Thank you for downloading this Simon & Schuster ebook.
* * *
Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.
CONTENTS
An Introduction from the Leaker of This Material
Part I
THE FIRING OF JAMES COMEY
Part II
MEETINGS WITH THE RUSSIANS
Part III
THE STEELE DOSSIER
Index
An Exclusive Sneak Preview of the Sequel to The Mueller Report
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Image Credits
I joked recently about, “Can you imagine Putin sitting there waiting for a meeting and Rubio walks in and he’s totally drenched?”
No, you got to have Trump walk into that meeting, folks, we’ll do very nicely. We’re going to do very nicely.
—Presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, February 26, 2016
About the Typefaces Used in the Mueller Report
As a tribute to the subjects of this report, we have used several new typefaces throughout.
The bulk of the text is written in MAKE HELVETICA GREAT AGAIN, a sans serif font that is as easy to read on a baseball cap as it is on an indictment for obstruction of justice.
Portions have also been rendered in the FAILING TIMES NEW ROMAN. This Times New Roman is in no way failing; indeed, it is thriving. The designer contributed this font on the condition of anonymity, fearing retribution from the Trump White House.
Finally, many of the media reports have been printed in SERIF HUCKABEE SANDERS. Can you trust anything written in Serif Huckabee Sanders? Probably not. But, hey, it’s your only choice.
INTRODUCTION
To the American People:
I am the leaker of the report you are about to read.
While I cannot divulge my true identity, I am someone who sees the President every morning and night; who has known the President for the past two decades; and who is present for many of his tantrums, outbursts, and extended rants about Chuck Schumer.
I can’t say my full name, for it might jeopardize my relationship with the President.
And so: call me only “Melania T.”
I had been saying for years that I wished Donald Trump was in prison. And so when I heard that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had been appointed to investigate President Trump, I knew immediately that I wanted to help. But how?
I had much to offer, given my proximity to Donald. Would Mr. Mueller want the President’s credit card statements from the Moscow airport Sbarro? Would he want an exceptional amount of hair from his shower drain? What about a recording of the President discussing Russia with his two most trusted advisors: Geraldo Rivera and Chumlee from Pawn Stars?
I contacted Mr. Mueller—again, using only my pseudonym, Melania T.—and became his investigation’s secret source: the Deep Throat of the Mueller investigation.
At first, my spycraft turned up nothing. I recovered the President’s legal pad from a meeting with the White House Commission on Science and Technology, but it only contained a crude stick figure drawing of Bo Derek with the phrase “Time travel?”
Next, I recovered his notes following a cabinet meeting about the Iran deal. This, too, proved a bust, as his notes were just a list of ideas for nicknames to call Keith Olbermann on Twitter.
For several months I turned up nothing of use for Mr. Mueller, even though the President had become quite careless. On a trip to Asia he attempted to order an adults-only pay-per-view to his hotel television but instead of calling the front desk, he left a voice mail for Glenn Thrush at the New York Times.
For three confusing minutes in September 2017 the President accidentally appointed Scott Baio as chief justice of the Supreme Court. In October 2017 the President hung up on the prime minister of Australia after he refused to “hand over his country’s secret recipe for the Bloomin’ Onion.”
“I thought we were ALLIES!” the President screamed, slamming down the receiver.
But I refused to give up. We have a saying in my native Slovenia: “It is the persistent and cunning wolf who catches the strutting, spray-tanned chicken.”
And by God did I want to catch that chicken.
So I kept funneling information to Mr. Mueller. I had full access to the White House since the President was never there on weekends. I forwarded documents left in printers, and Filet O’ Fish wrappers, and receipts for $19 iced teas from the Trump International Hotel Bar & Grill.
I was also able to record many of the President’s conversations by hiding a tape recorder in the binder that carried the President’s Daily Briefing—which, luckily, the President never opened.
And then one night in the summer of 2018 I was in the President’s bedroom and I had a hunch that something was up.
The President had been in an irritable mood; that morning he had accidentally retweeted seven accounts that all turned out to be either neo-Nazis or Piers Morgan. The Washington Post had run a story showing his average approval rating was somewhere in between gas station empanadas and the ending of Lost. He had been lashing out all day, and he could not even be cheered up by his nightly phone call in which Sean Hannity soothingly sings “You Are My Sunshine.”
I received my signal from Mr. Mueller: a text message that read “DEEP STATE.” The President was fast asleep, which I can always tell because he was sleep-talking about “fake news Wolf Blitzer.”
Just to be extra sure, I said out loud, “Honey! Jeff Bezos is here. He wants to apologize for pretending to have more money than you and for generally being an inferior businessman.”
But he did not move. That meant he was out cold.
I had to sneak out of the White House without anyone knowing. Luckily the President had fired the longtime chief of White House security and replaced him with a 23-year-old Trump supporter whose previous security experience was checking IDs at a T.G.I. Friday’s in Whitefish, Montana.
I tiptoed through the halls of the White House. It was around midnight; I saw no one except for Stephen Miller, wearing a cloak and reciting a German poem to a portrait of Andrew Jackson. He did not notice as I crept by him, out into the night.
