Public at last, special counsel Robert Mueller's report revealed to a waiting nation Thursday that President Donald Trump tried to seize control of the Russia probe and force Mueller's removal to stop him from investigating potential obstruction of justice by the president.

Trump was largely thwarted by those around him.

Mueller laid out multiple episodes in which Trump directed others to influence or curtail the Russia investigation after the special counsel's appointment in May 2017.

Those efforts "were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests," Mueller wrote.

After nearly two years, the two-volume, 448-page redacted report made for riveting reading.

In one particularly dramatic moment, Mueller reported that Trump was so agitated at the special counsel's appointment on May 17, 2017, that he slumped back in his chair and declared: "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I'm f---ed."

With that, Trump set out to save himself.

In June of that year, Mueller wrote, Trump directed White House Counsel Don McGahn to call Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the probe, and say that Mueller must be ousted because he had conflicts of interest. McGahn refused — deciding he would rather resign than trigger a potential crisis akin to the Saturday Night Massacre of Watergate firings fame.

Two days later, the president made another attempt to alter the course of the investigation, meeting with former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and dictating a message for him to relay to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The message: Sessions would publicly call the investigation "very unfair" to the president, declare Trump did nothing wrong and say that Mueller should limit his probe to "investigating election meddling for future elections." The message was never delivered.

The report's bottom line largely tracked the findings revealed in Attorney General William Barr's four-page memo released a month ago — no collusion with Russia, no clear verdict on obstruction — but it added troubling layers of detail about Trump's efforts to thwart the investigation.

Looking ahead, both sides were already using the findings to amplify well-rehearsed arguments about Trump's conduct, Republicans casting him as a victim of harassment and Democrats depicting the president as stepping far over the line to derail the investigation.

The Justice Department released a redacted version of the report about 90 minutes after Attorney General William Barr offered his own final assessment of the findings at a testy Justice Department news conference. The nation, Congress and Trump's White House consumed the report voraciously — online, via a compact disc delivered to legislators and in loose-leaf binders distributed to reporters.

The release represented a moment of closure nearly two years in the making but also the starting bell for a new round of partisan warfare.

Washington - 18 April 2019

1. Zoom into cover page of Mueller report

2. Detail of redacted pages behind Mueller report

3. Graphic, showing cover page and Mueller's name

4. Detail of report where White House press secertary Sarah Sanders admits her statement that rank and file members of the FBI had lost confidence in then director James Comey was not founded on anything.

ARCHIVE: Washington DC - 10 May 2017

5. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders walks in for press briefing

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Sanders, White House Spokeswoman:

"The president over the last several months lost confidence in Director Comey, the DOJ lost confidence in Director Comey, bipartisan members of Congress made it clear that they had lost confidence in Director Comey. And most importantly, the rank and file of the FBI had lost confidence in their director. Accordingly the president accepted the recommendation of his deputy Attorney General to remove James Comey from his position."

7. Cutaway

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Spokeswoman:

"No, the president had lost again as I said that he had lost confidence in Director Comey and frankly he had been considering letting Director Comey go since the day he was elected."

9. Cutaway

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House Spokeswoman:

"Absolutely and I think most of America had decided on their own that Director Comey was not the person that should be leading the FBI as evidence by the numerous comments that we have seen from Democrat members in the House and Senate Republican members, members of the FBI and people across the board."

ARCHIVE: Washington - 18 May 2018

11. STILL image of Trump seated in the Oval Office

Washington - 18 April 2019

12. Wide, detail of report detailing Trump's reaction to appointment of a special counsel ++NOTE GRAPHIC LANGUAGE++

13. Details of report about how Trump's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful because people who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests

14. Wide view of report and redacted pages

The White House is again directing former employees not to cooperate with a congressional investigation, this time instructing former aides Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson not to provide documents to the House Judiciary Committee.

The letters from the White House to the Judiciary panel are the latest effort by the White House to thwart congressional investigations into President Donald Trump.

Trump has said he will fight "all of the subpoenas" as Democrats have launched multiple probes into his administration and personal financial affairs.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler issued subpoenas for Hicks, former White House communications director, and Donaldson, a former aide in the White House Counsel's Office, last month.

