The allies of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny are demanding a proper Russian investigation into the Alexi Navalny's poisoning case. Watch report.

Fineprint: 'Probe would reveal Russian connection' into Alexi Navalny's poisoning

The US justice department on Thursday released a redacted version of the long-awaited report on Russian involvement in 2016 US presidential election and the contacts between <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/mueller-report-inconclusive-on-trumps-obstruction-of-justice-charge-211626">President Donald Trump</a>'s campaign and Moscow.

The report officially titled 'Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election'&nbsp;runs nearly in 400 pages. However, some pages of the 400-page report were blacked out by Attorney General Bill Barr to protect ongoing investigations and for other reasons.

With the release of the report, US Attorney General William P Barr informed that Mueller report found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Attorney General, however, said Russians did try to interfere in the US presidential elections. Barr while releasing the report also clarified that the president did not obstruct justice and that the White House freely cooperated in the report.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/timeline-big-moments-in-mueller-investigation-of-russian-meddling-in-2016-us-election-211303">Timeline: Big moments in Mueller investigation of Russian meddling in 2016 US election</a>

While Special Counsel Robert Mueller may not have found evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia, but his report details extensive contacts between the campaign and Russian operatives who sought to influence the election. &nbsp;&nbsp;

Mueller said in his report that he found "numerous links" and that the Trump campaign "expected it would benefit" from Russia's effort to tilt the ballot in Trump's favour.

Ultimately, Mueller determined the various contacts either didn't amount to criminal behaviour or would be difficult to prove in court, even if people in Trump's orbit sometimes displayed a willingness to accept Russian help, the report showed.&nbsp;

The report also stated that US President Donald <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-sought-to-have-special-counsel-removed-mueller-report-211617">Trump sought to have special counsel Robert Mueller removed </a>nearly two years ago from the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

It said that on June 17, 2017, Trump called White House counsel Don McGahn at home "and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed."

Before its release, the redacted version of the report was reviewed by President Donald Trump's lawyers.

The White House made no changes on the final report and did not assert executive privilege to protect internal White House information, US Attorney General William P Barr added.

(With inputs from agencies)

The US justice department on Thursday released a redacted version of the long-awaited report on Russian involvement in 2016 US presidential election and the contacts between President Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow.

The US justice department on Thursday released a redacted version of the long-awaited report on Russian involvement in 2016 US presidential election and the contacts between President Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow. The report officially titled 'Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election' runs nearly in 400 pages. However, some pages of the 400-page report were blacked out by Attorney General Bill Barr to protect ongoing investigations and for other reasons. With the release of the report, US Attorney General William P Barr informed that Mueller report found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia. The Attorney General, however, said Russians did try to interfere in the US presidential elections. Barr while releasing the report also clarified that the president did not obstruct justice and that the White House freely cooperated in the report. Timeline: Big moments in Mueller investigation of Russian meddling in 2016 US election While Special Counsel Robert Mueller may not have found evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia, but his report details extensive contacts between the campaign and Russian operatives who sought to influence the election. Mueller said in his report that he found "numerous links" and that the Trump campaign "expected it would benefit" from Russia's effort to tilt the ballot in Trump's favour. Ultimately, Mueller determined the various contacts either didn't amount to criminal behaviour or would be difficult to prove in court, even if people in Trump's orbit sometimes displayed a willingness to accept Russian help, the report showed. The report also stated that US President Donald Trump sought to have special counsel Robert Mueller removed nearly two years ago from the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. It said that on June 17, 2017, Trump called White House counsel Don McGahn at home "and directed him to call the Acting Attorney General and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed." Before its release, the redacted version of the report was reviewed by President Donald Trump's lawyers. The White House made no changes on the final report and did not assert executive privilege to protect internal White House information, US Attorney General William P Barr added. (With inputs from agencies)

What is the Mueller report?

US President Donald Trump on Thursday launched a fresh attack on the Russia investigation, branding it a "disgrace to our Nation" a week after he fired his attorney general, raising questions about the probe's future.

"They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want," Trump wrote on Twitter.

"They are a disgrace to our Nation and don't care how many lives (they) ruin."

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The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1063042585802039296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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....care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1063046973857718272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The president has frequently lashed out at the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller into Moscow's interference in the 2016 US elections and whether there was collusion by the Trump campaign.

But his latest missive takes on new significance in the wake of his appointment of Matthew Whitaker, a past public critic of the probe, as acting attorney general replacing the sacked Jeff Sessions.

The move puts Whitaker, Sessions' former chief of staff, in charge of overseeing the Mueller probe.

On Wednesday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a critic of the president, and Democratic Senator Chris Coons attempted to introduced a measure to protect Mueller, but it was blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has said that if Whitaker refuses to recuse himself from the probe, as Sessions had done, Democrats will seek to attach legislation protecting Mueller to a must-pass spending bill that will be up for consideration in the coming weeks.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday launched a fresh attack on the Russia investigation, branding it a "disgrace to our Nation" a week after he fired his attorney general, raising questions about the probe's future.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday launched a fresh attack on the Russia investigation, branding it a "disgrace to our Nation" a week after he fired his attorney general, raising questions about the probe's future. "They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want," Trump wrote on Twitter. "They are a disgrace to our Nation and don't care how many lives (they) ruin." The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2018 × ....care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2018 × The president has frequently lashed out at the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller into Moscow's interference in the 2016 US elections and whether there was collusion by the Trump campaign. But his latest missive takes on new significance in the wake of his appointment of Matthew Whitaker, a past public critic of the probe, as acting attorney general replacing the sacked Jeff Sessions. The move puts Whitaker, Sessions' former chief of staff, in charge of overseeing the Mueller probe. On Wednesday, Republican Senator Jeff Flake, a critic of the president, and Democratic Senator Chris Coons attempted to introduced a measure to protect Mueller, but it was blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer has said that if Whitaker refuses to recuse himself from the probe, as Sessions had done, Democrats will seek to attach legislation protecting Mueller to a must-pass spending bill that will be up for consideration in the coming weeks.

Russia investigation 'disgrace to our nation,' says Trump

Donald Trump Jr&nbsp;has hired a lawyer to represent him in Russia-related investigations, his office and the lawyer said on Monday, as Republicans voiced concern about a meeting between the US&nbsp;president&#39;s son and a Russian.

Trump Jr&nbsp;hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas, who specializes in criminal defence.

Futerfas would not say when he was retained or whether he played any part in the statements Trump Jr&nbsp;made over the weekend about a meeting with a Russian lawyer.

Trump Jr&nbsp;met the Russian, Natalia Veselnitskaya, in June 2016, during the presidential election campaign, at Trump Tower in New York.

He has said he agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, described by the New York Times as having links to the Kremlin, after being promised damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trump&#39;s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump&#39;s then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also attended, the Times said. It called the encounter the first confirmed private meeting of members of Donald Trump&#39;s inner circle with a Russian national during the campaign.

Congressional committees and a federal special counsel, Robert Mueller, are investigating whether Russia interfered in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign.

Moscow denies interfering, and Trump, who became president on January&nbsp;20, says there was no collusion.

Futerfas told Reuters: &ldquo;I look forward to assisting Donald Jr&nbsp;and, quite frankly, there is nothing to all of the media buzz about the June 9th, 2016 meeting. That will be proven to be the case.&rdquo;

A Republican member of the US&nbsp;Senate Intelligence Committee, Susan Collins, called on Trump Jr. to testify before the panel, which is looking into accusations of Russian meddling in the election.

&quot;Our intelligence committee needs to interview him and others who attended the meeting,&quot; Senator Susan Collins told reporters at the US&nbsp;Capitol.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the panel &quot;absolutely&quot; wants to speak to Trump Jr. about the meeting. Warner said he and the Republican committee chairman, Richard Burr, will decide later whether to ask Trump Jr. to testify in public or in a classified setting.

