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+++

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

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++

A Dutch attorney who lied to federal agents investigating former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced April 3rd to 30 days in prison in the first punishment handed down in special counsel's Russia investigation. He was also ordered to pay a $20,000 fine.

Alex van der Zwaan's sentence could set a guidepost for what other defendants charged with lying in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation may receive when their cases are resolved. Among them are a former White House national security adviser and a Trump campaign foreign policy aide.

Van der Zwaan had faced zero to six months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and his attorneys had pushed for him to pay a fine and leave the country. But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, citing the need to deter others from lying in an investigation of international importance, said incarceration was necessary.

The criminal case against van der Zwaan is not directly related to Russian election interference, the main focus of Mueller's probe. But it has revealed new details about the government's case against Manafort as well as previously undisclosed connections between senior Trump campaign aides, including Rick Gates, and Russia. The allegations have also opened a window into the intersecting universes of international law, foreign consulting work and politics.

Van der Zwaan admitted in February to lying to federal agents about his contacts with Gates and a person prosecutors have since revealed has been assessed to have ties to Russian intelligence. Though prosecutors did not take a position on whether he should be locked up, they stressed that he had lied "repeatedly" to investigators.

Van der Zwaan's attorneys argued that he had suffered enough already, saying his life had already been destroyed by his "terrible decision" to lie to federal authorities.

The attorneys also pushed Jackson to allow van der Zwaan to return to London as soon as possible where he lives with his wife, who is pregnant with their first child.

***

James Comey blasts US President Donald Trump as unethical and "untethered to truth" and his leadership of the country as "transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty," according to a forthcoming book from the former FBI director.

Comey reveals new details about his interactions with Trump and his decision-making in handling the Hillary Clinton email investigation.

He casts Trump as a mafia boss-like figure who sought to blur the line between law enforcement and politics and tried to pressure him regarding the investigation into Russian election interference.

The book adheres closely to Comey's public testimony and written statements about his interactions with the president during the early days of the administration and his growing concerns about the president's integrity. But it also includes surprisingly personal jabs at Trump that appear likely to irritate the notoriously thin-skinned president.

The 6-foot, 8-inch tall Comey describes Trump as shorter than he expected with a "too long" tie and "bright white half-moons" under his eyes that Comey suggests came from tanning goggles. He also says made a conscious effort to check the president's hand size, saying it was "smaller than mine, but did not seem unusually so."

The book, "A Higher Loyalty," is set to be released next week. The Associated Press purchased a copy this week.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017, setting off a scramble at the Justice Department that led to the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel overseeing the Russia investigation.

Comey writes that he regrets his approach and some of the wording he used in his July 2016 press conference in which he announced the decision not to prosecute Clinton.

But he says he believes he did the right thing by going before the cameras and making the statement, noting that the Justice Department had done it in other high profiles cases before.

Every person on the investigative team, Comey writes, found there was no prosecutable case against Clinton and that the FBI didn't catch her in a lie.

He also reveals for the first time that the U.S. government had unverified classified information that he believes could have been used to cast doubt on Attorney General Loretta Lynch's independence in the Clinton probe.

While Comey does not outline the details of the information - and says he didn't see indications of Lynch inappropriately influencing the investigation - he says it worried him that the material could be used to attack the integrity of the probe and the FBI's independence.

***

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort arrived at a US federal courthouse in Washington, on April 19th as he seeks to challenge special counsel Robert Mueller's authority by arguing that Mueller overstepped his authority. Manafort is expected to ask a judge to throw out charges brought against him.

***

Gina Haspel - who's been nominated to be CIA director - says she wouldn't put in place any presidential order that she thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal.

A Senate committee is holding a hearing on Haspel's nomination, and Virginia Democrat Mark Warner asked whether she'd carry out any order from President Donald Trump that she found morally objectionable.

Haspel said she wouldn't.

My moral compass is strong," Haspel said.

"I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal. I would absolutely not permit it."

Haspel said the CIA must undertake activities consistent with American values.

***

U.S. President Donald Trump says he "unleashed an economic miracle" with his tax cuts in 2017.

