WASHINGTON — Members of the Missouri and Kansas congressional delegations have made statements on the report issued Friday from Robert Mueller and his investigation into President Trump’s campaign and collusion with Russia and the additional communication Sunday from Attorney General William Barr.

My statement on Attorney General Barr’s summary of the Mueller report pic.twitter.com/cIVvPjgckf

— Senator Roy Blunt (@RoyBlunt) March 24, 2019

(1/2) It’s finally over. After 674 days,$25M tax dollars, 2800+ subpoenas, and conducting nearly 500 search warrants, Mueller concluded there was NO COLLUSION between Russia and @POTUS’s campaign, the President did NOT obstruct justice, and he is NOT charged with any crimes.

— Rep. Vicky Hartzler (@RepHartzler) March 25, 2019

There was no collusion between President Trump and Russia.

— Rep. Jason Smith (@RepJasonSmith) March 24, 2019

After reading the Attorney General’s four-page summary of the Special Counsel’s findings, Chairmen Nadler, Schiff and I reiterate our call for the release of the Special Counsel’s full and complete report and all underlying documents.

 

Special Counsel Mueller concluded there was no collusion and, along with DOJ, determined no obstruction. With this investigation behind us, we must work to address the many issues facing our nation with less division and more cooperation for a better nation and more secure world.

— Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) March 25, 2019

For 2 years we’ve called this investigation out for exactly what it was- a witch hunt. Absolutely no collusion, and the most expensive ‘nothing burger’ I’ve ever seen

— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) March 24, 2019

 

Kansas Fourth District congressman Ron Estes said, “I have reviewed Attorney General William Barr’s Special Counsel summary to Congress that concludes what many in the United States already know: there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election,” said Rep. Estes.

“After months of calling for the Special Counsel’s protection, Democrats now say his report is insufficient, even after millions of dollars spent for nearly two years, 19 lawyers and 40 FBI agents, more than 2,800 subpoenas, and nearly 500 search warrants. I’m hopeful that with the conclusion of the Special Counsel, our country can come together and move past the bitter partisan divide of the previous presidential election.”

Kansas Senator Pat Roberts, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley and House members Sharice Davids, and Steve Watkins have not released statements on the report.

By Kate Mays
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — The Federal and State Affairs Committee heard passionate testimony from both sides of a controversial issue. Advocates from all over the state came in to discuss their perspectives on a resolution that would effectively ban abortion in Kansas.

House Concurrent Resolution 5004 is a proposition to amend Section 1 of the Kansas Constitution to extend the rights of Kansans to include fertilized eggs. This resolution would outlaw abortion with no exceptions.

Resolution sponsor Rep. Randy Garber (R-Sabetha) started Thursday’s testimony for the proponents.

“I believe, with all my heart, that this is the most important bill of this session,” Garber told the committee.

All of the resolution’s sponsors are men, a point brought up by committee member Rep. Brandon Woodard (D-Lenexa).

“You mentioned, in reference to one of your comments, that you trust women. I certainly do as well. I can’t help but notice that your resolution is sponsored by 21 men,” Woodard said. “Was there any discussion with any of your female colleagues about signing off on this bill?”

Garber replied that he had not approached any women in the legislature about the resolution.

The first person to testify in favor of HCR 5004 was Donna Lippoldt. She is the founder of the Culture Shield Network, a non-profit organization based out of Wichita, which, according to its website, works to “inform, connect, and mobilize the Body of Christ as the moral conscience of society.”

Lippoldt argued that abortion is morally wrong.

“We have a Holocaust in Kansas and it’s happening right now,” Lippoldt said. “Kansas legislature said years ago that it was ok to kill little baby boys and girls up until the time of delivery.”

Other testifying proponents were Margaret Mans from Right to Life of Kansas and Bruce Garren, director of Personhood Kansas.

The opponents to the bill included representatives from Planned Parenthood, Trust Women, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and ACLU of Kansas.

In her testimony, Regional Director of Public Policy and Organizing for Planned Parenthood Rachel Sweet argued that HCR 5004 would have tricky legal implications for women who miscarry.

