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[alause] >> and now, "bbc world news." a: lathis is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i am laura trevelyan. robert mueller's long-awaited report on russian interferenceen has eleased. it raises questions of obstruction, but president trump is claiming a win. pres. trump: they are having a good day. i'm having a good oo. it is called "no collusion, no obstruction." laura: democrats say not so fast. they are claiming there is disturbing evidence of misconduct, and they want answers. >> attempting to obsuct justice is a crime. there is no question that the president attempted to obstruct justice. laura: the fight for control of the libyan capital.

the violence is growing as a warlord ies to seize tripoli from the government. laura: welcome to our viewers on public television here in america and around the globe. mr. trump feared the mueller report would be the end of his presidency. now it is out and he iy.claiming vict the 448 pages revealed the trump campaign thought it would benefit from information stolen by russia. there is no finding of a conspiracy between the campaign and moscow, but the report does not exonerate trump on obstruction of justice and ttails how he tried to g agecial counsel fired. we start our coverwith a report from our north america editor jon sopel.♪ ♪ jon: asatershed moment for thi president, and maybe the pridency itself. presidency itself.

donald trump was at the white house meeting wounded today, but from his two years in battle with robert mueller, he feels he has emerged unscathed, his reputation intact. he said his guests were having a good time. pres. trump: i'm having a goo day, too. it is called "no collusion, no obstruction." jon: before publication of this long-awaited report, the president tweeted this with a "game of thrones" styling, and his team, confident, putting out this video. pres. trump: no collusion. there was no collusion. no collusion. jon: the report is riveting andd amatic. it describes the fallout from i director james comey. en-attorney general jeff sessions goes into see the president to say he has decided to appoint a special cou investigate collusion and obstruction of justice. donald trump is furious and uses very strong language. the report paints a picture a

white house in total meltdown, with the president angrily demanding that robert mueller be fired. t don mcgahn the general counsel, is repeatedly told to arrange for mueller to be sacked. he refuses. the presidents attempts at influence -- the mueller report says that they were mostlbu unsuccessfulthat is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or exceed his requests the new attorney general has weighed in sympathetically, almost saying that the president's behavior was justified. justified. atty. gen. barr: as the special counsel's report acknowledges, there is substantial evidence to show that the president was frustrated and angered by his sincere belief that e investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents and fueled by illegal leaks. by illegal leaks. jon: on the other question of whether there was collusionbe een the trump campaign and the russians, a clean bil.of heal the mueller report is being devoured on capitol hill,

debated online. democrats are not buying the line that th nothing wrong. >> even in its incomplete form, however, the muellerept -- incomplete becse part of it is redacted -- even in its incomplete form, the mueller report outlines disturbing evidence thapresident trump evidence that president trump engaged in obstruction of justice and otr misconduct. jon: donald trump has left washington to travel torida for easter weekend. his aides say he is jacked, happy, pumped up.th his good sday before good friday. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. laura: joining us from new york is george washingtonit unive law professor jonathan turley. it is quite a page turner, thi jonathan: [laughter] laura: did people around the president actually save him by refusing to carry out oers like firing the special counsel? jonathan: they may have.

this was a close question for the prosecutors as to whether this was obstruction of justice. had he been successful in firing robert mueller, that might have tipped the ballece. you ar with this zen-like question offhe president ordered an obstructive act and no one listened, is it still obstruction? at the end of the day mueller was not fired and the investigation was not delayed. the prosecutors basically puntnd this oneay we cannot say one way or the other. your reading of th report, jonathan, was robert mueller suggesting that congress itself take a look at whether the president obstructed justice? jonathan: well, he was leaving it to congress and thraattorney ge the attorney general and deputy attorney general decided this was note a c for prosecutable obstruction t justice. b congress has a different task. the fact that it might be un