Trump spoke on June 29th at a White House event marking the six-month anniversary of the $1.5 trillion tax cuts.

The cuts are taking effect in the ninth year of an economic expansion that began under former President Barack Obama.

Trump called the cuts the "biggest" in history. The overhaul ranks behind Ronald Reagan's in the early 1980s and post-World War II tax cuts.

The law provides generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and more modest reductions for middle- and low-income individuals and families.

Trump has been enjoying a good week, with two favorable Supreme Court rulings and Justice Anthony Kennedy's plans to retire from the Supreme Court.

01:05:16

SHOWS

Lawyer becomes first sentenced in Russia probe

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington DC - 3 April 2018

1. Alex van der Zwaan getting out of SUV and walking into court, while man with sign yells at him to lock him up

Washington DC - 8 March 2018

2. Pan of Paul Manafort walking

Former FBI Director Comey compares Trump to mob boss in new book

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FILE: Washington DC - 22 January 2017

3. Pan right from US President Donald Trump to James Comey and back to Trump, UPSOUND (English): "So let's, oh and there's James (Comey), he's become more famous than me."

Comey's New Book Bashes Trump

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New York - 13 April 2018

++MUTE VIDEO++

4. Various of James Comey's book "A Higher Loyalty"

Ex-Trump campaign chief Manafort seeks dismissal of charges

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Washington DC - 19 April 2018

5. Various of Paul Manafort, US President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, arriving, walking into court building

CIA Nominee: I Wouldn't Follow 'Immoral' Orders

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Washington - 9 May 2018

6. Various of Senate Intelligence Hearing

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Gina Haspel, CIA Director Nominee: ++STARTS OFF-CAMERA++

"Senator, my moral compass is strong. I would not allow the CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal. I would absolutely not permit it."

Trump says US tax cuts "unleashed an economic miracle"

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Washington DC - 29 June 2018

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Donald Trump, US President:

"Thank you very much everybody. The economy is indeed doing well. (Cheers.) Six months ago we unleashed an economic miracle by signing the biggest tax cuts and reforms, I have to add the word reform, very important word. But the tax cuts is what got us there and that is what is really doing it, the biggest tax cuts in American history.

STORYLINE:

Former US President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden on April 14th, giving the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee a boost from the party's biggest fundraiser and one of its most popular figures.

"This is a big deal for Biden because it helps him create some momentum, " says Julie Pace, Associated Press Washington Bureau Chief.

The endorsement marked Obama's return to presidential politics more than three years after leaving the White House.

He didn't mention his successor, President Donald Trump, by name and instead sought to bridge the ideological divide among Democrats.

"He's eager to get out there. He is eager to start drawing the contrast with Donald Trump, Pace said. "This is basically what he's been waiting for."

Biden now has the support of all of his former Democratic primary rivals except for Elizabeth Warren.

The Massachusetts senator is expected to formally endorse Biden soon, according to a person familiar with her plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss her thinking.

Two other prominent Democrats who have yet to publicly back Biden are former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the party's 2016 nominee.

Hillary Clinton has been in regular touch with Biden, including several times since Sanders dropped out of the race, according to an aide.

Obama avoided intervening in the Democratic primary, but followed the race closely from the sidelines and is eager to take a more active public role.

He's expected to headline fundraisers for Biden and public events in key swing states, if such gatherings can still be held given social distancing guidelines during the coronavirus pandemic.

After his endorsement was released, Obama sent a fundraising appeal to Biden supporters, asking for donations ranging from $5 to $100.

The endorsement will test whether Obama can transfer his personal popularity to Biden.

While the former president is seen favorably by a wide swath of Democratic voters, he was also a deeply polarizing figure during his two terms in office.

During his presidency, Democrats lost about 1,000 legislative seats around the country, starting with disastrous 2010 midterms that also cost the party control of the House and many statehouses.

***

ASIAN AMERICANS ACTORS ON CALLING COVID-19 'THE 'CHINESE VIRUS': MAKING THIS BLANKET STATEMENT IS BAD

President Trump has stopped calling COVID-19 the "Chinese Virus" but some believe the damage is already done.

