Investigation of the facts, by the president did not commit obstruction of justice, we woul so state. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. The attorney general william barr reached a decision saying there was no corrupt intent and therefore no obstruction by the president. The president s critics vigorously disagree and that is the battle ahead. Just a few moments ago the president tweeted after watchin coverage of the report ahma i had the right to end the whole witch hunt if i wanted, i could have fired everyone including mueller if i wanted. I chose not to. I had the right to use executiv privilege, i didnt. We have Team Coverage night. On the white house marathon wit the president s reaction to that report. We begin at the Justice Department tonight with details and substance inside this longawaited document. Good evening, catherine. Good evening for the special counsel investigation found evidence of potential criminal activity outside the russian mandate and today about a dozen prosecutions were redacted. The report made the case for obstruction against the president , but now the burden falls to congress. After nearly two years of investigations, thousands of subpoenas, hundreds of warrants and witness interviews, the special counsel confirmed that the russian government sponsore efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016 president ial election. But did not find or other americans colluded in those efforts. The nearly 500 lightly redacted report provides the first indepth look at the nearly twoyear investigation b special counsel into alleged coordination with moscow as wel as obstruction of justice. The report documents ten key episodes painting a picture of the president s response to the delusion allegations. In 2017 after he fired james comey, which became the catalys for the appointment. There was an Oval Office Meeting , then attorney general Jeff Sessions delivered the news , the president slumped back in his chair and said oh my god this is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. The report is saying the president last outing sessions called the president said to hi you were supposed to protect m or words to that effect. The president the consequences of the appointment and said everyone tells me if you get on of these independent counsels, it ruined your presidency. Before the report was published they appeared to address the episode. The president was frustrated and angered by his sincere belief that the investigation investigation was undermining his presidency. The report says the presiden asking white House Counsel to remove mueller which he refused to do. It also documents an incident where president s president as support means to draft distancing himself from former white house of fire and others who have been targeted to the investigation. Despite almost daily tweets about the investigation. The president took no act to deprive the special counsel of the documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation. The president provide only written answers described as inadequate. The president attorney general, special councils legal framewor to test the evidence which bars cite ultimately fell short. The evidence developed by th special counsel is not sufficient to establish that th president committed and obstruction of justice offense. The report did not exonerate the president on obstruction, w concluded that congress has the authority to prohibit it our president s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice. Its clear the special Councils Office had a thorough investigation in order to preserve the evidence for futur investigators. My alleged russian collision with the predicate for the probe , the special counsel found no connection to the democratic email that was so damaging to the clinton campaign. The special Councils Report did not find that any Person Associated with the Trump Campaign illegally participated in the dissemination of the materials. The attorney general is scheduled to testify publicly t the house and senate next month. Also today we had Top Democrats calling for special Counsel Robert Mueller to testify as well. Outside the Justice Department, he thank you. Senior white house aides say President Trump is pumped about the report coming out speaking with his familiar refrain about the investigation, kevin quirk is at the white house tonight. He is right to invoke executive privilege. He effectively open the door fo his critics but the white house says this is all about history. It will prove that this was a faulty process from the very outset and it will ultimately say the president has been vindicated. Not a word before leaving th white house late this afternoon for a weekend at mara lago. President trump ignored reporters before boarding marin one. An uncharacteristic choice for him. Before 9 00 a. M. He had plenty to say. Even but for the press conference beginning his day by proclaiming on twitter no collusion and no obstruction including various Video Montage adding game over for good measure. The message he took to the east room later in the morning and the Wounded Warrior event. Im having a good day too. No collusion, no obstruction. I say it in front of my friends they should never happen to another president again. This hoax. They should never happen to another president again. To get all the attorney general confirmed there was no evidence of collusion with the russians by the president or his campaig in 2016, the 448 report was far Less Charitable on the subject of obstruction of justice as th team built what appeared to be an extensive case suggesting that possibility. Even at the president surrogate took turns throughout the day defending him. Nothing was obstructed. They can point to a single thin that was obstructed in the investigation. I think in a