Special counsel Robert Mueller says President Donald Trump's efforts to influence the Russia investigation "were mostly unsuccessful," but that was because the people surrounding the president "declined to carry out orders to accede to his requests."

AP reporter Chad Day gives an initial review in this AP debrief of the two-volume report that exceeds 400 pages.

"The first volume that deals with Russian election interference and the actions of the Trump campaign is a couple of hundred pages long and goes into exhaustive detail about the information that they've gathered," he says.

"Interviewing 500 witnesses, issuing more than twenty eight hundred subpoenas, and putting together probably the most complete picture of what happened during the 2016 election involving the Trump campaign and Russia."

Mueller's report details instances by several officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former White House counsel Don McGahn and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, ignoring or refusing Trump's requests to interfere in the investigation.

"But some of those episodes show that Trump made several attempts to seize control of the investigation try to have Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed from the probe, or that his attorneys were trying to gather information about what people who were cooperating with the investigation were telling prosecutors," Day says.

Washington, DC - 18 April 2019

1. STILL: Redacted report of Special Council Robert Mueller

Washington, D.C. - 18 April 2019

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press +++PARTIALLY COVERED WITH STILL IMAGE+++

"So the headline today is that Mueller has made two big conclusions out of his report. Number one is that he did not establish that there was a criminal conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. The other is that he did not exonerate the president on the question of whether he obstructed justice, or tried to influence the Russia probe and crossed over into criminal conduct.

Washington, DC - 15 April 2010

3. FILE: Still of Robert Mueller on Capitol Hill

Washington, DC - 18 April 2019

4. STILL: Redacted report of Special Council Robert Mueller

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press +++PARTIALLY COVERED WITH STILL IMAGES+++

"In particular on the question of obstruction, Mueller examined 10 different episodes in which he was looking at the president's conduct to determine whether or not it crossed over into criminal conduct. Some of those episodes show that Trump made several attempts to seize control of the investigation, try to have Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed from the probe, or that his attorneys were trying to gather information about what people who were cooperating with the investigation were telling prosecutors."

6. STILL: President Trump speaks at Wounded Warrior Soldier Ride at White House

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press +++PARTIALLY COVERED WITH STILL IMAGES+++

"In particular, there's one episode that's related involving his personal attorney of his who is trying to gather information from former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Now, this is going back in time a little bit, but Flynn had just cut off contact with the Trump legal team, ahead of his pleading guilty and cooperating with the government. The report says that one of Trump's attorneys then reached out and tried to remind them that the president had warm feelings for Flynn and ask him to see if there was any information that he knew that could implicate the president. Whenever Flynn's attorneys rebuffed that effort, the attorney then said that he would remind the president that that Flynn's actions showed hostility towards the president. So, what they're showing is that they're painting a picture here of a president and people around him who are trying to shape and gather information about the probe but also to in some cases you know take control of it and influence the direction of where it's going."

Washington, DC - 18 December 2018

8. FILE: Still of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn arrives at federal courthouse

9. FILE: Still of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn at federal courthouse

Washington, DC - 18 April 2019

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press +++PARTIALLY COVERED WITH STILL IMAGES+++

"The report also details what happened in the months right after Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in May of 2017. In particular, it shows that the president ordered his then White House counsel Don McGhan to try to have a special counsel Robert Mueller removed. Now McGahn rebuffed this effort but it shows how the president and the report quotes him saw the probe as possible end to his presidency, and something that would threaten his power. And at that point was trying to take efforts to take control of the investigation by having Mueller removed."

Washington, DC -- 15 April 2010

11. FILE: Still of Robert Mueller testifies on Capitol Hill

National Harbor, Maryland - 22 February 2018

12. FILE: Still of White House Counsel Don McGhan speaking at conservative gathering

Washington, DC - 18 April 2019

Redacted report on Russian interference on 2016 presidential election

President Donald Trump's lead lawyer in the special counsel's Russia investigation resigned Thursday, shaking up the legal team just as the president intensifies his attacks on a probe he calls nothing more than a witch hunt.

Associated Press Justice Department reporter Eric Tucker said the resignation might have something to do with clashes between John Dowd and Trump in the Mueller investigation.

"Trump came out and said I'm very eager to speak under oath to Mueller, but Dowd has been much more cautious and apprehensive," Tucker said, "So obviously you have a client attorney division there."

The departure of attorney John Dowd removes the primary negotiator and legal strategist who had been molding Trump's defense. It also comes just days after the Trump legal team added a new lawyer, former U.S. attorney Joseph diGenova, who has alleged on television that FBI officials were involved in a "brazen plot" to exonerate Hillary Clinton in the email investigation and to "frame" Trump for nonexistent crimes.

Dowd confirmed his decision in an email to The Associated Press, saying, "I love the President and wish him well." Dowd said he made the decision voluntarily and he denied reports that his departure had to do with Trump ignoring his legal advice. He said he formally resigned Thursday morning.

It already was a delicate time in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as Trump's attorneys, including Dowd, have been negotiating with Mueller over the scope and terms of an interview of the president. Trump has told reporters that he was eager to speak with Mueller, but Dowd has been far more apprehensive, and the lawyers have not publicly committed to making Trump available for questioning.

Asked Thursday whether he still wants to speak with Mueller's team, Trump told reporters, "Yes, I would like to."

Dowd's exit nearly a year into Mueller's investigation threatens to undo the cooperation between prosecutors and Trump's lawyers and may herald a stark shift in strategy as the probe reaches closer into the White House and the president's inner circle.

Over the weekend, Dowd issued a statement calling for an end to special counsel's investigation. The White House and later Dowd had to clarify the statement, saying the president's legal team wasn't calling for Mueller to be fired.

But Trump has upped his public attacks on Mueller.

In a series of tweets since last week, the president has said that the probe never should have started, that it was based on "fraudulent activities," that it was a "WITCH HUNT" and that it is being led by "13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 10 May 2011

1. STILL Attorney John Dowd leaves building with his client co-founder of Galleon hedge fund group Raj Rajaratnam

ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 29 April 2011

2. STILL Dowd and Rajaratnam entering federal court

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"So John Dowd is the lead defense lawyer on Donald Trump's legal team. And we learned today that he has resigned effective immediately from that team, so he's no longer going to be representing the president."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 23 May 2007

4. STILL Various Dowd with client White House liaison Monica Goodling

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"So this is really significant because we are now 10 months into Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. There have been a lot of negotiations back and forth led by John Dowd as to whether or not the president will sit down for interview with Mueller and his team. And so now it's unclear what the next step is going to be, because basically the point person and lead negotiator and point of contact for Mueller's team is no longer calling the shots."

DONALD TRUMP TWITTER FEED/@realDonaldTrump

Internet - 18 March 2018

6. SCREENGRAB of Donald Trump homepage on Twitter

7. SCREENGRAB of tweet reading (English): "Why does the Mueller team have 13 hardened Democrats, some big Crooked Hillary supporters, and Zero Republicans? Another Dem recently added...does anyone think this is fair? And yet, there is NO COLLUSION!"

DONALD TRUMP TWITTER FEED/@realDonaldTrump

Internet - 17 March 2018

8. SCREENGRAB of tweet reading (English): "The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!"

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"Last weekend we noticed a real notable shift in the way the president and his legal team has been talking about Special Counsel Robert Mueller. So in the past there's been lots of public overtures and gestures of cooperation. They've spoken warmly about the special counsel in his work. And this time, for the first time, this weekend for the first time we saw John Dowd basically call on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to shut down the investigation. He had initially said he was speaking for the president, he later said he was not. And the White House on Sunday had to clarify that there were no plans to try to terminate the investigation."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

10. Donald Trump walks into White House Treaty Room

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"So I think there's been a degree of consternation back and forth within the legal community over certain decisions and actions from Dowd and the legal team. There's been obviously a divide as to whether or not the president is gonna speak with Mueller. So you'll remember that in January, Trump came out and said I'm very eager to speak under oath to Mueller, but Dowd has been much more cautious and apprehensive, and his lawyers, Trump's lawyers have not publicly committed in any way to any sort of interview. They say those are ongoing negotiations. So obviously you have a client attorney division there."

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

12. President Donald Trump walks out of Treaty Room as reporters shout questions

13. UPSOUND: Reporter:

"Mr. President, would you still like to testify to special counsel Robert Mueller, sir?"

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, U.S. President:

"Yes, I would like to..."

15. Trump walks out of room

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"One other thing that I would note is that the Trump legal team has been looking to try to add to its ranks. So they have reached out to a very prominent Washington lawyer, a litigator by the name of Ted Olson who argued the Bush v. Gore case 2000 before the U.S. Supreme Court. And he's argued the California gay rights case, same sex marriage case. He turned them down. And so I would not be surprised if there is another attorney who they try to reach out to."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 28 September 2017

17. STILL Various Former United States Solicitor General Ted Olson at the installation ceremony for FBI director Chris Wray

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 20 June 2013

18. STILL Olson with plaintiffs in the California Proposition 8 case

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"They did hire on Monday a former United States attorney named Joe diGenova who's going to be working on the Trump legal team. And one thing that diGenova is notable for is an interview with Fox News from January in which he basically said the FBI officials were part of a brazen plot to exonerate Hillary Clinton and frame Donald Trump for a fictional, nonexistent crime. So that gives you a flavor of where the defense legal strategy might be going."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

20. Various Trump speaking in the House Treaty Room about imposing tariffs on Chinese imports

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee issued a stern warning to President Donald Trump on Thursday: "If you shut down or throttle" the investigation into Russian meddling led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, "you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler continued, "Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you."

