Donald Trump has told reporters he had not seen or read a report produced by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Speaking on the White House lawn before departing for a trip to Texas, the president told media “I won” while claiming he did not care to read the conclusion from the special counsel’s findings. His comments arrived as Attorney General William Barr arrived on Capitol Hill for another day of testimony in front of Congressional lawmakers, saying Wednesday he thinks “spying did occur” against the president’s 2016 campaign. “I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal,” Mr Barr said, calling the type of spying he believed took place as “unauthorised.”“Yes I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated,” he added.Meanwhile, Mr Trump’s acting interior secretary, David Bernhardt, attempted to conceal meetings with fossil fuel lobbyists and representatives of timber, mining and other natural resources industries from his official schedule, according to reports. The president was set to announce further bad news for environmentalists during a trip to Texas on Wednesday when he signs an executive order designed to make it harder for states to scuttle unwanted pipeline projects and other energy initiatives by denying permit permissions on water quality grounds – a loophole regularly exploited, according to Republicans.And to cap it all off, the president is facing legal action from Warner Brothers after using an excerpt from composer Hans Zimmer’s score for the Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises (2012) for a campaign video without permission. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
