(Reuters) - Robert Mueller, the U.S. Justice Department’s special counsel, is specifically authorized to investigate allegations that Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, a court filing showed late on Monday.

They court documents also show that Mueller is specifically authorized to investigate Manafort’s ties to Ukraine’s former pro-Russia government.

The documents were filed in response to a motion by Manafort challenging Mueller’s authority to prosecute him.

Manafort does not currently face charges related to the 2016 presidential election or Russian interference. But he is charged with bank fraud, filing false tax returns, conspiring against the United States by plotting to launder money and failing to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied for the former Ukraine government.

His court action sought to have those charges dismissed, arguing that Mueller lacked the authority to investigate his dealings with Ukraine.

No one on either side of the case was available for comment early Tuesday.

Trump has frequently declared no collusion occurred between his campaign and Russia. </s> The US special counsel investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election has charged a lawyer with lying about his communications with Rick Gates, a former aide to Donald Trump's campaign.

Special counsel Robert Mueller unsealed criminal charges on Tuesday against Alex van der Zwaan for allegedly lying to the FBI last November about work his law firm performed in 2012 related to Ukraine.

The charge puts pressure on Mr Gates and Mr Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who are both facing criminal charges including conspiracy to launder money and failure to register as foreign agents in connection with their political work for a pro-Russia Ukrainian party.

They have pleaded not guilty.

A trial is tentatively expected later this year, though recent media reports have said that Mr Gates is expected to plead guilty in the near future.

Mr Mueller is investigating whether Moscow meddled in the 2016 election and colluded with Mr Trump's campaign.

Mr Trump says there was no collusion and Russia denies interfering with the election.

The charging documents released on Tuesday said Mr van der Zwaan made false statements about the last time he communicated with Mr Gates and another unnamed person, only identified as "Person A".

In truth, the charge alleges, he spoke with Mr Gates and Person A in September 2016 about the report, and "surreptitiously recorded the calls".

He also allegedly told investigators he did not know why an email between him and Person A was not produced to the special counsel's office, but had actually deleted or failed to produce emails that were being sought.

Mr van der Zwaan was to appear in court on Tuesday where he is expected to plead guilty. Lawyers representing Mr van der Zwaan could not be reached for comment.

"He is pleading to false statements, which is a relatively small charge. My guess is he is cooperating," said Barbara McQuade, a former US attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The case underscores the extent of Mr Mueller's probe and of his interpretation of how far he can investigate as he looks into whether Russia tried to influence the election in favour of Mr Trump by hacking the emails of leading Democrats and distributing disinformation and propaganda online.

Mr Manafort has argued the charges against him fall outside of Mr Mueller's jurisdiction, because they have nothing to do with Mr Trump's election.

Under pressure from the US Justice Department, Mr Manafort and Mr Gates retroactively registered as foreign agents for their lobbying and public relations work for Ukraine's former pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych.

Their lobbying firm received $US17.1 million ($21.7 million) for that work, filings with the Justice Department show.

The latest court papers do not name the law firm that Mr van der Zwaan worked for, though a 2012 report on former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko that it cited was penned by the prominent international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.

A spokeswoman for the firm said it had terminated Mr van der Zwaan's employment in 2017 and "has been cooperating with authorities in connection with this matter".

Mr van der Zwaan's father-in-law is Russian billionaire German Khan, the founder of the privately owned Alfa Bank.

Mr Khan was recently named on a list of Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin that was released by the US Treasury Department. </s> WASHINGTON– Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States,the Department of Justice has announced.

In addition, three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.

Mueller has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as any connections between Russia and Trump campaign associates.

Beginning as early as 2014, the Russian organization Internet Research Agency began operations to interfere with the US political system, including the 2016 elections, according to the indictment, which was released by Mueller’s office Friday.

The defendants allegedly posed as US persons, created false US personas, and operated social media pages and groups designed to attract US audiences, the indictment reads.

The Internet Research Agency had a “strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system” including the election, according to the indictment.

