UPDATE 2-Democrats push for release of full Mueller findings, Trump lawyer balks
The end of the Mueller inquiry and Barr's summary handed Trump a political victory ahead of his 2020 re-election effort, but did not end the investigative pressure on the president. Democrats gave no indication of easing up on their multiple congressional investigations into Trump's business and personal dealings. Mueller, who submitted his confidential report on his findings to Barr on Friday, neither accused Trump of obstruction of justice in trying to impede the investigation nor exonerated him of obstruction, according to the summary. Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, concluded the investigation's evidence "is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."
Mueller informed top Justice Department officials three weeks ago he would not reach a conclusion on the obstruction question - an unexpected move, a department official said. Democrats, who control the U.S. House of Representatives, have called for Mueller's complete findings to be released to Congress and the public and vowed to call Barr - a Trump appointee who before taking the job had criticized Mueller's obstruction investigation - to appear before lawmakers to answer questions.
Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a Trump ally, said he would ask Barr to appoint a new special counsel to look into the origins of the Mueller probe. DEMOCRATS' COURT THREAT
Justice Department regulations give Barr broad authority to determine how much of the report to release. Democrats have threatened to go to court to win its release, if necessary. The Mueller investigation had cast a cloud over the Republican Trump's presidency but he has declared himself fully exonerated by Barr's summary.
While Trump last week said he would not mind if the whole report were disclosed, one of his lawyers, Jay Sekulow, on Monday said at least part should be withheld. Sekulow said it "would be very inappropriate" to release the president's written answers to questions posed by the special counsel, calling the responses provided in November confidential. After lengthy negotiations, Trump reversed his previous stance that he would be willing to submit to an in-person interview with the Mueller team, ultimately agreeing only to provide written answers.
"As a lawyer, you don't waive privileges and you don't waive investigative detail absent either a court order or an agreement between the parties," Sekulow said on CNN, adding that Barr would make the final decision on what to release. Asked if the summary opened the door to pardons of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort or any others who have been convicted or pleaded guilty in Mueller's probe, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters there has been "no discussion that I'm aware of" regarding pardons.
Sanders declined to comment on whether Trump would invoke the principle of executive privilege to withhold any information. A Senate Democratic staff memo, seen by Reuters, listed areas of further inquiry not addressed by the Barr letter, such as possible counter-intelligence threats raised by the Trump campaign's behavior.
CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE Representative Pramila Jayapal, a House Judiciary Committee member, said the panel has broader investigative authority than Mueller and that more information is still coming in.
"We are at the beginning of the process, not at the end," Jayapal told MSNBC, calling the Mueller report "an important piece ... but certainly not the whole story." Representative Karen Bass, another Judiciary Committee Democrat, said it was not a top priority for Democrats to pursue the congressional impeachment process to try to remove Trump from office.
"It's not the number one issue that any of us are talking about," Bass told MSNBC. "We do have to see the entire report and the underlying evidence." Democrats also criticized Barr for deciding so quickly after receiving Mueller's report that Trump had not committed obstruction of justice.
Sanders said that while Trump wanted Mueller's report to become public, it was not up to him. "I think that the president is doing exactly what he should and that's leaving that decision into the hands of the attorney general and we'll see what decision he makes on that front," Sanders told NBC's "Today" program.
Mueller, in previous legal filings, described in elaborate detail a Russian campaign to interfere in the election through hacking and propaganda to sow discord in the United States, harm Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and boost Trump. Mueller charged 12 Russian intelligence officers, 13 other Russians accused of taking part in a disinformation campaign and three Russian companies in the meddling. Several Trump advisers and associates also were among the 34 people charged in Mueller's investigation including his former national security adviser and personal lawyer.
The Kremlin on Monday said President Vladimir Putin was ready to improve ties with the United States following the release of Barr's summary and called on the United States to formally recognize there was no collusion between Russia and Trump's campaign. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called on Washington to make the first move to reset the relationship and repeated Moscow's denial of interference. The Foreign Ministry said the allegations of election meddling were politically motivated.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Makini Brice; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Sarah N. Lynch, Doina Chiacu and Lawrence Hurley in Washington and Tom Balmforth and Maxim Rodionov in Moscow; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Bill Trott)
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