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The special counsel finishes his work; the UK extends its deadline.
The Mueller report is in
Win McNamee/Getty Images
After 22 months, 34 indictments, and weeks of breathless anticipation by reporters around the world, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign and Russia is concluded. He has submitted a report to Attorney General Bill Barr. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
But the big question remains: What does the report say? WHAT DOES THE REPORT SAY?!? Barr says he might be ready to tell Congress as soon as this weekend. [Read Barr’s letter]
The report could be a dry law enforcement document or an authoritative narrative of everything we know about the case. Either way, it has two big questions to answer: Did the Trump campaign collude with Russia, and did Trump obstruct justice to try to block the inquiry? [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
Barr can make parts of the report public, or all of it. He’s said his goal is to be as transparent as possible — something the House of Representatives (and the 2020 Democratic candidates, and many other people) want too. [BuzzFeed / Zoe Tillman]
Just because we haven’t seen the report, though, doesn’t mean that we have no idea what the investigation has found. The arrests and indictments, and reporting on the investigation itself, have revealed details of Russian social media manipulation, contacts between the Trump campaign and foreign nationals, and much more. [NYT / Larry Buchanan and Karen Yourish]
The European Union has granted the United Kingdom a short delay on Brexit negotiations, until at least April 12. Chaos has been avoided … for now. [Vox / Jen Kirby]
The March 29 deadline will be extended until May 22 if UK Prime Minister Theresa May can get Parliament to accept in the coming weeks. But she has signaled she’s not sure whether she’ll bring the deal back to Parliament. [Reuters]
Parliament has already rejected May’s deal twice — and if it gets rejected a third time, the worst-case scenario happens: the UK will crash out of the European Union on April 12 without a deal. [NYT / Stephen Castle and Steven Erlanger]
The EU has said it’s open to a much longer extension — but with conditions. The UK needs to come up with an entirely new Brexit approach before April 12, and the country will have to host European parliamentary elections in May. [Politico Europe / Charlie Cooper]
This is all getting really expensive. Even though Brexit hasn’t happened yet, the economic loss to the UK is about $1 billion per week. Growth in the UK is now less than 1 percent. The future of trade with Europe is still unclear, as is the fate of EU workers who are employed in the UK. [CNN / Ivana Kottasová]
Miscellaneous
Teachers in Indiana say they were mock-executed with pellets in a school shooting drill. Officers reportedly did not warn teachers that training weapons would be part of the exercise. [New York magazine / Sarah Jones]
President Trump announced he would withdraw sanctions on North Korea on Friday, just one day after the White House called for the measures. The policy switch comes about one month after denuclearization talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un fell apart because of different perspectives on sanctions. [Politico / Caitlin Oprysko]
Experience, age, gender or racial identity: It’s harder than ever to tell what characteristics in candidates are really important to voters — especially when those demands can change over the course of a campaign. [FiveThirtyEight / Nathaniel Rakich]
Who is … Robert Mueller? Many Americans mythologize the special counsel who has run a deep background investigation into the 2016 elections. [Atlantic / Megan Garber]
