WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

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1/ Trump called Mueller's report illegitimate because he was never elected and complained to reporters that he now has to deal with "somebody writing a report" despite having "won one of the greatest elections of all time." Trump went on to refer to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as just "a deputy" who was "appointed," who then "appoint[ed] another man to write a report," rhetorically asking somebody to "explain that, because my voters don't get it, and I don't get it." Trump nominated Rosenstein, who was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate in a 94-6 vote. (Talking Points Memo / Roll Call)

2/ Trump then called for Robert Mueller's report to be made public, saying "Let it come out, let people see it […] we'll see what happens." He added: "I don't mind" if it's made public and "I look forward to seeing the report." The decision to make Mueller's report public will be left to Attorney General William Barr, and Trump said he has "no idea" when the report will be released. (Reuters / Politico / Bloomberg)

3/ Robert Mueller's team told a federal judge that they're very busy this week because they "face the press of other work" and would like a deadline extension to respond to a request to unseal records in Paul Manafort's criminal case. The special counsel asked the court to give them until April 1 to respond to the request from the Washington Post, which petitioned the court to unseal the Manafort documents related to his breach of plea proceedings, citing "the profound public interest in these proceedings." Mueller's report is expected any day now. (Washington Post / CNN)

• Here's what we already know about the Mueller report: The investigation has revealed a range of events related to Russian interference and the 2016 election. Six people connected to Trump have been charged and five have been convicted or pleaded guilty. (New York Times)

4/ Hope Hicks plans to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into potential obstruction of justice. Rep. Jerry Nadler said the former White House communications director and long-time confidante of Trump will hand over documents from "any personal or work diary, journal or other book containing notes, a record or a description of daily events" about Trump, the Trump campaign, the Trump Organization and the executive office of the President. (CNN)

• Michael Flynn's company submitted several thousand pages of documents to the House Judiciary Committee as part of the panel's investigation of alleged obstruction of justice and other actions by Trump. (