This is what happens after the publication by Robert Mueller of his report on Russia

WASHINGTON – Special advocate Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 elections is about to end, but the political and legal battle around his work has barely begun.

Lawmakers on both sides are considering lobbying for access to the report that will likely mark the end of Mueller's work, but also the evidence gathered during a nearly two-year investigation and deeply attached to Donald Trump's presidential campaign and administration. The claims would almost certainly trigger a battle between Congress and the Department of Justice.

Mueller has indicted 34 people, including Russian intelligence agents and some of Trump's closest associates and advisers. In doing so, he revealed a wealth of details about Russia's sophisticated efforts to influence the 2016 election and a campaign to reap the rewards of this activity. What he could add in a final report remains unclear.

Legislators – particularly the newly powerful Democrats in the House, who have launched a barrage of investigations into the president and who do not hide the fact that they may be the precursors of a dismissal investigation – are exploring ways to force the administration to reverse the conclusions and to prove them. might prefer to keep the secret.

"We are waiting for the full report," said Judge Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y. "If we do not get it, we'll do what we have to do to get it, if that means assign it, we'll do it."

The first action belongs to Attorney General William Barr, Mueller's boss.

He must decide which part of Mueller's final report will be made public. According to the rules of the Department of Justice, the special advocate must give Barr a confidential report once he has finished, explaining why he has accused some people and not others. Barr said that he would determine the work share of Mueller's Congress.

Any decision seems certain to provoke a fight.

The representative of Georgia, Republican Doug Collins, High Representative of the Judiciary Committee, said that he expected the Democrats to maneuver to get the report and other evidence collected by Mueller, even though he thought it would exonerate Trump.

"It's going to be a legal battle," said Collins.

House committees have begun asking for documents at the White House as part of in-depth investigations into Trump and his eponymous company. Lawmakers gathered testimony from Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, and opened a corruption investigation by sending requests for documents to 81 individuals and organizations associated with the president, including the White House, his private company, and his colleagues. children.

Trump called the investigations "presidential harassment".

The House Democrats intend to intensify and broaden their investigations, building on what they believe to be the relatively narrow foundation of the Mueller report on the interference of the elections in Russia in a broader quest for public corruption, obstruction of justice and foreign influence on American politics.

"We will certainly bring in a number of witnesses, some new, some already before the committee," said Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Who heads the House's intelligence committee and investigated the interference of Russia in the government. election, efforts of foreign powers to influence Trump and his financial complications. "We have a lot of work to do."

Republicans, who resist investigations in the House that they see as reasons for dismissal from the president, nevertheless adopted the idea of ​​getting Mueller's findings. After two years of anticipation, Collins said he expected a report that will not reveal any fault on the part of Trump.

"Suddenly, Christmas has arrived and no presents," Collins said.

Attorney General is custodian

After Mueller submits his report, Barr must decide how much he can disclose to Congress or the public.

"I also think it's very important that the public and Congress be informed of the results of the special council's work," Barr told senators at his confirmation of charges hearing in January. "My goal will be to provide as much transparency as possible in accordance with the law."

Barr stated that he would keep classified information, grand jury information and information subject to the privilege of the executive. It remains to be seen how much these would apply to Mueller's work, but Barr told lawmakers that he "would not tolerate an effort to withhold such information for improper purposes, such as concealing wrongdoing. "

Barr said the Ministry of Justice should not disclose "derogatory" information about people who are not accused of crimes. His legal adviser's office has taken the position that a sitting president can not be charged. Democrats feared that the combination of these policies would justify Trump's retention of information. Barr said that he would not let political interests influence his judgment.

Bruce Udolf, a former federal prosecutor and independent associate attorney at the Whitewater Inquiry, said he was confident that Barr would release what he could.

"I would be very surprised that Barr does not publish much of what Mueller has prepared," said Udolf, a private law firm in Florida. "As long as it does not, I would think that there would be a good reason."

One of the reasons is that some information is protected by other federal laws. The Mueller investigation has largely used the grand juries to gather evidence, but federal law imposes strict limits on the disclosure of evidence obtained. Some of the topics on which Mueller studies have drawn from classified information; even the lists of subjects covered by the survey have been classified.

"This idea that Congress will assign Bob Mueller to appear and tell him," Prepare all grand jury documents and give them to me, "said Patrick Cotter, former federal prosecutor, in private practice in Chicago.

Democratic legislators have said they would not have much patience with some of these arguments. The Department of Justice sent the Republican majority in Congress more than 880,000 pages of documents last June regarding the ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's mail server investigation, a case in which no one was continued, noted Schiff.

"The Justice Department can not now maintain a different policy," said Schiff.

Legislators wait for Mueller report

Lawmakers on both sides are eager to hear what Mueller has discovered, or because they expect his work to exonerate the president, or to involve him.

The two key lawmakers of the House's Intelligence Committee said it was important for Congress to get Mueller's report.

"If it publishes a report, you will see people claiming that we have to make it public. It's very good. But I want everything that Mueller has made public to have been made public, "said the conservative political action conference Devin Nunes, R-Calif. "I want all the emails. I want everyone to be tapping. All the mandates that they have obtained. All that Mueller has used must be made public for all of America. "

Collins said the Republicans were not trying to divulge classified evidence or grand jury but rather information that illustrates that the Democrats go too far for reprehensible acts that do not exist.

