. we get actually quite a bit from the letter that attorney general bill barr did send to the chairs of those committees, to democratic congressman jerry nadler and the house and republican senator lindsey graham in the senate. those are the two judiciary chairs. the letter was also addressed to doug collins the top republican on the committee in the house and dianne feinstein who's the top democrat on the committee in the senate. it's addressed to those four people. and it does actually give us kind of a lot. here's how it starts, dear chairman graham, chairman nadler, ranking member fine steen and ranking member collins. i write to notify that you robert s. mueller the third has concluded his investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election and related matters. under the special counsel regulations, the attorney general is required to notify these specific people. the regulations spell out that the attorney general has to notify the chair and ranking members of the judiciary committees in the house and the senate and those are the people who need to be notified, and they

barr did send to the chairs of those committees, to democratic congressman jerry nadler and the house and republican senator lindsey graham in the senate. those are the two judiciary chairs. the letter was also addressed to doug collins the top republican on the committee in the house and dianne feinstein who's the top democrat on the committee in the senate. it's addressed to those four people. and it does actually give us kind of a lot. here's how it starts, dear chairman graham, chairman nadler, ranking member fine steen and ranking member collins. i write to notify that you robert s. mueller the third has concluded his investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election and related matters. under the special counsel regulations, the attorney general is required to notify these specific people. the regulations spell out that the attorney general has to notify the chair and ranking members of the judiciary committees in the house and the senate and those are the people who need to be notified, and they need to be notified of three things, number one the appointment of the spe

hand picked attorney general barr and asserting that the president did not obstruct justice. now, here are the facts. first, the mueller probe did add without indictments for lack of conspiracy and collusion and the barr letter, this is the biggest news of the night if not the year, it did note that. this did not exonerate president trump from obstruction of justice. that whole issue remains open and that's according to the best presentation of the evidence on behalf of donald trump by his own attorney general barr. this is what you need to know tonight. barr's letter today, tonight, tries to go much farther than what mueller found on obstruction. and you're going to hear a lot about this tonight and the coming days. it tries to declare that donald trump who appointed barr did not obstruct justice. now let me give you exactly what we have. insufficient evidence to establish collusion. no conclusion on obstruction. he quotes mueller as stating that the mueller probe did not establish that members of the trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the russian government in electio

general barr put together, it would it seems to me that that is a substantial finding there. and i think it's good news for, you know, for the president and for his campaign. >> good news for the president. before we turn to obstruction, let's talk about the letter. all we have today is the four-page barr letter, not the mueller report. what does it say to you that barr's letter never quotes even a complete sentence from the mueller report, let alone a paragraph? >> it's a little troublesome because you look at the letter and you're trying to figure how much of this is barr, how much of this is mueller, how much of this is based on the mueller findings. i think it all points to the fact that at the end of the day, congress, the public are going to have to get access to the mueller report. and also, i think here from both bob mueller and from attorney general barr. >> when you were attorney general, would you ever get prosecutors providing information without a charging recommendation? >> i was attorney general for six years, third longest serving attorney general in the history of the un

will start to emerge now. we get actually quite a bit from the letter that attorney general bill barr did send to the chair of those committees, to jerry nadler in the house and republican senator lindsey graham in the senate, those are the two judiciary chairs. the letter was addressed to the ranking members, to doug collins, the top republican and diane feinstein. it's addressed to those four people. the letter is one page and gives us kind of a lot. here is how it starts. dear chairman graham and nadler, i write to notify you pursuant to the special counsel regulations that special counsel robert s. mueller, iii concluded the investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election and related matters. under the special counsel regulations, the attorney general is required to notify the specific people, the regulations spell out that the attorney general has to notify the chair and ranking members of the judiciary committees in the house and the senate, and those are the people that need to be notified and need to be notified of three things. number one, the appointment of the sp