Russians posted “derogatory information about a number of candidates,” and by mid-2016 they supported Trump and disparaged Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. They bought ads and communicated with “unwitting” people tied to Trump campaign and others to coordinate political activities. </s> "On November 3, 2017, the defendant Alex van der Zwaan, did willfully and knowingly make materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements and representations… to the Special Counsel's Office, including Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in Washington, D.C., in the course of answering questions concerning his work as an attorney employed by a law firm engaged in 2012 by the Ukraine Ministry of Justice to prepare a report on the trial of Yulia Tymshenko," the document said.

The US Special Counsel Robert Mueller has accused a lawyer of lying to investigators about his interactions with Rick Gates, a partner of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, who also has been charged in the Russia probe. Mueller has sued Gates on 12 counts, including money laundering and failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for his work for the Ukrainian government.

The document with charges against Alex Van der Zwaan also accuses him of deleting or otherwise not sending emails requested by the Special Counsel's office, which is conducting an investigation into possible ties between President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

READ MORE: Kremlin on Mueller Report: Accusations of Russia's Election Meddling Baseless

The charged have been declared while president Donald Trump was accusing his predecessor of being too soft on Russia.

Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of collusion with the Trump campaign, as well as meddling in the US elections. Russian officials have called the accusations groundless and invented to deflect opinion from actual election fraud as well as other pressing issues.

The Trump administration has called Mueller's investigation a "witch hunt" and emphasized that there was no communication between campaign associates and Russian officials. </s> (CNN) Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

In addition, three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.

"The defendants allegedly conducted what they called information warfare against the United States, with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said.

Mueller had convened a grand jury as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as any possible connections between Russia and Trump campaign associates.

The sweeping indictment describes in detail an unprecedented campaign by Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, affirming the longstanding conclusions of the US intelligence community. It is at odds with President Donald Trump's repeated questioning of those conclusions, which has continued throughout his first year in office. CNN reported this week that Trump is still not convinced that Russia meddled in the election.

Trump emphasized the lack of allegations of any impact on the presidential election.

"Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President," he tweeted. "The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!"

In a statement, the White House said Trump was fully briefed on the indictment and "is glad to see the Special Counsel's investigation further indicates— that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected."

"(I)t is more important than ever before to come together as Americans," Trump said in the statement. "We cannot allow those seeking to sow confusion, discord, and rancor to be successful. It's time we stop the outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors, like Russia, and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions. We must unite as Americans to protect the integrity of our democracy and our elections."

A White House official told CNN that Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray briefed the President on the indictment at the White House on Friday morning, but the White House later said Wray did not attend the briefing.

Beginning as early as 2014, the Russian organization Internet Research Agency began operations to interfere with the US political system, including the 2016 elections, according to the indictment.

The defendants allegedly posed as US persons, created false US personas and operated social media pages and groups designed to attract US audiences, the indictment reads. Two of the Russians also allegedly traveled to the United States in 2014 to gather intelligence for their operations.

The Internet Research Agency had a "strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system" including the election, according to the indictment.

Russians posted "derogatory information about a number of candidates," according to the indictment. They bought ads and communicated with "unwitting" people tied to the Trump campaign and others in order to coordinate political activities.

The indictment mentions a February 2016 memo to Internet Research Agency staff telling them to post political content on US social media sites and "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them)." The reference to Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination, shows that the Russian government decided early on to oppose Clinton.

Twelve of the 13 defendants charged worked for the Internet Research Agency.

Rosenstein said Friday that the indictment does not contain any allegations that any Americans knowingly participated in the activity.

"There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity," he said. "There is no allegation in the indictment that the charge conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election."

Rosenstein added that the special counsel's investigation is ongoing.

Despite Rosenstein's caveat, the indictment does detail communications between unnamed Trump campaign officials and the Russian defendants.

The three campaign officials, identified only as campaign officials 1, 2 and 3, were involved in the Trump campaign's Florida operation, the indictment says. On at least three occasions, as detailed in the indictment, American personas created by the defendants wrote to the campaign officials, in some instances about rallies they were organizing.

In one instance, a Russian persona wrote to one Florida campaign official identifying 13 "confirmed locations" where they would be holding rallies in the state and asked the campaign to provide "assistance in each location," according to the indictment.