Many House Democrats called for legislation to protect the special counsel to be included in the spending bill Congress must pass by Friday to keep the government running.

Republicans didn't agree to the measure, however, and the provision was not included.

Asked if firing Mueller was a "red line" that could lead to impeachment, Rep. Nadler stopped short of predicting the consequences, saying only, "all options would be on the table."

Nadler said the firing of the special counsel would lead to a "sea change in the political landscape of the country," that would cause Republicans "to be moved to act" against the president, too.

But he said, "We're not there yet."

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

1. Wide shot of Rep. Nadler and other Democrats walking into House press gallery

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Let us set aside for a moment that so much of what the president says is simply factually incorrect. These tantrums are more than merely the online musings of a passionate viewer of Fox News. These statements are threats from the president of the United States against our rule of law. They specifically target Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with investigating allegations of serious crimes against the United States, including a conspiracy to defraud the United States government in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. That is why I am standing here today with my Democratic colleagues from the House Judiciary Committee to deliver a united message to President Trump: Do not meddle with the special counsel investigation. We expect and the rule of law demands that the special counsel be permitted to complete his investigation wherever it may lead free from political interference and that the facts be presented for public review so that the American people can know the full truth."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Where, however, is the Republican leadership. Why does Speaker Ryan take days to make tepid statements in general support of the Mueller investigation? Why does the majority refuse to take action to protect the special counsel from a president who clearly wants him gone? Why would they not agree to a bipartisan amendment to the omnibus budget bill to make it all but impossible to remove a special counsel without cause? My colleagues here have the courage to do it. Republican leadership will not. Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you. If you shut down or throttle the Mueller investigation by firing either (Attorney General Jeff) Sessions or (Deputy Attorney General Rod) Rosenstein or Mueller, you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Should a red line be crossed and firing the special counsel or throttling his investigation would be an absolute red line. Then there would be a total sea change in the political landscape of the country. And at that point, all options would be on the table. All options would be on the table. I believe that as the president puts us in a constitutional crisis, that there are enough Republicans who care about the rule of law and are concerned by the president's action they would be moved to act too. But if this happens, if the president puts us in a constitutional crisis by crossing a red line by firing the special prosecutor or really constraining the investigation, all options would be on the table. But we're not going to say now what we would do then because all kinds of things change not just change but .. we're not there yet."

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee issued a stern warning to President Donald Trump on Thursday: "If you shut down or throttle" the investigation into Russian meddling led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, "you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler continued, "Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you."

Many House Democrats called for legislation to protect the special counsel to be included in the spending bill Congress must pass by Friday to keep the government running.

Republicans didn't agree to the measure, however, and the provision was not included.

Asked if firing Mueller was a "red line" that could lead to impeachment, Rep. Nadler stopped short of predicting the consequences, saying only, "all options would be on the table."

Nadler said the firing of the special counsel would lead to a "sea change in the political landscape of the country," that would cause Republicans "to be moved to act" against the president, too.

But he said, "We're not there yet."

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

1. Wide shot of Rep. Nadler and other Democrats walking into House press gallery

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Let us set aside for a moment that so much of what the president says is simply factually incorrect. These tantrums are more than merely the online musings of a passionate viewer of Fox News. These statements are threats from the president of the United States against our rule of law. They specifically target Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with investigating allegations of serious crimes against the United States, including a conspiracy to defraud the United States government in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. That is why I am standing here today with my Democratic colleagues from the House Judiciary Committee to deliver a united message to President Trump: Do not meddle with the special counsel investigation. We expect and the rule of law demands that the special counsel be permitted to complete his investigation wherever it may lead free from political interference and that the facts be presented for public review so that the American people can know the full truth."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Where, however, is the Republican leadership. Why does Speaker Ryan take days to make tepid statements in general support of the Mueller investigation? Why does the majority refuse to take action to protect the special counsel from a president who clearly wants him gone? Why would they not agree to a bipartisan amendment to the omnibus budget bill to make it all but impossible to remove a special counsel without cause? My colleagues here have the courage to do it. Republican leadership will not. Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you. If you shut down or throttle the Mueller investigation by firing either (Attorney General Jeff) Sessions or (Deputy Attorney General Rod) Rosenstein or Mueller, you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Should a red line be crossed and firing the special counsel or throttling his investigation would be an absolute red line. Then there would be a total sea change in the political landscape of the country. And at that point, all options would be on the table. All options would be on the table. I believe that as the president puts us in a constitutional crisis, that there are enough Republicans who care about the rule of law and are concerned by the president's action they would be moved to act too. But if this happens, if the president puts us in a constitutional crisis by crossing a red line by firing the special prosecutor or really constraining the investigation, all options would be on the table. But we're not going to say now what we would do then because all kinds of things change not just change but .. we're not there yet."

Special counsel Robert Mueller says President Donald Trump's efforts to influence the Russia investigation "were mostly unsuccessful," but that was because the people surrounding the president "declined to carry out orders to accede to his requests."

AP reporter Chad Day gives an initial review of the two-volume report that exceeds 400 pages.

"The first volume that deals with Russian election interference and the actions of the Trump campaign is a couple of hundred pages long and goes into exhaustive detail about the information that they've gathered," he says.

"Interviewing 500 witnesses, issuing more than twenty eight hundred subpoenas, and putting together probably the most complete picture of what happened during the 2016 election involving the Trump campaign and Russia."

Mueller's report details instances by several officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former White House counsel Don McGahn and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, ignoring or refusing Trump's requests to interfere in the investigation.

"But some of those episodes show that Trump made several attempts to seize control of the investigation try to have Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed from the probe, or that his attorneys were trying to gather information about what people who were cooperating with the investigation were telling prosecutors," Day says.

Washington, D.C. - 17 April 2019

+++STARTS AND ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE+++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"So the headline today is that Mueller has made two big conclusions out of his report. Number one is that he did not establish that there was a criminal conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. The other is that he did not exonerate the president on the question of whether he obstructed justice, or tried to influence the Russia probe and crossed over into criminal conduct. Now, it's a 448 page report and portions of it are redacted. We're still kind of gathering the information right now to determine how much has been withheld. We know that the attorney general said that he withheld information about ongoing investigations, grand jury material, information that could be derogatory about uncharged people, and other information that he saw fit to withhold."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"So in particular on the question of obstruction, Mueller examined 10 different episodes in which he was looking at the president's conduct to determine whether or not it crossed over into criminal conduct. Now again, he did not determine, didn't answer the question of whether it was criminal obstruction. But some of those episodes show that Trump made several attempts to seize control of the investigation try to have Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed from the probe, or that his attorneys were trying to gather information about what people who were cooperating with the investigation were telling prosecutors."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"In particular, there's one episode that's related involving his personal attorney of his who is trying to gather information from former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Now, this is going back in time a little bit, but Flynn had just cut off contact with the Trump legal team, ahead of his pleading guilty and cooperating with the government. The report says that one of Trump's attorneys then reached out and tried to remind them that the president had warm feelings for Flynn and ask him to see if there was any information that he knew that could implicate the president. Whenever Flynn's attorneys rebuffed that effort, the attorney then said that he would remind the president that that Flynn's actions showed hostility towards the president. So, what they're showing is that they're painting a picture here of a president and people around him who are trying to shape and gather information about the probe but also to in some cases you know take control of it and influence the direction of where it's going."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"The report also details what happened in the months right after Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in May of 2017. In particular, it shows that the president ordered his then White House counsel Don McGahn to try to have a special counsel Robert Mueller removed. Now McGahn rebuffed this effort but it shows how the president and the report quotes him saw the probe as possible into his presidency, and something that would threaten his power. And at that point was trying to take efforts to take control of the investigation by having Mueller removed."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"I think the level of detail in the report is one of the most important take-aways from it. The first volume that deals with Russian election interference and the actions of the Trump campaign is a couple of hundred pages long and goes into exhaustive detail about the information that they've gathered interviewing 500 witnesses, issuing more than 2,800 subpoenas, and putting together probably the most complete picture of what happened during the 2016 election involving the Trump campaign and Russia. The other thing is how much the special counsel grappled with whether or not the president had crossed over the legal line into criminal obstruction. As you see in the second volume of the report. He details these 10 episodes, and also then discusses you know what the law is and how it applies to a president ultimately deciding that they could not answer the question because there are difficult legal issues at play, and leaving that kind of open. As we know after the report was turned in weeks ago, the attorney general then stepped in and decided that the president had not obstructed justice. And today you saw him reflect that in his news conference announcing the report."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"Immediately after the report was announced by the attorney general this morning, Trump and his legal team claimed victory, with Trump kind of touting his usual refrain of 'no collusion.' That there was 'no obstruction' and saying it was a 'total exoneration.' Now, as we know, the report did not exonerate him on the question of obstruction of justice. But his legal team did issue a statement saying that they see this as a victory, and that what it appears is now going to be the president's strategy is to go and try to turn the tables and attack the investigators who carried out the Russia investigation.

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"Also what we will have after this report drops is that Barr will go to to the Hill to testify. Democrats are also calling for him to release the full report and say that they may go to court for that. Barr is scheduled to testify in early May. We also have seen Democrats say that they want to hear from Special Counsel Robert Mueller himself, and Barr said that he wouldn't object to that during his news conference."

