Russia investigation

Efforts to impeach President Donald Trump will begin if Mueller's report is damning, but only if the Democrats show "moral courage," said MSNBC's "Hardball" host Chris Matthews.

After hearing about Barr's press conference, Trump said, "maybe I'll do one after that, we'll see."

Attorney General William Barr is set to release a "lightly redacted" version of special counsel Robert Mueller's final report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Live updates the special counsel Robert Mueller's report.

The Justice Department will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

"I think, from a legal perspective, I know of few moments in the last 30 years that has the potential crescendo of emotion as this one," a former federal prosecutor told Newsweek about the report's imminent release.

"The intelligence committees, and also the Judiciary Committee, they have a right to see as much of this as possible," the former CIA director said.

The Mueller report is set to be released Thursday, with redactions, but a fight is already underway to ensure that potentially damaging material to President Donald Trump is not blacked out.

While politicians brace for the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, the White House reportedly has only a "bare-bones" plan for handling the document.

"Eventually Trump, either as a sitting president or as a private citizen, will find out that he is not above the law and will be held accountable for his duplicity and his aiding and abetting of Russia," Kenneth McCallion told Newsweek.

"We're very good friends. I don't agree with everything he does, I agree with a lot of what he does," Roger Stone said about the president.

The president has allegedly complained several times of not having a loyal "Roy Cohn" figure in the White House, referring to his former personal lawyer and fixer.

It's unclear what the attorney general meant by "spying," but one Republican senator suggested that, whether done so rightfully or wrongfully, the Obama administration was involved.

For more than two and a half years, the news media were fixated on a "truth" which turned out to be false.

"It was very clear to me that the attorney general is an appointee of President Trump," House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey said after Attorney General William Barr's testimony before a House panel.

Attorney General William Barr told lawmakers that evidence relating to whether the president obstructed justice "will be identifiable" when he releases a redacted version of the Mueller report next week.

Attorney General William Barr will appear before members of the House Appropriations Committee to discuss President Donald Trump's 2020 budget request for the Department of Justice.

We're talking about "conduct that is deeply unethical, unpatriotic and corrupt," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said.

"My focus here is on the other live grenade left over from Barr's letter: his contention that Mueller cleared Trump and his aides of any criminal liability for allegedly conspiring in Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election."

Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, attacked special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators who suggested Attorney General William Barr might be hiding the full findings of the special counsel's report.

"The two reports raise incredibly serious questions about the legitimacy of the process of handling this report. That's my view. It's a game-changer," Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor, told Newsweek.

Attorney General William Barr is a "political hack" who is delaying the inevitable release of the Mueller report to help President Donald Trump, former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said.

Some of the special counsel's investigators spoke out because they feared that Attorney General William Barr's version of the Mueller report's findings would harden public perception before the full report was released.

"I would think that he will probably be needed before more than one committee," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told MSNBC.

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee say they want the special counsel's report released without redactions. But party leadership indicated redactions may be unavoidable.

Donald Trump Jr. praised a poll showing that most Americans believe the Russian probe was politically motivated but ignored the part saying a majority think the president's senior campaign advisers had improper dealings with Russia.

"When the full scope of the president's misconduct has been revealed, when his lies are debunked and his abuses have been laid bare, I believe that members of Congress on both sides of the aisle will draft legislation to curb the worst of his offenses," wrote Congressman Jerry Nadler.

Post-Barr, only Mueller's full and un-redacted case file can be relied upon.

The House Judiciary Committee will vote to authorize subpoenas for the full Mueller report and documents from five former White House aides, including Steve Bannon and Hope Hicks.

Only 39 percent of Americans have deeply engaged with Attorney General William Barr's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, according to a recent poll.