Mueller sent a far more harshly worded letter: Robert S. Mueller III, “Re: Report of the Special Counsel on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election and Obstruction of Justice (March 2019),” Special Counsel’s Office, March 27, 2019.
Barr thought the letter: Peter Baker, “Barr Defends Handling of Mueller Report Against Withering Rebukes,” New York Times, May 1, 2019.
Barr later told Congress: Isaac Stanley-Becker, “ ‘I Don’t Know’: Barr’s Professed Ignorance Prompts Calls for His Resignation After Mueller Letter,” Washington Post, May 1, 2019.
“It was my baby”: Baker, “Barr Defends Handling of Mueller Report Against Withering Rebukes.”
“The Special Counsel found”: “Attorney General William P. Barr Delivers Remarks on the Release of the Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” U.S. Department of Justice, April 18, 2019, www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-release-report-investigation-russian.
the report contained stark new examples: Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” U.S. Department of Justice, March 2019.
Out of the incidents: Quinta Jurecic, “Obstruction of Justice in the Mueller Report: A Heat Map,” Lawfare, April 21, 2019.
In his testimony before the House: “Transcript of Robert S. Mueller III’s Testimony Before the House Intelligence Committee,” Washington Post, July 24, 2019.
“lying bastard”: Mueller, “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”
“He is going to testify”: Adia Robinson, “Robert Mueller ‘Is Going to Testify’: Rep. Adam Schiff,” ABC News, May 12, 2019.
“And as set forth”: “Full Transcript of Mueller’s Statement on Russia Investigation,” New York Times, May 29, 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/05/29/us/politics/mueller-transcript.html.
It wasn’t until June 25: Nicholas Fandos, “Mueller to Testify to Congress, Setting Up a Political Spectacle,” New York Times, June 25, 2019.
There were small difficulties: Matt Zapotosky and Rachel Bade, “Mueller’s Team Is Said to Have Told Congress His Acuity Was Not an Issue. Some Lawmakers Privately Worry It Was,” Washington Post, July 27, 2019.
EPILOGUE: PRESIDENT TRUMP FINDS HIS ROY COHN
On July 25, 2019: “Memorandum of Telephone Conversation,” White House, July 25, 2019, www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Unclassified09.2019.pdf.
Giuliani had discussed plans: Kenneth P. Vogel, “Rudy Giuliani Plans Ukraine Trip to Push for Inquiries That Could Help Trump,” New York Times, May 9, 2019.
“does not appear to be consistent”: Alana Abramson, Brian Bennett, and John Walcott, “Whistleblower Found Trump Phone Call with Foreign Leader ‘Troubling,’ Official Says,” Time, September 19, 2019.
Nancy Pelosi stood firmly against: John Bresnahan, Heather Caygle, and Kyle Cheney, “Pelosi Rebuffs Nadler on Impeachment After Mueller Flop,” Politico, July 24, 2019.
Eight days earlier: Maggie Haberman, “John Bolton Will Speak in His Book, if Not at the Senate Trial,” New York Times, January 15, 2020.
“I think it’s increasingly likely”: Michael D. Shear and Nicholas Fandos, “Bolton Revelations Anger Republicans, Fueling Push for Impeachment Witnesses,” New York Times, January 27, 2020.
we published a second story: Michael S. Schmidt and Maggie Haberman, “Bolton Was Concerned That Trump Did Favors for Autocratic Leaders, Book Says,” New York Times, January 27, 2020.
According to Bolton: Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt, “Trump Told Bolton to Help His Ukraine Pressure Campaign, Book Says,” New York Times, January 31, 2020.
In the fall of 2017: Peter Baker, “ ‘Lock Her Up’ Becomes More Than a Slogan,” New York Times, November 14, 2017.
Barr told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee: Nicholas Fandos and Adam Goldman, “Barr Asserts Intelligence Agencies Spied on the Trump Campaign,” New York Times, April 10, 2019.
The next month: Adam Goldman, Charlie Savage, and Michael S. Schmidt, “Barr Assigns U.S. Attorney in Connecticut to Review Origins of Russia Inquiry,” New York Times, May 13, 2019.
Two months later: “Memorandum of Telephone Conversation,” July 25, 2019.
By October: Anna Momigliano, “Italy Did Not Fuel U.S. Suspicion of Russian Meddling, Prime Minister Says,” New York Times, October 23, 2019.
Then, in February: Eileen Sullivan and Michael D. Shear, “Trump Praises Barr for Rejecting Punishment Recommended for Stone,” New York Times, February 12, 2020.
He decided the Justice Department: Adam Goldman and Mark Mazzetti, “Trump White House Changes Its Story on Michael Flynn,” New York Times, May 14, 2020.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT is a two-time Pulitzer Prize–winning Washington correspondent for The New York Times. Over his fifteen years at the Times, he has covered the investigations of the Trump presidency, the Pentagon, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the war in Iraq. He started his career at the Times as a clerk answering the phones on the foreign desk before becoming a sports reporter covering performance-enhancing drugs and legal issues. He is a graduate of Lafayette College.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.
Donald Trump V. the United States : Inside the Struggle to Stop a President (9781984854674) Page 48