The indictment does not say whether the unnamed campaign officials ever responded to the Russian personas.

According to the indictment, the Russians created an email address, allforusa@yahoo.com, to purport to be a US person in order to send out press releases in June 2016 for a "March for Trump" rally to New York media outlets.

The defendants allegedly used a Facebook account belonging to a fictitious person named Matt Skiber, posing as an American to contact a real US citizen to act as a recruiter for the rally, even offering money to print posters and buy a megaphone.

The advertisements weren't limited to Trump. They also allegedly purchased ads on Facebook to promote "Support Hillary. Save American Muslims" rally to allege Clinton was supporting Islamic law. They also allegedly bought ads to promote a "Down with Hillary" rally.

The defendants focused on key purple states during the election. The Skiber account allegedly sent a private message to a real Facebook account, "Florida for Trump," to offer support. They also allegedly used a stolen identity of a real US citizen to email grassroots groups in Florida.

The defendants allegedly attempted to cover their tracks after social media companies, including Facebook, publicly disclosed in September 2017 that they had identified Russians purchasing political and social advertisements on its platform and after media reports noted the company was cooperating with the special counsel's investigation.

"We have a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with colleagues," one of the defendants wrote, according to the indictment.

Prigozhin said he was "not at all upset" he was named in the indictment.

"Americans are very impressionable people, they see what they want to see," Prigozhin told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. "I have great respect for them. I'm not at all upset that I'm on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see one."

The indictment also alleges that some of the defendants traveled to the United States to "gather intelligence." Over a three week trip in June 2014, two of the named defendants made stops in at least seven states, including Colorado, Michigan, Texas and New York, the indictment says.

The defendants took extensive precautions on travel to the United States, the indictment alleges. They "planned travel itineraries, purchased equipment (such as cameras, SIM cards, and drop phones), and discussed security measures (including 'evacuation scenarios')," it says.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described the indictment Friday as "absurd."

"(Thirteen) people intervened in the elections in the US?" she wrote on her Facebook page. "13 against billion-dollar budgets of special services? Against intelligence and counterintelligence, against the latest developments and technologies? ... Absurd? Yes."

"This is modern American political reality," she added in the post.

Facebook's vice president of global policy, Joel Kaplan, said in a statement that the company has "more to do to prevent against future attacks. We're making significant investments, including increasing the number of people working on security from 10,000 to 20,000 this year. We're also continuing to work closely with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other companies on better ways to protect our country and the people on our platform."

"We're committed to staying ahead of this kind of deceptive and malevolent activity going forward," Kaplan added.

House Speaker Paul Ryan called the Russians' alleged actions "a conspiracy to subvert the process, and take aim at democracy itself."

"We have known that Russians meddled in the election, but these indictments detail the extent of the subterfuge," Ryan said in a statement. "These Russians engaged in a sinister and systematic attack on our political system. It was a conspiracy to subvert the process, and take aim at democracy itself. Today's announcement underscores why we need to follow the facts and work to protect the integrity of future elections."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that the indictments "make absolutely clear" that Russians tried to influence the presidential election to support Trump's campaign and continue to try to interfere with our elections.

"We are on the eve of the 2018 midterm elections," the statement added. "There is no time to waste to defend the integrity of our elections and our democracy."

Former CIA Director John Brennan said he thought the actions alleged in the indictments would have influenced some US voters, going further than the stated position of the US intelligence community.

"DOJ statement and indictments reveal the extent and motivations of Russian interference in 2016 election," Brennan tweeted. "Claims of a 'hoax' in tatters. My take: Implausible that Russian actions did not influence the views and votes of at least some Americans."

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, said in a statement that he is "glad" to see the committee's work "vindicated" by the indictments.

"With this indictment, the Special Counsel and his team have taken an important step to hold Russia accountable," Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Friday.

"The administration needs to be far more vigilant in protecting the 2018 elections, and alert the American public any time the Russians attempt to interfere," Schumer said.