Both are mentioned frequently in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

The White House has claimed executive privilege over documents and testimony, invoking the power to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of the Oval Office decision-making process.

But that only extends so far. Nadler said in a statement Tuesday that, while the White House had instructed the former aides not to turn over materials, Hicks had agreed to turn over documents related to her time on Trump's presidential campaign. Those materials are not covered by executive privilege.

Nadler said he thanked Hicks for "that show of good faith."

The committee is arguing that the documents would not be covered by executive privilege if they left the White House months ago.

The White House has also directed former White House counsel Donald McGahn to refuse to provide documents or testify before the committee.

The House is expected to vote to hold McGahn and Attorney General William Barr, who has refused to turn over the full Mueller report, in contempt of Congress next week.

Washington - 29 March 2018

1. ARCHIVE: President Donald Trump shakes hands with Communications director Hope Hicks, as he walks out of the Oval Office

Washington, D.C., US - 27 February 2018

++NIGHT SHOTS++

2. ARCHIVE: White House communications director Hope Hicks walking away and getting into car

Davos, Switzerland - 26 January 2018

3. ARCHIVE: STILL of Hicks sitting behind Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during Trump's address to World Economic Forum

Washington, D.C., US - 9 February 2018

4. ARCHIVE: STILL of Hicks in Oval Office

Washington - 27 February 2018

5. ARCHIVE: Various of White House Communications Director Hope Hicks walking through hallways of Capitol with others

6. ARCHIVE: STILL Various of Hicks walking through Capitol

Washington - 21 February 2018

7. ARCHIVE: STILL photo of Hicks with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a listening session with high school students and teachers in the State Dining Room of the White House

Washington, D.C. - 27 February 2018

8. ARCHIVE: Various of White House Communications Director Hope Hicks departing Capitol

The White House is again directing former employees not to cooperate with a congressional investigation, this time instructing former aides Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson not to provide documents to the House Judiciary Committee.

The letters from the White House to the Judiciary panel are the latest effort by the White House to thwart congressional investigations into President Donald Trump.

Trump has said he will fight "all of the subpoenas" as Democrats have launched multiple probes into his administration and personal financial affairs.

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler issued subpoenas for Hicks, former White House communications director, and Donaldson, a former aide in the White House Counsel's Office, last month.

Both are mentioned frequently in special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

The White House has claimed executive privilege over documents and testimony, invoking the power to keep information from the courts, Congress and the public to protect the confidentiality of the Oval Office decision-making process.

But that only extends so far. Nadler said in a statement Tuesday that, while the White House had instructed the former aides not to turn over materials, Hicks had agreed to turn over documents related to her time on Trump's presidential campaign. Those materials are not covered by executive privilege.

Nadler said he thanked Hicks for "that show of good faith."

The committee is arguing that the documents would not be covered by executive privilege if they left the White House months ago.

The White House has also directed former White House counsel Donald McGahn to refuse to provide documents or testify before the committee.

The House is expected to vote to hold McGahn and Attorney General William Barr, who has refused to turn over the full Mueller report, in contempt of Congress next week.

Washington - 29 March 2018

1. ARCHIVE: President Donald Trump shakes hands with Communications director Hope Hicks, as he walks out of the Oval Office

Washington, D.C., US - 27 February 2018

++NIGHT SHOTS++

2. ARCHIVE: White House communications director Hope Hicks walking away and getting into car

Davos, Switzerland - 26 January 2018

3. ARCHIVE: STILL of Hicks sitting behind Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during Trump's address to World Economic Forum

Washington, D.C., US - 9 February 2018

4. ARCHIVE: STILL of Hicks in Oval Office

Washington - 27 February 2018

5. ARCHIVE: Various of White House Communications Director Hope Hicks walking through hallways of Capitol with others

6. ARCHIVE: STILL Various of Hicks walking through Capitol

Washington - 21 February 2018

7. ARCHIVE: STILL photo of Hicks with White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a listening session with high school students and teachers in the State Dining Room of the White House

Washington, D.C. - 27 February 2018

8. ARCHIVE: Various of White House Communications Director Hope Hicks departing Capitol