attorney general william barr, subpoenas for both of those cabinet officials over the huge legal controversy that has erupted over wilbur ross intervening in the census to try to add a citizenship question to it. this is a matter on which federal courts have repeatedly squished commerce secretary wilbur ross like a bug. now he is being subpoenaed by congress along with the attorney general to answer to them on that issue, as well. again, both of those stories delivering tonight -- developing tonight, both of them breaking late on a friday naturally. and i think in part this is just our life now and the pace in which things happen with this new era that we're in but really it feels like it's specifically our way we celebrate friday nights. all right. what is it about fridays? last friday, for example, you'll remember that was when we got this letter from newly appointed attorney general bill barr announcing that the special counsel robert mueller had completed his work. last friday is when bill barr told us that mueller had completed his work and submitted a written report about w

mueller report. attorney general william barr has a new letter that's begun to characterize special counsel robert mueller's report. first the letter makes it clear on the issue of election conspiracy bob mueller did not find chargeable conclusion. barr quotes mueller is stating members did not establish the campaign did not establish or coordinate with with the russian government in election activities. -- what barr himself writes, the report left unresolved what mueller viewed as difficult issues of law in fact concerning whether the president's actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction. dud not conclude the president committed a crime. barr also notes the report does not exonerate him. that is pretty important. barr's letter today tries to go further and declare donald trump who, appointed barr did not obstruct justice. quote we've concluded the evidence is not sufficient to establish the president committed an obstruction of justice offense. that's very important what you see here there and we have a special tonight that is going to tell you everything you need to know a

traditional -- seriously. this was ta fascinating day to e at work. your stuff about the barr report was freaking spot on. >> appreciate that. >>> in 1974 leon was investigating watergate related to issues within the nixon administration. the special prosecutor was cox. president nixon had to fire his way up to fire cox, the first special prosecutor for him having the demand that the nixon white house follow law and obey court orders and hand over material relevant to the investigation. cox got fired. leon jaworski was the successor and if the nixon white house was hoping for somebody to be intimidated and hoping for somebody more crowd, somebody that would be less aggressive and felt at least implicitly threatened by the way cox had been ousted on direct orders from the president, that was not what they got with leon jaworski. he was rock ribbed and straightforward and unintimidated and 45 years ago this month, leon jaworski assembled this 62-page document. summarizing material that the watergate grand jury had obtained that was relevant to understanding the president's own c

debate and dispute over this, because this was not mueller's definitive word. this was bob barr's word. this is where they'll be a fight. again, politically the toothpaste is already out of the tube as they say. >> yeah. >> so, you know, this isn't getting resolved in this country until november 2020. >> no doubt about that. i think what we can take from this is that the investigations will continue in congress, but ultimately and who knows how long it will take to potentially see the rest of this report, or what we are able to see, but ultimately this is going to go to voters in 2020 and what the president's going to do, chuck, and the steve bannon's made this clear and anybody who followed the 2016 campaign would assume as well, he's going to use this to his advantage and the way he's used it already in the past two years saying that it's all a witch-hunt in respect was no collusion, there was no conspiracy. when they couldn't find conspiracy or collusion they moved on to something else. i am the victim here. >> it's been good politics for him. it is how he spins up his base. it

. bill barr notifying congress that he will release robert mueller's report by april. senate judiciary committees. i share your desire to insure that the public had the opportunity to read the special report. what barrs decide to redact and why is tern so become the subject of scrutiny amid calls from democrats for maximum transparency. bar and his letter addressed concerns that president trump and his attorneys will use executive privilege to conceal personal damage. has stated publicly he tends to defer to me and accordingly there are no plans to submit the report to the white house for privilege review. barr also confirming he will testify before the senate judiciary committee on may 1 and before house judiciary the next day and that is where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. "the new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker. nbc news national political reporter heidi przybyla. frank figliuzzi, former assistant director for counterintelligence at the fbi. former u.s. attorney joyce vance and nbc news national security and justice reporter

william barr is expected to release the main conclusions from the mueller report to congress. we are hearing that it is coming today. barr is at the u.s. justice department right now with deputy attorney general rod rosenstein reviewing the report. the president, well, he just returned to mar-a-lago just moments ago after spending the day at his golf club in west palm beach, florida while he, too, awaits the brief. cnn has a team of reporters and analysts standing by who have covered this story for nearly two years now. let's go to cakara scannell. the deputy attorney general and the attorney general about to release the details. in what way will they be released, do you know? >> we do expect the report to be delivered today, that's bill barr's report from the principal conclusions of the mueller investigation. that is expected to happen today, but the big questions still loom of what will we learn in this report? does it answer questions of obstruction of justice and collusion relating to the president's actions? do they explain why they did not interview the president and require a