+++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE+++

Special counsel Robert Mueller says President Donald Trump's efforts to influence the Russia investigation "were mostly unsuccessful," but that was because the people surrounding the president "declined to carry out orders to accede to his requests."

AP reporter Chad Day gives an initial review of the two-volume report that exceeds 400 pages.

"The first volume that deals with Russian election interference and the actions of the Trump campaign is a couple of hundred pages long and goes into exhaustive detail about the information that they've gathered," he says.

"Interviewing 500 witnesses, issuing more than twenty eight hundred subpoenas, and putting together probably the most complete picture of what happened during the 2016 election involving the Trump campaign and Russia."

Mueller's report details instances by several officials, including former FBI Director James Comey, former White House counsel Don McGahn and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, ignoring or refusing Trump's requests to interfere in the investigation.

"But some of those episodes show that Trump made several attempts to seize control of the investigation try to have Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed from the probe, or that his attorneys were trying to gather information about what people who were cooperating with the investigation were telling prosecutors," Day says.

Washington, D.C. - 17 April 2019

+++STARTS AND ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE+++

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"So the headline today is that Mueller has made two big conclusions out of his report. Number one is that he did not establish that there was a criminal conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign to interfere in the 2016 election. The other is that he did not exonerate the president on the question of whether he obstructed justice, or tried to influence the Russia probe and crossed over into criminal conduct. Now, it's a 448 page report and portions of it are redacted. We're still kind of gathering the information right now to determine how much has been withheld. We know that the attorney general said that he withheld information about ongoing investigations, grand jury material, information that could be derogatory about uncharged people, and other information that he saw fit to withhold."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"So in particular on the question of obstruction, Mueller examined 10 different episodes in which he was looking at the president's conduct to determine whether or not it crossed over into criminal conduct. Now again, he did not determine, didn't answer the question of whether it was criminal obstruction. But some of those episodes show that Trump made several attempts to seize control of the investigation try to have Special Counsel Robert Mueller removed from the probe, or that his attorneys were trying to gather information about what people who were cooperating with the investigation were telling prosecutors."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"In particular, there's one episode that's related involving his personal attorney of his who is trying to gather information from former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Now, this is going back in time a little bit, but Flynn had just cut off contact with the Trump legal team, ahead of his pleading guilty and cooperating with the government. The report says that one of Trump's attorneys then reached out and tried to remind them that the president had warm feelings for Flynn and ask him to see if there was any information that he knew that could implicate the president. Whenever Flynn's attorneys rebuffed that effort, the attorney then said that he would remind the president that that Flynn's actions showed hostility towards the president. So, what they're showing is that they're painting a picture here of a president and people around him who are trying to shape and gather information about the probe but also to in some cases you know take control of it and influence the direction of where it's going."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"The report also details what happened in the months right after Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed in May of 2017. In particular, it shows that the president ordered his then White House counsel Don McGahn to try to have a special counsel Robert Mueller removed. Now McGahn rebuffed this effort but it shows how the president and the report quotes him saw the probe as possible into his presidency, and something that would threaten his power. And at that point was trying to take efforts to take control of the investigation by having Mueller removed."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"I think the level of detail in the report is one of the most important take-aways from it. The first volume that deals with Russian election interference and the actions of the Trump campaign is a couple of hundred pages long and goes into exhaustive detail about the information that they've gathered interviewing 500 witnesses, issuing more than 2,800 subpoenas, and putting together probably the most complete picture of what happened during the 2016 election involving the Trump campaign and Russia. The other thing is how much the special counsel grappled with whether or not the president had crossed over the legal line into criminal obstruction. As you see in the second volume of the report. He details these 10 episodes, and also then discusses you know what the law is and how it applies to a president ultimately deciding that they could not answer the question because there are difficult legal issues at play, and leaving that kind of open. As we know after the report was turned in weeks ago, the attorney general then stepped in and decided that the president had not obstructed justice. And today you saw him reflect that in his news conference announcing the report."

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"Immediately after the report was announced by the attorney general this morning, Trump and his legal team claimed victory, with Trump kind of touting his usual refrain of 'no collusion.' That there was 'no obstruction' and saying it was a 'total exoneration.' Now, as we know, the report did not exonerate him on the question of obstruction of justice. But his legal team did issue a statement saying that they see this as a victory, and that what it appears is now going to be the president's strategy is to go and try to turn the tables and attack the investigators who carried out the Russia investigation.

+++BLACK FRAMES+++

SOUNDBITE (English) Chad Day, Associated Press

"Also what we will have after this report drops is that Barr will go to to the Hill to testify. Democrats are also calling for him to release the full report and say that they may go to court for that. Barr is scheduled to testify in early May. We also have seen Democrats say that they want to hear from Special Counsel Robert Mueller himself, and Barr said that he wouldn't object to that during his news conference."

+++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE+++

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee issued a stern warning to President Donald Trump on Thursday: "If you shut down or throttle" the investigation into Russian meddling led by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, "you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler continued, "Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you."

Many House Democrats called for legislation to protect the special counsel to be included in the spending bill Congress must pass by Friday to keep the government running.

Republicans didn't agree to the measure, however, and the provision was not included.

Asked if firing Mueller was a "red line" that could lead to impeachment, Rep. Nadler stopped short of predicting the consequences, saying only, "all options would be on the table."

Nadler said the firing of the special counsel would lead to a "sea change in the political landscape of the country," that would cause Republicans "to be moved to act" against the president, too.

But he said, "We're not there yet."

Washington, D.C. - 22 March 2018

1. Wide shot of Rep. Nadler and other Democrats walking into House press gallery

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Let us set aside for a moment that so much of what the president says is simply factually incorrect. These tantrums are more than merely the online musings of a passionate viewer of Fox News. These statements are threats from the president of the United States against our rule of law. They specifically target Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with investigating allegations of serious crimes against the United States, including a conspiracy to defraud the United States government in an attempt to influence the 2016 election. That is why I am standing here today with my Democratic colleagues from the House Judiciary Committee to deliver a united message to President Trump: Do not meddle with the special counsel investigation. We expect and the rule of law demands that the special counsel be permitted to complete his investigation wherever it may lead free from political interference and that the facts be presented for public review so that the American people can know the full truth."

++BLACK BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Where, however, is the Republican leadership. Why does Speaker Ryan take days to make tepid statements in general support of the Mueller investigation? Why does the majority refuse to take action to protect the special counsel from a president who clearly wants him gone? Why would they not agree to a bipartisan amendment to the omnibus budget bill to make it all but impossible to remove a special counsel without cause? My colleagues here have the courage to do it. Republican leadership will not. Mr. President, we are watching you. The American people are watching you. If you shut down or throttle the Mueller investigation by firing either (Attorney General Jeff) Sessions or (Deputy Attorney General Rod) Rosenstein or Mueller, you will plunge this country into a constitutional crisis."

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Jerrold Nadler, (D) New York:

"Should a red line be crossed and firing the special counsel or throttling his investigation would be an absolute red line. Then there would be a total sea change in the political landscape of the country. And at that point, all options would be on the table. All options would be on the table. I believe that as the president puts us in a constitutional crisis, that there are enough Republicans who care about the rule of law and are concerned by the president's action they would be moved to act too. But if this happens, if the president puts us in a constitutional crisis by crossing a red line by firing the special prosecutor or really constraining the investigation, all options would be on the table. But we're not going to say now what we would do then because all kinds of things change not just change but .. we're not there yet."

++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++

President Donald Trump has provided the special counsel's office with written answers to questions about his knowledge of Russian interference in the 2016 election, his lawyers said Tuesday, marking the first time Trump has directly cooperated with the investigation.

The step is a milestone in a months-long negotiation between Trump's attorneys and special counsel Robert Mueller's team over whether and when the president would sit for an interview, representing the first time the president is known to have described to investigators his knowledge of key moments under scrutiny by prosecutors.

If Mueller finds the answers satisfactory, the responses may also help stave off a potential subpoena fight over Trump's testimony.

The compromise outcome, nearly a year in the making, offers some benefit to both sides. Trump avoids, at least for now, a potentially risky and unpredictable sit-down with prosecutors, while Mueller secures a set of on-the-record statements whose accuracy the president and his lawyers will be expected to stand by for the duration of the investigation.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker says someone very close to the president could become ensnared in Mueller's probe.

"We expect that there are going to be more indictments," Tucker said. "There's a lot of speculation and buzz in Washington as to who might be next up. We know that there's concern within the White House about President Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr."

POOL

Washington - 20 November 2018

1. President Donald Trump greets White House visitors

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

++partially covered with b-roll++

"Today, we have learned that President Donald Trump and his lawyers have turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller written answers to questions about Russian election interference and questions that are related to the topic of whether the campaign colluded with the Kremlin to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 21 August 2013

3. STILL of Robert Mueller speaking during an interview at FBI headquarters

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

++partially covered with b-roll++

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

"And so, we can imagine and infer that Mueller wants to understand to what extent did Trump know about the Russian hacking of Democratic emails, to what extent did Trump have any knowledge that his son was going to be attending a meeting at Trump Tower with a Kremlin-connected lawyer. Those are all questions that cut to the heart of the collusion question that Mueller is trying to answer."

