avoids any mention of the Mueller report in White House speech on eve of ...

President Donald Trump says he could hold a press conference on Thursday afternoon to discuss the findings of the special counsel report. 

His would follow one that William Barr says he's having at 9:30 am that day. Trump made the announcement on a radio program on Wednesday afternoon, minutes after Justice announced that Barr would speak to the press the next morning. 

Trump made no mention of the special counsel or the redacted report at an event on Wednesday afternoon, as the waiting game continued in Washington.

Trump and members of his administration were holding a conference in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the opportunity zones for businesses that were created by the GOP tax plan.

The president stayed on message at the Wednesday afternoon event, where he linked economic growth and favorable hiring practices to his policies.

'And we want all Americans to share in our great renewal,' he stated.

The U.S. president who often goes off script, and had been tweeting aggressively earlier in the week, grew relatively quiet on Tuesday and Wednesday, when had a limited public scheduke

FBI ahead of the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, again labeling them 'dirty cops' and claiming he's a victim of a witch hunt.

'Wow! FBI made 11 payments to Fake Dossier's discredited author, Trump hater Christopher Steele. @OANN @JudicialWatch The Witch Hunt has been a total fraud on your President and the American people! It was brought to you by Dirty Cops, Crooked Hillary and the DNC,' he wrote on Twitter. 

The president has been engaged in a furious tweet storm this week as he and the rest of the world awaits the release of Mueller's report on Thursday morning. 

He has fired off 8 tweets so far this week on this subject as Washington awaits with baited breath the release of Mueller's findings on Russia's role in the 2016 election.  

Trump's latest tweet comes as Judicial Watch announced it filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit 'for records of communications and payments' between the FBI and Steele. 

'How and why did the FBI pay Christopher Steele, who was already being funded by the Clinton campaign and DNC through Fusion GPS?' Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a release. 'That we had to sue for this basic information shows the FBI may have something more to hide.' 

Trump has long railed against Steele, whose unverified dossier claimed the president was vulnerable to blackmail from Russia and had engaged with 'golden showers' with prostitutes during a 2013 trip to Moscow for the Miss Universe pageant.

The Steele dossier was paid for by Fusion GPS - a research firm that also did work for the Democratic National Committee.

Steele received $168,000 for his work, as was reported in November of 2017. 

In August, the FBI released 71 pages of heavily redacted communications between the bureau and Steele.

Those records revealed the 11 FBI payments to Steele as a Confidential Human Source over an unknown period. 

But on Nov. 1, 2016, the FBI told Steele it was unlikely to continue working with him, and he should not 'obtain any intelligence whatsoever on behalf of the FBI,' according to the documents.

The FBI had hired Steele to continue the research that started with the Trump dossier. That dossier was originally commissioned to Fusion GPS by a Republican media firm, Washington Free Beacon, during the GOP primary process to get information on Trump. 

When Trump became the Republican nominee, Steele's work was paid for by funds paid to Fusion GPS by the Perkins Coie law firm, which represented the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. 

The president has repeatedly claimed his a victim of a witch hunt. 

Special counsel Robert Mueller arrives at his office in Washington D.C. on Wednesday morning

Special counsel Robert Mueller arrives at his office in Washington D.C. on Wednesday morning

Trump has long blasted former British spy Christopher Steele

Trump has long blasted former British spy Christopher Steele

Attorney General William Barr leaves his home in McLean, Va., on Wednesday morning

Attorney General William Barr leaves his home in McLean, Va., on Wednesday morning

Trump has been blasting his side of the story on Twitter for days in advance of the Mueller report's release. 

On Wednesday, the president argued Mueller's probe was a 'scam.'

'The greatest Scam in political history. If the Mainstream Media were honest, which they are not, this story would be bigger and more important than Watergate. Someday!' he claimed.  

On Monday, he argued crimes were committed by Hillary Clinton, the Democratic National Committee and 'dirty cops' - a reference to Comey and former FBI agents that worked for him.

'Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction. These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!,' he tweeted.

Attorney General William Barr will send the Mueller report to Congress Thursday

Attorney General William Barr will send the Mueller report to Congress Thursday

President Trump said it was time to 'INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS' as Washington prepared for the release of the Mueller report

President Trump said it was time to 'INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS' as Washington prepared for the release of the Mueller report

His public spin comes the week Mueller's report is expected to be given to members of Congress and released to the public sometime on Thursday.

