The Mueller report and the Barr letter: What happens now?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has filed his final report on the Trump-Russia investigation and Attorney General William Barr has issued a four-page letter summarizing Mueller’s principal findings. The letter declares that Mueller did not find that anyone associated with the Trump campaign had conspired with the Russians to interfere in this country’s 2016 election. And it declares that Mueller neither found that the president had obstructed justice nor exonerated him of obstruction—though Barr himself went on to conclude that the president’s conduct did not amount to obstruction. What happens now? To what extent does this finding clear President Trump? Was it all a “witch hunt” and a “hoax”? What will the fight over disclosure of the Mueller report look like in Congress?

On March 28, Brookings Senior Fellow and Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes hosted a panel discussion on the final Mueller report and Attorney General Barr’s letter summarizing the report.