ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 19 March 2019
1. Exterior of Department of Justice, zooms into fifth floor window
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:
"I am Eric Tucker of The Associated Press and I am standing outside the Justice Department building in Washington D.C. Up on the fifth floor of the Attorney General William Barr is responsible for receiving a confidential report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller that marks the end of his investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. He then is responsible for advising individual members of Congress that he has received that report and he has pledged to make public as much as he can under the law of Mueller's findings."
POOL
Archive: Washington - 15 January 2019
3. Various of William Barr during his confirmation hearing for Attorney General
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 19 March 2019
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:
"There are just a couple things that the attorney general has to provide to Congress. One is notification that Mueller's investigation has concluded. He also has to advise him of something else that's really specific and interesting and that is any moment in which an investigative step or action that was proposed by the special counsel was rejected or turned down by the Justice Department. So that's something he's actually required under the regulations to provide. And that's it. But what he committed to do in his confirmation hearing was to make as much of the information from Mueller's report and as much of his findings public as possible, as permitted, under the law."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 14 March 2019
5. President Donald Trump outside US Capitol with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 19 March 2019
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:
"It's hard to think of any directly comparable example that's entirely on point with what's happening now under this regulation with the special counsel that's controlled by the Justice Department, supervised by the Justice Department, which falls within the executive branch investigating the president of the United States himself. And so there are equities on both sides that are likely to clash."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Archive: Washington DC - Date Unknown
7. Exteriors of U.S. Capitol
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 19 March 2019
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:
"It is not clear that the underlying Mueller report, from page to page, will ever be seen by the public because what the attorney general is committed to doing is taking that report and basically editing it to sanction out or or delete from public view any sort of classified information that he thinks is not ready to be seen by the public. However, there is a scenario in which Congress could attempt to subpoena the document itself or subpoena the special counsel to say, 'We want you to come to Capitol Hill and we want to ask you exactly what you found. And we want you to tell us.'
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Archive: Washington DC - Date Unknown
9. Exteriors of U.S. Capitol at night
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 19 March 2019
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:
"One thing that the attorney general said in his confirmation hearing -- he was asked specifically about this idea of will you let the president's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, receive and edit any report that is transmitted before it's publicly released and he said unequivolcally no. But that's a distinction though an important difference because the White House, the actual White House attorneys, the White House Counsel's Office, they might very well attempt to legally invoke some sort of privilege to say that there's certain information that's contained, or is likely contained, in this document report that should not be released because it reflects executive privilege."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 12 March 2018
11. STILL: Special Counsel Robert Mueller walks through Capitol
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington - 19 March 2019
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:
"The Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is ending. For many in Washington who cover it closely like myself, in many ways, the work continues, just as it did before, because there's going to be ongoing clashes on Capitol Hill as to how much information can be released and what to do with that information. There are going to be continuing stories about the substance of the Special Counsel's nearly nearly two year long investigation -- what he found, what he didn't find and what impact that has on the Trump administration and the remainder of the Trump presidency. And for the Justice Department itself and its role in Washington and the government, I think there are going to be ongoing questions about the politicization of law enforcement."
13. Tucker walking outside DOJ
14. Various exteriors of DOJ
Once Special Counsel Robert Mueller completes his Trump-Russia investigation, he will hand a report over to the Attorney General.
All the details may not be uncovered, at least not right away, but here's what can be expected:
Mueller has to turn in a report of some kind. It could be pretty bare-bones. Justice Department regulations require only that Mueller give the attorney general a confidential report that explains the decisions to pursue or decline prosecutions. That could be as simple as a bullet point list or as fulsome as a report running hundreds of pages.
Barr indicated that he expects to use his report to share the results of Mueller's investigation with the public, which the regulations allow him to do. But he hedged on specifics and said his plans could change after speaking with Mueller and Rosenstein.
It is unclear whether Trump will ask to see the report and under what circumstances he or his attorneys might be able to view it, especially because the document is meant to be confidential for Justice Department leadership. Mueller reports to the Justice Department, not the White House.
Barr said at his confirmation hearing that he would not permit White House interference in the investigation. But he also has voiced an expansive view of executive power in which the president functions as the country's chief law enforcement officer and has wide latitude in giving directives to the FBI and Justice Department.
While delivery of the report to the Attorney General marks the end of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, for many who cover Washington politics, the work continues.
"There's going to be ongoing clashes on Capitol Hill as to how much information can be released and what to do with that information," says Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker.
He adds there will also be questions about the Justice Department and "the politicization of law enforcement."