indicted conduct does not mean it isea not iable conduct. they have to reach their own conclusions. laura: when you read the report, there are a lot of people who don't recall key events, and a lot of people who live.-- lied. what kind of legal portrait does that add up to of the trump campaign and the presidency? jonathan: none of this is good optics. the president views this as a win. depends on what you define as running. he comes across in thes report a unhinged and obsessive, but that is better than coming us as a felon. in the president's views he is unlikely to be indicted were impeached, but the image is not a good one. these people created a shield around the special counsel. there is an incredible moment when the white house counsel is ordered repeatedly to fire mueller, and he refuses an order from the sitting president and nev going back to his office to

pack his things because he thought this was the end of the day for him. laura: what do you make of the spiritedgeneral's defense of the president given an episode like the one you just described? jonathan: i think the bill barr is trying to keep this in the strikes so.-- strike zone. he was quoting from muellerin's fi. there is stuff in this report that is favorable to the president. mueller does say that the president's reason for firing fbi director called me was becausefb - director comey was he was upset that comey was insane publicly what he was saying privately, that death was not saying publicly what he was saying privately. --that comey was not sayin h publicly whwas saying privately. he said that the actions did have an otructive intent and might've had an effect. laura: saying that the trump

campaign lied about their interactions with the russians i -- the preside claiming no collusion and his supporters site no conspiracy -- there was so much that mueller was finding it hard to get to the truth. jonathan: that is true, although in fairness to the preside, the report does give him a clean bill of health on collusion. the original aegations against him, the special counsel does not mince words here. he said they did not find evidence of crimes connected to collisions or icam knowingly on collusion. the findings are mixed on obstruction. lana: jonat turley, thank you for joining us. let's to jane o'brien, who is at the white house for us. the president was ser bullish earlier on today. what is the mood in the white usnow that the report is out there for everyone to read and digest?

ne: the most surprising thing is that the president left for mar-a-lago about an hour ago saying nothing. everyone expected him to make a out of the report, because in his words, there is no collusion and no obstruction. he has got his headlines and he shaped the narrative. wbut i think whatare seeing is a white house that really think it is done with explning. it does not have to explain itself anymore. the report is out and people are going to make of it what they will and if you like trump, no collusion, let's move on, and if you don't like trump, plenty of evidence of obstruction and we need to look at this further. ane white house very much is in a place where it to be tonight, and for donald tru, he is probably off to play golf. laura: indeed so. is the white house trying to move the labonte this and -- move beyond this and use it in the 2020 campaign? jane: it will be difficult to

put it behind them in the sense that democrats are not done with it. avtheymade that very clear all day. they want to hear from robert they want to hear from bill gbarr, the attorneral. they also have their own investigations into othe aspects of this report might not have covered, like financing o the actual campaign. so although robert mueller's investigation is dse, the report out, this is not over. will it beth an issue fo campaign? a lot of americans say they don't want to keking about it, they have other things on their minds. i don't kno say how politically they can move on from this, but it is difficult also to see how they can continue ignoring it. laura: jane o'brien at the white house, thank you. while the president was celebrating's today's report, as jane was saying, democrats took a different view. rlier, my colleagues katty kay and matthew price spoke to

democratic congresswoman jacki speier from california, who sits on the intelligence committee.om katty: congres, it seems that this is up to congress and democrats in congress. what do you do with this report now? rep. speier: what the report did and what robert mueller was very clear in his document was that he felt his hands were tied, because the office of legal counsel within the department of justice has guidines that say you cannot indict a sitting president. e basically talks about congress and said you needed to pursue obstruction of justice here. what is really important for all your listenerto be aware of , attempting to obstruct justice is a crime. there is no question that the president attempted to obstruct justic when the special counsel was apinted and he said, "my presidency is over," that speaks of someone who is guilty, who knows he is guilty, and is

afraid that we are going to unearth all of the cnections that didn't exist between theen pres then a candidate, and russian intermediaries. katty: so the bar for impeachment is high crimes and misdemeanors. do you think that this report and the phrases you had a chance and the phrases you haance to see in this report -- very hard to have read t whole 448 pages but i expect you read pieces of it -- do the phrases you have read on obstruction of juste now make you feel that the party should be inclined to pursue the option of impeaching the president? rep. speier: you know, it is a hry tough decision to be made, because on the od, if we do what i believe we must do as an institution to protect the congress of the united states and the presidency generally, we have an obligation to explore them. but in so doing, politically we

