaways from Robert Mueller's testimony | Vox

5 losers and 0 winners from Robert Mueller's testimony to the House of Representatives | Vox

5 key takeaways from Robert Mueller's testimony before Congress | ABC News

More:

• Judge temporarily blocks release of Trump obstruction memo | The Hill
• Mueller Report | Wikipedia