Schiff, who has often run into Nunes, has widely agreed to disclose as much information as possible about the Mueller investigation. Schiff said the special council had gathered so much evidence from so many people in the inner circle of Trump's political orbit – including adviser Roger Stone and former campaign president Paul Manafort – that the only way for Congress to see the details was to get them from the Department of Justice.

Udolf warned that lawmakers do not interfere with the evidence before a grand jury, because prosecutors should be trusted to do their job.

"It would discredit an investigation by just adding a political taint that should not be otherwise," Udolf said. "People tend to see things that politicians do with a yellowish eye."

On February 22, six Speakers of House Committees wrote to Barr saying that full disclosure of information would "interest the general public" "about the nature and scope of the Russian government's efforts to undermine our democracy." ".

"We are writing to express in the strongest possible terms our expectation that the Department of Justice release the report that Special Advocate Mueller submits to you – without delay and to the fullest extent permitted by law", said the presidents. .

Lawmakers on both sides said they were relying on Mueller's office to disclose the facts and determine if anyone had committed a crime.

"We need a comprehensive and comprehensive report on the investigation in order to know the reality," said Senator John Cornyn, a member of the R-Texas Intelligence Committee. "He has a special responsibility, which is to conduct a criminal investigation, and we have a different responsibility, which is of a more political nature."

The most powerful tool of Congress to obtain this information would be a subpoena, but the assignment of Mueller's report or his testimony could trigger a legal battle against the Department of Justice, which could attempt to to persuade a judge to keep certain secret files. The House Oversight Committee has taken legal action against the government to obtain documents related to the Department's investigation into the operation of firearms called Operation Fast and Furious, which has lasted more than six years.

"Some evidence is in the possession of the special advocate," said Schiff about the possible need for a subpoena. "If it's not shared, then the American public will never have any history."

Collins, the Republican magistrate, said that the department had long been fighting to avoid disclosing classified information, coming from a grand jury or as part of an ongoing investigation. He added that prosecutors might want to keep other details secret because they are pursuing other Trump-related investigations that will continue after the closure of the Mueller case.

"This is historically something that the DOJ has been fighting for," Collins said. "They have never published this information, and we do not expect it to happen now."

Representative Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Said that in some cases, Mueller could not prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, but that Congress could still take action.

"I hope at the very least, if there is any finding of wrongdoing, that it comes back to the Judiciary Committee of the House," said Swalwell, a member of the intelligence committee and former Alameda County Attorney. "If information were provided to us on how we could protect our country in the future, it would go to the House Intelligence Committee."

He stated that Congress was responsible for using this information to avoid any interference.

"At the end of the day, our job is to tell the Americans what Russia did, how they did it, who they worked with, what the government's response was and if it was adequate," said Swalwell. of all this, recommend reforms to prevent this from happening again. "

The investigation could leave details in suspense

The lawsuits initiated by Mueller's office could last for months, even after the closure of his investigation.

Mueller's investigation culminated in a series of criminal prosecutions against a half-dozen of Trump's closest aides and advisers, many of whom have not yet succeeded.

As Mueller's office prepares to close its doors, he has begun to turn the business over to other branches. Department of Justice, including its national security attorneys and its US law offices in Washington and Virginia. Prosecutors in New York could pursue cases involving the Trump Organization.

A criminal case against Stone last January accuses him of lying to Congress about his interactions with the WikiLeaks group, according to prosecutors, who allegedly published e-mails stolen by a Russian intelligence service. According to an excerpt from the indictment against Stone, after sending an e-mail in July 2016, "a senior Trump campaigner had been instructed" to contact Stone for get new information.

Stone, who has maintained his innocence, could be judged this year.

Prosecutors have not yet resolved their case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and Political Officer Rick Gates. Both men pleaded guilty to federal charges, but their sentences were delayed in order to provide information to the investigators.

Mueller's office is still fighting two lawsuits in an attempt to gather evidence that prosecutors have found important to their investigation.

In one of them, Andrew Miller, a former Stone assistant, challenged a summons to appear before a grand jury, arguing that any special investigator 's investigation was illegal. . Two courts rejected this argument, but Miller's lawyers said they could take the case to the Supreme Court.

In the other, the Mueller office seeks to force an anonymous company to hand over the files to a grand jury. The company, which belongs to an unidentified country, has refused to comply and faces a fine of $ 50,000 a day until it returns the records. His challenge is pending before the Supreme Court.

Learn more about the milestones of the Mueller investigation:

Mueller's investigation into Russia: Trump's legal team is preparing to report, has not spoken with a special advocate for several weeks

The testimony of Michael Cohen raises a new question: in Trump's web-based surveys, are there any people safe?

Robert Mueller spent two years investigating Trump and he did not say a word. It is possible that he will never do it.

Robert Mueller: Here's what to expect in the documents filed Friday by the court against Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen

Michael Flynn reappears as a major witness in Robert Mueller's investigation – and at least two other

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