MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The waiting continues. Special counsel Robert Mueller has handed in his report to Attorney General William Barr, and now it's up to Mr. Barr to make the findings, or some subset of them, public or not. For close to two years, Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election has been something of a background fixture in American political life, there in the shadows as a source of threat or promise, depending on your point of view. Today, we asked people from around the country to share their thoughts.
ALLIE MCCANDLESS: People have been making it out to be, like, oh, you know, this report is submitted. This will either, like, get Trump impeached or, like, clear him completely. But I don't think it's that clear-cut.
ROGER SCHOONOVER: The damage done by speculation will be worse than anything that he wrote.
JAMIE CERNEK: I think regardless of whether or not Trump is indicted when he's in office, what's most important is that people start putting faith back into these, like, time-honored institutions of our government.
TOM SWEENEY: I'm glad it's out there, and I think it's a good beginning.
GREG SCHOLTZ: What a relief. Finally, it's over.
RICK LYNCH: The American public deserves to know what's going on. But I really hope what happens is that there's nothing behind the curtain. I hope we can get somewhat back to business as usual. I think that this last couple years has been such a distraction, and I think our people as Americans need to focus on building up America again and being neighborly.
TINA MAPES: I would be concerned about releasing the full investigation and people grabbing onto certain pieces that they don't quite understand.
SOPHIE GREENE: I'm a little worried that no bombshells will result in a lot of Republicans saying there's nothing to see here.
CHASE ALLISON: I'm trying to just make rent. I'm trying to scrape by. And sometimes, like, just basic survival takes precedence over, like, what's going on in politics right now, which may seem selfish. But that's probably why I don't follow politics more closely than I do - is because it feels like it's not affecting me directly.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: I don't think there's any smoking gun in the report. But, you know, until we see it and read it, that's when we'll know.
MARTIN: That was Allie McCandless, Roger Schoonover, Jamie Cernek, Tom Sweeney, Greg Scholtz, Rick Lynch, Tina Mapes, Sophie Greene and Chase Allison from New Jersey, Virginia, D.C., Iowa, Florida and Kansas. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.