POOL

Washington - 20 November 2018

5. Trump and his family walk outside at the White House

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

++partially covered with b-roll++

"We expect that there are going to be more indictments. There's a lot of speculation and buzz in Washington as to who might be next up. We know that there's concern within the White House about President Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr. He, of course, attended and helped organize the Trump Tower meeting, which is very significant, because he took that meeting with the expectation of receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton, his father's opponent. We have no indication that he's in legal jeopardy, but we do know that the White House is concerned about that."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sun City, Arizona - 1 November 2018

7. STILL of Donald Trump Jr. speaking at a campaign rally for a U.S. Senate candidate

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

++fully covered with b-roll++

"The main question that now arises is whether special counsel Mueller would seek a subpoena of President Trump for his testimony in a criminal investigation ... and it is possible that Mueller will receive these answers from Trump and want additional information on the collusion question specifically and say he's not satisfied. If that were to happen, it is possible that he might seek a subpoena and try to get Justice Department approval for that."

POOL

Washington - 20 November 2018

9. Trump walks toward and boards the Marine One helicopter

Special counsel Robert Mueller has informed President Donald Trump's attorneys that the president is not currently considered a criminal target in the Russia investigation, according to a person familiar with the conversation.

The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations and demanded anonymity, said the president is considered a subject of Mueller's probe - not a target. A subject is typically someone whose conduct is of interest to investigators but prosecutors are not certain they've gathered enough evidence to bring charges.

The designation could change at any time, though. The development was first reported by The Washington Post.

Trump's designation as a subject came up as prosecutors and the president's legal team have been negotiating the terms of an interview with him. The president has said he wants to speak with Mueller's team, but his lawyers have not publicly committed to allowing him to be questioned.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow declined to confirm or discuss the conversations with Mueller.

White House lawyer Ty Cobb also declined to comment.

Mueller's team has signaled that they're interested in discussing several key episodes in the early parts of the Trump administration as they probe possible obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors have told the legal team they want to question Trump about the firings of former FBI Director James Comey and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Investigators want to discuss conversations Trump had with Comey in which the former FBI director has said the president encouraged him to end an active investigation into Flynn. They're also interested in the events leading up to Flynn's February 2017 firing.

Investigators have said they want to hear from the president to understand his intent and thinking during those events.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 3 April 2018

1. US President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 4 April 2018

2. SOUNDBITE (English): Eric Tucker, AP Writer:

"So we have learned that President Donald Trump's lawyers have been told that he is considered a subject in the Russia investigation but not a target and not a witness."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 3 April 2018

3. US President Donald Trump in the Cabinet Room

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 4 April 2018

4. SOUNDBITE (English): Eric Tucker, AP Writer:

"So let's start with a witness. So a witness would be somebody who walks outside and sees two cars collide and had no role in that collision but sees it and investigators want to speak to him about that. A subject is somebody whose contact is of interest to the investigation but not somebody who is in jeopardy of facing imminent criminal prosecution. So they want to talk to them, they want to understand what he or she saw, knew. But they're basically not saying that they're somebody who they're interested in prosecuting the moment. A target is in the worst position to be. That is basically somebody where the Justice Department says we have reason to think that there's criminal conduct that potentially you might have been involved in and we're interested in moving forward in the case."

POOL

Washington - 27 March 2007

4x3

5. Various Robert Mueller testifying before Congress

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 4 April 2018

6. SOUNDBITE (English): Eric Tucker, AP Writer:

"What we don't know is whether Muller believes that the facts aren't there at the moment to support any sort of criminal prosecution or we don't know if Mueller has concluded, based on a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion, that he cannot indict a sitting president and so that's why Trump is not a target. That's a question that's undetermined at the moment."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Beijing - 30 January 2008

4x3

7. Mueller at news conference

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 4 April 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English): Eric Tucker, AP Writer:

"So somebody can go into a grand jury who is a subject and leave as a target. That happens infrequently. Sometimes targets are investigated for weeks and months and then ultimately told we're not going to move forward. So actually, none of this is set in stone and none of it by itself carries tremendous significance. It's not like you can hold the government to account to say, 'hey you told my client that he was just a subject how could you charge him? Subjects are charged all the time. Targets are not charge all the time. Those things happen."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 3 April 2018

9. Trump at news conference

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 4 April 2018

10. SOUNDBITE (English): Eric Tucker, AP Writer:

"So, it's hard to imagine a scenario in which the president who, you know, had a presidential campaign that has been under investigation for a long time now by the special counsel, that he wouldn't be a subject. And given the actions that he's taken as president, it seems logical that if there's going to be investigation, you want to sort of understand the president's role in the matters that you're investigating. So it's hard to imagine any other scenario in which he'd be a subject. That seems logical frankly."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 3 April 2018

11. Trump at news conference

President Donald Trump has provided the special counsel's office with written answers to questions about his knowledge of Russian interference in the 2016 election, his lawyers said Tuesday, marking the first time Trump has directly cooperated with the investigation.

The step is a milestone in a months-long negotiation between Trump's attorneys and special counsel Robert Mueller's team over whether and when the president would sit for an interview, representing the first time the president is known to have described to investigators his knowledge of key moments under scrutiny by prosecutors.

If Mueller finds the answers satisfactory, the responses may also help stave off a potential subpoena fight over Trump's testimony.

The compromise outcome, nearly a year in the making, offers some benefit to both sides. Trump avoids, at least for now, a potentially risky and unpredictable sit-down with prosecutors, while Mueller secures a set of on-the-record statements whose accuracy the president and his lawyers will be expected to stand by for the duration of the investigation.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker says someone very close to the president could become ensnared in Mueller's probe.

"We expect that there are going to be more indictments," Tucker said. "There's a lot of speculation and buzz in Washington as to who might be next up. We know that there's concern within the White House about President Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr."

POOL

Washington - 20 November 2018

1. President Donald Trump greets White House visitors

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

"Today, we have learned that President Donald Trump and his lawyers have turned over to special counsel Robert Mueller written answers to questions about Russian election interference and questions that are related to the topic of whether the campaign colluded with the Kremlin to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 21 August 2013

3. STILL of Robert Mueller speaking during an interview at FBI headquarters

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

"These are questions that relate to the time period before President Trump took office. And that's really important. They relate to the central question of collusion. And so, we can imagine and infer that Mueller wants to understand to what extent did Trump know about the Russian hacking of Democratic emails, to what extent did Trump have any knowledge that his son was going to be attending a meeting at Trump Tower with a Kremlin-connected lawyer. Those are all questions that cut to the heart of the collusion question that Mueller is trying to answer."

POOL

Washington - 20 November 2018

5. Trump and his family walk outside at the White House

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

"We expect that there are going to be more indictments. There's a lot of speculation and buzz in Washington as to who might be next up. We know that there's concern within the White House about President Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr. He, of course, attended and helped organize the Trump Tower meeting, which is very significant, because he took that meeting with the expectation of receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton, his father's opponent. We have no indication that he's in legal jeopardy, but we do know that the White House is concerned about that."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sun City, Arizona - 1 November 2018

7. STILL of Donald Trump Jr. speaking at a campaign rally for a U.S. Senate candidate

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 20 November 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Writer:

"The main question that now arises is whether special counsel Mueller would seek a subpoena of President Trump for his testimony in a criminal investigation. The Supreme Court has never weighed in on that specific question, and it is possible that Mueller will receive these answers from Trump and want additional information on the collusion question specifically and say he's not satisfied. If that were to happen, it is possible that he might seek a subpoena and try to get Justice Department approval for that."

POOL

Washington - 20 November 2018

9. Trump walks toward the Marine One helicopter

Special counsel Robert Mueller did not find evidence that President Donald Trump's campaign "conspired or coordinated" with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election but reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, Attorney General William Barr declared. That brought a hearty claim of vindication from Trump but set the stage for new rounds of political and legal fighting.

Trump cheered the Sunday outcome but also laid bare his resentment after two years of investigations that have shadowed his administration. "It's a shame that our country has had to go through this. To be honest, it's a shame that your president has had to go through this," he said.

Democrats pointed out that Mueller found evidence for and against obstruction and demanded to see his full report. They insisted that even the summary by the president's attorney general hardly put him in the clear.

Mueller's conclusions, summarized by Barr in a four-page letter to Congress, represented a victory for Trump on a key question that has hung over his presidency from the start: Did his campaign work with Russia to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton? That was further good news for the president on top of the Justice Department's earlier announcement that Mueller had wrapped his investigation without new indictments. The resolution also could deflate the hopes of Democrats in Congress and on the 2020 campaign trail that incriminating findings from Mueller would hobble the president's agenda and re-election bid.

But while Mueller was categorical in ruling out criminal collusion, he was more circumspect on presidential obstruction of justice. Despite Trump's claim of total exoneration, Mueller did not draw a conclusion one way or the other on whether he sought to stifle the Russia investigation through his actions including the firing of former FBI director James Comey.

According to Barr's summary, Mueller set out "evidence on both sides of the question" and stated that "while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

Barr, who was nominated by Trump in December, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller in May 2017 and oversaw much of his work, went further in Trump's favor.

The attorney general said he and Rosenstein had determined that Mueller's evidence was insufficient to prove in court that Trump had committed obstruction of justice to hamper the probe. Barr has previously voiced a broad view of presidential powers, and in an unsolicited memo last June he cast doubt on whether the president could have obstructed justice through acts - like firing his FBI director - that he was legally empowered to take.