, quote, comprehensive, and tonight it is in the hands of the attorney general bill barr who is still at the justice department right now reading the report. barr released this letter to the judiciary committee chairs and ranking members of the house and senate. i want to just read some of the crucial parts for you here. the letter says the special counsel robert s. mueller iii has concluded his investigation of russian interference into the 2016 election and related matters. it then continues. the special counsel has submitted to me today a confidential report explaining the prosecution or decoration decisions he's reached as required. i'm a position to advice you of the special counsel's principle conclusions as soon as this weekend. that's obviously crucial. separately, barr, continues, i intend to consult with deputy attorney rosenstein and potential counsel mueller to derm what information can be released to the public and congress consistent with the law including the department's long-standing practices and policies. i remain committed to as much transparency as possible, and i wi

justice department, to the new attorney general bill barr. bill barr has just submitted a four-page, single-spaced letter to congress with a lot of details. his conclusions on what robert mueller and his special counsel team came up with. bottom line, he concludes there was no collusion. the president keeps saying no collusion. the special counsel concludes there was no conspiracy, no solution, certainly not enough to prosecute anyone involving the trump administration. terms of coordination with russia during the u.s. presidential election. there's not enough evidence to go ahead and find that anyone obstructed justice, that the president did not obstruct justice, that the bottom line, they quote the special counsel in this letter, as saying while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. that's a direct quote from robert mueller's findings after nearly two years. evan perez is getting more information for us. what else are you learning? >> well, wolf, again, the top line is really the most important part of this investigation, t

barr has received this report and it will take some time to review. we have been waiting for this now for 22 months. this is not the end. this is actually just the beginning. another long process. the investigation into reports whether president trump or those around him conspired in russia's interference in the 2016 election. we know several of trump's associates have been taken into custody, charged in connection to mueller's investigation. the big question has been whether there was any collusion between the trump campaign or the president himself with the russians. that will be the big question presumablyr's report will seek to answer. givenr's report has been to attorney general william barr. it will take some time to review. this is only the beginning of the struggle between barr, lawmakers and the white house about how much of these findings and the evidence will be disclosed to the public. i'm reading our bloomberg news right up on this now which you can find on the terminal. this fight is likely to escalate the social media wars between the president and his critics. the

house and senate, newly appointed attorney general william barr has written a short narrative description of the content of the final report prepared by special counsel robert mueller, a final report which no one outside the upper reaches of the justice department and special counsel's office has apparently seen. in what barr describes as an initial review of mueller's report, he starts off describing the reach and effort put into mueller's investigation. quote, the special counsel employed 19 lawyers assisted by a team of approximately 40 fbi agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants and professional staff. the special counsel issued more than 2800 subpoenas that and executed nearly 500 search warrants and 230 orders for communication records and 50 orders authorizing the use of pen rergisters, and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses and boy, that's a lot of numbers. certainly seemed like an we've list of numbers of things. it would be more substantively illuminating to congress if we knew anything about the products of those 2,800 subpoenas or what those 13 for

talking about is attorney general bill barr's letter. it is a letter outlining the so-called principle conclusions of mueller's report. but how can a four-page letter that barely quotes from the actual mueller report represent the special counsel's exhaustive 22-month investigation? it seems like this letter is doing exactly what it is designed to do and that's substitute actual information from mueller's report where the analysis of president trump's political appointee. william barr has a lot of credibility in washington. he's known to be friends with robert mueller and he's served as attorney general and deputy attorney general during president george h.w. bush's administration. but that was over 25 years ago. barr has no track record as president trump's attorney general. he assumed office just last month. this was his first major decision as trump's attorney general. there's not a lot of people to go by in judging how independent he actually is from the president who appointed him. how will he and how would he be able to make any information in this report that may be potentially