could be creating an environmene the president could use it politically to win reelection. it is hobson's choice for the congress right now. e speaker of the house basically does not want to pursue this unless there are republicans on the nate side who will join with democrats to create a two-thirds majority to convict the president. the house has the ability to impeach him because wneed a majority, and there is probably a majority of house democrats who would support impeachment. but then the question becomes is there the ability to convict. in the case of bill clinton, he was impeached by the house and then was not convicted by the senate, and then the democrats gained seats the following year. now, if we are going to look at thisrom a political rspective, maybe we would not impeach. but i don't think our obligation is to look at this politically.i

if in fact ing president is not going to ever be indicten by the deparof justice because they have this guidancea then ity becomes incumbent up congress to look very deeply and to recognize that if these are criminal acts, and attempting to obstruct justice is a criminal act, i think we have an obligation to investigate further. katty: ok, congresswoman jackie speier, democrat from california, thank you very much. laura: joining us now is ron christie, former adviser to george w. bush. you heard it there, the democrats' dilemma. do they push for impeachment when it could damage them in ron: i think it would be a ketactical miso pursue impeachment at this point. robert mueller said very clearly that the president's campaign did not conspire with the russian government to support--

thwioart the ele number two competed not return onindictmentbstruction of justice. for the democrats to say there isin morstigating to begin, they run the risk with the public that you are so focused on trump that you are tcnot looking at the n table issues we elected you to do. laura: you read the 448 pages. was the president premature to declare a clean bill of health? ron: i think he is. when you look at the second volume weren't looks at 10 potential areas where he obstructed justice, it paints a very chaotic picture of the white house where theis presidet sking people to live for him and to do certain things that you would say, is this presidential behavior? the notion that he feels vindicated, yes, may be legally, but in the court of public opini t for those who ele read the report, they will learn

more about donald tre p and his whuse. laura: you work in the white house. have you ever known a president to call on the top lawyer to fire the special counsel and then him saying,ah, not doing it? ron: no. you follow the orders of the president. if he did not want to follow the order of the president, he should have resigned imdiately. when i look at that and say, how is this white house functioning that the president gets an order and the council says, no, i will not follow the order, and yet he remains on the job. laura:si and on no col, and indeed mueller does not find a conspiracy with russia, it is tear that the trump campaign was excited abos material coming from the russiansa v wikileaks. is it embarrassing if not illegal? ron: i think it is embarrassing, but also from having worked on the campaign, you do want to di

up dirt on opponents. the question is where is the urce coming from? you don't want a situation where there are russian agents or even potential. alarm bells should have bd n ringing, e meeting in trump tower should never have taken place. laura: what is your advice to jared kushner and don, jr., if the russians come calling? ron: call the fbi. don't take the call. one thing i learned being in the white house is that the white use counsel's office is there to help you and protect you. now that they are in office, any foreign involvement or potential interference, they need to contact authoriti. laura: the president is a political wizard and we have seen that so many times. can he move beyond this effortlessly? ron: no, i don't think he can because the democrats will not let him. jerry nadler has made it clear

they will continue investigations. we heard from congresswoman cockie speier from california that she wants tinue to investigate. the president, as much as a master he is admitted relating the scene, democrats will not let him walk away from this. laura: ron christie come thank you for joining us. still to come on tonight's program, the death toll rises libya as fighting intensifies. we will have a report from tripoli. french president emmanuel macron has paid tribute to the hundreds of firefighters who say notre dame -- who saved notre-dame cathedral. ug0 firefighters worked th monday night to put out the fire. here is this report from lucy williamson. lucy: today france saw the faces of its heroes, the firefighters who on monday night pitted their

bravery against the vast inferno and won. now in the gilded rooms of the police a elise a palace, the second cathedral of france. >> the firefighters are a humble and discrete unit, and we are here as a community to honor the individuaefand collective rts of my comments. lucy: one firefighter describes emerging eating the roof engulfed -- seeing the roof engulfed n "it was only later that we saw the risks were taking," she said. "we were so small compared to it." forensic teams have begun to gather evidence at the site. the structure of notre dame is still fragile, damaged bhethe fire andperation to save it. the threat to notre dame did not .die with the fire several areas of the building have been badly weakened. some of begin polls have already been given extra sport.