&quot;Rest assured, Donald Trump Jr&nbsp;will be someone that we&#39;ll want to talk to,&quot; Warner told reporters outside his Senate office.

Allegations of the Trump campaign&#39;s ties to Russia have cast a shadow over the Republican president&#39;s first months in office.

&nbsp;

White House defends meeting

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said there was nothing inappropriate about the meeting with lawyer Veselnitskaya. &quot;Don Junior took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up,&quot; Sanders told reporters.

But Republican Senator Pat Toomey said it was not appropriate for presidential campaigns to solicit or accept negative information about a rival from a Russian.

&quot;It encourages countries to come in and undermine our democratic process. And these countries have great capabilities to do that sort of thing,&quot; he told MSNBC. &nbsp;

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that the Kremlin did not know the identity of the Russian lawyer.

&quot;No, we don&#39;t know who it is and, certainly, we cannot track down all movements of all Russian lawyers both within Russia and abroad,&quot; Peskov said.

A publicist who arranged the meeting with the lawyer last year said he did so at the request of singer and businessman Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based client of his. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

US President Donald Trump's eldest son admitted to meeting a Russian lawyer to get damaging information on Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump Jr has hired a lawyer to represent him in Russia-related investigations, his office and the lawyer said on Monday, as Republicans voiced concern about a meeting between the US president's son and a Russian. Trump Jr hired New York lawyer Alan Futerfas, who specializes in criminal defence. Futerfas would not say when he was retained or whether he played any part in the statements Trump Jr made over the weekend about a meeting with a Russian lawyer. Trump Jr met the Russian, Natalia Veselnitskaya, in June 2016, during the presidential election campaign, at Trump Tower in New York. He has said he agreed to meet Veselnitskaya, described by the New York Times as having links to the Kremlin, after being promised damaging information about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Trump's then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, also attended, the Times said. It called the encounter the first confirmed private meeting of members of Donald Trump's inner circle with a Russian national during the campaign. Congressional committees and a federal special counsel, Robert Mueller, are investigating whether Russia interfered in the election and colluded with the Trump campaign. Moscow denies interfering, and Trump, who became president on January 20, says there was no collusion. Futerfas told Reuters: “I look forward to assisting Donald Jr and, quite frankly, there is nothing to all of the media buzz about the June 9th, 2016 meeting. That will be proven to be the case.” A Republican member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Susan Collins, called on Trump Jr. to testify before the panel, which is looking into accusations of Russian meddling in the election. "Our intelligence committee needs to interview him and others who attended the meeting," Senator Susan Collins told reporters at the US Capitol. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the panel "absolutely" wants to speak to Trump Jr. about the meeting. Warner said he and the Republican committee chairman, Richard Burr, will decide later whether to ask Trump Jr. to testify in public or in a classified setting. "Rest assured, Donald Trump Jr will be someone that we'll want to talk to," Warner told reporters outside his Senate office. Allegations of the Trump campaign's ties to Russia have cast a shadow over the Republican president's first months in office. White House defends meeting White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said there was nothing inappropriate about the meeting with lawyer Veselnitskaya. "Don Junior took a very short meeting from which there was absolutely no follow-up," Sanders told reporters. But Republican Senator Pat Toomey said it was not appropriate for presidential campaigns to solicit or accept negative information about a rival from a Russian. "It encourages countries to come in and undermine our democratic process. And these countries have great capabilities to do that sort of thing," he told MSNBC. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that the Kremlin did not know the identity of the Russian lawyer. "No, we don't know who it is and, certainly, we cannot track down all movements of all Russian lawyers both within Russia and abroad," Peskov said. A publicist who arranged the meeting with the lawyer last year said he did so at the request of singer and businessman Emin Agalarov, a Moscow-based client of his.

Trump Jr hires lawyer for Russia probes, admits meeting Russian to get dirt on Clinton