Clinton, through her spokesman, Nick Merrill, declined to comment on the indictments, but Merrill said the indictments "confirm what we've long known. Time will tell us more, but Russia went to great lengths to undermine our democracy, and the President won't protect us. No matter your politics, it's un-American. We have an adversary that is laughing at us, who will act again."

Robby Mook, Clinton's former campaign manager, tweeted: "The intelligence community has repeatedly told us Russia meddled. Now criminal indictments from DOJ. We were attacked by a foreign adversary. Will our Congress and President stand strong and take action? Or let it happen again?" </s> (CNN) Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

In addition, three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.

"The defendants allegedly conducted what they called information warfare against the United States, with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said.

Mueller had convened a grand jury as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as any possible connections between Russia and Trump campaign associates.

The sweeping indictment describes in detail an unprecedented campaign by Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, affirming the longstanding conclusions of the US intelligence community. It is at odds with President Donald Trump's repeated questioning of those conclusions, which has continued throughout his first year in office. CNN reported this week that Trump is still not convinced that Russia meddled in the election.

Trump emphasized the lack of allegations of any impact on the presidential election.

"Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President," he tweeted. "The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!"

In a statement, the White House said Trump was fully briefed on the indictment and "is glad to see the Special Counsel's investigation further indicates— that there was NO COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected."

"(I)t is more important than ever before to come together as Americans," Trump said in the statement. "We cannot allow those seeking to sow confusion, discord, and rancor to be successful. It's time we stop the outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors, like Russia, and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions. We must unite as Americans to protect the integrity of our democracy and our elections."

A White House official told CNN that Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray briefed the President on the indictment at the White House on Friday morning, but the White House later said Wray did not attend the briefing.

Indictment details

Beginning as early as 2014, the Russian organization Internet Research Agency began operations to interfere with the US political system, including the 2016 elections, according to the indictment.

The defendants allegedly posed as US persons, created false US personas and operated social media pages and groups designed to attract US audiences, the indictment reads. Two of the Russians also allegedly traveled to the United States in 2014 to gather intelligence for their operations.

The Internet Research Agency had a "strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system" including the election, according to the indictment.

Russians posted "derogatory information about a number of candidates," according to the indictment. They bought ads and communicated with "unwitting" people tied to the Trump campaign and others in order to coordinate political activities.

The indictment mentions a February 2016 memo to Internet Research Agency staff telling them to post political content on US social media sites and "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them)." The reference to Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who challenged Clinton for the Democratic nomination, shows that the Russian government decided early on to oppose Clinton.

Twelve of the 13 defendants charged worked for the Internet Research Agency.

Rosenstein said Friday that the indictment does not contain any allegations that any Americans knowingly participated in the activity.

"There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity," he said. "There is no allegation in the indictment that the charge conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election."

Rosenstein added that the special counsel's investigation is ongoing.

Despite Rosenstein's caveat, the indictment does detail communications between unnamed Trump campaign officials and the Russian defendants.

The three campaign officials, identified only as campaign officials 1, 2 and 3, were involved in the Trump campaign's Florida operation, the indictment says. On at least three occasions, as detailed in the indictment, American personas created by the defendants wrote to the campaign officials, in some instances about rallies they were organizing.

In one instance, a Russian persona wrote to one Florida campaign official identifying 13 "confirmed locations" where they would be holding rallies in the state and asked the campaign to provide "assistance in each location," according to the indictment.

The indictment does not say whether the unnamed campaign officials ever responded to the Russian personas.

Social media tactics

According to the indictment, the Russians created an email address, allforusa@yahoo.com, to purport to be a US person in order to send out press releases in June 2016 for a "March for Trump" rally to New York media outlets.

The defendants allegedly used a Facebook account belonging to a fictitious person named Matt Skiber, posing as an American to contact a real US citizen to act as a recruiter for the rally, even offering money to print posters and buy a megaphone.

The advertisements weren't limited to Trump. They also allegedly purchased ads on Facebook to promote "Support Hillary. Save American Muslims" rally to allege Clinton was supporting Islamic law. They also allegedly bought ads to promote a "Down with Hillary" rally.

