White House and Justice Dept. Discussed Mueller Report Before Release

In Washington When Robert S. Mueller III’s findings are made public on Thursday, not all of them won’t be new to President Trump in the White House

In Washington When Robert S. Mueller III’s findings are made public on Thursday, not all of them won’t be new to President Trump. In order to help them prepare for the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report, White House lawyers have recently spoken with U.S. Justice Department officials about the report’s conclusions.. 

Citizens review

According to people with knowledge of the conversations, Justice Department officials have frequently spoken with White House lawyers about the special counsel’s recent findings. The discussions have been helpful to the president’s legal counsel as it formulates a response to the report and plans for the ensuing public debate over its findings.

Several of Mr. Trump’s advisers, some of whom fear his backlash more than the findings themselves, were becoming increasingly paranoid, according to the sources. It may be clear from the report which of Mr. Trump’s current and former advisers spoke to the special counsel, how much they said, and how much harm they caused the president, offering a kind of road map for retaliation.

Attorney General William P. Barr’s Attack

Questions have also been raised about the propriety of the decisions made by Attorney General William P. Barr since he received Mr. Mueller’s findings late last month as a result of the conversations between Justice Department officials and White House lawyers.

Attorney’s conclusion

Mr. Barr and Rod J. Rosenstein concluded that Mr. Trump had not engaged in improper obstruction of justice and that the special counsel had not discovered any coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. According to Mr. Barr, lawmakers were “spying” on the Trump campaign. He also drew ominous historical comparisons between the illegal surveillance of anti-Vietnam War protesters and deliberately chose not to refute claims that Mr. Mueller’s team was conducting a “witch hunt.”

White House and Justice Department spokespeople declined to comment. Mr. Barr declined to respond to questions from lawmakers last week about whether the department had provided the White House with a sneak peek of Mr. Mueller’s findings. He plans to hold a news conference to discuss the special counsel’s report on Thursday at 9:30 a.m.