The U.S. Congress, President Donald Trump, and the American public are waiting for details of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that was submitted to the Justice Department on March 22.
Attorney General William Barr was reviewing the document on March 23, news agencies reported, while Trump, who has relentlessly criticized Mueller's investigation as a "witch hunt," remained silent on the report.
Trump was at his golf club in Florida on March 23, and more than 120 House Democrats held a conference call as they waited for Barr's summary, the Associated Press reported.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told House Democrats in the call that the information must be provided to Congress in a way that allows lawmakers to discuss it publicly, AP reported citing an anonymous source.
Pelosi she would reject any classified briefing for top lawmakers and congressional intelligence committee members.
Barr has said he could inform Congress of its principal conclusions "as soon as this weekend."
There were conflicting reports about when the key findings of the report were going to be released to Congress and the public.
Fox News quoted an official "familiar with process" as saying on March 23 that Barr "wants to get this out tonight."
However, the AP and Reuters cited unnamed officials at the Justice Department as saying that they are not expected to release a summary of findings to Congress and the public on March 23.
How much of the report is released publicly is up to Barr, the Justice Department, Congress, and the White House.
Mueller was required by law to submit the report at the conclusion of his 22-month investigation, and Barr has he said wants to make much of it public.
But the law gives Barr wide discretion on how much of the report to release, and there have been fears in Congress that Trump’s White House may seek to hide its most damning contents.
U.S. lawmakers have expressed hopes for a quick release of the details of the report, while Democrats in particular demanded that all of it be made public without any editing by the White House.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his demand on March 23 that the White House not be given a "sneak peek" at the report.
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, who met up with Trump on the golf course, told journalists on March 23 that the White House had not received and had not been briefed on the report.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Democrat-California) old House Democrats that even if there are no further prosecutions from Mueller, his full report must be released to Congress.
Pelosi said Barr's offer to provide Congress with a summary of conclusions was "insufficient."
Pelosi said, "Even if the [Department of Justice] chooses not to prosecute additional individuals, the underlying findings must be provided to Congress and the American people."
'Protecting Our Democracy'
Democrat Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said: "Transparency and the public interest demand nothing less. The need for public faith in the rule of law must be the priority."
Senator Elizabeth Warren (Democrat-Massachusetts), a presidential candidate, urged "Attorney General Barr -- release the Mueller report to the American public. Now."
Senator Kamala Harris (Democrat-California), tweeted on March 23 that "releasing the Mueller report to the public is about protecting our democracy and people’s confidence in our elections and government.”
Harris urged the White House not to "interfere in any way" and “give the information to the American people.
Six Democratic congressional committee chairmen wrote to Barr that if the report indicates there is reason to believe Trump "has engaged in criminal or other serious misconduct," the Justice Department should not attempt to hide it.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said administration officials had not received the report or been briefed on it. However, one of Trump’s personal lawyers, Rudy Giuliani, said the president’s lawyers want to see the report before the findings are made public.
The beginning of the end of Mueller’s investigation that had mesmerized lawmakers, activists, journalists, average Americans, and most of all, Trump, came in the late afternoon on March 22.
After 4 p.m., a security officer from the special counsel’s went to the Justice Department headquarters carrying a letter to inform the attorney general that Mueller had completed his probe.
An hour later, the news was delivered to the House and Senate Judiciary committees, and shortly thereafter was made public, leading cable news channels to announce "Breaking News."
Trump, spending the weekend at his resort in Florida, spoke at a Republican Party event at the estate but did not mention the report, a senior administration official told AP.
Hours earlier, Trump had attacked the investigation, which he has often called a “witch hunt” and a hoax.
"For two years, we've gone through this nonsense, because there's no collusion with Russia," he said.
"People will not stand for it."
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he welcomed the announcement that Mueller had completed his investigation.
'A Significant Threat'
"Many Republicans have long believed that Russia poses a significant threat to American interests," McConnell said in a statement. "I hope the Special Counsel's report will help inform and improve our efforts to protect our democracy."
Steve Scalise, the No. 2 House Republican and a vocal Trump supporter, said he believed the report would back the president’s claim that he did not collude with Russians during the presidential campaign.
"The reports that there will be no new indictments confirm what we've known all along: There was never any collusion with Russia. The only collusion was between Democrats and many in the media who peddled this lie because they continue to refuse to accept the results of the 2016 election," Scalise said.
Since 2017, Mueller has been examining both Russia's interference in the 2016 campaign and interactions between associates of Trump and Russian officials.
Mueller has also been examining whether Trump unlawfully tried to obstruct justice by trying to hinder his investigation.
Over the course of his probe, Mueller has indicted more than three dozen people and entities on various charges.
To date, however, none of the charges directly address the question of whether there was coordination between Trump officials and Russian officials.
Mueller has also targeted a dozen Russian military intelligence officers, as part of a plot to hack into computers of the Democratic political officials, as well as a company known informally as Russia’s “troll factory,” for spreading misinformation on social media networks.
Russia has also denied the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community that it engaged in a cyber- and propaganda effort during the 2016 campaign, aimed at undermining the U.S. electoral process, discrediting Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton, and bolstering Trump’s bid for the presidency.
It is too early to tell whether there will be more indictments coming. Shortly after the report was sent to the Justice Department, U.S. media quoted a Justice official as saying it did not contain any new indictments, though there was no official confirmation of that.
It is possible Mueller has already laid the legal groundwork for other prosecutions in other locations, which would continue on even though Mueller has ended his own work. Mueller’s earlier efforts, for example, led to the U.S. attorney for Manhattan charging Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, with various financial crimes. Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty in exchange for his help with other investigations.
