WashingtonDonald Trump is gone. A few hours after the final report on the Russia affair was almost completely made available to the public, the US President traveled to Florida for the Easter weekend. With a wave, a smile and a thumbs-up, he climbed into the Air Force 1. "He's in a great mood," commented his advisor Kellyanne Conway.

Trump can actually breathe a sigh of relief in many ways. As announced a few weeks ago, FBI special investigator Robert Mueller recommends no further charges. Several ex-confidants of Trumps have been prosecuted, but the presidential family is in no danger of being prosecuted.

Trump's lawyers speak of a "total victory", the president is completely freed from allegations. But even this, extremely positive reading is wrong. Because Mueller states verbatim: "This report does not rule out that the president has committed a crime. He does not relieve him. "

Parts of the report are blackened with reference to ongoing investigations or personality rights. The remainder of the 448-page reading captures the shocking image of a flamboyant, often isolated US president, who over and over again tried to steer clearing up the Russia affair, resisting his associates.

According to Mueller, Trump was subject to the dangerous error that the task of an independent judiciary was to protect him as head of the executive branch. The president, as it reads in the Mueller report like a thriller, "publicly attacked the investigation and tried non-publicly to influence the Enlightenment." When Trump learned of Mueller's appointment in the spring of 2017, according to the report, the president called out, "Oh my god. That's terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I'm ruined. "

Three findings from the Mueller report:

1. Trump's people welcomed Russia with open arms. But they did not punish each other.

It is undisputed that Russia wanted to manipulate the US presidential election with mass false news and hacker attacks – even though Trump never acknowledged the extent of the interference. According to Mueller and according to intelligence from US intelligence agencies, spies infiltrated local campaigns to study the language and style of American politics.

Programmers activated hundreds of thousands of social media accounts to spread misinformation and hate speech. The recruitment of Americans began in 2014 and continued after the 2016 elections. Efforts should help Trump and hurt his rival Hillary Clinton. According to witnesses, Russian President Vladimir Putin has deliberately targeted businessmen from his country to contact the Trump team. The goal was to ease the US sanctions policy against Russia after the election.

Mueller makes it clear that the Trump campaign before and after the election was susceptible to this effort. For example, a friend of Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, composed a reconciliation plan between the US and Russia, with copies landing on the desks of former Trump strategist Stephen Bannon and former Foreign Minister Rex Tillerson.

There is also evidence of news between Trump's son Don Jr. and the Wikileaks disclosure platform in connection with Clinton's stolen e-mails. Anyway, the campaign showed, according to Mueller "strong interest in Wikileaks publications of hacked material" – much of these passages are blackened with reference to ongoing investigations. The meeting of the Trump campaign with Russian representatives in the Trump Tower is also described in detail in the report.

However, Mueller sees no evidence that Trump or his environment knowingly "coordinated with the Russian government." At this point, the Special Investigator relieved the Trump team clearly. At the same time, the high legal hurdles are outlined. Because as proof of a crime Mueller should have proved that the Trump side proactively and "with corrupt intentions" with Russia had cooperated. In plain language, this means that as long as no motive or self-knowledge can be seen, the actors have little to fear. That's why so far no US citizen has been charged with conspiracy or treason – even if they took on Russian flirting and took part in fake actions.

The thin line for a prosecution becomes clear when reading the report. Russia started just five hours after Trump called Wikileaks to hack Clinton's e-mails as a candidate. But only the active participation in the cyberattack would be punishable. Also, senior members of the Trump campaign propagated propaganda tweets by the Russian Internet Research Agency, which was responsible for much of the fake news campaign. But that alone is not punishable and no proof of a conspiracy.

2. Trump tried hard to steer clearing up the Russia affair. Maybe he acted criminally.

The report leaves open the question of whether Trump acted as a criminal criminal by obstructing the investigation of the Russian affair. "Although this report does not conclude that the president has committed a crime, he does not relieve him," it says literally. "The actions and intentions of the President prevent us from concluding that there was no criminal behavior".

Mueller explicitly does not absolve Trumps of the suspicion of the legal disability. At the same time he renounces the recommendation of an indictment against Trump or his family. The Special Investigator leaves it to other authorities or the US Congress to draw its own conclusions from the investigation.