The 400-page report will have some redactions for on-going investigations but is expected to lay out Mueller's findings in its probe of Russia's role in the 2016 election. 

According to Attorney General William Barr's summary, prosecutors did not find evidence that Trump campaign members conspired with members of the Russia government to influence the 2016 election.

Also, according to Barr, Mueller did not make a recommendation about whether the president should be charged with obstructing justice. However, he said the report included information on both sides of the ledger on that score. 

One key line from the report quoted by Barr is certain to get further attention once its context is revealed: 'While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.'

Democrats have demanded the full report after Barr, in a letter to Congress, said Mueller left it up to the attorney general to determine whether the president obstructed justice in the investigation. 

Barr, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, said there would be no obstruction charges against Trump. 

Trump's legal team has prepared their own, official spin in document form: a report to counter Mueller's that is expected to be released after the special counsel's.

But the Democrats are the ones gearing up for a lengthy legal battle.  

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, has said he is prepared to issue subpoenas 'very quickly' for the full report on Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign. 

Barr has said he is redacting four types of information from the report. Congressional Democrats cite precedent from previous investigations in saying they want to see it all. But some Republicans defending Barr are also citing precedent, saying it is appropriate to keep at least some of the information from Congress and the public.

WHAT WILL BE REDACTED: GRAND JURY INFORMATION

Barr has staked out his position on releasing secret grand jury information, saying last week that he would not go to court to request its release. He said Democrats are 'free to go to court' themselves, and Nadler has said he is ready to do so.

Grand jury information, including witness interviews, is normally off limits but can be obtained in court. Some records were eventually released in the Whitewater investigation into former President Bill Clinton and an investigation into President Richard Nixon before he resigned.

Both of those cases were under somewhat different circumstances, including that the House Judiciary Committee had initiated impeachment proceedings. Federal court rules state that a court may order disclosure 'preliminary to or in connection with a judicial proceeding.'

But Democrats have said they are not interested in impeachment, for now, and are likely to argue in court that they don't need to be in an official impeachment proceeding to receive the materials.

CLASSIFIED INFORMATION

Congress frequently receives classified documents and briefings, and Democrats say there is no reason the Mueller report should be any different.

Many Republicans agree, including the top Republican on the intelligence committee, California Rep. Devin Nunes, who wrote a rare joint letter in March with House intelligence committee Chairman Adam Schiff asking for 'all materials, regardless of form or classification.' In the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press, Schiff and Nunes also asked for a private briefing from Mueller and his team.

Democrat Schiff has argued that some of that information should be released to the public, as well, citing Mueller indictments that have already revealed granular detail about the Russian effort to influence the 2016 election.

'All of that information at one point was classified, but the decision must have been made the public interest outweighs that. And I think a similar analysis should be undertaken here,' Schiff said on CNN this month.

ONGOING INVESTIGATIONS

Barr said he will redact information related to investigations connected to the Mueller probe that are still underway. Those include cases handed off or referred to federal prosecutors in Washington, New York and Virginia.

Democrats have noted that the Justice Department has released such information before, including some related to Mueller's own investigation while it was in progress. Republicans who were in the House majority last year, obtained documents related to the beginnings of the Russia investigation, arguing that officials were biased against then-candidate Trump.

Republicans argued at the time that it was necessary to obtain that information to maintain the integrity of the investigation.

DEROGATORY INFORMATION

The Justice Department regularly redacts information about people who were interviewed or scrutinized in investigations but not charged. Barr has said he will black out information from the report 'that would unduly infringe on the personal privacy and reputational interests of peripheral third parties.'

Asked by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., at a hearing last week if that meant he would redact information to protect the interests of Trump, Barr said it did not. 'No, I'm talking about people in private life, not public officeholders,' Barr said.

That means that in addition to Trump, members of his family who work at the White House, such as his daughter Ivanka, could potentially be named if they were somehow entangled in Mueller's investigation. But any information regarding his sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., who run his businesses, could be more likely to be redacted.

The Justice Department did release information about the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices more than two years ago, even though Clinton wasn't charged. But that was after then-FBI Director James Comey made the much-questioned decision to publicly discuss that investigation. Barr signaled in his confirmation hearing in January that he would do things differently.

'If you're not going to indict someone, then you don't stand up there and unload negative information about the person,'

read more from dailymail.....

PREV World of photos, March 24, 2024 mogaznewsen
NEXT Smug Katespiracy trolls are crawling back to their gossip swamps after her ... trends now