pres ago william barr the attorney general of the united states put out thisert, summary if you will, of the mueller report. democrats still digging in and saying they want the entire report, we're likely to get some version in the middle. the president isn't shy about taking victory laps. we saw it at this rally in michigan. what do you think about how he's handling, we'll get to the democrats, how the. is handling what he sees as an exoneration? >> some people say it's premature. when you have good news to celebrate, celebrate the good news. it doesn't mean you won't get bad news, make the best much it. after a two-year cloud, you can argue more than that because it goes back into the campaign, about russia collusion, obstruction of justice, he got a clean bill of health on collusion and a largely positive, not completely clean, bill of health on obstruction. why not celebrate it and declare a victory and hold the rallies, energize him and the millions of people who support him. you see that in the rally last night. there may be bad news that comes out when we see more of the muell

mueller report. attorney general william barr has a new letter that's begun to characterize special counsel robert mueller's report. first the letter makes it clear on the issue of election conspiracy bob mueller did not find chargeable conclusion. barr quotes mueller is stating members did not establish the campaign did not establish or coordinate with with the russian government in election activities. -- what barr himself writes, the report left unresolved what mueller viewed as difficult issues of law in fact concerning whether the president's actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction. dud not conclude the president committed a crime. barr also notes the report does not exonerate him. that is pretty important. barr's letter today tries to go further and declare donald trump who, appointed barr did not obstruct justice. quote we've concluded the evidence is not sufficient to establish the president committed an obstruction of justice offense. that's very important what you see here there and we have a special tonight that is going to tell you everything you need to know a

are going to say there is collusion but barr won't tell us what it is and it'll go on and on and on. >> juan: this is a fox news alert. robert mueller has submitted his report to attorney general william barr. the special counsel has been probing alleged russian interference in 2016 election for the past 21 months. the move they'll setting up a potential showdown over how much of it will be made public. barr indicated he'll send his own summary of the findings to congress rather than mueller's actual report. while democrats have threatened to subpoena mueller to testify publicly about what he found. mueller's team has either indicted, convicted, or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people in three companies, including six former trump advisors and/or associates. dana, we just don't know who's been indicted, who has been exonerated, but the president in talking with maria bartolotta this morning says people will not stand for it if it indicates that there is some wrongdoing because he continues to say it was a witch hunt. >> dana: i want to take a step back and say of course the media cove

. attorney general bill barr notifying congress just in the last hour that he will release robert mueller's report by mid-april with redactions. barr writes in the letter to the chairman of the house and senate judiciary committees, quote, as we have discussed, i share your desire to ensure that congress and the public have the opportunity to read the special counsel's report. we are preparing the report for release, making theons that are required. the special counsel is assisting us in this process. what barr decides to redact and why is certain to become scrutiny and calls for democrats for maximum transparency. barr in his letter addressed concerns if president trump and his attorneys will use executive privilege to conceal damaging information. writing this, quote, although the president would have the right to assert privilege over certain parts of the report he has stated publicly he tends to defer to me and accordingly there are no plans to submit the report to the white house for privilege review. barr also confirming he will testify before the senate judiciary committee

obstruction of justice. that remains an open issue. we know that tonight because of what barr himself writes. that the report left unresolved concerning whether the president's action and intent could be viewed as obstruction. barr notes that mueller also does not exonerate him. so that's pretty important. but barr's letter today tries to go farther and declare donald trump who appointed barr did not obstruct justice. quote, rod rosenstein and i have concluded the evidence is not sufficient to establish the president committed an obstruction of justice defense -- offense. that's very important in what you see there. and we have a special tonight going to tell you everything you need to know about what is real and what we know from a probe that's now concluded and what may be less than real. because you will notice in any past probe of any president here say clinton or nixon, these kind of findings about obstruction were always referred to congress for it to judge or pass. so we have in this summary from barr tonight the clear out lines of a new fight from trump's hand picked attorney