The deeper one goes into the reading, the more it becomes clear which "actions and intentions" Mueller means. Because as soon as the FBI buttoned the Trump campaign, Trump saw red. In the spring of 2017, "he slumped back in his chair and said," Oh God, that's awful. This is the end of my presidency. I'm ruined. " In the report it says at this point literally: "I'm fucked". Trump feared that the special investigator's appointment would overshadow his presidency, which turned out to be correct in retrospect. "My hands are tied then. That's the worst thing that ever happened to me, "the Mueller report cites a witness.

So Trump had a motive to obstruct the investigation of the affair. He felt that he had been demoted to justice, saw his spectacular electoral success undermined and publicly fueled the accusation of "witch hunt". The report abounds with examples showing that Trump wanted to steer the investigation out of the White House.

So Trump instructed the former lawyer Don McGahn, he may initiate the dismissal of special investigator Mueller in the way. He ordered K.T. McFarland, the then deputy security adviser, was lying about the Russia contacts of her supervisor Michael Flynn. He instructed his staff to disguise the Trump Tower meeting in front of the press.

Trump also complained to the then Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had withdrawn from supervision over the Russia investigations for bias: "It's terrible, you left me alone on an island." Mueller also supports the allegations of the then FBI Director James Comey, Trump has put Comey under pressure and threatened with dismissal should he not influence the investigation positively. Trump fired Comey in May 2017.

However, Trump's environment slowed the president in many cases. "The president's efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful," the Mueller report says. "Especially because his coworkers refused to execute the orders."

Mueller seems to have discussed at length the consequences of the recommendation of an indictment against Trump. One factor that apparently prevented him from doing so was the Ministry of Justice's assessment that a president could not be charged in office. Mueller describes in his report the danger of a constitutional crisis, even if he had only vaguely and confidentially advocated the option of an indictment. The ball for further investigation is now in the field of Congress – and the law enforcement agencies.

3. There is a threat of legal repercussions. And the election campaign gets dirty.

Mueller has forwarded 14 possible crimes that he received in the course of the investigation, to federal officials. One case concerns Trump's ex-lawyer Michael Cohen, who will face his three-year prison term in May for perjury, tax fraud and campaign finance laws violations. Many other details about it are blacked out in the report. In the coming months, one should watch out for prosecutors indicting others.

The political debate over the Mueller report is also not over. Mueller is providing the Democrats in the US Congress with a clue to investigate. Congress has the power to investigate the suspicion of judicial disability, writes Mueller. "This is in line with our constitutional system of control and balance, as well as the principle that no one is above the law."

Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat leader in the House of Representatives, has virtually ruled out impeachment. However, the Democrats are likely to try to keep the issue from simmering elsewhere. Numerous committees deal with Trump's finances, which are largely irrelevant in the Mueller report. They urge the publication of his tax return and hope for information about Trump's relations abroad. The US Congress wants to interview Justice Secretary William Barr and Special Investigator Mueller in May.

Trump himself feels strengthened, he can now start full force in the 2020 presidential campaign. Since it is clear that Mueller does not recommend charges against him, he seems free. During a ceremony for veterans in the White House on Thursday he was awarded an award. "She'll get a nice place in the White House, at least for the next six years," Trump said.

"The wind has turned," Trump's campaign boss Brad Parscale triumphed. "Justice will prevail". Trump's advisor Kellyanne Conway said, "If you want to apologize to us, you're welcome to do so." And the US ambassador to Germany reiterated Trump's allegation that the press had pushed the Russia affair. "There should be plenty of apologies and corrections," tweeted Richard Grenell. "So many media were wrong, over years".

Because the Mueller report leaves many questions unanswered and, at a critical juncture, no unambiguous verdict, the political camps will all the more publicly underline their interpretation of the report. For the 2020 election campaign, this means that US polarization is on the increase rather than decreasing.

BerlinFollowing the adoption of the new EU Copyright Directive, the collecting society VG Media turned to Google for billions. This was announced by VG Media on Thursday. For the use of digital press products, the US Internet giant to pay retroactively for the period from 1 August 2013 to 31 December 2018 1.24 billion euros.

For the future, VG Media is aiming for flat-rate license sums of between 3.44 billion (2019) and 8.5 billion euros (2024) per year. First, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on the demands.