Itâs all one big counterintelligence investigation so the gang of eight will be informed regardless of the criminal report that goes to AG Barr. The daily beast explains below. 
The most public and familiar one is as a criminal investigator under the special counsel regulations. But Mueller has also carried a second charge, as a counterintelligence expert, with a much broader charge to determine and report the scope of any interference and any links to the Trump campaignâwhat Trump himself might refer to as âcollusion.â
In March 2017, then-FBI Director James Comey testified that the Russia investigation was commenced âas part of our counterintelligence mission . . . also includ[ing] an assessment of whether any crimes were committed.â Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteinâs May 17, 2017 order appointing Mueller special counsel specifically and carefully incorporated this announced scope and mission.
From the start, then, Mueller has been conducting a counterintelligence investigation, while âalsoâ assessing whether any crimes were committed. Not the other way around.
Comey and Rosenstein knew what they were doing. It is the mission of a criminal investigation to produce indictments and trials, which tell stories and render conclusions only imperfectly. Thanks to the special counsel regulations, there is also âa confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions.â But what will go into this report and what the Congress and public may ultimately see is highly proscribed.
It is the central mission of a counterintelligence investigation, however, to produce . . . well, a report. These findings and conclusions are shared with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and relevant agencies of the 17-member intelligence community (CIA, NSA, DIA, etc.). The report may be honed into a formal IC âassessmentâ reflecting the consensus view of the 17 agencies. It was just such a report, âAssessing Russian Activities and Intentions in Recent US Elections,â that on Jan. 7, 2017 was shared with incoming President Trump. Its disclosure brought into public view the Intelligence Communityâs bombshell conclusion that Vladimir Putin had personally ordered an effort to discredit Hillary Clinton and to âhelp President-elect Trumpâs election chances.â
Significantly, unlike a final criminal report, a Mueller counterintelligence report cannot be bottled up. By statute it must be shared with Congress. The House and Senate intelligence committees are legally entitled to be given reports, in writing, of significant intelligence and counterintelligence activities or failures. Muellerâs findings will certainly qualify.
Where matters are too delicate to share with all the members of the intelligence committees, statute and established practice provide that disclosure may be made to a smaller circle known as the âGang of Eight:â the chair and ranking member of each intelligence committee, and the Democratic and Republican leaders of each chamber.