hall. deal? i tried. the mueller report is complete. i have a phone call with attorney general barr at noon about what's next. what's next i hope will be that he'll come to the committee, release as much as possible of the mueller report. one of the things that can't be released, grand jury information is employee hibted -- prohibited by law from being released because it would compromise the grand jury process. he in his letter to me and senator feinstein and others said that he's asking the special counsel team to help him with the information that may be covered by the grand jury statute. classified information, don't know how much if any, that would be something you would have to think about. and pretty much if the administration claims executive privilege about anything in the report, that would be something i'm sure he would consider and we'll find out what the determinations are there. those are sort of the broad outlines, in my view, of the limitations of sharing the information with the public. my desire is for the public to get as much of the report as possible consistent

whole 300 page document is attorney general bill barr, not congress, not even the white house. president trump insists on saying things like this. >> after three years of lies and smears and slander, the russia hoax is finally dead. total exoneration, complete vindication. the democrats have to now decide whether they will continue defrauding the public with ridiculous [ bleep ]. robert mueller was a god to the democrats and they don't like him so much right now. >> let's talk to one of those democrats, democratic congressman is we me. he's a member of the house oversight and house intelligence committee. a congressman, pleasure to have you. >> thank you. >>> let me ask you about what we just heard from the president there. barr's letter on the mueller report is merely a summary, that is it. barr's summary quotes mueller this way, while the report does not conclude that he committed a crime, he also does not exonerate him. how convincing and how effective do you think this messaging is from the republicans and the president to convince the american people that the four pages f

report and holding hearings about the mueller report in just a moment. we begin with the barr report on the mueller report. the entire special council process was redesired in an attempt to take politics out of the investigations and yet we're left with a political appointee determining that the president is in the clear without consulting with congress and without a sentence. and you cannot un-unleash it. it did not conclude that they conspired with the rush shap government and the investigation it not make a determination about whether or not he committed a crime for obstruction of justice. barr, however, did. and he determines that there -- determined that it was clear that mueller's findings did not exonerate the president. mueller specifically said he ris port did not do that according to barr. there is so many legitimate questions toward the general summary. but the challenge facing democrats and some of us in the press, too, is that barr's s summary made it easy as sour grates. the partisans can do what they do and duo whwe do what we do. chuck rosenberg was a u.s. attorney. h

of tern general william barr. a question at this hour? what will barr do with it? the attorney general has been clear about his intentions to release the report findings. but some lawmakers doubt it. in primetime, i'm harris faulkner in tonight for martha maccallum. who is on assignment. "the story" tonight is to conclusion of 675 days of speculation over whether president donald trump or his campaign coordinated with the russian government. they confirmed to d.o.j. no further indictment will come from the special counsel's office and william barr may provide details to capitol hill very soon. writing this, "i may be in a position to advise you of the special counsel's principal conclusion. as soon as this weekend." earlier today politico reported that democrats secretly think the mueller report will be a dud but it may not stop them from investigating the president and his allies. even if there is no evidence of collusion. a mueller report devoid of any russia collusion. should be a win for the trump white house. >> president trump: that was no collusion. there was no obstruct

robert mueller's report on russia's interference in the 2016 election. attorney general william barr writes in his four-page summary of the report that the special counsel did not find that any u.s. person or trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly coordinated with russia in russia's efforts to influence the 2016 u.s. presidential election. barr also writes that mueller reached no conclusion on whether the president obstructed justice, barr quoting the special council's report on the issue of obstruction writes, while this does not conclude that he committed a crime it does not exonerate him. the attorney general writes that mueller provided him with the facts of the obstruction case and left it up to the ag to decide if the president obstructed justice. barr writes, quote, deputy attorney general rod rosenstein and i have concluded that the evidence developed during the special counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense. a senior doj official tells nbc news that barr did not consult with m