Barr said their decision was based on the evidence uncovered by Mueller and not affected by Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Washington, D.C. - 24 March 2019

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"So perhaps the most significant finding out of the special counsel's report today is that special counsel Mueller did not find any evidence of criminal conspiracy between anyone associated with the Trump campaign and Russia. That is there's no quote unquote "collusion" that is prosecutable in any way between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. And that is the question that has been hovering over this investigation from the start. So that's a big victory for the president. it's a really unequivocal victory. The other interesting finding of note is on the question of whether the President obstructed justice. And here it's a little bit more complicated. In this particular aspect of the investigation the special counsel did not reach a conclusion one way or the other as to whether the President obstructed justice. Instead, according to Attorney General Barr who summarized these findings, Mueller presented evidence on both sides of the ledger for these different episodes involving Trump's behavior that were examined, and then did not reach a conclusion one way or the other. However, Barr said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had reached their own conclusion based on Mueller's evidence and determined that it was insufficient to establish obstruction of justice."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"So the letter today from the attorney general, it's a four-page letter, it marks the conclusion, the real end conclusion of the special counsel's investigation. We expect to hear more details of what the special counsel found in coming days and weeks."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

3 . SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"The major investigation that concerns the president right now is taking place in New York City. That's an investigation into hush money payments that were made to two women, one a former Playboy model, the other a porn star, who both say they had sex with the president about a decade before he was elected. And both received money during the campaign effectively to not come forward with their allegations. Prosecutors in New York City, in southern district of New York, are investigating whether that's a campaign finance violation. The president's been implicated in wrongdoing by his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. It's not yet clear what's going to happen with that investigation."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"I think the main takeaway actually is going to be how unsatisfied Democrats are. This is a four-page summary of what appears to be a very lengthy, very detailed report from the special counsel. And there is a suggestion in this letter that the special counsel did find evidence in at least some of the episodes he examined of potential obstruction of justice and simply did not reach a conclusion. So if you're a Democrat on Capitol Hill right now, you want access to all of the special counsel's work and you want the American public to see all of the evidence he gathered and his underlying report. And so we can expect going forward, that is going to be the next big legal front is this fight between Congress and the Justice Department over how much of Mueller's two years of work the public has to see. Especially because on the question of obstruction, it's clear that Mueller did indicate that there's a there there. He just didn't reach a conclusion one way or the other so that's given hope to Democrats that they want to see more."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"The regulations actually do not stipulate that the report is made public. That's a judgment call. It's what the regulations actually mandate is that a confidential report is delivered by the special counsel to the attorney general, who oversees his work. So in this case that would be Mueller to Barr. And then it is possible that a document could be made public. But you have to imagine, and we know this for sure in this case, that this is a document that concerns grand jury information, perhaps classified information. That's a complicated process to scrub that document of any potential issues, executive privilege issues. And that's going to take some time."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"It is important to take stock of this moment that this is a pretty significant victory in terms of this collusion, or no collusion finding I should say, between the president and Russia and the special counsel according to Barr was pretty unequivocal about that. And so the president, we can expect him to rightfully claim victory and based on what we know from the special counsel's findings, that perhaps seems justified on that front. However there is a reference that is interesting and that is multiple offers from people connected to Russia, Russian associates, two individuals associated with the Trump campaign, offering help. We suspect that's a reference to the Trump Tower meeting that took place in June 2016 between Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin connected lawyer. He took that meeting with the expectation of receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton that could be used in weaponised during the campaign. We also know that a former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos had a meeting in London where he learned from a professor that Russia had dirt on Clinton in the form of thousands of stolen e-mails. So we suspect that Mueller's making reference to that, the fact that there are these multiple overtures of help from people connected to Russia. But there's no evidence or no allegation even that either of those two sides worked together. And that's a significant conclusion."

Washington, D.C. - 11 November 2018

7. Still - Donald Trump Jr. (Partly covers Soundbite #6)

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

Washington, D.C. - 24 March 2019

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"As it relates to the question of collusion, we do have a definitive answer from the special counsel and ostensibly endorsed by the attorney general that there was no collusion. We've heard that from the president for the last two years. That is the central finding and take away from this four-page summary that there was indeed no collusion, no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign on one hand and the criminal in the Kremlin on the other to get Trump elected."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"It is possible that House Democrats could come up with a different conclusion on the on the collusion question. It's not clear how readily embraced by the American public that would be, because the special counsel is regarded as the ultimate arbiter of, with subpoena power, evidence, ability to criminally prosecute, so he's regarded as the final voice. So it's not clear whether the American public will accept if Mueller says no collusion and House Democrats say otherwise."

++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++

Special counsel Robert Mueller did not find evidence that President Donald Trump's campaign "conspired or coordinated" with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election but reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, Attorney General William Barr declared. That brought a hearty claim of vindication from Trump but set the stage for new rounds of political and legal fighting.

Trump cheered the Sunday outcome but also laid bare his resentment after two years of investigations that have shadowed his administration. "It's a shame that our country has had to go through this. To be honest, it's a shame that your president has had to go through this," he said.

Democrats pointed out that Mueller found evidence for and against obstruction and demanded to see his full report. They insisted that even the summary by the president's attorney general hardly put him in the clear.

Mueller's conclusions, summarized by Barr in a four-page letter to Congress, represented a victory for Trump on a key question that has hung over his presidency from the start: Did his campaign work with Russia to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton? That was further good news for the president on top of the Justice Department's earlier announcement that Mueller had wrapped his investigation without new indictments. The resolution also could deflate the hopes of Democrats in Congress and on the 2020 campaign trail that incriminating findings from Mueller would hobble the president's agenda and re-election bid.

But while Mueller was categorical in ruling out criminal collusion, he was more circumspect on presidential obstruction of justice. Despite Trump's claim of total exoneration, Mueller did not draw a conclusion one way or the other on whether he sought to stifle the Russia investigation through his actions including the firing of former FBI director James Comey.

According to Barr's summary, Mueller set out "evidence on both sides of the question" and stated that "while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

Barr, who was nominated by Trump in December, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller in May 2017 and oversaw much of his work, went further in Trump's favor.

The attorney general said he and Rosenstein had determined that Mueller's evidence was insufficient to prove in court that Trump had committed obstruction of justice to hamper the probe. Barr has previously voiced a broad view of presidential powers, and in an unsolicited memo last June he cast doubt on whether the president could have obstructed justice through acts — like firing his FBI director — that he was legally empowered to take.

Barr said their decision was based on the evidence uncovered by Mueller and not affected by Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Washington, D.C. - 24 March 2019

1. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"So perhaps the most significant finding out of the special counsel's report today is that special counsel  Mueller did not find any evidence of criminal conspiracy between anyone associated with the Trump campaign and Russia. That is there's no quote unquote collusion that is prosecutable in any way between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. And that is the question that has been hovering over this investigation from the start. So that's a big victory for the president. it's a really unequivocal victory. The other interesting finding of note is on the question of whether the President obstructed justice. And here it's a little bit more complicated. In this particular aspect than the investigation the special counsel did not reach a conclusion one way or the other as to whether the President obstructed justice. Instead, according to Attorney General Barr who summarized these findings,  Mueller presented evidence on both sides of the ledger for these different episodes involving Trump's behavior that were examined, and then did not reach a conclusion one way or the other. However Barr said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had reached their own conclusion based on Mueller's evidence and determined that it was insufficient to establish obstruction of justice."

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"So the letter today from the attorney general, it's a four page letter, it marks the conclusion, the real end conclusion of the special counsel's investigation. We  expect to hear more details of what the special counsel found in coming days and weeks."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

3 . SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"The major investigation that concerns the president right now is taking place in New York City. That's an investigation into hush money payments that were made to two women, one a former Playboy model, the other a porn star, who both say they had sex with the president about a decade before he was elected. And both received money during the campaign effectively to not come forward with their allegations. Prosecutors in New York City, in southern district of New York, are investigating whether that's a campaign finance violation. The president's been implicated in wrongdoing by his former lawyer Michael Cohen. It's not yet clear what's going to happen with that investigation."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"I think the main takeaway actually is going to be how unsatisfied Democrats are. This is a four page summary of what appears to be a very lengthy, very detailed report from the special counsel. And there is a suggestion in this letter that the special counsel did find evidence in at least some of the episodes he examined of potential obstruction of justice and simply did not reach a conclusion. So if you're a Democrat on Capitol Hill right now, you want access to all of the special counsel's work and you want the American public to see all of the evidence he gathered and his underlying report.  And so we can expect going forward, that is going to be the next big legal front is this fight between Congress and the Justice Department over how much of Muller's two years of work the public has to see. Especially because on the question of obstruction, it's clear that Mueller did indicate that there's a there there. He just didn't reach a conclusion one way or the other so that's given hope to Democrats that they want to see more."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"The regulations actually do not stipulate that the report is made public. That's a judgment call. It's what the regulations actually mandate is that a confidential report is delivered by the special counsel to the attorney general, who oversees his work. So in this case that would be Mueller to Barr.  And then it is possible that a document could be made public. But you have to imagine, and we know this for sure in this case, that this is a document that concerns grand jury information, perhaps classified information. That's a complicated process to scrub that document of any potential issues, executive privilege issues. And that's going to take some time."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"It is important to take stock of this moment that this is a pretty significant victory in terms of this collusion, or no collusion finding I should say, between the president and Russia and the special counsel according to Barr was pretty unequivocal about that. And so the president, we can expect him to rightfully claim victory and based on what we know from the special counsel's findings, that perhaps seems justified on that front. However there is a reference that is interesting and that is multiple offers from people connected to Russia,  Russian associates two individuals associated with the Trump campaign, offering help. We suspect that's a reference to the Trump Tower meeting that took place in June 2016 between Donald Trump Jr. and a Kremlin connected lawyer. He took that meeting with the expectation of receiving dirt on Hillary Clinton that could be used in weaponized during the campaign. We also know that a former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos had a meeting in London where he learned from a professor that Russia had dirt on Clinton in the form of thousands of stolen e-mails. So we suspect that Mueller's making reference to that, the fact that there are these multiple overtures of help from people connected to Russia. But there's no evidence or no allegation even that either of those two sides worked together. And that's a significant conclusion."

