What to look for in the Trump-Russia survey of the special advocate

WASHINGTON – The pending report of special advocate Robert Mueller on his investigation of President Donald Trump and Russia's campaign to influence the 2016 election ends Thursday.

Attorney General William Barr will hold a press conference at 9:30 am on the publication of a redacted version of Mueller's report. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller in 2017 and who oversaw much of the Special Advisor's investigation until Barr's confirmation as Attorney General in February , will also be present at the press conference.

The report should be presented to Congress between 11 am and noon, Eastern Time, and will likely be made public at the same time.

The sprawling investigation, begun in secret a few months before Trump's election, did not reveal that the president or members of his campaign had plotted with Russia's efforts to influence the 39 election in his favor, Barr wrote in a four-page congressional letter summarizing Mueller's main findings. . But Barr said the special council had declined to determine whether Trump had sought to obstruct the investigation.

Mueller's report covers nearly 400 pages. Until now, the audience has seen less than 100 words.

What the full document says about the president, his campaign and his interactions with the investigation could shape the immediate future of Trump's presidency.

Investigators working for Mueller plunged deep into Trump's campaign and administration, and accused six of his closest advisers of federal crimes. Although the investigation did not disclose that Trump himself had committed a crime, the investigation had most certainly generated a wealth of information about the Trump administration, which were not all flattering. The report should detail the evidence gathered by Mueller's office and explain why he reached his conclusions.

The public will probably have a lot to unwrap. Here are five key things to look for:

Links between the Trump campaign and Russia

In his letter to legislators, Barr said Trump's campaign had received "multiple offers" of assistance from people affiliated with Russia, but he did not provide any details on the nature of these offers or their results. The report can describe the offers and the reaction of the Trump campaign.

Mueller's office described in detail some of these contacts during the hearings, including meetings between a young campaign assistant, George Papadopoulos, and a person who he said was linked to the Russian government, boasting of the fact that he had been involved in the process. to have gotten "dirty" for Hillary Clinton. A few months later, the highest officials of the campaign went to Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer claiming to have detrimental information about Clinton. And Paul Manafort transmitted the data of a poll to an FBI associate, suspected of being tied to Russian intelligence, while he was running the Trump campaign.

The investigators never revealed what they had done with these contacts. Barr said the special attorney's investigation had determined that they were not constituting a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. But what other conclusions, if any, did they draw from these encounters?

Proof of obstruction

Barr wrote in his letter that Mueller and his team had reviewed Trump 's "number of actions". He also wrote that "most" of these have been reported publicly, raising an obvious question about episodes that have not yet been revealed.

Barr wrote that "instead of" making a traditional judgment of the prosecutor, Mueller's report "sets out evidence on both sides of the question" on the obstruction.This suggests that the report might reveal evidence that could be good or bad for the President. "Specifically, Mueller wrote, according to Barr's quote, that the report" does not exonerate "Trump, raising questions about actions that the President has taken that does not are not up to the height of a crime, but may nevertheless be worrying.

The report could explain why Mueller declined to draw a conclusion on the obstruction. And that could reveal much more in detail what happened at the White House during the special advocate's investigation.

Trump, Moscow and Michael Cohen

In addition to conversations between campaign assistants and apparent Russian emissaries, one of Trump's connections to Moscow was an effort by his company to build a tower there.

Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to the timing of this bill by deceitful lawmakers, saying it had ended early in 2016, when it was over. was pursued until Trump had practically secured the candidacy of the Republican. Cohen testified that he informed Trump and some of his children about the project, which never materialized, even though Trump publicly refused any commercial interest in Russia during the 2016 campaign.

Cohen later testified before Congress that Trump had encouraged him to lie to lawmakers about the project. He also said that some of the president's lawyers had reviewed and corrected his false statements before delivering them to Congress. The lawyers deny the charges.

Mueller's report could shed light on the aggressiveness of the investigators in Trump's trade relations with Russia and the fact that they believe that Cohen's story was encouraged to lie.

Russian efforts to influence the election

Mueller had already provided ample evidence of Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections. After indicting several Russian nationals, Mueller and his team revealed information about fake social media campaigns aimed at to target the deep political divisions of the Americans and piracy operations by a military intelligence service targeting Clinton and other democratic organizations. Prosecutors said the Russian intelligence services had sent stolen emails to the WikiLeaks anti-secret group, which had published them at times apparently likely to harm the Clinton campaign.

This evidence is largely consistent with an assessment by US intelligence agencies in early 2017 that the Russian government had attempted to intervene in the 2016 elections, in part to help Trump win the House of Commons victory. white.

The report could reveal more information on the scale and purpose of Russia's efforts. And this could give a glimpse of when Trump's campaign learned about the hacking operation, which Trump had rented on several occasions.

So many other mysteries

Almost all public developments in the investigation of special advocates left unanswered questions.

Take Roger Stone. The Republican operator and longtime Trump advisor has been accused of lying to Congress about the campaign's efforts to better understand the damaging material obtained by WikiLeaks. Mueller's attorneys claimed that Stone had informed "senior officials of the Trump campaign" about stolen material owned by WikiLeaks and the publication of these materials. They also alleged that a senior campaign manager had been "instructed" to contact Stone. Mueller's report could provide more information on what prosecutors think the campaign knew.

Who gave this direction? Until now, prosecutors have not said.

Former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his contacts with the Russians during the transition before Trump took office, and then agreed to to cooperate with prosecutors. So far, none of them has said what information he had provided to the special council, nor why he had lied.

And there are other issues, big and small: who is the anonymous congressional candidate who allegedly sought to hack documents about an opponent in the 2016 election to Russian intelligence officers posing for as an online activist? What is the anonymous congressman who, according to former Trump campaign collaborator, Rick Gates, met his former boss, Manafort, in 2013, as part of the illicit lobbying that they are carrying out in Ukraine? What will it say in the report on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign collaborator, who was targeted for covert surveillance in 2016 after the FBI declared that he had evidence that he was working with Moscow ?

Mueller's report could finally provide answers to all these questions. Or none.

Information redacted

Barr stated that the Ministry of Justice would disguise information about grand jury proceedings, widely used by Mueller during his investigation, as well as information that could undermine intelligence sources and methods, as well as undermine privacy and the interests of "peripheral" third parties.

The Justice Ministry also said Wednesday in a document filed by the court that it had canceled information relating to pending criminal cases arising from Mueller's investigation. This includes the case against Stone.

The ministry, however, indicated that it planned to "make available for review" a less redacted version of the report to "a limited number" of legislators and their collaborators. This version, which will not be available to the media and the public, will show information about the charges against Stone, according to the rankings.

Results: The investigation revealed no evidence of conspiracy from Russia and leaves open the question of obstruction

Letter: Read the summary of the main results of AG William Barr

Contributors: Bart Jansen, Brad Heath and Kevin Johnson

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