The defendants focused on key purple states during the election. The Skiber account allegedly sent a private message to a real Facebook account, "Florida for Trump," to offer support. They also allegedly used a stolen identity of a real US citizen to email grassroots groups in Florida.

The defendants allegedly attempted to cover their tracks after social media companies, including Facebook, publicly disclosed in September 2017 that they had identified Russians purchasing political and social advertisements on its platform and after media reports noted the company was cooperating with the special counsel's investigation.

"We have a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with colleagues," one of the defendants wrote, according to the indictment.

One of the named defendants, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is a Russian oligarch who has been dubbed Russian President Vladimir Putin's "chef" by the Russian press. According to the indictment, Prigozhin controlled Concord Catering, a group that funded the Internet Research Agency. By around September 2016, the indictment says, the Internet Research Agency's monthly budget for the project that included the US election interference operation exceeded 73 million Russian rubles, or over $1.25 million.

Prigozhin said he was "not at all upset" he was named in the indictment.

"Americans are very impressionable people, they see what they want to see," Prigozhin told the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. "I have great respect for them. I'm not at all upset that I'm on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see one."

The indictment also alleges that some of the defendants traveled to the United States to "gather intelligence." Over a three week trip in June 2014, two of the named defendants made stops in at least seven states, including Colorado, Michigan, Texas and New York, the indictment says.

The defendants took extensive precautions on travel to the United States, the indictment alleges. They "planned travel itineraries, purchased equipment (such as cameras, SIM cards, and drop phones), and discussed security measures (including 'evacuation scenarios')," it says.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described the indictment Friday as "absurd."

"(Thirteen) people intervened in the elections in the US?" she wrote on her Facebook page. "13 against billion-dollar budgets of special services? Against intelligence and counterintelligence, against the latest developments and technologies? ... Absurd? Yes."

"This is modern American political reality," she added in the post.

Facebook's vice president of global policy, Joel Kaplan, said in a statement that the company has "more to do to prevent against future attacks. We're making significant investments, including increasing the number of people working on security from 10,000 to 20,000 this year. We're also continuing to work closely with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other companies on better ways to protect our country and the people on our platform."

"We're committed to staying ahead of this kind of deceptive and malevolent activity going forward," Kaplan added.

Congressional reaction

House Speaker Paul Ryan called the Russians' alleged actions "a conspiracy to subvert the process, and take aim at democracy itself."

"We have known that Russians meddled in the election, but these indictments detail the extent of the subterfuge," Ryan said in a statement. "These Russians engaged in a sinister and systematic attack on our political system. It was a conspiracy to subvert the process, and take aim at democracy itself. Today's announcement underscores why we need to follow the facts and work to protect the integrity of future elections."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that the indictments "make absolutely clear" that Russians tried to influence the presidential election to support Trump's campaign and continue to try to interfere with our elections.

"We are on the eve of the 2018 midterm elections," the statement added. "There is no time to waste to defend the integrity of our elections and our democracy."

Former CIA Director John Brennan said he thought the actions alleged in the indictments would have influenced some US voters, going further than the stated position of the US intelligence community.

"DOJ statement and indictments reveal the extent and motivations of Russian interference in 2016 election," Brennan tweeted. "Claims of a 'hoax' in tatters. My take: Implausible that Russian actions did not influence the views and votes of at least some Americans."

The ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is also investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, said in a statement that he is "glad" to see the committee's work "vindicated" by the indictments.

"With this indictment, the Special Counsel and his team have taken an important step to hold Russia accountable," Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said Friday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that given the indictments, Trump should "immediately" implement the Russia sanctions that Congress passed last summer to punish Moscow for its election meddling.

"The administration needs to be far more vigilant in protecting the 2018 elections, and alert the American public any time the Russians attempt to interfere," Schumer said.

Clinton, through her spokesman, Nick Merrill, declined to comment on the indictments, but Merrill said the indictments "confirm what we've long known. Time will tell us more, but Russia went to great lengths to undermine our democracy, and the President won't protect us. No matter your politics, it's un-American. We have an adversary that is laughing at us, who will act again."