scaffolding has been brought in to secure the stonework, and a tarpaulin is urgently needed to protect the vaulte ceiling from rain. across the river from notre dame, outside the town hall, crowds gathered this afternoon for thanks. after the service, the crowd walked down to notre dame, just as thousands did monday night, stanng with the cathedral in its hour ofay need, the mr explained. lucy williaon, bbc news, paris. laura: let's take a quick look now at otherews from around the world. a man has been arrested after walking into new york's st. patrick's cathedral carrying petrol cans, lighter fluidghand rs. police say a security guard confronted the man as he entered the church. he spilled petrol on the ground, d ficers took him into custody.

millions of people have been voting in the second week of india's mammoth general election. there are security con an election official was ambushed and shot dead by traveled to she supervise polling. the second phases of voting will finish on the 19th of may, with results due four daysater. cebook says it unintentionally uploaded the email contacts of 1.5 million new users. without knowledge or consent. in a statement, the companyda ss the was not shared with anyone and is being deleted, and affected account holders will be optified. more than 200 have been killed in libya and thousands hehave been forced to flee homes following two weeks of fighting on the outskirts of the fighting on the outskirts of the capital, tripoli. a rebel military commander is trying to capture the city from the internationally recognized government thaturrently holds wer. orla guerin is in tripoli with orla: in tripoli once again, it is time to bury the dead.

civilians killed this week by rocket fire as they fled. -- as they slept. mourners blame the militantn strongmasieging the city, general khalifa haftar. critics say he wants to be a new gaddafi.' lib's internationally recognized prime minister has held him off for two weeks, but he is lookary and sounding worried. >> this is a dangerous turning point. it is a confrontation between supporters of democracy and supporters of authoritarian rule. r i ally astonished by the stand of the international community. community. orla: it's less of matter of tang a stand and more of dodging a bullet.

these batts are raging around ceven miles from the prime minister's of. all this in a week when a u.n.-bked peace conference was supposed to be held. but the internaonal community, which was so hands-on duringol libya's rution, now has little to say. >> the public is frustrated by the silence. the u.n. security council is not even able to issue statement saying clearly what has happened. the russians won't accept mentioning haftar's name as the aggressor, though everyone knows he is the one behind us. orla: what is the risk that the so-called islamic state can roploit this vacuum? they were driventheir stronghold at the end of 2017, but nobody imagines they are gone completely. do you see any indication they are takivantage of this

moment? definitely. there is a fear that groups like i.s. could come back and take advantage of this void. we did our best to fight them and push them out of the south. after all the work we dat, this ck is going to give them a chance to engage again. orla: the latest turmoil may have an impact fareyonds libya's hores. the prime minister says it has 00threatened the lives of,000 migrants here, and could spark a flood to europe. orla guerin, bbc news, tripoli. laura: theos c libya only intensifying. yremember can find much more of all of the day's news on a luwebsite, ing the very latest on the mueller report and a summary of the key points. plus, to see what we are working on at any time, check us out on

twitter. uld love to hear from yo i am laura trevelyan. g thanks so much for watchbc world news america." >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so you can swipe yr way through the news of the day and stay up-to-date with the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and judy and peter blum-kovler foundation, pursuing solutions foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> what are you doing? >> possibilities. onur day is filled with them. >> tv, play "downtbbey." >> and pbs helps everyone discover theirs.e,

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, there, finally, for all to see. attorney general william barr releases a redacted version of the mueller report to lawmakers and the public. the special counsel finds sweeping election interference by russia, and numerous contacts with the trump campaign, but no criminal conspiracy. a o explores whether the president obstructed justice, but doesn't come down on either side. we will breadown much of what's in the report and ask what it adds up to. all thatn tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: