UPDATE 1-U.S. attorney general to hold Mueller report news conference on Thursday

Attorney General William Barr will hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) on Thursday to discuss the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel nearly two years ago, will also attend the news conference, the department said in a statement. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt," said in a radio interview on Wednesday he may hold a news conference after Barr.

Mueller on March 22 submitted to Barr a nearly 400-page report on his 22-month investigation into whether the Trump campaign worked with Moscow to sway the election in his favor, and whether Trump committed obstruction of justice with actions to impede the inquiry. In a letter to lawmakers two days later, Barr said Mueller did not find that members of Trump's campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia.

Barr also said he determined there was not enough evidence to establish that Trump committed the crime of obstruction of justice, though Mueller did not exonerate Trump on obstruction. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by David Alexander and Will Dunham)

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)