Highlights From The Mueller Report

The Justice Department has released a redacted copy of special counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

» A copy of the document is available here.

Read notable excerpts from the redacted report, annotated by NPR reporters and editors, below.

Evidence destruction

In the report: Page 10

Further, the Office learned that some of the individuals we interviewed or whose conduct we investigated — including some associated with the Trump Campaign — deleted relevant communications or communicated during the relevant period using applications that feature encryption or that do not provide for long-term retention of data or communications records. In such cases, the Office was not able to corroborate witness statements through comparison to contemporaneous communications or fully question witnesses about statements that appeared inconsistent with other known facts.

Accordingly, while this report embodies factual and legal determinations that the Office believes to be accurate and complete to the greatest extent possible, given these identified gaps, the Office cannot rule out the possibility that the unavailable information would shed additional light on (or cast in a new light) the events described in the report.

[ The special counsel's investigation was exhaustive, it says, but it could only include evidence it could access. Situations in which evidence was destroyed or encrypted services were used meant that investigators couldn't check what they were learning against the electronic record. The investigators say they can't eliminate the possibility that the information they couldn't access would reveal more about the events that took place in 2016 and since. — Philip Ewing ]

Meaning of collusion

In the report: Page Volume I, page 2

In connection with that analysis, we addressed the factual question whether members of the Trump Campaign "coordinat[ed]"—a term that appears in the appointment order—with Russian election interference activities. Like collusion, "coordination" does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. We understood coordination to require an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference. That requires more than the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests.

[ The burning question all along in the Russia investigation was what might constitute a violation of the law for the purposes of the inquiry. Meetings and contacts between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russians or their agents were reported in the press and became publicly known. Here's where Mueller's office explains the definition it used to analyze conduct and determine what would constitute lawbreaking. — Philip Ewing ]

Not enough evidence for obstruction

In the report: Page Volume II page 2

if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

[ The special counsel's office acknowledges that President Trump may have obstructed justice but that it can't make that determination with the evidence it has. It left the matter unresolved, and ultimately Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided that Trump had not broken the law and will not face prosecution. — Philip Ewing ]

The obstruction dilemma

In the report: Page Volume II, page 7

Several features of the conduct we investigated distinguish it from typical obstruction-of-justice cases. First, the investigation concerned the President, and some of his actions, such as firing the FBI director, involved facially lawful acts within his Article II authority, which raises constitutional issues discussed below. At the same time, the President's position as the head of the Executive Branch provided him with unique and powerful means of influencing officialproceedings, subordinate officers, and potential witnesses-all of which is relevant to a potential obstruction-of-justice analysis. Second, unlike cases in which a subject engages in obstruction of justice to cover up a crime, the evidence we obtained did not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference. Although the obstruction statutes do not require proof of such a crime, the absence of that evidence affects the analysis of the President's intent and requires consideration of other possible motives for his conduct. Third, many of the President's acts directed at witnesses, including discouragement of cooperation with the government and suggestions of possible future pardons, took place in public view. That circumstance is unusual, but no principle of law excludes public acts from the reach of the obstruction laws. If the likely effect of public acts is to influence witnesses or alter their testimony, the harm to the justice system's integrity is the same.

[ Obstruction of justice is a difficult crime to prove under any circumstances, prosecutors say, but these were no ordinary circumstances. Here, investigators explain their thinking and the significance they applied to their determination that President Trump hadn't conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. Because he hadn't, they write, that bears on the state of mind he had when he acted. He couldn't have been trying to cover up an underlying crime, so other possible motives had to be considered. — Philip Ewing ] Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.