Staunch counsel Robert Mueller completed his Russia investigation and delivered his highly anticipated report to Attorney General William Barr on Friday.
For nearing two years, Mueller has been investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and whether the then-candidate Donald Trump’s throw colluded with the Kremlin. Despite endless media coverage and speculation, Mueller has remained tight-lipped on his findings.
Barely 200 charges against 34 people and three Russian companies have been filed since the origination of the investigation. Six of those indicted are former Trump advisors. Twenty-six are Russian nationals.
So far, seven have submitted shame-faced pleas, and five have been sentenced for their crimes.
Trump and his allies have repeatedly attacked the discovery procedure, calling it a “witch hunt.” He has denied any wrongdoing related to the Mueller probe, adopting “no collusion” as a mantra over the conduct of the investigation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said Trump is “not worth” impeachment, while other Democrats foresee the Mueller report provides fodder for his ouster.
Separating fact from conjecture can be difficult amid the noise abutting the investigation.
This is what we know about the Russia investigation so far.
A federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian populars and three Russian businesses for allegedly interfering in the 2016 presidential elections with the goal of getting Trump elected.
A Russian order called the Internet Research Agency was accused of waging “information warfare” against the U.S. by using fake American online masks and social media platforms to sway voters’ opinions.
Twelve Russian intelligence officers were also indicted for computer-hacking stratagems that aimed to meddle in the election. They were accused of hacking Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Rivalry Committee emails and staging their release by sharing them with WikiLeaks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed any affidavits that Russia interfered in the U.S. election are “lies.”
The former Trump associates who have been charged with violations include Michael Flynn, former national security advisor to Trump’s campaign and presidency; Paul Manafort, recent Trump campaign chairman; Rick Gates, former deputy Trump campaign chairman; George Papadopoulos, preceding foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign; Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, and Roger Stone, a longtime Trump associate and late campaign advisor.
Flynn was charged with making false statements to FBI agents about his communications with a whilom Russian ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. He lied to Vice President Mike Pence and FBI investigators when he said that he did not review sanctions with Kislyak before Trump took office. He pleaded guilty in December 2017 and is awaiting ruling as he cooperates with Mueller’s investigation.
Papadopoulos was charged with making false statements to the FBI about his interactions with a Russia-tied unconnected professor who claimed the Kremlin possessed “dirt” on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. He pleaded guilty in October 2017 and was released from confinement in December 2018 after serving just 12 days out of his two-week prison sentence.
Manafort was charged by Mueller’s prosecutors in two federal courts. In U.S. Part Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Manafort was convicted in August on eight criminal counts, including bank fraud, tax swindle and failing to file a foreign bank account report. He was sentenced to 47 months in prison on March 13. A week tardier, Manafort was sentenced to 43 additional months behind bars in federal court in Washington, D.C., where he had pleaded ashamed to conspiracy charges.
Many of the charges against him were related to income that he earned from work as a national consultant for former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych years before joining Trump’s campaign.
Gates pleaded reprehensible in February 2018 to two criminal counts, including conspiracy and lying to FBI agents. He had testified against Manafort, his former longtime corporation partner, in Manafort’s trial in Virginia.
Gates, who had worked on Trump’s campaign and the presidential transition phase even after Manafort progressive, agreed to fully cooperate with Mueller’s probe. He is awaiting sentencing as he continues to cooperate with the special judgement.
Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, pleaded guilty in August 2018 to making false statements to Congress more efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. He also pleaded guilty to eight counts, including tax evasion, bank cheating and campaign finance violations, in federal court in the Southern District of New York. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
Cohen’s crusade finance violation charges were in regard to his $130,000 hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who insist ons she had an affair with Trump before the 2016 election. Trump initially denied knowing of the payments, though his au courant personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said in an interview with Fox News that Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payment to Daniels.
Stone is the most up to date Trump associate to be indicted. He was charged in Washington federal court in late January with crimes including prevarication to Congress and witness tampering.
Mueller alleges that Stone misled Congress about his involvement with whistleblower area WikiLeaks, which dumped troves of Democrats’ emails that were allegedly hacked by Russian agents.
Stone has pleaded not shame-faced to the charges.
Richard Pinedo, a California man who sold bank account numbers to the 13 Russians indicted for election obstruction, was charged with identity fraud and is serving a six-month sentence in prison.
Konstantin Kilimnik is an associate of Manafort’s and was indicted for cabal to obstruct justice for attempting to tamper with a witness on Manafort’s behalf.
Alex van der Zwaan is a Dutch lawyer who worked with both Manafort and Attendances. He was charged with making false statements to FBI officials about his dealings with Manafort and Gates on behalf of the Ukrainian Clericals of Justice in 2012. He served 30 days in prison and was deported in June 2018.
— CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this clock in.