“HCR 5004 opens the door for miscarriages to be investigated as any action a woman takes either knowingly or unknowingly that could harm her pregnancy could put her at risk for prosecution for homicide, manslaughter or reckless endangerment,” Sweet said.

Sweet also noted that in-vitro fertilization would be a grey area of the law, as not all eggs fertilized in the process are implanted in the woman undergoing the procedure.

Julie Burkhart, CEO of Trust Women, which provides abortion services in underserved communities including Wichita, testified next.

“I’m here today to ask an important question,” Burkhart said. “How can a proposal to ‘prohibit the state from discriminating against any class of human beings’ be accurate and truthful if it clearly invades Kansas women’s medical privacy and denies them individual rights?”

If passed in the House and Senate with a two-thirds majority vote, then the amendment will be on the ballot in November 2020.

Kate Mays is a University of Kansas senior from Lenexa majoring in journalism.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Special counsel Robert Mueller did not find evidence that President Donald Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election but reached no conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, Attorney General William Barr declared. That brought a hearty claim of vindication from Trump but set the stage for new rounds of political and legal fighting.

Trump cheered the Sunday outcome but also laid bare his resentment after two years of investigations that have shadowed his administration. “It’s a shame that our country has had to go through this. To be honest, it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this,” he said.

Democrats pointed out that Mueller found evidence for and against obstruction and demanded to see his full report. They insisted that even the summary by the president’s attorney general hardly put him in the clear.

 

Mueller’s conclusions, summarized by Barr in a four-page letter to Congress, represented a victory for Trump on a key question that has hung over his presidency from the start: Did his campaign work with Russia to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton? That was further good news for the president on top of the Justice Department’s earlier announcement that Mueller had wrapped his investigation without new indictments. The resolution also could deflate the hopes of Democrats in Congress and on the 2020 campaign trail that incriminating findings from Mueller would hobble the president’s agenda and re-election bid.

But while Mueller was categorical in ruling out criminal collusion, he was more circumspect on presidential obstruction of justice. Despite Trump’s claim of total exoneration, Mueller did not draw a conclusion one way or the other on whether he sought to stifle the Russia investigation through his actions including the firing of former FBI director James Comey.

According to Barr’s summary, Mueller set out “evidence on both sides of the question” and stated that “while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Barr, who was nominated by Trump in December, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller in May 2017 and oversaw much of his work, went further in Trump’s favor.

The attorney general said he and Rosenstein had determined that Mueller’s evidence was insufficient to prove in court that Trump had committed obstruction of justice to hamper the probe. Barr has previously voiced a broad view of presidential powers, and in an unsolicited memo last June he cast doubt on whether the president could have obstructed justice through acts — like firing his FBI director — that he was legally empowered to take.

Barr said their decision was based on the evidence uncovered by Mueller and not affected by Justice Department legal opinions that say a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Mueller’s team examined a series of actions by the president in the last two years to determine if he intended obstruction. Those include his firing of Comey one week before Mueller’s appointment, his public and private haranguing of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation because of his work on the campaign, his request of Comey to end an investigation into Michael Flynn, the White House’s first national security adviser, and his drafting of an incomplete explanation about his oldest son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer during the campaign.

Mueller’s findings absolve Trump on the question of colluding with Russia but don’t entirely remove the legal threats the president and associates are facing. Federal prosecutors in New York, for instance, are investigating hush-money payments made to two women during the campaign who say they had sex with the president. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, implicated Trump in campaign finance violations when he pleaded guilty last year.

The special counsel’s investigation did not come up empty-handed. It ensnared nearly three dozen people, senior Trump campaign operatives among them. The probe illuminated Russia’s assault on the American political system, painted the Trump campaign as eager to exploit the release of hacked Democratic emails to hurt Hillary Clinton and exposed lies by Trump aides aimed at covering up their Russia-related contacts.

Thirty-four people, including six Trump aides and advisers, were charged in the investigation. Twenty-five are Russians accused of election interference either through hacking into Democratic accounts or orchestrating a social media campaign to spread disinformation on the internet.