Robby Mook, Clinton's former campaign manager, tweeted: "The intelligence community has repeatedly told us Russia meddled. Now criminal indictments from DOJ. We were attacked by a foreign adversary. Will our Congress and President stand strong and take action? Or let it happen again?" </s> WASHINGTON D.C. — Justice Department Special Counsel Robert Mueller has launched a grand jury in his investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 election, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Citing unnamed people familiar with the matter, the Journal said Mueller had impaneled the grand jury in Washington, where his team of investigators continue to look into whether President Donald Trump or any of his campaign associates colluded with Russia during the presidential contest.

The move would signal a new step in the investigation, which Trump has lambasted as a “witch hunt.” Trump has denied any collusion between his team and the Russians. US intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia attempted to sway the presidential contest in Trump’s favor.

In May, CNN reported that federal prosecutors had issued grand jury subpoenas to some associates of former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of the ongoing FBI probe into the Russian meddling.

Mueller took over that investigation in mid-May. </s> U.S. House Judiciary Committee has issued a subpoena to obtain the full Russia investigation report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, saying that a redacted version “leaves most of Congress in the dark. “

 

 "My committee needs and is entitled to the full version of the report and the underlying evidence consistent with past practice,” Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (Democrat-New York), said in a statement on April 19, the day after the release of the partially redacted 448-page report.

 

 Attorney General William Barr sent the Mueller report to Congress, blacking out several types of material, including classified information, material pertaining to ongoing investigations, and grand jury evidence.

 

 Mueller corroborated U.S. intelligence conclusions of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and also documented President Donald Trump’s efforts to undermine his inquiry, but Mueller concluded there was not sufficient evidence to prove Trump and his team committed a crime by colluding with Russia officials.

 

 The report also points to areas where Trump and his associates could still face legal problems, as well as the potential for impeachment proceedings.

 

 “The redactions appear to be significant. We have so far seen none of the actual evidence that the special counsel developed to make this case," Nadler said. He said the report points to "serious instances of wrongdoing" by Trump.

 

 But the committee's top Republican, Doug Collins, said the subpoena was "wildly overbroad" and that Trump already declined to assert executive privilege in a move of "unprecedented openness."

 

 He said that Nadler was rushing the process for political gain.

 

 The subpoena gives Barr until May 1 to produce the materials requested.

 

 The subpoena is the opening shot in what could be a lengthy legal battle. If the Justice Department doesn't respond, Democrats could hold officials in contempt of Congress or eventually fight the battle in court.

 

 Mueller’s report painstakingly details evidence about Russian election meddling and confirms the previous findings of the U.S. intelligence community of a two-pronged Russian strategy to manipulate U.S. public opinion through e-mail hacking and a disinformation campaign.

 

 "The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” the Mueller report said.

 

 However, Russia’s Foreign Ministry falsely claimed on April 19 that Mueller "admitted" his investigation did not find evidence of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

 

 "There is nothing there to catch attention. In fact, it confirms the absence of any arguments proving Russia's alleged interference in the U.S. election,” said Georgy Borisenko, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North America Department. “There is not a single piece of evidence. In fact, the report’s authors have admitting having no proof,” Borisenko claimed.

 

 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on April 19 also dismissed the evidence contained in the Mueller report, saying the Kremlin does not accept the meddling accusations.

 

 “As a whole, the report as before does not present any reasonable proof at all that Russia allegedly meddled in the electoral process in the United States,” Peskov told journalists in Moscow a day after the publication of the redacted version of the document.

 

 Among the most pointed allegations leveled earlier by Mueller regarding Russian interference was the indictment of a dozen Russian military intelligence officers who, he said, were behind the hacking and theft of Democratic Party e-mails, e-mails that were released in the heat of the 2016 U.S. election.

 

 While the Mueller report concluded there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prove Trump or members of his team colluded with Russia's state-sponsored meddling campaign, it said Trump and at least 17 of his campaign officials and advisers did have more than 100 contacts with Russians during the 2016 election campaign. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on his inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 U.S. election detailed a series of actions by President Donald Trump to impede the probe, raising questions about whether he committed the crime of obstruction of justice.

The release on Thursday of the 448-page report that disclosed the findings of a 22-month investigation represented a watershed moment in Trump’s tumultuous presidency.

