Sign up for instructions on how to see if your Senators and Representative have read the Mueller report in full — and are ready to take the next steps to protect our democracy. Take Action. About Us Media Center. This is the complete text of the declassified report. This report has been the focus of nearly two years of efforts by the Department of Justice employing 40 FBI agents and 19 lawyers who used over warrants and interviewed nearly witnesses.
The controversy erupting from the many sides of the investigation has occupied two years of major news media coverage.
This version, which is a fourth of the length, focuses on the question of whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice in his efforts to impede and discredit the Special Counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election and whether the Trump Campaign colluded with the Russians to tip the election in Trump's favor. The abridgment uses the exact words of the Mueller Report to tell the investigative story of Michael Flynn's connections to the Russians, Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey, Trump's attempt to get Attorney General Jeff Sessions to unrecuse himself and then firing him when he refused, Trump's effort to fire the Special Counsel and to get White House Counsel Don McGahn to publicly deny that such an effort was made, Trump's attempt to prevent disclosure of the emails relating to the June Trump Tower meeting between Russians and senior officials of the Trump campaign, Michael Cohen's exchanges during the campaign with Russians about building a Trump Tower in Moscow and Trump's repeated statement during the campaign that he had no business dealings with the Russians, Trump's response to Paul Manafort's indictment and conviction, and more.
A call on September 9, which would have occurred in the middle of the night, is at odds with the weight of the evidence and not backed up by any records the White House was willing to provide Ambassador Sondland. Regardless of the date, Ambassador Sondland did not contest telling both Mr. As Ambassador Sondland acknowledged bluntly in his conversation with Mr. By early September, President Zelensky was ready to make a public announcement of the two investigations to secure a White House meeting and the military assistance his country desperately needed.
He proceeded to book an interview on CNN during which he could make such an announcement, but other events soon intervened. The White House had been aware of the whistleblower complaint for several weeks, and press reports indicate that the President was briefed on it in late August.
On September 11, in the face of growing public and Congressional scrutiny, President Trump lifted the hold on security assistance to Ukraine. As with the implementation of the hold, no clear reason was given. By the time the President ordered the release of security assistance to Ukraine, DOD was unable to spend approximately 14 percent of the funds appropriated by Congress for Fiscal Year Congress had to pass a new law to extend the funding in order to ensure the full amount could be used by Ukraine to defend itself.
Even after the hold was lifted, President Zelensky still intended to sit for an interview with CNN in order to announce the investigations—indeed, he still wanted the White House meeting. The White House meeting, however, still has not occurred. On October 17, at a press briefing in the White House, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney confirmed that President Trump withheld the essential military aid for Ukraine as leverage to pressure Ukraine to investigate the conspiracy theory that Ukraine had interfered in the U.
As Dr. According to Mr. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy. In contrast, President Trump does not appear to believe there is any such limitation on his power to use White House meetings, military aid or other official acts to procure foreign help in his reelection.
President Trump ordered federal agencies and officials to disregard all voluntary requests for documents and defy all duly authorized subpoenas for records. He also directed all federal officials in the Executive Branch not to testify—even when compelled. No other President has flouted the Constitution and power of Congress to conduct oversight to this extent. Even President Richard Nixon—who obstructed Congress by refusing to turn over key evidence—accepted the authority of Congress to conduct an impeachment inquiry and permitted his aides and advisors to produce documents and testify to Congressional committees.
In response, the President engaged in a brazen effort to publicly attack and intimidate these witnesses. Article I of the U. Congress is empowered to conduct oversight and investigations to carry out its authorities under Article I. These laws impose criminal and other penalties on those who fail to comply with inquiries from Congress or block others from doing so, and they reflect the broader Constitutional requirement to cooperate with Congressional investigations.
Unlike President Trump, past Presidents who were the subject of impeachment inquiries—including Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton—recognized and, to varying degrees, complied with information requests and subpoenas.
They will testify under oath, and they will answer fully all proper questions. When President Nixon withheld tape recordings and produced heavily edited and inaccurate records, the House Judiciary Committee approved an article of impeachment for obstruction. His rhetorical attacks appeared intended not only to dispute reports of his misconduct, but to persuade the American people that the House lacks authority to investigate the President.
However, the House has been following the same investigative rules that Republicans championed when they were in control. These subpoenas remain in full force and effect.
These agencies and offices also blocked many current and former officials from producing records directly to the Committees. Other witnesses identified numerous additional documents that the President and various agencies are withholding that are directly relevant to the impeachment inquiry.
In fact, on November 22, the Department was forced to produce 99 pages of emails, letters, notes, timelines, and news articles to a non-partisan, nonprofit ethics watchdog organization pursuant to a court order in a lawsuit filed under the Freedom of Information Act FOIA. Although limited in scope, this production affirms that the Department is withholding responsive documents from Congress without any valid legal basis.
President Trump issued just such an order. As reflected in Mr. President Trump even extended his order to former officials no longer employed by the federal government. This Administration-wide effort to prevent all witnesses from providing testimony was coordinated and comprehensive. These officials not only served their nation honorably, but they fulfilled their oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
These directives frequently cited or enclosed copies of Mr. More than a dozen current and former officials followed her courageous example by testifying at depositions and public hearings over the course of the last two months. President Trump publicly attacked and intimidated witnesses who came forward to comply with duly authorized subpoenas and testify about his misconduct, raising grave concerns about potential violations of criminal laws intended to protect witnesses appearing before Congressional proceedings.
For example, the President attacked:. He issued threats, openly discussed possible retaliation, made insinuations about their character and patriotism, and subjected them to mockery and derision—when they deserved the opposite. It is a federal crime to intimidate or seek to intimidate any witness appearing before Congress. The whistleblower filed the complaint confidentially with the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, as authorized by the relevant whistleblower law.
Federal law also protects the whistleblower from retaliation. Based on witness testimony and evidence collected during the impeachment inquiry, the Intelligence Committee has found that:. Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States—acting personally and through his agents within and outside of the U. In so doing, the President placed his personal political interests above the national interests of the United States, sought to undermine the integrity of the U.
In furtherance of this scheme, President Trump—directly and acting through his agents within and outside the U. To advance his personal political objectives, President Trump encouraged the President of Ukraine to work with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. Biden, Jr. Because the aid was appropriated by Congress, on a bipartisan basis, and signed into law by the President, its expenditure was required by law. Acting directly and through his subordinates within the U. The President did so despite the longstanding bipartisan support of Congress, uniform support across federal departments and agencies for the provision to Ukraine of the military assistance, and his obligations under the Impoundment Control Act.
President Trump used the power of the Office of the President and exercised his authority over the Executive Branch, including his control of the instruments of the federal government, to apply increasing pressure on the President of Ukraine and the Ukrainian government to announce the politically-motivated investigations desired by President Trump. Specifically, to advance and promote his scheme, the President withheld official acts of value to Ukraine and conditioned their fulfillment on actions by Ukraine that would benefit his personal political interests:.
President Trump—acting through agents within and outside the U.
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