What about the essays in the report of Russia's Robert Mueller investigation: NPR

What's behind all the black bars in Robert Mueller's investigation report? Congress members could get an answer – eventually.

Congressional Democrats are preparing to step up their political war with the Department of Justice to gain access to Mueller's full report. The House of Representatives could soon vote to declare the Attorney General or other people guilty of contempt of Congress.

This dispute could be litigated, and it is unclear how long it will take to resolve it. But if lawmakers eventually win, they – and potentially the public – could find out more about Mueller's discoveries during his investigation, which lasted about 22 months.

Here are some important excerpts from Mueller's report, explaining why they were masked and what they might reveal if they were ever unmasked. Click on the images or links below to view the excerpt in the context of the full report.

"Dozens of rallies"

This redacted section raises as many questions as she answers.

What motivated the strategy of Russia's "Internet Research Agency" in organizing the "dozens" of gatherings that investigators associated with its activities?

The last readable passage here before the writing indicates that "the reach and success of these rallies have been closely monitored" – suggesting that this aspect of the campaign was not random. The page that follows this one in the document is entirely black.

What prompted the Russians to choose which places or which themes? Who was responsible for this aspect of the interference?

The investigators say that they found no American who helped organize these actual rallies and who knew that they were dealing with strangers abroad.

Although this suggests that there was no conspiracy with anyone in the United States, it also shows how difficult it can be to prevent the Russians or another foreign power from interfering in this way. .

It was enough for these hangmen to pretend to be Americans on Facebook and to turn to real politically active Americans to solicit their help to bring people together, organize halls – and even hire people to dress or perform.

Cyberattacks on state targets

Specialists of Russian political interference have not only been mired by social unrest. They have also widely used cyberattacks, including those related to state-level election officials, their suppliers, and security forces. 39; others.

This section suggests that the US intelligence community knows much more about these cyber attacks. But to reveal how the US authorities would learn that what happened would jeopardize the "investigative techniques," according to this section, so this section is heavily worded.

Since 2016, national and local election officials have complained that they have been kept informed of these attacks and are still not pleased with their relationship with the FBI or the Department of Homeland Security.

Federal officials, meanwhile, said that they were often limited by what they could reveal – because of "investigative techniques" or other reasons.

For example, Florida governor Ron DeSantis has just revealed that two counties in his state had been compromised by cyberattacks – but he could not say which ones or further discuss the briefing he had received from the FBI.

Passages such as this one, if they were revealed in their entirety, would give a fascinating look not only at the extent of US cyber vulnerabilities during the last presidential election, but also at the level of FBI knowledge. and the National Security Agency.

The WikiLeaks connection

The most famous cyberattacks in Russia are those that have generated a huge amount of data stolen by political targets across the United States, including Democrats.

The Russian military intelligence service, the GRU, published part of what he had stolen and gave other documents to WikiLeaks. Trump's campaign was apparently so pleased with the revelations of WikiLeaks that she was looking to find out more about what was going to happen in order to exploit it if possible.

This section describes "the excitement" then voiced by campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, at the prospect of WikiLeaks' publications, and how he told then vice president, Rick Gates, to stay in touch with someone – probably political consultant Roger Stone – to learn more. .

Stone was accused of lying to Congress and trying to obstruct his investigation when he examined the potential link between WikiLeaks. He pleaded not guilty and said that he did nothing wrong.

Regardless of how the Trump campaign staff received information about WikiLeaks, they expected more outflows of stolen material, the report said. The campaign has even apparently incorporated this information into its current plans, as described in this section.

Mueller's office finally concluded that this eagerness over WikiLeaks did not constitute a criminal conspiracy.

Carter Page's trip to Moscow

The survey of a junior foreign policy advisor, Carter Page, is a sub-parcel of the survey of Russia that could live the longest in Washington.

Republican critics cite the Page case as an example of what they call an abuse of power by the FBI and the Department of Justice in 2016. Officials have collected the Page's communications – including afterwards. inauguration of Trump – based in part on questions regarding Page contacts with Russians. But Page has not been the subject of criminal charges.

Nevertheless, the exact nature of Page's activities remains uncertain, as described in this section. Neither investigators from the House Intelligence Committee nor Mueller's office have ever said that they fully understood what he did.

Page history and the use of supervisory powers by the investigator to monitor it are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice and will likely be conducted. Of more attention from the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Donald Trump Jr. meeting in New York

Another sub-plot of the ongoing investigation of Russia is the story of Donald Trump Jr. welcoming a Russian delegation to Trump Tower after promising he would be "dirty" for Hillary Clinton.

The Justice Department has concluded that Trump Jr. and the other participants – Jared Kushner, the brother-in-law of Manafort and Trump Jr. – would not be the subject of criminal charges related to the meeting.

Some questions about this and the subsequent investigation, however, remain unresolved, including whether Trump Jr. could have invoked the privilege of his fifth amendment not to testify before a grand jury. That's what writing suggests in this section.

Under the Constitution, Trump Jr. has the right not to testify – but if the Democrats could establish with certainty that he had any, this could be the basis of political attacks against him and the president.

Trump has always despised the 5th Amendment, suggesting that the people who use it have no other reason than to hide their guilt.

The grand jury documents, however, are secret – that is why this section is written and why the Attorney General, Barr, says that he can not reveal anything about it to anyone, including to members of Congress. This is one of the foundations of the slow confrontation between Barr and the Judiciary Committee of the House.

Trump Jr., meanwhile, could be questioned about the Trump Tower meeting by members of Congress before the end of the conflict between Democrats in the House and the administration. Trump Jr. agreed to respond to a subpoena from the Senate Intelligence Committee and to speak with members of Congress.

This session could tell more about the Russian saga long before the dispute over the full report on Mueller is resolved.