Washington, D.C. - 11 November 2018

7. Still - Donald Trump Jr. (Partly covers Soundbite #6)

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

Washington, D.C. - 24 March 2019

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"As it relates to the question of collusion, we do have a definitive answer from the special counsel and ostensibly endorsed by the attorney general that there was no collusion. We've heard that from the president for the last two years. That is the central finding and take away from this four page summary that there was indeed no collusion, no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign on one hand and the criminal in the Kremlin on the other to get Trump elected."

++BLACK FRAMES BETWEEN SOUNDBITES++

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, The Associated Press:

"It is possible that House Democrats could come up with a different conclusion on the on the collusion question. It's not clear how readily embraced by the American public. That would be because the special counsel is regarded as the ultimate arbiter of, with subpoena power, evidence, ability to criminally prosecute, so he's regarded as the final voice. So it's not clear whether the American public will accept if  Mueller says no collusion and House Democrats say otherwise."

++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus092782

An attorney linked to a former Trump campaign official admitted Tuesday he lied to federal investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller.

Alex van der Zwaan, who worked at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom until he was fired last year, appeared at the federal courthouse in Washington where he formally pleaded guilty to a single charge of making false statements about his interactions with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.

Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker says Mueller is sending a clear message that he won't tolerate lying. This is the 4th person to be prosecuted for lying to investigators.

Van der Zwaan's plea comes on the heels of an extraordinary indictment from Mueller last week that charged 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies in a hidden social media effort to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by denigrating Democrat Hillary Clinton and boosting the chances of Trump.

But the charge against the attorney, who is also the son-in-law of a Russian billionaire, does not involve election meddling or relate to the Trump campaign's operations. Instead, it stems from the special counsel's investigation into Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chair, and Gates, who is a longtime business associate of Manafort.

Gates and Manafort were indicted last year and accused of conspiring to launder millions of dollars they earned from political consulting work in Ukraine. As part of that indictment, Manafort and Gates are accused of directing a covert Washington lobbying campaign on behalf of pro-Russian Ukrainian interests before they joined the Trump campaign. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Van der Zwaan, 33, of London admitted to lying to federal authorities while they questioned him about the production of a report that Manafort and Gates are accused of secretly funding by funneling money through an offshore account.

++SOUNDBITES PARTIALLY COVERED BY VIDEO++

Washington - 20 February 2018

1. Mid, van der Zwaan exiting the courthouse and getting into a car

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"Today we had  another guilty plea in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. This is a lawyer. His name is Alex van der Zwaan. He admitted to lying to federal investigators during an interview in November 2017. This is the 19th person that we've seen charged so far in Mueller's investigation. This is a person who lied to the FBI about his interactions with Rick Gates, who is a codefendant of Paul Manafort, who is the former campaign chairman of President Donald Trump."

3. Mid, car driving away

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"He went into the special counsel's office back in November 2017 to be interviewed about his interactions with Rick Gates in connection with the production of a report that related to foreign lobbying work, Ukrainian lobbying work, that Rick Gates and Paul Manafort were doing. And during the course of that conversation he was asked about the last interaction he had with Rick Gates. He lied in that interview according to Mueller's investigators."

5. STILL Various van der Zwaan arriving at courthouse

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"The plea today does not relate to the indictment from Friday about the meddling in the 2016 presidential election. And it doesn't directly connect in any way to President Trump or Candidate Trump."

7. STILL Various van der Zwaan arriving at courthouse

8.  SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"But I would say what's really interesting now is this is the fourth person who we have seen charged with lying to investigators. So clearly Mueller is saying if you lie to us, and if we catch you in a lie making a knowing and false and willfully false statement, not just a mistake but a willfully false statement, you could wind up being prosecuted."

++EDIT ENDS IN A SOUNDBITE++

Elaine Kamarck, of the Brookings Institution says "we're pretty much at the end of this process" as she discussed the next steps in the special prosecutors Russia probe.

Kamarack, Senior fellow in the Governance Studies program as well as the Director of the Center for Effective Public Management , said on Tuesday that "The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors."

In a related story The Associated Press reports that President Donald Trump has been calling the Russia probe a witch hunt for two years.

But now, Trump and his allies are starting to see it as something potentially very different: a political opportunity.

Trump has grown increasingly confident that special counsel Robert Mueller's report will produce no clear evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and his election campaign.

A change is also underway among congressional Democrats, who had believed the report would offer damning evidence

Kamarack says "We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment."

Washington - 19 March 2019

1.Wide shot of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro walking out of White House into Rose Garden

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"It's not often that a president is subject to a special counsel and that means often that the findings of a special counsel could lead to something very dramatic like impeachment. Or it could just turn out to be a bunch of nothing. And so everybody was interested in this. Everybody was excited about it. The president himself was furious about it. But this is a big deal. We don't generally have investigations like this of sitting presidents."

3. Side shot of Trump speaking

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors, which is the constitutional issue for impeachment, and so we're sort of down to the end game here. I mean it looks like there was a rapid string of indictments, trials, etc. It's possible that one or more of the president's children or in-laws could get indicted but it's, we're pretty much at the end of this process."

5. Trump speaking

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The issue, though, is did the House and Senate, did the intelligence committees when they were controlled by Republicans ignore important pieces of evidence? The Democrats think they did. And so the Democrats will have to start their own investigation. They may find nothing as well."

Washington - 25 February 2019

7. STILL - The Capitol is seen in Washington as Congress returns to work following a week-long recess. A top House Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has threatened to call special counsel Robert Mueller to Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and sue the Trump administration if the full report on Mueller's Russia investigation is not made public.

Washington - 06 March 2019

8. STILL - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, of California, left, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., return to hear Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, testify before a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill

Washington - 19 March 2019

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there, the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment? Now, Nancy Pelosi has said, wisely I think, that probably not that. There's just not unless there's some blockbuster finding in the Muller report or someplace else. Probably not because bet we're almost at 2020. Let, it's cleaner, easier for democracy to let the voters decide."

Washington - 06 March 2019

10. STILL - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., with Ranking Member Doug Collins

Washington - 19 March 2019

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"This investigation has taken place simultaneously with a very chaotic presidency and with a separate investigation into Donald Trump's business empire. Now it may not be impeachable to be a corrupt businessman. All you have to do is look at the Deutsche Bank story in today's (New York) Times and you can see that that's that's going to be a big story. But maybe it's not impeachable but it sure isn't desirable."

12. STILL - President Donald Trump walks along the Colonnade of the White House, towards the Rose Garden with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed for hours last week in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday. He's the highest-ranking Trump administration official and first Cabinet member known to have submitted to questioning.

The interview came as Mueller investigates whether President Donald Trump's actions in office, including the firing of FBI Director James Comey, constitute efforts to obstruct the FBI probe into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump's own lawyers are discussing the prospect of an interview with the president himself, and White House officials state publicly that they anticipate a resolution soon to the investigation.

The questioning of the country's chief law enforcement officer is a reflection of investigators' continued interest in whether the president took steps to improperly obstruct justice. That question has been at the heart of the investigation for months as agents and prosecutors have questioned multiple current and former White House officials.

Sessions himself is seen as a potentially important witness given his direct involvement in the May 9 firing of Comey.

The White House initially said the termination was done on the recommendation of the Justice Department and cited a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that faulted Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation as justification.

But Trump said later that he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he fired Comey, and he had decided to make the move even before the Justice Department's recommendations.

Sessions was one of Trump's earliest and most loyal allies, the first senator to endorse him during the presidential campaign.

But his decision to step aside from the Russia investigation has strained their bond, and the two men now rarely speak directly. Trump saw the recusal as weak and disloyal, believing his attorney general should be doing more to protect him

Over the past several months Mueller investigators have spoken with other key people close to the president, including White House Counsel Don McGahn, former chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Sessions' attorney, Chuck Cooper, declined to comment, as did the White House.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 5 September 2017

1. FILE Sessions speaking at Department of Justice about DACA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"Jeff Sessions is the country's chief law enforcement officer. He is the first cabinet member who has been known to be interviewed by Special Counsel Mueller. He's the highest ranking Trump administration official who we know, and what it indicates is a continued interest by Mueller and his team in questions about whether the president committed obstruction of justice while in office."

ASSOCIATED PRES

Washington - 5 September 2017

3. FILE Sessions speaking at Department of Justice about DACA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"What he actually most critically is involved in was the firing of FBI Director Jim Comey back in May, and that is one of the critical episodes of the Trump presidency that's been under investigation by Bob Mueller."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 9 February 2017

5. FILE Various Jeff Sessions being sworn in as attorney general by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"And it's part of a series of questions as to whether the president took actions while in office to stymie the FBI investigation into contacts between his campaign and Russia. And you'll remember that Jeff Sessions was very important to that because he is somebody who endorsed the firing of Director Comey."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 9 February 2017

7. FILE Jeff Sessions being sworn in as attorney general by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"We know that the special counsel's office has interviewed multiple current and former White House officials including the president's own son in law Jared Kushner, White House counsel Don McGahn and the former chief of staff Reince Priebus. We also know that special counsel Mueller has expressed interest in a potential interview down the road with the president."

