What will he find? : NPR

Updated at 13:25. AND

President Trump gave Attorney General William Barr the keys to the safe.

The White House said it would mean that it may be more free to reveal wrongdoing when it finds out. Democrats call this an attempt to scare political "weapons".

Trump has authorized Barr to "downgrade, downgrade or direct the declassification or to downgrade information or intelligence" related to the origins of the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, in accordance with a official order.

The memo not only indicated how much Trump wanted Barr to continue the efforts he had discussed to review the beginnings of the investigation – and the use of the law by public servants and their powers of investigation. Investigation – but also to quickly get what Barr discovers.

Republicans say the special council report, Robert Mueller, revealed that the report had not established a plot between his campaign and Russia's interference in the elections, despite contacts he had made between councilors of Trump and the Russians.

Mueller also has not taken a position as to the advisability of prosecuting Trump for obstruction of justice, so Barr did – and concluded that the President would not the subject of any charge.

All this, according to Trump's account, amounts to an inoculation – not only in terms of Russia's imbroglio, but against the broader issues raised about the potential exposure of Trump to foreign leverage , its finances or its business practices.

The president said, for example, that he assumed that Mueller had reviewed his tax returns, which he had never published – unlike many of his recent predecessors. As a result, Trump further asserts that Mueller has concluded to the absence of wrongdoing to report in this area, which is why no mention was made in Mueller's report.

In short, Mueller's report was a turning point for Trump, he said: after cooperating with and making available to investigators documents and witnesses, the president claimed that he was not going to be able to do anything. had done nothing wrong and had avoided the need for further investigations.

The president told the Democrats this week that there could not be two "leads", one on which they continue to investigate and also negotiate with him about infrastructure or infrastructure. other priorities.

In addition, says Trump, it is now time for the pendulum to swing and Barr investigate the "crimes" that the president declared this week and that were committed by "the other party".

"I think it's very important for our country to find out what happened," Trump told the press on Friday as he was preparing to board Marine One. .

Warning about "militarization"

The Democrats complain that Barr has squandered any credibility he might have had to be considered an independent officer in the administration.

They evoke what they called lies, he told Congress, his refusal to cooperate with the monitoring and how he handled the publication of the Mueller report.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi of D-Calif., Calls the government's actions "concealment", and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff of D-Calif., Said Trump's order authorizing Barr to downgrade what he learns about the investigation of Russia is the last part of it.

"While Trump prevents the public from learning the truth about his obstruction of justice, Trump and Barr conspire to turn the forces of order and classified information into weapons against their political enemies." in a new and dangerous phase.It is anti-American. " Schiff wrote.

The man that no one knows

A problem with the understanding of all these exchanges is that only a few insiders know for sure what Mueller has examined and not, and what that means or not means on the more general issues of Trump.

All that is clear in Mueller's report, is that he has spent a number of investigations at other departmental agencies, which means that the issue of wrongdoing and potential charges are not settled.

The last annex of the report describes 14 cases of swarming, of which a dozen fully written, concealing their details.

This means that the White House may be more blameworthy and bad news. It's unclear who knows how long – and who knows how close to polling day next year.

Judicial cases are also progressing with respect to subpoenas to Trump's banking and financial records, bringing them closer to the Democratic investigators.

So, Trump's order for Barr encourages him to plumb secret records in order to counter-program when necessary and, more broadly, to try to preserve the political momentum that the Supporters say they have taken Mueller's conclusions.

The feds and "spying"

In the narrative of Trump and his supporters, the Russian imbroglio speaks of "spying" of former President Barack Obama's government on the Trump campaign – biased "conspirators" abusing their powers to try to prevent Trump from being elected.

"They tried to make a takedown," Trump said Friday. "It can not happen."

Officials from the Justice Ministry and the FBI denied the allegations and sought to calm the language of politicians. Yes, they say, officials monitored Trump's helpers who were in contact with strangers, but in accordance with the law and as part of an investigation into a historic outbreak of "active measures" taken by Russia against the United States.

Espionage "is not the term I would use" to describe what the FBI does, said director Christopher Wray to members of Congress this month.

But that's the term that Barr continues to use – with Trump – to designate the president, his campaign and his administration as victims of what Trump calls "treason. "

It is still unclear what Barr and other Justice Department officials might find out about the initial phase of the investigation into Russia, which has already been the subject of investigation. intense attention from Congress and the press, but Barr and others can focus on a few key areas.

First, the use of confidential informants, especially in the UK in the summer of 2016.

The investigation into Russia began after an Australian diplomat informed the United States that a Trump campaign assistant, George Papadopoulos, had revealed that he was communicating with the Russian government about a possible help to the Trump campaign.

The FBI reacted, in part, by using one or more confidential human sources to meet with Trump's advisors to find out more about what was going on. If there was more to this story than what we know today, expect to hear about it under the "spying" theme.

Barr has appointed US lawyer John Durham apparently to examine this phase of the Russian case. It is not clear if this could mean that there could be criminal charges or if Durham could write his own report.

Second, the use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Officials sought and received a warrant from a judge to collect communications from another junior assistant to Trump who had met the Russians, Carter Page.

Much of the information used in the application came from the infamous Russian file of former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, whose work had been endorsed by the Democrats.

Mueller's report suggests that much of the file has been deflated or can not be proven.

The Inspector General of the Department of Justice, Michael Horowitz, is working on a report on this chapter of this saga and he could table a report this summer. Page has never been charged and he and his supporters claimed that his civil rights had been violated.

The full story has never been clear: the Republican House of Representatives intelligence committee and Mueller's office both ended up with unanswered questions about Page's trip to Moscow and his contacts with Russians.

On this point and others, there is no evidence that even a survey of the investigation could provide an answer.