general, william barr. barr also says mueller did not have enough evidence to prosecute what's called obstruction of justice, but could not exonerate the president completely. manu raju is on capitol hill, where we're getting more reaction. it's rather intense right now. what's the latest? >> yeah, democrats in the house are making it very clear they are not satisfied with this four-page letter from bill barr. they're demanding the full release of the entire mueller report. they also want the underlying evidence that has led to bob mueller making these conclusions. they want that provided to congress, provided to the american public, and you're hearing from top democrats on down, house majority leader steny hoyer just putting out a statement, demanding full release of the report. the chairman of the house judiciary committee, jerry nadler, made it clear he wants to bring bill barr before his committee to hear his public testimony. he said in light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the justice department following the special counsel report where mueller

their multiple requests. so what went on behind the scenes? obviously, bill barr in his letter sort of opens up those questions and leaves them unanswered. one part of the letter from him -- from bill barr says the following. the special counsel's decision to describe the facts of the obstruction investigation without reaching any legal conclusions leaves it to the attorney general to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime. and that's an important part because it means that bill barr, who has been on the job just a few weeks, and rod rosenstein who has been underseeing this investigation since the beginnibegin ing made the final decision here and they decided there weren't enough facts to be able to reach -- to be able to say that the president had intentionally tried to obstruct the investigation. and one of the things they mentioned that bill barr mentions in his letter is the fact that a lot of the obstructive behavior, the behavior we all saw wither own eyes happened in public and had been reported publicly by the press. so it appears that that we

general william barr's conclusions from the still-classified final mueller report. barr says this long investigation did not come up with evidence that the president or people close to him, a., worked with russia to knowingly change the outcome of the 2016 election or, b., committed obstruction of justice. here are barr's words, quoting robert mueller here. while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. and there's something else we just learned. sources familiar with the special counsel's investigation now say that there was considerable discussion about issuing a subpoena for president trump to be interviewed. ultimately, the decision was to not move forward with that. and we have cnn reporters and analysts covering every angle of this story this evening. this hour reports from the white house to capitol hill. let's get right to cnn's kaitlan collins starting oh of in washington. kaitlan, you have new information on the president's mood? >> ana, we are learning how the president learned of this. the president had been ex

committee is to grill attorney general bill barr over his summary of the still confidential full report. democrats are questioning the conclusion reached not by mueller but by barr that the evidence developed is not sufficient to prove the president guilty of obstruction. muell mueller himself wrote that the president should not be seen as exonerated on this charge. that is key. at the least the president's critics want to see the mueller report for themselves and barr is promising to release as much is allowed. we are following all the questions and repercussions starting with our senior justice correspondent evan perez. a clear no on collusion with russia. a sort of in between answer on obstruction of justice. >> the fact that mueller punted on the question of whether or not there was obstruction of justice by the president left it up to bill barr and rod rosenstein. and they landed on a final decision that said that they did not believe the president's actions which they said a lot of it was out in the public. a lot of it we saw with our own eyes, did not reach poto the pot wh

the public saying that's up to attorney general william barr. >> up to the attorney general, but it wouldn't bother me at all. >> reporter: and the president appeared to change his tune on the special counsel when asked about mueller's handling of the russia probe. >> mr. president, do you think robert mueller -- >> yes. >> mr. president -- >> this witch hunt -- >> reporter: that's a departure from the president's cries of a witch hunt, the talking point the trump campaign turned into a coffee mug. nowing the investigation while praising its findings. >> this was an illegal takedown that failed and hopefully somebody's going to be looking at the other side so it's complete exoneration. no collusion. no obstruction. >> reporter: but that's not exactly true, as the attorney general's summary of the mueller report says, the special counsel states that while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. the white house is going one step further blaming the media for the mueller probe. >> democrats in the media per t perpetuated that

general william barr releasing a four-page summary of special counsel robert mueller's report concluding that investigators found no evidence that president trump or his campaign conspired or coordinated with russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 u.s. presidential election. this, despite multiple offers from russia-affiliated individuals to assist the trump campaign. trump and his allies seizing on the findings. >> it was complete and total exoneration. it's a shame that our country had to go through this. this was an illegal takedown that failed. and hopefully somebody's going to be looking at the other side. >> reporter: but on obstruction of justice, the attorney general quoting mueller's report saying it does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. mueller ultimately leaving the question of obstruction unanswered. barr deciding trump did not commit a crime after determining the justice department did not have sufficient evidence that trump's actions were done with corrupt intent. >> the attorney general, the deputy attorney gener