Mueller did not make a conclusion on whether Trump, whose presidency has been overshadowed by the Russia investigation, had committed obstruction of justice but did not exonerate him either.

The report provided fresh details of how the Republican president tried to force Mueller’s ouster, directed members of his administration to publicly vouch for his innocence and dangled a pardon to a former aide to try to prevent him from cooperating with the special counsel.

It also concluded, as Barr announced last month, that Trump and his campaign had not engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia during the election.

Barr in March concluded that Trump had not broken the law, but told a news conference on Thursday that Mueller had detailed “10 episodes involving the president and discusses potential legal theories for connecting these actions to elements of an obstruction offense.”

Trump appeared to be in a celebratory mood, saying at a White House event with wounded U.S. troops that he was “having a good day” following the report’s release, adding, “It’s called no collusion, no obstruction.”

The report’s disclosure, with portions blacked out by Barr to protect some sensitive information, is certain to launch a new political fight in Congress and on the 2020 presidential campaign trail, as Trump seeks re-election in a deeply divided country.

Trump has long described Mueller’s inquiry as a “witch hunt.”

The report stated that when Jeff Sessions, Barr’s predecessor as attorney general, told Trump in May 2017 that a special counsel was being appointed by the Justice Department to look into allegations that the Republican’s campaign colluded with Russia, Trump slumped back in his chair and said, “Oh my god. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.”

Some Democrats in the House of Representatives have spoken of launching impeachment proceedings against Trump in Congress but top Democrats have been notably cautious. Any such effort would be unlikely to be successful because Trump fellow Republicans controls the Senate, which would decide the president’s fate.

The inquiry laid bare what the special counsel and U.S. intelligence agencies have described as a Russian campaign of hacking and propaganda to sow discord in the United States, denigrate 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and boost Trump, the Kremlin’s preferred candidate. Russia has denied election interference.

In analyzing whether Trump obstructed justice, Mueller looked at a series of actions by Trump, including his attempts to remove Mueller and limit the scope of his probe and efforts to prevent the public from knowing about a June, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York between senior campaign officials and Russians.

In June 2017, Trump directed White House counsel Don McGahn to tell the then-acting attorney general that Mueller had conflicts of interest and must be removed, the report said.

It also said there was “substantial evidence” that Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017 due to his “unwillingness to publicly state that the president was not personally under investigation.”

Mueller cited “some evidence” suggesting Trump knew about former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s controversial calls with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office, but evidence was “inconclusive” and could not be used to establish intent to obstruct.

The report said Trump directed former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to ask former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to say the Russia investigation was “very unfair.”

Before the report’s release, Barr gave a news conference at the Justice Department as he sought to shape the narrative on the document’s findings.

One of a handful of people to have seen the report before its release, Barr emphasized, as he had said last month, that Mueller did not conclude there was collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow.

“President Trump faced an unprecedented situation. As he entered into office and sought to perform his responsibilities as president, federal agents and prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office and the conduct of some of his associates,” Barr said.

Barr seemed to offer cover for Trump’s actions by saying the report acknowledges that “there is substantial evidence to show that the president was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks.”

Mueller’s team did not issue a subpoena to force Trump to give an interview to the special counsel because it would have created a “substantial delay” at a late stage in the investigation, the report said.

It said Mueller accepted the longstanding Justice Department view that a sitting president cannot be indicted on criminal charges, while still recognizing that a president can be criminally investigated.

The report also cited Mueller’s repeated efforts to convince Sessions to resume oversight of the probe after he had recused himself because of his own prior contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States.

Mueller said evidence he collected indicates that Trump intended to encourage his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, not to cooperate with the investigation and that the evidence supports the idea that Trump wanted Manafort to believe that he could receive a presidential pardon.

The report said the special counsel’s team determined there was a “reasonable argument” that the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., violated campaign finance laws, but did not believe they could obtain a conviction.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections does not find that any US officials or Trump campaign members knowingly conspired with the government of Russia. Mueller drew no conclusions about whether Trump illegally obstructed justice.