I met Mr. Mueller at our usual spot, a place we knew that no one in the Trump administration would ever visit: the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Mr. Mueller told me he suspected that he would soon be fired, and that if he was, he wanted to get something out into the world. He handed me the following documents and gave me instructions to put it in the hands of a writer that no one was interested in: not the FBI, not the CIA, not any readers.
I googled “unemployed writer + no prospects + looks like he cuts his own hair” and the first four pages of results all pointed to Jason O. Gilbert. I thank him for shepherding this report into the world and hope that he soon purchases some clothing that does not feature visible Cholula stains.
As you will see, the documents are mostly raw materials: interview transcripts, meeting notes, emails, and other communications filed into evidence by Robert Mueller and his team of investigators. Due to Mr. Mueller’s worries about imminent termination, the report is in no way comprehensive.
Disappointingly, the report does not reach a conclusion about criminal activities of either Mr. Trump, his associates, or his children. I will not state one, either. Though I am an expert on many subjects—fake sm
iling while holding hands in public with someone you dislike; feigning interest in stories about going to Studio 54 with Roy Cohn—collusion is not one of them.
Still, I hope you will read these documents and draw your own conclusions. Mr. Mueller and I have risked much to bring you this report. But take it from someone who has watched the President attempt to launch preemptive military action against an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!: the risk of inaction is much greater.
Be Best,
“Melania T.”
Part One
The FIRING of JAMES COMEY
Interview with President Donald J. Trump (Portion)
* * *
Oval Office, July 10, 2018
Despite several defiant tweets to the contrary, President Trump readily agreed to be interviewed under oath, with no conditions about what we could ask him. The following represents a portion of that interview, conducted in the Oval Office in May 2018.
* * *
Q: What was your first contact with the Russians?
TRUMP: It would have been 1987. I was in the VIP lounge at Lou Ferrigno’s pool party. All the heavy hitters were there: Don Johnson, Lee Iacocca, ALF, the little Amish boy from Witness, two of the three California Raisins. This beautiful woman named Anya—she was Miss Minsk 1984—comes straight up to me and whispers in my ear—Anya! Is Anya here? Come on up here, Anya!
Q: Mr. President, it’s just you and me in the Oval Office.
TRUMP: Anyway, Anya and I hit the jacuzzi with Olivia Newton-John, Mayor Ed Koch, and an Irishman we later discovered wasn’t Bono, and—
Q: President Trump, do you know why I’m here?
TRUMP: Am I giving you a medal?
Q: No.
TRUMP: Are you giving me a medal?
Q: President Trump, you are under investigation for collusion and obstruction of justice.
TRUMP: Wait, seriously? Did you not not see my tweets where I called this a witch hunt?
Q: Our first series of questions concerns the dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.
TRUMP: Okay, but let me state for the record that this phony investigation is an excuse by the Democrats to distract from our administration’s tremendous accomplishments. You know, the other day Tim Cook—CEO of Apple, very successful—visited the White House and he said to me, “Mr. President, the Fake News Media will never admit this but you’re making Abraham Lincoln look like a chimpanzee riding a bicycle.”
Q: Tim Cook said that?
TRUMP: And I thought those were very strong words, and so true.
Q: Are you ready to begin, President Trump?
TRUMP: Absolutely. But before we start, may I just state one more thing for the record?
Q: Sure, feel free to say anything you—
TRUMP: WITCH HUNT!!
A Politico Playbook Newsletter About James Comey’s Upcoming Senate Testimony
* * *
May 2, 2017, Seven Days Before James Comey Gets Fired
In early May, James Comey was preparing to deliver testimony to the Senate regarding the FBI’s ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The following POLITICO Playbook newsletter suggests that President Trump was attempting to influence that testimony.
* * *
POLITICOPLAYBOOK
* * *
DRIVING THE DAY
COMEY TESTIMONY DAY LOOMS: Trump Trembling as FBI Director Prepares to Testify—45 Looks to Persuade Comey—STAY COOL: D.C.’s Hottest Look Is Once Again Pleated Khakis—FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: Willie Geist Got a Haircut—BIRTHDAY: Mercedes Schlapp’s Miniature Poodle Turns Seven
FIRST UP: Trump’s team is nervous about what Comey might say at his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing tomorrow. “The guy could sink us,” one source says via AIM.
4 THINGS TO LOOK FOR: Comey could: 1) indicate that the probe is winding down, 2) indicate that the probe is heating up, 3) contract a rare virus that puts the country in danger, or 4) reveal he’s leaving the FBI to open a tea parlor called James Comey’s Jams & Sconies.
STAY SMART: Once you buy coffee from Starbucks, you can take home as many napkins as you want.
*****A MESSAGE FROM THE COMPANY FORMERLY KNOWN AS BLACKWATER: We know we screwed up. But if you get a bad haircut, do you stop getting haircuts for the rest of your life? Hire us to lock down Pakistan or you will regret it. That’s a threat. www.BackInBlackwater.com *****
PARTY TIME: Sean Hannity celebrated his ratings at L’Ambassadeur with Tucker Carlson, Wolf Blitzer, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Susan Sarandon, George Soros, the mysterious fifth Koch brother, Loretta Lynch, the dog from Air Bud, Brendan Dassey, the kids from Stranger Things, a performance by A$AP Mob, and astromech droid BB-8.
