WASHINGTON – President Trump celebrated completion of the Mueller report as a victory in remarks to reporters before boarding Air Force One to fly back to Washington from Florida, where he spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

"There was no collusion with Russia. There was no obstruction,” Trump said. “It was a complete and total exoneration. It was a shame that our country had to go through this."

The president angrily described the investigation as “an illegal takedown that failed."

Other Republicans quickly echoed the president in hailing the summary findings as a complete exoneration, despite Barr having explicitly quoted from Mueller’s report that the investigation did not exonerate Trump.

It’s unlikely that Atty. Gen. William P. Barr’s letter to Congress will be the last word on the special counsel’s report. Legislative leaders from both parties have demanded to see the full picture of what Mueller uncovered during his nearly two-year investigation. House Democrats, using the majority power newly won in November, have said they may subpoena his report or call Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he plans to hold a hearing “in the near future” with Barr so the attorney general can explain his conclusions. “In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify,” Nadler tweeted.

The conclusion of Mueller’s Russia investigation leaves in its wake about a dozen other probes into President Trump and his associates by an array of federal, state and congressional investigators.

Meanwhile, Republicans - from the president down - will likely use Barr's summary to argue that all the investigations into the president's conduct are baseless and should be abandoned.

Story Date: March 25, 2019