"I felt like it was a very uneducated statement," said TV personality Jeannie Mai, who was born in the United States to a Vietnamese mother and a Chinese father. "I think you have to be very responsible when you choose terminology to give people an idea of what to picture, what to visualize."

"The Good Doctor" actor Will Yun Lee, who was born in the U.S. to Korean parents, said blaming a group of people is dangerous because it only encourages xenophobia and racism.

"Making this blanket statement is bad. People take it the way they're going to take it. And unfortunately a lot of people have taken it to associate it to anybody who looks like me or is Asian-American or whatever Asian ethnicity you are. It becomes like the word 'chink,' right? It's a very harsh word."

Trump isn't the only person who has referred to COVID-19 in this way.

Earlier in April, TV host Bill Maher defended the notion of calling coronavirus the "Chinese Virus" on his HBO show, "Real Time with Bill Maher," saying it's logical because that's where it originated.

"Tigertail" and "The Farewell" actor Tzi Ma, who was born in Hong Kong and moved to the U.S. as a child, responded to Maher's statement saying, "For the moment it could be funny. For the moment it could give you some gratification or satisfaction by saying it. However you have to remember that there are ramifications."

Nico Santos of the NBC comedy "Superstore" was born in the Philippines and moved to the U.S. as a teen. He said this blame mentality rears its head whenever there is fear a community.

"We saw the same sort of thing happen when when the AIDS crisis was happening. People directed that sort of like fear and hate towards the LGBTQ community. When 9/11 happened, there was a lot of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim sentiment. Even people who actually weren't Muslim or who weren't of Middle Eastern descent, who said, if you just look like you work, if you're basically you looked like you were brown or maybe came from that part of the world, you all of sudden, you know, bore the brunt of that of that hate."

***

The Justice Department on May 7th said it is dropping the criminal case against President Donald Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abandoning a prosecution that became a rallying cry for Trump and his supporters in attacking the FBI's Russia investigation.

The move is a stunning reversal for one of the signature cases brought by special counsel Robert Mueller. It comes even though prosecutors for the last three years had maintained that Flynn had lied to the FBI about his conversations with the Russian ambassador in a January 2017 interview. Flynn himself admitted as much, and became a key cooperator for Mueller as he investigated ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.

In court documents being filed May 7th, the Justice Department said it is dropping the case "after a considered review of all the facts and circumstances of this case, including newly discovered and disclosed information." The documents were obtained by The Associated Press.

The Justice Department said it had concluded that Flynn's interview by the FBI was "untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI's counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn" and that the interview on January 24, 2017 was "conducted without any legitimate investigative basis."

The U.S. attorney reviewing the Flynn case, Jeff Jensen, recommended the move to Attorney General William Barr last week and formalized the recommendation in a document this week.

The decision was quickly embraced by Trump, who has relentlessly tweeted about the case and last week pronounced Flynn "exonerated," and energized supporters who have taken up the retired Army lieutenant general as something of a cause celebre. But it may also add to Democratic concerns that Attorney General William Barr is excessively loyal to the president, and could be a distraction for a Justice Department that for months has sought to focus on crimes arising from the coronavirus.

The Justice Department's action comes amid an internal review into the handling of the case and an aggressive effort by Flynn's lawyers to challenge the basis for the prosecution. The lawyers cited newly disclosed FBI emails and notes last week to allege that Flynn was entrapped into lying when agents interviewed him at the White House days after Trump's inauguration.

***

Paul Manafort, Donald Trump's onetime presidential campaign chairman who was convicted as part of the special counsel's Russia investigation, has been released from federal prison to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement due to concerns about the coronavirus.

Manafort, 71, was released May 13th from FCI Loretto, a low-security prison in Pennsylvania, according to his attorney Todd Blanche. Manafort had been serving more than seven years in prison following his conviction.

His lawyers had asked the Bureau of Prisons to release him to home confinement, arguing that he was at high risk for coronavirus because of his age and preexisting medical conditions.

