Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller will appear today before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees in televised hearings expected to draw a nationwide audience. As a resource, we’ve rounded up some of our experts’ analyses of the report itself and of Attorney General Bill Barr’s conduct since the investigation’s conclusion on Friday, March 22, 2019.
Primary Source Material
Unsealed Documents in Special Counsel Mueller’s Investigation
Word-Searchable Version of Mueller Report
Bill Barr’s Handling of the Report
Attorney General Bill Barr released a four-page summary of the Special Counsel’s report on March 24, 2019, exactly four months ago. The Attorney General has since come under criticism for his handling of the report, including accusations that he has intentionally mischaracterized the report’s conclusions. In turn, Barr’s suggestion that U.S intelligence agencies engaged in nefarious “spying” on the Trump Campaign has fueled a narrative that the investigation was illegitimate at its root.
House Should Prepare Criminal Referral of A.G. Barr for Lying to Congress
by Ryan Goodman and Hon. Elizabeth Holtzman
A Side-by-Side Comparison of Barr’s vs. Mueller’s Statements about Special Counsel Report
by Ryan Goodman
The Missing Bill Barr Obstruction Analysis
by David R. Lurie
Bill Barr’s Dangerous New Powers
by Joshua Geltzer and Mary B. McCord
When Is a “Literally True” Statement False and a Crime
by Stephen Gillers
Barr and Congress: Is the Focus on Criminality Too Narrow?–Five Experts Weigh In
by Just Security
Barr to Senate: President is Not Immune from Prosecutor Declaration of Indictable Offense
by Ryan Goodman
What Congress Should Ask Bill Barr When He Testifies
by Joshua Geltzer, Ryan Goodman and Asha Rangappa
The Barr-Nadler Subpoena Standoff: Still Room for Accommodation?
by Edgar Chen
Amid the Nadler-Barr Standoff: Some History of Struggles Over Hearing Processes
by Edgar Chen
Barr’s Redaction Process, cont’d
by Marty Lederman
Barr the Redactor?
by Marty Lederman
Barr’s Playbook: He Misled Congress When Omitting Parts of Justice Dep’t Memo in 1989
by Ryan Goodman
What Has Bill Barr Done to Earn the Benefit of the Doubt?
by Luppe Luppen
Volume I: Russian Interference and the Trump Campaign
Volume I of the Mueller report focuses on the Kremlin’s plot to interfere in the 2016 elections and on whether Americans joined the Russians’ two criminal conspiracies (the conspiracy involving the hacking and release of stolen emails and the conspiracy involving a social media campaign). Mueller’s team concluded “there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy” involving Americans, but in the course of their work uncovered an array of connections between Trump Campaign associates and Russian operatives. Much to the surprise of many close observers, the report assessed only criminal liability. Mueller had conducted simply a criminal investigation. The counterintelligence investigation — addressing concerns that Trump and his associates might be compromised by the Kremlin — had remained in the hands of the FBI.
Did Trump and His Team Successfully Obstruct Mueller’s Investigation?
by Barbara McQuade
The Failures of the Mueller Report’s Campaign Finance Analysis
by Bob Bauer
Guide to the Mueller Report’s Findings on “Collusion”
by Ryan Goodman
The Missing Piece of the Mueller Investigation
by Joshua Geltzer and Ryan Goodman
Volume II: Obstruction of Justice
President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017 setting off a chain reaction that led to the appointment of the Special Counsel. That firing is one of ten instances of possible obstruction of justice that the Office of the Special Counsel assessed in its report. Controversially, Mueller declined to reach a prosecutorial judgement as to whether the President obstructed justice, citing both the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion that a sitting President cannot be indicted and the fairness concern that the President should not be accused by federal prosecutors without a judicial forum in which to reply. The Special Counsel emphasized, however, during his May press conference, “If we had had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”
Mueller Hearing Risks Narrowing the Range of Impeachable Offenses
by Ryan Goodman and John T. Nelson
Mueller’s Message: The Obstruction That Nearly Halted Criminal Case Against Russians
by Ryan Goodman
Why Robert Mueller Is Right that the Obstruction Statutes Apply to the President
by Marty Lederman
All the President’s Lawyers: A Chart of Misconduct and Possible Crimes Revealed by Mueller Report
by Ryan Goodman and Alex Potcovaru
Mueller Report and the President’s Personal Lawyers: Did They Violate Criminal Law and Ethical Rules?
by Stephen Gillers
General
35 Questions for Congress to Ask Robert Mueller (+ Questions from Readers)
by Joshua Geltzer, Ryan Goodman and Asha Rangappa