The Mueller report is out

By Veronica Rocha, Meg Wagner, Amanda Wills and Brian Ries, CNN

Updated 7:55 PM ET, Thu April 18, 2019

60 Posts

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12:57 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

Mueller: There is no proof that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told campaign about Russian dirt

From CNN's Marshall Cohen

Robert Mueller never found any evidence that Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told anyone on the campaign that he was tipped off about the Russians having emails that could damage Hillary Clinton.

Papadopoulos was told in April 2016 by a Kremlin-linked professor that the Russians had thousands of emails that were damaging to Clinton, according to court filings. That wasn’t publicly known at the time. It wasn’t until months later, when WikiLeaks and other Russian-backed websites, started releasing tens of thousands of embarrassing emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee.

"When interviewed, Papadopoulos and the campaign officials who interacted with him told the (special counsel’s) office that they could not recall Papadopoulos's sharing the information that Russia had obtained 'dirt' on candidate Clinton in the form of emails or that Russia could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information about Clinton," the report said.

The report continued: "No documentary evidence, and nothing in the email accounts or other communications facilities reviewed by the office, shows that Papadopoulos shared this information with the campaign."

12:49 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

You can now search the entirety of Mueller's report

A quick note: We've just made it so the entirety of the Mueller report is searchable on CNN.com.

Go here to explore the document.
Looking for suggestions? Here's a list of terms to control-F search.

12:43 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

Mueller considered different possible collusion crimes

From CNN's Katelyn Polantz

Special counsel Robert Mueller looked at potential crimes outside of conspiracy as he investigated collusion, including crimes under campaign finance law and regarding individuals potentially acting as illegal foreign agents for the Russian government.

"Among other things, the evidence was not sufficient to charge any campaign officials as an unregistered agent of the Russian government or other Russian principal," according to the report.

Investigators conducted some searches of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen under this potential crime, but ultimately did not charge him with it, according to previously unsealed search warrants.

They also looked at whether the Trump Tower meeting could be considered a campaign finance violation.

12:41 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

How the Trump campaign is reacting to the Mueller report

Following the release of the Robert Mueller report, Trump's campaign manager said the President "has been fully and completely exonerated yet again."

"Now the tables have turned, and it’s time to investigate the liars who instigated this sham investigation into President Trump, motivated by political retribution and based on no evidence whatsoever," Brad Parscale said in a statement.

Here's the full statement from the Trump campaign:

"President Trump has been fully and completely exonerated yet again. Now the tables have turned, and it’s time to investigate the liars who instigated this sham investigation into President Trump, motivated by political retribution and based on no evidence whatsoever. There is simply no denying that ‘spying did occur’ on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, as Attorney General Barr himself noted in testimony before Congress. Barr went on to testify that there was a 'failure among a group of leaders there at the upper echelon [of the FBI]… [and] I feel I have an obligation to make sure that government power is not abused.’ Now that the collusion and obstruction conspiracy theories have been exposed for the pathetic hoaxes they always were, the Obama-era DOJ and FBI must answer for their misdeeds and the scam that they perpetrated against the American people. Justice will be served."

12:42 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

Mueller cites Congress' right to investigate the President

From CNN's Jeremy Herb

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report lays out the case for why Congress is able to investigate and take action against President Trump on obstruction of justice.

In the report, Mueller provided a legal justification for why the special counsel was able to investigate obstruction of justice, even if they could not indict a sitting President.

The lengthy section, citing legal precedents, also alludes to Congress’ power under checks-and-balances to investigate and potentially impeach the President over obstruction of justice.

“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President's corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law,” the report states

See it:

12:29 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate calls on Barr to resign

Democratic presidential candidate Eric Swalwell has called for Attorney General William Barr to step down following today’s news conference.

Here's what he said in a statement:

"He has proved that he’s an embedded Trump ally who puts this President’s political future above of the rule of law. That makes him unfit to serve. He must resign."

Swalwell is a member of the House Judiciary Committee

“You can be the President’s defense attorney or America’s Attorney General, but you can’t be both," he said. "William Barr was tainted from the moment he sent an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department panning Robert Mueller’s obstruction investigation, way back in June 2018."

12:25 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

Mueller declined to prosecute Jeff Sessions for perjury

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team declined to prosecute then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for making false statements or committing perjury to Congress during his confirmation hearing in part because of the inexact wording of the questions.

Sessions testified that he did not have communications with Russians during the campaign.

It was later revealed Sessions interacted with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak at the Republican National Convention and a campaign event at the Mayflower Hotel.

“The evidence is not sufficient to prove that Sessions gave knowingly false answers to Russia-related questions in light of the wording and context of those questions," the report said.

12:25 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

Mueller says Trump's public acts can be considered obstruction

From CNN's Laura Jarrett

The special counsel wrote about how the President’s public comments can be considered as obstruction efforts because of his power.

Here's what he said about President’s power:

"While it may be more difficult to establish that public-facing acts were motivated by a corrupt intent, the President’s power to influence actions, persons, and the events is enhanced by his unique ability to attract attention through use of mass communications. And no principle of law excludes public acts from the scope of obstruction statutes. If the likely effect of the acts is to intimidate witnesses or alter their testimony, the justice system’s integrity is equally threatened.
Although the series of events we investigated involved discrete acts — e.g. the President’s statement to (James) Comey about the (Michael) Flynn investigation, his termination of Comey, and his efforts to remove the special counsel — it is important to view the President’s patter of conduct as a whole. That pattern sheds light on the nature of the President’s acts and the inferences that can be drawn about his intent.”

See it:

12:17 p.m. ET, April 18, 2019

Why Mueller declined to prosecute Donald Trump, Jr.

From CNN's Kara Scannell

Robert Mueller's team declined to prosecute Donald Trump, Jr. and members of the campaign for campaign finance violations for their participation in the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in part because they couldn't prove that they "willfully" violated the law.

Here's what it says in the report:

"Taking into account the high burden to establish a culpable mental state in a campaign-finance prosecution and the difficulty in establishing the required valuation, the office decided not to pursue criminal campaign-finance charges against Trump Jr. or other campaign officials for the events culminating in the June 9 meeting."

Mueller's team explained: "The office ultimately concluded that, even if the principal legal questions were resolved favorably to the government, a prosecution would encounter difficulties proving that campaign officials or individuals connected to the campaign willfully violated the law."