business. all i can tell you when it comes to obstruction of justice mr. barr and rosenstein concluded that the facts did not justify a charge. not the idea you can't indict a sitting president. and his memo, mr. barr was about a statute. it's very problematic to bring an obstruction case in my view from making a personnel decision. if he fired as u.s. attorney somewhere, does that lead to an obstruction argument because you have a political difference with that attorney general who is not serving your agenda. what mr. barr said at the hearing was that nobody, including the president, can get a witness to lie. nobody including the president can conceal information from a court. those are classic obstruction activities. mr. mueller apparently could not find sufficient evidence to conclude on his own that the president obstructed justice in a classic sense and mr. barr said, along with mr. rosenstein, having looked at the evidence, we do not believe there is evidence to support a charge of obstruction of justice and it is important, but not dispositive, that the underlying crime did not

to congress attorney general bill barr said the mueller report will be ready for release by mid-april if not sooner. that full report is nearly 400 pages excluding tables and appendices. that was mid-afternoon. just minutes ago the president, the same president who over the past week has said he's for the full release of the report wrote this. robert mueller was a hero to the radical left democrats until he ruled that there was no collusion with russia, so ridiculous to even say, after more than two years since the insurance policy statement was made by a dirty cop, i got the answers i wanted, the truth. the problem is no matter what the radical left democrats get, no matter what we give them, it will never be enough. just watch. they will harass and complain and resist, the theme of their movement, so maybe we should just take our victory and say no. we've got a country to run. so maybe we should just take our victory and say no? what exactly does that mean? is he now threatening to block the release of the report or is he just broadly saying no to what he calls the harassment and co

district of columbia. but robert mueller's work is done and his report has been handed to william barr, now we have to find out when barr isg goo tell congress what it says. but one other point. all the rul say here is that when barr hands his report when mueller hands his report to barr, it will be vy bare bones. all the rules say is that he submits a report saying who he prosecuted and who he declined to prosecrte. r, the rules say when william barr submits a report to congress, all he'll say is any time the justice department blocked a move by the special counsel. that's whathe rul say. clearly congress and the public expect to hear a lot more about what the mueller report says, but those --ut ifhey stick to the rules, that's all that's going to -- that's all tt's ing to happen, and clearly that won't satisfy anybody. >> that is a date to come no doubt, pete. we're waiting for reaction from the white house. kristen weller is there. ene president has talked about this in r days, he would likehe report public in som form. are we expecting a quick buttal here? >> we're expecting a quic

. friday and we have another friday letter, brand new, on mueller from attorney general bill barr. bill barr making news late on a friday announcing officially we have it that he will release, he n says in writing by mid april and he will testify before congress on may 1st and he will not send the mueller report to president trump in advance for privilege review or at least he has no plans to. those are the headlines. we know them tonight because attorney general barr just dropped his third letter in a week. i have all of them. in a departure from the first two letters thr, this one rebute criticism he's heard or what you may have heard on what barr calls media reports about his initial letters, quotes from the mueller report. as the reality sank in about what he released and didn't release starting sunday night. legal expert, commentators and g barr's approach including the attorneys perts that attorneys general. >> i think he's wrong. i think he is taking on to himself a role that has not typically been used by people in the position that bob barr has had. >> it has too much of the od

. eastern. this is vild of the ag william barr leaving the justice department this evening. he was at work for more than nine hours today. alongside rod rosenstein, the deputy ag, pouring over the mueller findings. that may not have been enough for house democrats. they want the full report and they want it now. those lawmakers held an emergency conference call this afternoon led by speaker nancy pelosi. and the house judiciary chairman said the letters have been sent to the white house counsel and more than half a dozen agencies demanding any underlying evidence and investigative materials, compiled by the special counsel, be preserved. cnn senior white house correspondent pamela brown is watching it all for us. good evening. >> reporter: president trump is uncharacteristically quiet about the mueller probe in the wake of the report being delivered. this is someone who tweeted, it was a witch hunt more than 170 times during the course of the investigation. but sources close to the president i've spoken with say he is very happy that the investigation is over. but he wants to wait and

