We begin today’s roundup with analysis by Ashley Parker, Ellen Nakashima , Devlin Barrett and Carol D. Leonnig at The Washington Post on what’s reportedly inside the Mueller report:
Revelations that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s still-confidential report may contain damaging information about President Trump ignited a fresh round of political fighting on Thursday, ushering in a new phase of the nearly two-year-old battle over the Russia probe.
Members of Mueller’s team have told associates they are frustrated with the limited information that Attorney General William P. Barr has provided about their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump sought to obstruct justice, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
While Barr concluded the special counsel’s evidence was not sufficient to prove that the president obstructed justice, some of Mueller’s investigators have said their findings on obstruction were alarming and significant, one person with knowledge of their thinking said.
Natasha Bertrand and Peter Nicholas at The Atlantic:
In the wake of Attorney General William Barr’s memo, however—in which Barr, in consultation with Rosenstein, concluded that Trump did not obstruct justice—Trump’s allies are characterizing Rosenstein as a nonpartisan professional whose input legitimized the “no obstruction” finding. Legal experts, however, have questioned the appropriateness of Rosenstein weighing in, given the role he played in former FBI Director James Comey’s firing. That episode has been at the center of Mueller’s obstruction inquiry, which ended after nearly two years without Mueller making a final determination as to whether or not the president committed a crime. According to Barr, Mueller concluded that the obstruction question touched on “difficult issues” and chose not to resolve it. Mueller therefore left the findings to two political appointees, Barr and Rosenstein, to interpret, despite the original purpose of his appointment—to make findings free from political influence.