Sunday’s summary — and its suggestion that Mueller may have found evidence in support of obstruction — sets up a fight between Barr and Democrats, who called for the special counsel’s full report to be released and vowed to press on with their own investigations.

“Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.

“Given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the special counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report,” they said. Trump’s own claim of complete exoneration “directly contradicts the words of Mr. Mueller and is not to be taken with any degree of credibility,” they added.

Trump was at his Florida estate when lawmakers received the report. Barr’s chief of staff called Emmet Flood, the lead White House lawyer on the investigation, to brief him on the findings shortly before he sent it to Congress. Mueller submitted his report to Barr instead of directly to Congress and the public because, unlike independent counsels such as Ken Starr in the case of President Bill Clinton, his investigation operated under the close supervision of the Justice Department.

Barr did not speak with the president, Mueller was not consulted on the letter, and the White House does not have Mueller’s report, according to a Justice Department official.

Though Mueller did not find evidence that anyone associated with the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government, Barr’s summary notes “multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign.”

That’s a likely reference not only to a June 2016 Trump Tower meeting at which Donald Trump. Jr. expected to receive damaging information on Clinton from a Kremlin-connected lawyer, as well as a conversation in London months earlier at which Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos was told Russia had “dirt” on Clinton in the form of thousands of stolen emails.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, said Congress needs to hear from Barr about his decision and see “all the underlying evidence.” He said on Twitter, “DOJ owes the public more than just a brief synopsis and decision not to go any further in their work.”

Barr said that Mueller “thoroughly” investigated the question of whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia’s election interference, issuing more than 2,800 subpoenas, obtaining nearly 500 search warrants and interviewing 500 witnesses. Trump answered some questions in writing, but refused to be interviewed in person by the Mueller team.

Barr said Mueller also catalogued the president’s actions including “many” that took place in “public view,” a possible nod to Trump’s public attacks on investigators and witnesses.

In the letter, Barr said he concluded that none of Trump’s actions constituted a federal crime that prosecutors could prove in court.

____

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation did not find evidence that President Donald Trump’s campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Mueller also investigated whether Trump obstructed justice but did not come to a definitive answer, Attorney General William Barr said in a letter to Congress summarizing Mueller’s report.

The special counsel “does not exonerate” Trump of obstructing justice, Barr said, and his report “sets out evidence on both sides of the question.”

After consulting with other Justice Department officials, Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined the evidence “is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offense.”

Barr released a four-page summary of Mueller’s report Sunday afternoon. Mueller wrapped up his investigation on Friday with no new indictments, bringing to a close a probe that has shadowed Trump for nearly two years.

Barr’s chief of staff called White House counsel Emmet Flood at 3 p.m. Sunday to brief him on the report to Congress. Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, about to return to Washington after spending the weekend there.

Mueller’s investigation ensnared nearly three dozen people, senior Trump campaign operatives among them. The probe illuminated Russia’s assault on the American political system, painted the Trump campaign as eager to exploit the release of hacked Democratic emails to hurt Democrat Hillary Clinton and exposed lies by Trump aides aimed at covering up their Russia-related contacts.

Mueller submitted his report to Barr instead of directly to Congress and the public because, unlike independent counsels such as Ken Starr in the case of President Bill Clinton, his investigation operated under the close supervision of the Justice Department, which appointed him.

Mueller was assigned to the job in May 2017 by Rosenstein, who oversaw much of his work. Barr and Rosenstein analyzed Mueller’s report on Saturday, laboring to condense it into a summary letter of main conclusions.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City residents are being asked to conserve water while the city’s utility is dealing with the aftermath of recent flooding along the Missouri River.

KC Water said Sunday the water in the river, which supplies drinking water to the city, remains murky and has been difficult to treat after the flooding.

The utility notified Missouri health officials Friday that it failed to meet standards for cryptosporidium in drinking water because the water quality of the Missouri River changed because of the flooding and high water levels.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources says it doesn’t consider the issue an emergency, but inadequately treated water can cause nausea, cramps, diarrhea and headaches.