Manafort was hospitalized in December after suffering from a heart-related condition, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press at the time. They were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Manafort was among the first people to be charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, which examined possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia in the 2016 election campaign.

He was prosecuted in two federal courts, convicted by a jury in federal court in Virginia in 2018 and later pleaded guilty in Washington.

He was sentenced last March and was immediately hit with state charges in New York that could put him outside the president's power to pardon. New York prosecutors have accused him of giving false information on a mortgage loan application.

***

US President Donald Trump's long-time personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen was released from federal prison on May 21st to serve the remainder of his sentence at home, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Cohen had been serving a federal prison sentence at FCI Otisville in New York after pleading guilty to numerous charges, including campaign finance fraud and lying to Congress.

The person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Cohen was released on furlough as part of an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus in federal prisons. Cohen, 53, began serving his sentence last May and originally was scheduled to be released from prison in November 2021.

Prison advocates and congressional leaders have been pressing the Justice Department for weeks to release at-risk inmates, arguing that the public health guidance to stay 6 feet (1.8 meters) away from other people is nearly impossible behind bars.

Attorney General William Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons in March and April to increase the use of home confinement and expedite the release of eligible high-risk inmates, beginning at three prisons identified as coronavirus hot spots. Otisville is not one of those facilities.

The Bureau of Prisons placed Cohen on furlough as it continues to process a move to home confinement, another person familiar with the matter said.

The agency has the authority to release inmates on furlough for up to 30 days and has been doing so to make sure suitable inmates, who are expected to transition to home confinement, can be moved out of correctional facilities sooner, that person said.

***

Joe Biden blistered President Donald Trump on June 2nd for directing authorities to drive back peaceful protesters outside the White House "in order to stage a photo op."

The former vice president said the commander in chief was "more interested in power than in principle."

Biden was delivering a speech in Philadelphia, addressing the civil unrest across America in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Biden is also working to elevate his voice in the national debate after more than two months of the campaign for the White House being frozen amid the outbreak of the coronarvius.

He's also looking to provide a stark contrast to Trump who has struck a forceful tone against protests.

***

It's official. After an almost year-long, often tumultuous battle, former Vice President Joe Biden has crossed the finish line, formally clinching the Democratic nomination.

The milestone sets him up for a bruising battle against President Donald Trump that will play out amid the backdrop of a pandemic, economic collapse and civil unrest, a daunting trifecta of challenges Biden hopes to use to his advantage.

"They're some of the sternest challenges our nation has ever faced," Biden said June 5th at an event in Delaware. "They need a president who cares about them, who cares about helping them heal now."

Biden became the presumptive nominee almost two months ago when his last opponent in the primary, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, dropped out of the race.

But he only pulled together the nearly 2-thousand delegates needed to seal the nomination after the latest round of contests this week.

The former vice president's path to the prize wasn't always so clear. While he consistently led the largest primary field in history in the national polls, his campaign looked to be in trouble after a string of losses in the early contests.

He rebounded with a resounding win in South Carolina. From there, he dominated Super Tuesday, launching what turned out to be an insurmountable comeback.

While Biden no longer has to battle Democratic rivals, he has a host of other issues to tackle, from winning over skeptics in his party's left wing to running a campaign essentially out of his Delaware home.

Though Biden has started to venture out more this week, the coronavirus pandemic has largely confined him to his Wilmington, Delaware, home for much of the past three months.

University of Virginia Center for Politics Director Larry Sabato says while that approach may irk his rival, Donald Trump, and challenge political norms, it could be just the right move during this unprecedented campaign year.

"The best strategy for Joe Biden may be a low-key strategy, which fits in pretty well. Do the events that you want to do, organize them from the basement and let Donald Trump deal with the problems. It's actually tougher this year to be the incumbent than it is to be the challenger," Sabato says.

"Most people know that Joe Biden was a two term vice president under Barack Obama and that he opposes, as Obama does, almost everything that Donald Trump has been doing or trying to do. That is enough of a contrast for most voters," Sabato adds.