practical matter they let this thing out of court. What matters is what the department of justice and the special counsel concluded here. No conclusion, no obstruction and complete exoneration. This has been a proctology exam and he is it emerging with a clean bill of health. Nancy pelosi said on twitter that the difference are start between what attorney general barr said on obstruction of wha mueller said on obstruction. Fellow democrats take that assessment of stepbrother rebuking the president for his behavior detailed in the report in calling for a review of the report in its findings. Its not game over in the sense that there is a lot more we need to know thats redacted in this report. The frequent critic from california as you know the president has said repeatedly now is the time to investigate the investigators. They say that will be an unflinching look at the genesis of the probe. Kevin quirk live on the nort lawn. Lets get a reaction to the report. Doug collins of georgia is the ranking republican on the House Judiciary Committee and joins u tonight from atlanta. Thank you for being here. Youre thoughts on the report a it came out today . I think its been a good day for the country for transparency. Its been a good day that came forward he followed the rules h followed the law he said what h was going to do and he did it. Thats refreshing change or because when you look at the report is slightly redacted. When you went through this the president had a chance to say that he was invoke his presiden executive privilege, he chose not to. He left report go through. It told the truth told the trut that there was no collusion it told the truth that there was n obstruction. I think thats a good day for america and frankly a bad day for the democrats. A lot of democrats had a problem with the attorney general setting the table befor the report came out. Here is jerry nadler on the attorney general barr. Attorney general barr appear to have shown in and and suddenly willingness to undermine his own department in order to protect President Trump. His words and actions suggest hes been disingenuous and misleading. In saying that the president is clear of wrongdoing. Thoughts on that . I think my chairman has also said before that collusion was in plain sight, i guess he is having trouble with this site lately because it said no collusion. He went to bed to attack barr character. When you dont get the story yo want, you attack they carried character of bill barr. They had no character problems with them before. I think what we have found toda is their story went off the rails and i think when they hav to come back and discern what they want to do next they can only lash out instead of being able to produce forward results on what this report said today. Congressman, do you have problem with the ten examples the special counsel lists for obstruction and kind of punts t congress on determining that ri of a lot of specific examples here, but one that stands out i that the president efforts to influence the investigation wer mostly unsuccessful, but that i largely because the person to surround of the president declined to carry out orders or exceed to his request. In other words he tried to fire mueller, but it wasnt dumb because they didnt listen to them. Could you look at someone who felt he was being attacked from day one. A president under attack literally from day one by force outside who didnt believe he actually won. He was frustrated. The report reflected that frustration and bill barr said that as well. At the end of the day, nothing happened. There was no collusion, there was no obstruction. I want to say this even further what he chosen could have left out was executive privilege, he chose to leave then. At the end of the daily, but h did. He participated fully. The attorney at the white house 30 hours of testimony. People were made available, the documents were made available. The investigation got everythin they needed from the white hous and there was not anything kept from them at the end of the day what we find both where we need this corruption led us down the investigation. Are you confidence thats going to happen from the specia report coming at the end of may or june. I think it well. I think hes already alluded to this. The report now has shown that there was no collusion or obstruction. But what comes up next for thos of us releasing transcripts, we look at the investigation comin forward. Its going to be out in less than two months. Its going to i believe show various problems with art and how was abused by members of th fbi. And how they can use it to thei own political gain. I think you have the investigation with the attorney general in utah. These are things that need to come about. We have a twoyear investigatio thats invested so much and cam up with nothing, but ever empt promises from the democrats, that would also we also have to know what we got here. Political corruption at the doj cannot be. With some folks are the facts that they were trying how concerned are you about all of that . Very concerned in the obama in menstruation when this happened and moving forward we see the systemic action by russia and yet we see all of the then protecting our election process in protecting assets around the election. This comes back and i think frankly draws into question the obama administrations lack of concern about russia and lack o concern about what theyre doin on the international front. I think he goes back to show a very problematic occurrence and i think it shows that we always need to be on guard that our elections we are the free is most wonderful country in the world and people dont like that. Russia is not a good actor. My question is where were the investigators and where was the protection at that point in time . Collins joins us from atlanta , thank