PBS News Hour - Politics

In our news wrap Friday, President Trump blasted former advisers who told the Mueller team he tried to hinder their probe, calling many of their statements “fabricated.” A day earlier, Trump had declared the Mueller report vindicated him. Also, severe weather again pounded the southern U.S. The front brought heavy downpours, powerful winds and threats of tornadoes and is blamed for four deaths.

After the release of the Mueller report, what does the Kremlin think about the special counsel's evidence of a sweeping Russian campaign to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election? Special correspondent Ryan Chilcote, who has lived in and reported extensively on Russia, talks to Judy Woodruff about Moscow's dismissive reaction and why Russian business operatives fear additional U.S. sanctions.

With a redacted version of the special counsel’s report now public, how should we understand the conclusions Robert Mueller arrived at from the evidence he gathered? Judy Woodruff talks to Robert Ray, who was independent counsel during the Whitewater Investigation into President Clinton, and Garrett Graff, a contributor to Wired magazine and the author of a book on Robert Mueller and the FBI.

Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to analyze the week’s news, including what the Mueller report's details mean for the Trump presidency and American politics, whether House Democrats should pursue impeachment and how Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the report reflects on him.

The redacted Mueller report on possible collaboration between the Russian government and members of the Trump campaign has been publicly released. Running 448 pages, it is broken into two volumes, one focusing on Russian election interference and the other on whether President Trump obstructed justice in that investigation. As Judy Woodruff reports, reaction to its findings varies widely.

With a redacted version of the special counsel’s report public, President Trump is again claiming vindication. In fact, Robert Mueller's findings document extensive contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, as well as attempts to interfere with the investigation. Judy Woodruff sits down with Yamiche Alcindor, Lisa Desjardins, Nick Schifrin and NPR’s Carrie Johnson for analysis.

President Trump’s reaction to the release of a redacted version of the Mueller report was to again claim exoneration. But according to the House Judiciary Committee's Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, that claim is not at all supported by the facts. Rep. Jeffries tells Judy Woodruff that the president is “lying to the American people” and says Congress needs to hear from Robert Mueller directly.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s extensive report covers not only his investigation’s findings, but also how he believed U.S. criminal law applied to them. Three legal experts are here to offer analysis: Mary McCord, former acting head of the Justice Department’s national security division, George Terwilliger, former deputy attorney general and Bob Bauer, White House counsel under President Obama.

The Mueller report reveals new details about successful Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and establish communication with the Trump campaign. Special correspondent Ryan Chilcote, who lived in Russia for 20 years, tells Judy Woodruff about the “extraordinary lengths” the Kremlin went to in support of this goal and how Russian businessmen acted as policy intermediaries.

The White House says Americans will now be able to sue businesses operating on land confiscated by the Castro regime. Previous administrations declined to enforce the related Helms-Burton Law. Canada and the EU, which have private-sector interests on Cuban land, decried the move. Nick Schifrin talks to National Security Advisor John Bolton about that, plus U.S. policy on Venezuela and North Korea.