WASHINGTON - America is waiting for special counsel Robert Mueller's report. But anyone looking for a grand narrative on President Donald Trump, Russian election interference and all the details uncovered over the past 22 months could end up disappointed.
The timing of Mueller's endgame is unclear. Attorney General William Barr, who oversees the investigation, has said he wants to release as much information as he can about the inquiry into possible coordination between Trump associates and Russia's efforts to sway the 2016 election. But during his confirmation hearing last month, Barr said he ultimately would decide what the public sees, and that any report would be in his words, not Mueller's.
Some key questions:
Mueller will have to turn in a report of some kind when he's done. It could be a pretty bare-bones product.
Justice Department regulations require only that Mueller give the attorney general a confidential report that explains the decisions to pursue or decline prosecutions. That could be as simple as a bullet point list or as fulsome as a report running hundreds of pages.
Mueller has given no guidance on what it will be or when it will come, but signs a conclusion is coming soon have mounted in recent months.
Matthew Whitaker, who was acting attorney general before Barr was confirmed, said in January that the investigation was nearly done. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller, has been preparing to leave his post soon. The number of prosecutors working for Mueller has dwindled, and his team, which had sought an interview with the president, has not had meaningful dialogue with Trump's lawyers in months.
Mueller also hasn't filed any new cases in two months.
Barr said he envisioned two reports, and only one for congressional and public consumption.
Barr has said he takes seriously the ``shall be confidential'' part of the regulations governing Mueller's report. He has noted that department protocol says internal memos explaining charging decisions should not be released.
During his confirmation hearing, Barr said he would draft, after Mueller turned in his report, a second one for the chairman and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. But here again, the regulations provide little guidance for what such a report would say.
The attorney general is required only to say the investigation has concluded and describe or explain any times when he or Rosenstein decided an action Mueller proposed ``was so inappropriate or unwarranted'' that it should not be pursued.
Barr indicated that he expected to use his report to share the results of Mueller's investigation with the public, which the regulations allow him to do. But he hedged on specifics and said his plans could change after speaking with Mueller and Rosenstein.
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Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has said the president's legal team wants to review any report before it's released. Giuliani also raised the prospect that Trump's lawyers could try to invoke executive privilege to prevent the disclosure of any confidential conversation the president has had with his aides.
It's not clear whether the president's lawyers will get an advance look at Mueller's conclusions. Mueller, after all, reports to the Justice Department, not the White House.
Barr himself seemed to dismiss that idea. When Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., asked Barr whether Trump and his lawyers would be able to put their own spin on the report before its release, Barr replied: ``That will not happen.''
It seems unlikely, especially if prosecutors plan to discuss people they never charged.
Then-FBI Director James Comey broke from Justice Department protocol in extraordinary fashion with his July 2016 news conference announcing the FBI would not recommend criminal charges against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server. Barr has made clear his disapproval of Comey's public move.
``If you're not going to indict someone, you don't stand up there and unload negative information about the person,'' Barr said.
There have been times when the department has elaborated on decisions not to pursue criminal charges. Also, there is some precedent for special counsels appointed by the Justice Department to hold news conferences.
Patrick Fitzgerald, the special counsel who investigated the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame and who was granted even broader authority than Mueller, held a 2005 news conference when he charged I. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. But even then, Fitzgerald drew a clear line.