With his place in the 2020 presidential race now set, all eyes are turning to what could be the most important decision of Biden's five-decade political career: choosing a running mate, something he says he hopes to do by August 1st.

***

The Trump administration is suing former national security adviser John Bolton to block the publication of a book that the White House says contains classified information.

The suit follows warnings from President Donald Trump that Bolton could face a "criminal problem" if he doesn't halt plans to publish the book.

The administration has also said the former adviser did not complete a pre-publication review to ensure that the manuscript did not contain classified material.

Bolton's attorney, Chuck Cooper, has said Bolton worked for months with classification specialists to avoid releasing classified material. He has accused the White House of using national security information as a pretext to censor Bolton.

He has accused the White House of using national security information as a pretext to censor Bolton.

Trump said June 16th Bolton could face a “criminal problem” if he doesn’t halt plans to publish the book.

He said Attorney General William Barr will decide if Bolton will be charged.

***

President Donald Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects, according to a scathing book by former adviser John Bolton that accuses the president of being driven by political calculations when making national security decisions.

The White House was working furiously to block release of the book, whose China revelations carry echoes of Trump’s efforts to solicit political help from Ukraine that led to his impeachment.

Bolton, Trump's national security adviser for a 17-month period, called Trump's attempt to shift the June 2019 conversation to the US election a stunning move, and wrote that it was among innumerable conversations that “formed a pattern of fundamentally unacceptable behavior that eroded the very legitimacy of the presidency”.

Deeply critical of the president and much of his senior team, Bolton wrote that because staff had served him so poorly, Trump “saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government.” He added that while he was at the White House, Trump typically had only two intelligence briefings a week “and in most of those, he spoke at greater length than the briefers, often on matters completely unrelated to the subjects at hand.”

The 577-page book paints an unvarnished portrait of Trump and his administration, lending the most vivid, first-person account yet of how Trump conducts himself in office. Several other former officials have written books, but they have been almost entirely flattering of the president. Other former officials have indicated they were saving their accounts of their time working for Trump until after he left office in order to speak more candidly. The Associated Press obtained a copy of Bolton's book in advance of its release next week.

As for the meeting with the Chinese president in Osaka, Japan, Bolton wrote that Trump told Xi that Democrats were hostile to China.

“He then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming U.S. presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win,” Bolton said. “He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.”

The book, titled “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” which is set to be released Tuesday by Simon & Schuster, has been the subject of a lengthy battle between Bolton and the White House.

Trump signed legislation June 17th that seeks to punish China for a crackdown on ethnic minorities, even as the Bolton book said the American leader expressed support for the brutal campaign in a private conversation with his Chinese counterpart.

The Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 passed with overwhelming support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress. Trump signed it with no ceremony, issuing a statement in which he said a sanctions provision intruded on executive authority and he would regard it as non-binding.

***

A top White House aide who handles President Donald Trump's trade policy toward China described John Bolton's controversial new book as "revenge porn," and said Bolton took no interest in China policy, despite his position as Trump's national security adviser.

"It's 'Big Lie' Bolton. It's 'Book Deal' Bolton." He's doing it for the money," said Peter Navarro, Trump's director of trade and manufacturing policy.

In his book, Bolton claims that President Donald Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects,

He also accuses the president of being driven by political calculations when making national security decisions.

The White House has been working furiously to block the book, asking a federal court for an emergency temporary restraining order June 17th against its release.

Navarro said Trump has used tariffs to stand up to China in retaliatation to such Chinese actions as intellectual property theft, militarizing the South China Sea and cracking down on Hong Kong.

"I think there's a consensus now in this government that China is the single greatest strategic and existential threat to this country."

"It's not Russia. It's certainly not Venezuela. It's not Iraq, Iran or Afghanistan issues," Navarro said. "It's China."

"He took no interest in that whatsoever," he said.

***

Supporters of President Donald Trump faced off with anti-racism protesters on June 20th in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the President held a campaign rally.

Black Lives Matter activists flooded the city's downtown streets, and some got into arguments with Trump supporters who were shouting “all lives matter”.

Later in the evening, a group of armed men began following the protesters.