US POOL

Washington - 9 February 2017

9. FILE Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions arriving at the Department of Justice and shaking hands with staff

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"White House lawyer Ty Cobb has been on record as saying he anticipates the investigation will resolve soon. He's put a time frame of four to six weeks. We're not sure if that's actually going to happen. It's sort of hard to predict for anyone when these investigations will end."

US POOL

Washington - 9 February 2017

11. FILE Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions arriving at the Department of Justice and shaking hands with staff

Elaine Kamarck, of the Brookings Institution says "we're pretty much at the end of this process" as she discussed the next steps in the special prosecutors Russia probe.

Kamarack, Senior fellow in the Governance Studies program as well as the Director of the Center for Effective Public Management , said on Tuesday that "The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors."

In a related story The Associated Press reports that President Donald Trump has been calling the Russia probe a witch hunt for two years.

But now, Trump and his allies are starting to see it as something potentially very different: a political opportunity.

Trump has grown increasingly confident that special counsel Robert Mueller's report will produce no clear evidence of a conspiracy between Russia and his election campaign.

A change is also underway among congressional Democrats, who had believed the report would offer damning evidence

Kamarack says "We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment."

Washington - 19 March 2019

1.Wide shot of Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro walking out of White House into Rose Garden

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"It's not often that a president is subject to a special counsel and that means often that the findings of a special counsel could lead to something very dramatic like impeachment. Or it could just turn out to be a bunch of nothing. And so everybody was interested in this. Everybody was excited about it. The president himself was furious about it. But this is a big deal. We don't generally have investigations like this of sitting presidents."

3. Side shot of Trump speaking

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The only thing that really seems to remain is whether or not the president himself is guilty of some crimes and do those crimes constitute in the minds of the members of Congress, high crimes and misdemeanors, which is the constitutional issue for impeachment, and so we're sort of down to the end game here. I mean it looks like there was a rapid string of indictments, trials, etc. It's possible that one or more of the president's children or in-laws could get indicted but it's, we're pretty much at the end of this process."

5. Trump speaking

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"The issue, though, is did the House and Senate, did the intelligence committees when they were controlled by Republicans ignore important pieces of evidence? The Democrats think they did. And so the Democrats will have to start their own investigation. They may find nothing as well."

Washington - 25 February 2019

7. STILL - The Capitol is seen in Washington as Congress returns to work following a week-long recess. A top House Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has threatened to call special counsel Robert Mueller to Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and sue the Trump administration if the full report on Mueller's Russia investigation is not made public.

Washington - 06 March 2019

8. STILL - House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, of California, left, and Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., return to hear Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer, testify before a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill

Washington - 19 March 2019

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"We're at a point where this is about to move unless there's some you know smoking gun. This is this investigation is about to move from the legal to the political and there, the Democrats are going to have to decide do we move forward with impeachment? Now, Nancy Pelosi has said, wisely I think, that probably not that. There's just not unless there's some blockbuster finding in the Muller report or someplace else. Probably not because bet we're almost at 2020. Let, it's cleaner, easier for democracy to let the voters decide."

Washington - 06 March 2019

10. STILL - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., with Ranking Member Doug Collins

Washington - 19 March 2019

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Elaine Kamarck, Senior Fellow Brookings Institution:

"This investigation has taken place simultaneously with a very chaotic presidency and with a separate investigation into Donald Trump's business empire. Now it may not be impeachable to be a corrupt businessman. All you have to do is look at the Deutsche Bank story in today's (New York) Times and you can see that that's that's going to be a big story. But maybe it's not impeachable but it sure isn't desirable."

12. STILL - President Donald Trump walks along the Colonnade of the White House, towards the Rose Garden with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed for hours last week in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday. He's the highest-ranking Trump administration official and first Cabinet member known to have submitted to questioning.

The interview came as Mueller investigates whether President Donald Trump's actions in office, including the firing of FBI Director James Comey, constitute efforts to obstruct the FBI probe into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump's own lawyers are discussing the prospect of an interview with the president himself, and White House officials state publicly that they anticipate a resolution soon to the investigation.

The questioning of the country's chief law enforcement officer is a reflection of investigators' continued interest in whether the president took steps to improperly obstruct justice. That question has been at the heart of the investigation for months as agents and prosecutors have questioned multiple current and former White House officials.

Sessions himself is seen as a potentially important witness given his direct involvement in the May 9 firing of Comey. The White House initially said the termination was done on the recommendation of the Justice Department and cited a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that faulted Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation as justification.

But Trump said later that he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he fired Comey, and he had decided to make the move even before the Justice Department's recommendations.

Sessions was one of Trump's earliest and most loyal allies, the first senator to endorse him during the presidential campaign. They shared an ambitious law-and-order agenda that focuses on hawkish immigration policies and tough-on-crime strategies that engendered affection from many conservatives.

He has continued to push Trump's agenda on everything from gangs and the opioid crisis to religious freedom, giving the president credit every step of the way.

But his decision to step aside from the Russia investigation has strained their bond, and the two men now rarely speak directly. Trump saw the recusal as weak and disloyal, believing his attorney general should be doing more to protect him

Over the past several months Mueller investigators have spoken with other key people close to the president, including White House Counsel Don McGahn, former chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Mueller has conveyed interest in speaking with the president, and White House attorney Ty Cobb said that is "under active discussion" with Trump's individual lawyers. He said last week on a CBS News' political podcast, "The Takeout," that he expected the investigation to be wrapped up within weeks.

Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation in early March after acknowledging that he had had two previously undisclosed encounters with the Russian ambassador during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. He said at the time that it would be improper for him to oversee a probe into a campaign for which he was a vocal and prominent supporter.

Since then, Trump has lashed out repeatedly on Twitter at Sessions and the Justice Department.

People familiar with the matter have told The Associated Press that McGahn had contacted Sessions to urge him to retain control of the investigation. McGahn was acting at the behest of the president, according to one of those people, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly by name.

Rosenstein appointed Mueller, a former FBI director, to take over the Russia investigation one week after Comey was fired. He oversees the work of Mueller's investigators, but he told the AP in an interview last June that he, too, would recuse himself if his actions ever became relevant to the probe.

Sessions' attorney, Chuck Cooper, declined to comment, as did the White House.

Four people have so far been charged in the Mueller investigation, including former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Flynn and George Papadopoulos, a former campaign foreign policy adviser, have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Sessions' interview with the Mueller team was first reported by The New York Times.

++SOUNDBITES PARTIALLY COVERED BY VIDEO++

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 5 September 2017

1. FILE Various Sessions speaking at Department of Justice about DACA

ASSOCIATED PRESS - AP CLIENTS ONLY

Washington - 23 January 2018

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"Jeff Sessions is the country's chief law enforcement officer. He is the first cabinet member who has been known to be interviewed by Special Counsel Mueller. He's the highest ranking Trump administration official who we know, and what it indicates is a continued interest by Mueller and his team in questions about whether the president committed obstruction of justice while in office."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 9 February 2017

3. FILE Various Jeff Sessions being sworn in as attorney general by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"What he actually most critically is involved in was the firing of FBI Director Jim Comey back in May, and that is one of the critical episodes of the Trump presidency that's been under investigation by Bob Mueller. And it's part of a series of questions as to whether the president took actions while in office to stymie the FBI investigation into contacts between his campaign and Russia. And you'll remember that Jeff Sessions was very important to that because he is somebody who endorsed the firing of Director Comey."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 9 February 2017

5. FILE Jeff Sessions being sworn in as attorney general by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"We know that the special counsel's office has interviewed multiple current and former White House officials including the president's own son in law Jared Kushner, White House counsel Don McGahn and the former chief of staff Reince Priebus. We also know that special counsel Mueller has expressed interest in a potential interview down the road with the president."

US POOL

Washington - 9 February 2017

7. FILE Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions arriving at the Department of Justice and shaking hands with staff

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"White House lawyer Ty Cobb has been on record as saying he anticipates the investigation will resolve soon. He's put a time frame of four to six weeks. We're not sure if that's actually going to happen. It's sort of hard to predict for anyone when these investigations will end."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions was interviewed for hours last week in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday. He's the highest-ranking Trump administration official and first Cabinet member known to have submitted to questioning.

The interview came as Mueller investigates whether President Donald Trump's actions in office, including the firing of FBI Director James Comey, constitute efforts to obstruct the FBI probe into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russia. Trump's own lawyers are discussing the prospect of an interview with the president himself, and White House officials state publicly that they anticipate a resolution soon to the investigation.

The questioning of the country's chief law enforcement officer is a reflection of investigators' continued interest in whether the president took steps to improperly obstruct justice. That question has been at the heart of the investigation for months as agents and prosecutors have questioned multiple current and former White House officials.

Sessions himself is seen as a potentially important witness given his direct involvement in the May 9 firing of Comey.

The White House initially said the termination was done on the recommendation of the Justice Department and cited a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein that faulted Comey for his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation as justification.

But Trump said later that he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he fired Comey, and he had decided to make the move even before the Justice Department's recommendations.

