A detailed report from special counsel Robert Mueller said investigators struggled with both the legal implications of investigating President Donald Trump for possible obstruction of justice, and the motives behind a range of his most alarming actions, from seeking the ouster of officials to ordering a memo that would clear his name.

Attorney General William Barr’s office made nearly 1,000 redactions to the publicly released version of special counsel Robert Mueller report, according to an analysis by Reuters.
Reuters found 953 total redactions, broken down by the four categories Barr had previously stated would be redacted.
The news service determined that the most common redaction concerned “harm to ongoing matter,” which occurred in 427 cases, according to the analysis.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plans to meet President Vladimir Putin in Russia later this month, the Kremlin said Thursday, as Moscow looks to gain a greater role in the international outreach with Pyongyang.
For Kim, the planned summit is an opportunity to expand his options and potential leverage with both the United States and the North’s longtime ally, China.
Kim wants international sanctions eased as part of negotiations with the Trump administration over possibly rolling back North Korea’s nuclear program.

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday scoffed at US presidential adviser Jared Kushner’s announcement that the administration’s plan for peace in the Middle East – also known as the “Deal of the Century” – would be published after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which ends in June.
The PA noted that the timing of the announcement of the plan will coincide with Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan.
“We don’t want Kushner’s Eid al-Fitr gift because it does not offer the Palestinians an independent and sovereign state,” said a PA official in Ramallah.
Read more at JPOST.
{Matzav.com}

MK Moshe Gafni threatened on Thursday morning that his party would rather go back to the hustings and fight another election than back down on its demands for mass military service exemptions for yeshiva bochurim.
UTJ rejected a draft charedi enlistment law drawn up by a Defense Ministry committee convened by Yisrael Beytenu leader and former defense minister Avigdor Liberman during the last government, which led in part to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolving the Knesset and calling early elections.
Liberman for his part has stated following the election that he will not accept “even one comma to be changed” in the draft law, setting up a head-on collision between him and the charedi parties during the negotiations to form a new government.

President Trump took a victory lap after Attorney General William Barr’s press conference on special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation, with a dramatic photo featuring the President along the words “Game Over.”
“No collusion. No obstruction. For the haters and the radical left Democrats—Game Over,” the text on the image reads.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

The Justice Department posts online a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election online; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports.
WATCH:

President Donald Trump pushed for obtaining Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s private emails and his campaign was in touch with allies who were pursuing them, according to the redacted special counsel’s report released Thursday.
On July 27, 2016, Trump famously said at a campaign rally, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” referring to emails that Clinton said she had deleted from her private server. She had used a private account during her tenure as secretary of state.

Attorney General William Barr and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein hold a press conference on the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
WATCH:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller said he lacked confidence to clear Donald Trump of obstruction of justice but suggested Congress could take action on at least 10 instances where the president sought to interfere with the probe.
“We concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a president’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice,” he said in the report sent to Congress on Thursday.
Mueller said acts of possible obstruction include “discouragement of cooperation with the government and suggestions of possible future pardons.” The 448-page report cited actions including Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey and efforts to have former Attorney General Jeff Sessions take control of the investigation.