There were no reports of trouble.

02:29:18

00:00:00

Barak Obama gives Biden a boost with endorsement

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ASSOCIATED PRESS, POOL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE - Washington - 23 March 2010

1. Biden introducing Obama at healthcare law signing

++CONTAINS AUDIO OF EXPLETIVE++ Biden heard saying to Obama: "This is a big f------ deal"

ARCHIVE: Washington - 7 January 2015

2. President Obama speaks in the Oval Office with Vice President Joe Biden

POOL

4:3 FROM SOURCE

ARCHIVE: Chicago - 4 November 2008

3. Various, then President-elect Obama on stage after victory speech with then-Vice President elect Joe Biden

00:13:03

Asian American actors on calling COVID-19 the 'Chinese Virus': 'Having this blanket statement is bad'

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Archive: Washington, DC, 18 March 2020

4. UPSOUND (English) Reporter question:

"Why do you keep calling it the Chinese virus? There are reports of dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese Americans in this country - why do you keep using this?"

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

"Because it comes from China. It's not racist at all, no.

Los Angeles, 6 April 2020

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeannie Mai, TV Personality - on Trump calling COVID-19 the "Chinese virus":

"It was a very uneducated statement. I think you have to be responsible when you choose terminology to give people an idea of what to picture, what to visualize."

00:38:19

Justice Dept. drops Michael Flynn's criminal case

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington, DC - 18 December 2018

7. Michael Flynn leaves courthouse as competing demonstrators chant "lock him up" and "U.S.A."

00:45:16

Manafort released from prison due to virus concerns

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Washington, DC - 23 May 2017

8. Former campaign chairman for US President Donald Trump, Paul Manafort leaves courthouse

ARCHIVE: New York - June 27, 2019

9. Paul Manafort in handcuffs walks in hallway of a Manhattan courthouse escorted by court officers

00:54:18

Ex-Trump lawyer Cohen to be released from prison

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POOL

ARCHIVE: Washington - 28 February 2019

10. Various of Cohen testifying in Congress

01:05:10

Trump attorney Michael Cohen out of prison

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

New York - 21 May 2020

11. Michael Cohen exits vehicle and walks into residence

01:11:19

Biden: Trump more set on 'power than principle'

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POOL

Philadelphia - 2 June 2020

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Joe Biden (D) Presidential candidate::

"We can be forgiven for believing the president is more interested in power than in principle, or just in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care. For that's what the presidency is, the duty to care, to care for all of us, not just those who vote for us, but all of us."

01:37:22

Biden clinches Democratic presidential nomination

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Los Angeles, 3 March 2020

13. Joe Biden walks into rally after winning a number of Super Tuesday contests

Los Angeles, 3 March 2020

14. Biden on stage at California rally after winning a number of Super Tuesday contests

01:46:15

US Justice Dept. sues Bolton to block book release

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ASSOCIATED PRESS, POOL

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARCHIVE: Washington, DC - 30 September 2019

15. Mid shot of John Bolton walking up to podium

ARCHIVE: Seoul, South Korea - 24 July 2019

16. John Bolton arriving to meet South Korean officials

POOL

Washington, DC - 4 June 2020

17. Mid shot of William Barr at Justice Department news conference

01:59:20

Bolton book: Trump asked China for reelection help

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Washington - 17 June 2020

18. Bolton's book, "The Room Where it Happened"

02:04:03

White House aide calls Bolton book 'revenge porn'

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POOL

Washington, DC - 18 June 2020

19. Peter Navarro walking to microphone

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Peter Navarro, Assistant to the President, Director of Trade and Manufacturing Policy :

"Look, I knew John Bolton pretty well after he got in here and my take on him. It's big lie Bolton. It's book deal Bolton. He's doing it for the money. That's pretty clear. And my view is it's the Washington swamp's equivalent of revenge porn.

02:19:23

Pro and anti-Trump protests near Tulsa rally

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Tulsa, Oklahoma - 20 June 2020

21. Trump supporters holding banners reading (English) ''Make America Great Again!''

22. Armed men following the protest