Sessions was one of Trump's earliest and most loyal allies, the first senator to endorse him during the presidential campaign.

But his decision to step aside from the Russia investigation has strained their bond, and the two men now rarely speak directly. Trump saw the recusal as weak and disloyal, believing his attorney general should be doing more to protect him

Over the past several months Mueller investigators have spoken with other key people close to the president, including White House Counsel Don McGahn, former chief of staff Reince Priebus and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Sessions' attorney, Chuck Cooper, declined to comment, as did the White House.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 5 September 2017

1. FILE Sessions speaking at Department of Justice about DACA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"Jeff Sessions is the country's chief law enforcement officer. He is the first cabinet member who has been known to be interviewed by Special Counsel Mueller. He's the highest ranking Trump administration official who we know, and what it indicates is a continued interest by Mueller and his team in questions about whether the president committed obstruction of justice while in office."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 5 September 2017

3. FILE Sessions speaking at Department of Justice about DACA

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"What he actually most critically is involved in was the firing of FBI Director Jim Comey back in May, and that is one of the critical episodes of the Trump presidency that's been under investigation by Bob Mueller."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 9 February 2017

5. FILE Various Jeff Sessions being sworn in as attorney general by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"And it's part of a series of questions as to whether the president took actions while in office to stymie the FBI investigation into contacts between his campaign and Russia. And you'll remember that Jeff Sessions was very important to that because he is somebody who endorsed the firing of Director Comey."

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 9 February 2017

7. FILE Jeff Sessions being sworn in as attorney general by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"We know that the special counsel's office has interviewed multiple current and former White House officials including the president's own son in law Jared Kushner, White House counsel Don McGahn and the former chief of staff Reince Priebus. We also know that special counsel Mueller has expressed interest in a potential interview down the road with the president."

US POOL

Washington - 9 February 2017

9. FILE Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions arriving at the Department of Justice and shaking hands with staff

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 23 January 2018

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, AP Reporter:

"White House lawyer Ty Cobb has been on record as saying he anticipates the investigation will resolve soon. He's put a time frame of four to six weeks. We're not sure if that's actually going to happen. It's sort of hard to predict for anyone when these investigations will end."

US POOL

Washington - 9 February 2017

11. FILE Newly appointed U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions arriving at the Department of Justice and shaking hands with staff

Within minutes of receiving notification that special counsel Robert Mueller had turned over his report on the Russia investigation, congressional Democrats were calling for the report to be fully released, including the underlying evidence. They have threatened subpoenas if it is not.

The demands are setting up a potential tug of war between congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump's administration that federal judges might eventually have to referee.

Six Democratic committee chairmen wrote in a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Friday that if Mueller has any reason to believe that Trump "has engaged in criminal or other serious misconduct," then the Justice Department should not conceal it.

"The president is not above the law and the need for public faith in our democratic institutions and the rule of law must be the priority," the chairmen wrote.

Reacting to the release, Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, told the Associated Press that "the American people paid for this report," adding "both American people and Congress have a right to see the full report. "

Lieu said although the special counsel report focused on Russia, the findings could also be used in a wide array of Judicary Committee investigations.

It's unclear what Mueller has found related to the president, or if any of it would be damning. In his investigation of whether President Donald Trump's campaign coordinated with Russia to sway the 2016 election, Mueller has already brought charges against 34 people, including six aides and advisers to the president, and three companies.

Lawmakers say they need the underlying evidence - including interviews, documents and material turned over to the grand jury - because the Justice Department has maintained that a president cannot be indicted, and also that derogatory information cannot be released about people who have not been charged. So if the investigation did find evidence incriminating against Trump, they may not be able to release it, under their own guidelines.

The Democrats say that it could be tantamount to a cover-up if the department did not let Congress and the public know what they found.

Washington - 22 March 2019

1. Wide, exterior view of Department of Justice

Los Angeles - 3 May 2018

2. STILL Image, Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat - California, Member of House Judiciary Committee

Torrence, California - 22 March 2019

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat - California: ++ AUDIO ONLY++

"Today is a proud day for America. Despite many attempts by Donald Trump to block this investigation Robert Mueller and his team were able to complete it. The fact that Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein kept their jobs I think is a strong testament to the vitality and strength of our institutions. This was a Republican led investigation of a Republican president and it was allowed to continue. I think that says a lot about America."

Washington - 22 March 2019

4. Wide, exterior view of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office

Torrence, California - 22 March 2019

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat - California: ++ AUDIO ONLY++

"Now in terms of distribution, the American people paid for this report. It is a matter of intense national interest and under both the separation of powers as well as just general fairness and transparency, both American people and Congress have a right to see the full report. "

Washington - 22 March 2019

6. Wide, exterior view of Department of Justice ++NIGHT SHOT++

Torrence, California - 22 March 2019

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat - California: ++ AUDIO ONLY++

"It's hard to know without knowing what's in the actual report. It's also important to understand that because the Department of Justice has taken the position that they won't indict a sitting president then the only other institution that can hold the press accountable is Congress. And we can't do that if we don't see the full report. So, that at every level when you look at it from separation of powers or the functions of both Congress and the special counsel in this case, the different functions we have to see the entire report."

Washington - 22 March 2019

8. Wide, people standing in front of White House

9. Close-up protester

Torrence, California - 22 March 2019

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat - California: ++ AUDIO ONLY++

"Special Counsel Mueller's investigation was largely centered on Russia. The House Judiciary Committee and other committees were interested in knowing did Donald Trump, his family, his associates commit any crime? Second, did they engage in any ethical misconduct, whether or not it rose to the level of a federal crime? And third how do we explain this to the American people to keep it from happening again?"

Washington - 22 March 2019

11. Wide, tourists walking in front of White House

12. Wide, White House ++NIGHT SHOT++

An attorney linked to a former Trump campaign official admitted Tuesday he lied to federal investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller.

Alex van der Zwaan, who worked at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom until he was fired last year, appeared at the federal courthouse in Washington where he formally pleaded guilty to a single charge of making false statements about his interactions with former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates.

Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker says Mueller is sending a clear message that he won't tolerate lying. This is the 4th person to be prosecuted for lying to investigators.

Van der Zwaan's plea comes on the heels of an extraordinary indictment from Mueller last week that charged 13 Russian individuals and three Russian companies in a hidden social media effort to meddle in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by denigrating Democrat Hillary Clinton and boosting the chances of Trump.

But the charge against the attorney, who is also the son-in-law of a Russian billionaire, does not involve election meddling or relate to the Trump campaign's operations. Instead, it stems from the special counsel's investigation into Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chair, and Gates, who is a longtime business associate of Manafort.

Gates and Manafort were indicted last year and accused of conspiring to launder millions of dollars they earned from political consulting work in Ukraine. As part of that indictment, Manafort and Gates are accused of directing a covert Washington lobbying campaign on behalf of pro-Russian Ukrainian interests before they joined the Trump campaign. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Van der Zwaan, 33, of London admitted to lying to federal authorities while they questioned him about the production of a report that Manafort and Gates are accused of secretly funding by funneling money through an offshore account.

Washington - 20 February 2018

1. STILL Alex van der Zwaan arriving at the courthouse

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"Today we had another guilty plea in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. This is a lawyer. His name is Alex van der Zwaan. He admitted to lying to federal investigators during an interview in November 2017."

3. STILL Alex van der Zwaan arriving at the courthouse

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"This is the 19th person that we've seen charged so far in Mueller's investigation. This is a person who lied to the FBI about his interactions with Rick Gates, who is a codefendant of Paul Manafort, who is the former campaign chairman of President Donald Trump."

5. STILL Alex van der Zwaan arriving at the courthouse

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"He went into the special counsel's office back in November 2017 to be interviewed about his interactions with Rick Gates in connection with the production of a report that related to foreign lobbying work, Ukrainian lobbying work, that Rick Gates and Paul Manafort were doing. And during the course of that conversation he was asked about the last interaction he had with Rick Gates. He lied in that interview according to Mueller's investigators."

7. Mid, van der Zwaan exiting the courthouse and getting into a car

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"So one thing that's really interesting is when you think about the timing of this investigation, this comes right on the heels of a stunning indictment that we had last Friday against 13 Russians and 3 Russian companies in connection to a hidden but very powerful social media effort that Mueller says was aimed at denigrating Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election and aiding the campaign of her Republican opponent Donald Trump."

9. Mid, car driving away

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"The plea today does not relate to the indictment from Friday about the meddling in the 2016 presidential election. And it doesn't directly connect in any way to President Trump or Candidate Trump."

11. STILL van der Zwaan leaving the courthouse

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"But I would say what's really interesting now is this is the fourth person who we have seen charged with lying to investigators. So clearly Mueller is saying if you lie to us, and if we catch you in a lie making a knowing and false and willfully false statement, not just a mistake but a willfully false statement, you could wind up being prosecuted."

13. STILL van der Zwaan leaving the courthouse

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"Alex van der Zwaan is going to be sentenced in April. He was free today, he was allowed to go, allowed to leave the courtroom."

15. STILL van der Zwaan leaving the courthouse

16.SOUNDBITE (English) Eric Tucker, Associated Press Justice Department Reporter:

"That charge that he is pleading guilty to, a charge of making false statements to investigators, technically carries a five year maximum prison sentence. However, under the sentencing guideline ranges that were discussed in court today he's looking at between zero months and six months in prison."

++EDIT ENDS IN A SOUNDBITE++