you. Good to see you. For a perspective from key democrat is chairman of the Democrat National committee and he joins us from austin, texas. Thank you for being here. As i did with congressman collin , let me ask your thoughts on this day and the release of the report. I think it was a sad day for the institution of presidency and a sad day for the institution of the department o justice. There is more work to be done. I heard the congressman speak and i think its important to just quote directly from the report. I understand the talking. , no collusion, no obstruction, this is what he said, see are not hearing it from tom perez o anybody else, no spin this is what they said. Moeller if we had that the president did not commit obstruction of justice, we woul so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards however, we are unable to reach that judgment. So the notion that there is no obstruction is just hogwash. As you correctly point out, there are a list of really really very serious things he tried to fire c7 and the only reason he didnt succeed is because people he directed to d it wouldnt carry out those orders. If you try to rob a bank and yo dont succeed, that doesnt mea you havent committed wrongdoing. He tried to get Jeff Sessions t recuse himself. That is a problem. He tried to get jim comey to la off of Michael Flynn even thoug he knew that Michael Flynn had potentially committed a crime. Those things did not happen as we noted, but lets listen T Rudy Giuliani the president attorney answering what youre talking about there. The president did not have a guilty motive. The president was and is considered under the law now because theres no finding of a underlying crime, he was an innocent man being accused of something he didnt do. And, he found a lot of irregularities in the investigation. The determination there by the attorney general who then determined that there was not corrupt intent. Now its up to congress. Brett, if youre asking me that, i am someone who spent te years or so of my life at the department of justice including prosecuting cases under the obstruction statutes. 18 United States code talks about efforts to corruptly persuade someone. Has Lindsey Graham correctly pointed out, you dont have to say im going to obstruct justice for obstruction of justice to occur. You dont have to say and these are his exact words, you dont have to say go live for me, for obstruction to occur. The notion that mayor giuliani says the president said that he didnt have the corrupt intent so that doesnt mean he had corrupt intent, that is for the trier of fact. There are so many examples throughout this of problematic behavior at a minimum where he appears to put himself ahead of the American People. That for me is the biggest question. Why did he trust Vladimir Putin assessment of russian interference over his own Intelligence Community . That is really troubling. At the end of the day we need a president who is looking out fo the American People and not for themselves. That is what congress have to continue their work. A couple more things break you quoted from the Mueller Report the obstruction side, another quote from the report itself, the investigation did not establish that they coordinated in its election interference of activities. Lots of democrats who spent a lot of the past 23 months talking about that the presiden was an agent for russia. Is there something that the Democratic Party has to say moeller did not find it . I think the distinction between something that may rise to the level of a conspiracy. It said the investigation did not establish that they coordinated with the russian government. Chris, i think the question you have to ask your, and its different question from the question that Robert Mueller is asking. Is there a pattern of corrupt behavior by this president . Is there a pattern of behavior where the president is putting his own interests ahead of the American People interest . When you get a call from a foreign actor, before an adversary that says hey, i have dirt on your opponent, and i want to help you win. What you should do first and foremost is say no, and then call the federal authorities. What we know from the investigation is that is not what they did. Here is where the decision lies now. It is with that democratcontrolled house of representatives. They have a decision whether to go forward with articles of impeachment. You are 18 months from an election. Do you think politically, as th chairman of the Democratic Party , that that is the right thing for the Democratic Party to do . I think what the Democratic Party is going to do over the course of the next 18 months is walk and chew gum. What do i mean by that . We are going to continue to focus on the issues that matter most across america. Were going to continue to tell americans that we are the ones that are saving your health care , if you have a preexisting condition were going to fight t keep your healthcare. Republicans want to take it away. On the issue of impeachment. Again, chris. Brett. Brett. I love both of you. As ive said, walking and chew him him. I think oversight is an important part of our responsibility. As it was for the republicans and they did no shortage of oversight. I think there are more question to be asked asked here. I am confident that our Democratic Leaders of the relevant committees will continue to conduct that oversight in an appropriate manner. We dont know whether obstruction occurred. There were 954 reductions. The president himself said a fe weeks back that the entire report ought to be released. I tend to agree with them because what we saw today tells me we need more tomorrow. My focus is the democratic National Committee is going to be that kind zip code by zip code talking about the issues that matter most in persuading the American Pe