SPOTTED: The deputy spokesperson for Kansas senator Jerry Moran ordering a chicken ciabatta sandwich at Au Bon Pain . . . Mike Huckabee playing a banjo for no one at an empty bus station . . . Ali Velshi crashing his bicycle into an SUV parked in the bike lane on MacArthur Blvd. (h/t Newt Gingrich) . . . Newt Gingrich parking his SUV in the bike lane on MacArthur Blvd. (h/t Ali Velshi).
NEWS FLASH: Chemical waste lobbying firm Krasten Horowitz Lederman Fernandez has hired EPA director Scott Pruitt as SVP of Policy. Pruitt will remain EPA director . . .
WATCH OUT: It’s another beautiful day outside. . . .
LOOK ALIVE: I haven’t eaten a meal with another person in 14 months. . . .
STAY FRESH: My closest friends say that writing this newsletter has rotted my social skills and made me unlikable. . . .
KEEP COOL: My girlfriend Julie left me because I “was starting all my sentences with unnecessary two-word exclamations.” . . .
BIG NEWS: Carly Fiorina spotted eating cream of mushroom soup alone at a T.G.I. Friday’s . . .
WHAT’S NEXT: Expect Team Trump to ramp up the charm offensive on Comey prior to his hearing. PLAYBOOK is hearing that something is going down tonight at Mar-A-Lago . . .
The 2017 Donald J. Trump Awards for Achievements in Tremendous Friendship and Loyalty to Donald J. Trump
* * *
May 2, 2017, 8 p.m.
The day before Comey’s Senate testimony, President Trump threw a private awards gala at Mar-A-Lago: “The Donald J. Trump Awards for Achievements in Tremendous Friendship and Loyalty to Donald J. Trump.” Most viewed this as a transparent attempt to send a message to James Comey on the day before his testimony.
Here is the full transcript of President Trump’s opening monologue.
* * *
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening, and welcome to the Donald J. Trump Awards for Achievements in Friendship and Loyalty to Donald J. Trump.
I am your host, Donald J. Trump. I know we all have a lot of work to do except for me, so I’ll keep these remarks short.
The movies have given us many depictions of loyal and tremendous friends in unforgettable duos like Thelma and Louise, Buzz Lightyear and Woody Harrelson, and Tom Hanks and the decapitated head of his friend Wilson in Cast Away.
I am happy to say that the winner of this year’s prize has shown tremendous friendship and loyalty to Donald J. Trump, and I am hopeful that he will continue to do so in the coming years, in the coming weeks, and in any upcoming appearances he may have in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
This year’s prize—which includes a gorgeous statuette in the mold of Tawny Kitaen and a $10,000 check courtesy of our friends in the Qatari government—goes to FBI Director James Comey.
Now, James couldn’t be here tonight, because he is, by sheer coincidence, preparing to testify tomorrow. But I know he is watching, both because he was so excited to win the prize and because I had the NSA hack his phone so that the livestream would appear on his home screen no matter what.
James Comey reminds me of a story I once heard while I was aboard my friend Jimmy the Snake’s sex yacht. Forgive me if you’ve heard this story before; I did recently tell it to the Boy Scouts.
So, Jimmy the Snake is a wonderful guy, a real famil
y man, always there to lend an ear or a tire iron. I used to attend these crazy parties he would throw on his boat, and there would be girls and booze and women and girls. This was a simpler time, of course; this was two months ago.
Anyway, I’m in the Hose-Down Cabin and I’m getting briefed on Iranian chemical weapons by General Buzzkill, or whatever the bald guy’s name is, and Jimmy the Snake walks in. He says, “Donald, I’ve got a problem. Your guy James Comey is trying to arrest me on bogus charges of racketeering, tax evasion, credit card fraud, drug smuggling, conspiracy to assassinate a racehorse, purchasing biblical artifacts from ISIS, and unlawful ownership of a military tank. You’re not gonna turn on me, are you, Donny?”
And I looked Jimmy the Snake right in the eye and said, “No way, Jimmy. Because I am a tremendous friend, and loyal, and that’s not what tremendous loyal friends do.”
I told this story to my Tremendous and Loyal Friend James Comey and he didn’t think it was funny.
But I don’t consider James Comey a tremendous and loyal friend because he laughs at my jokes; he’s never been a guy to fake a smile or accept a box of stolen Applebee’s gift cards.
He’s a real friend. And real friends stick by each other; they don’t go blabbing in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Otherwise he will forfeit this beautiful Tawny Kitaen statuette—not to mention my tremendous, loyal friendship.
All right, everyone. We’re gonna take a quick break, and then we’ll be back with the stand-up comedy stylings of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Let’s have a good time tonight!
Conversation between President Trump, Reince Priebus, Steve Bannon, and Jared Kushner
The Mueller Report Page 1