or his campaign conspired with russia on the 2016 election. but the attorney general william barr in his letter to congress about mueller's report quotes the special counsel as saying that, while he did not conclude that the president obstructed justice, the report does not exonerate president trump either. tonight democrats on capitol hill calling for mueller's full report to be released to the public. and the chairman of the house judiciary committee says he will soon call the attorney general to testify. so here we go. joining me now, simone prokopez. shimon, let's start with you. you've covered every twist and turn of this investigation for the last toward years. i know it seems like longer. what's your biggest question that remains tonight? >> i think it's what everyone is talking about. this exoneration line in the report, in what bill barr ultimately gave two members of congress. it's a big question as to why did he choose to go there? why did he explain it in such a way? he could have simply just said, we found -- we found no evidence of collusion, we found no evidence of obs

attorney general, william barr, on the muraler investigation saying it was complete. there have been two more letters since then. the latest one right here. the latest one just today, all right? a lot of news in it. mueller's report expected to be released to congress and the american people, to the american people, by mid-april if not sooner, okay? but barr is saying the process of redacting the report is, quote, well along and that mueller himself is assisting. >> all of that is really important. but it also raises a lot of questions. a lot. and since we don't yet have mueller's full report, a report that barr writes is nearly 400 pages long by the way, the attorney general's letters, well, they're all we have to go on. so i want to go through this latest letter if you will allow me point by point because there's some very important information in there. here is how it begins. it begins this way. dear chairman graham and chairman nadler, i write in response to chairman nadler's march 25th, 2019 letter and chairman graham's march 27th, 2019 letter, which addressed the investigation of s

william barr's summary of the special report. no conspiring by the president and people around him. major vindication on that front and decision not to pursue obstruction of justice charges against the president. returning to the white house tonight, the president was understandably elated. >> i just want to tell you that america is the greatest place on earth. the greatest place on earth. thank you very much. thank you. >> the president tonight just a few hours before on the tarmac in florida. he also had more to say. >> it's a shame that our country had to go through this to be honest it's a shame that your president has had to go through this for before i even got elected it began and it began illegally and hopefully somebody is going to look at the other side. this was an illegal takedown that failed and hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side. >> an illegal takedown he said lead by robert mueller that he called conflicted but yet robert mueller just lifted a major burden from his presidency. if you can, walk us through what is in the summary from the attorn

rosenberg. we don't have the mueller report. we have barr's assertion of what its principal conclusions are, there is widespread appetite across the united states and across the ideological spectrum we ought to see mueller's report. in part that may be decided along the question -- alongside the question of whether or not mueller can testify to congress. if the justice department doesn't want to let mueller testify, how will that get adjudicated? congress sends him a subpoena, the justice department says no, he's not testifying, who decides that? >> normally it's done by accommodation, negotiating his appearance and the terms of what he can and cannot say. if they actually have to litigate this thing, rachel, that would be a long, lengthy mess. and so when this has happened. this standoff, you carve out portions that are acceptable and those that are off limits and off you go. that's probably how it would happen. >> under normal circumstances. >> which is a big caveat. >> the asterisk we all live under like it's a second sun. that does it for us tonight, we will see you agai

page three he didn't have a principal collusion. it's barr's that there wasn't obstruction of justice. >> everybody stand by. >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> i want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i am wolf blitzer in washington. after nearly two years, we now know the main conclusions of robert mueller's russia information. a four-page single-spaced summary was released by the attorney general of the united states, bill barr. part of the report reading and i'm quoting now. the investigation did not kid not establish that members of the trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the russians government in its election interference activities. rudy giuliani told us the findings were better than he expected and president trump just responded as well. >> it was a complete and total exoneration. it's a shame that our country had to go through this. to be honest, it's a shame that your president has had to go through this. this was an illegal takedown that failed. and hopefully somebody is going to be looking at the other side. >> it comes to the quest