Robert Mueller recommends no new criminal charges as he ends Russia probe into Donald Trump

Robert Mueller, the special counsel, has finished his report into whether Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia.

A US justice department official said Mr Mueller, in his report, had not recommended any further criminal charges.

Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump's lawyer, said he was "confident there is no finding of collusion by the president" and Mr Trump had done "nothing wrong".

The report was delivered, as is required, in hard copy form by Mr Mueller's team to the justice department following an investigation that lasted 675 days.

It will now be up to Bill Barr, the US attorney general, to decide how much of the report to release to Congress and the public.

Mr Barr said he could release his account to Congress as soon as this weekend.

The justice department official described the report as "comprehensive" but refused to say how many pages it was.

Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the Democrat leaders in Congress, said it was "imperative" Mr Mueller's full report be made public.

They said the White House should have no say in what was released.

In a statement they said: "The American people have a right to the truth. The watchword is transparency."

Mr Giuliani said he was pleased that Mr Mueller has delivered his report, and that Mr Barr "will determine the appropriate next steps".

Mr Giuliani said: "This marks the end of the investigation. We await a disclosure of the facts.

"We are confident that there is no finding of collusion by the president and this underscores what the president has been saying - that he did nothing wrong."

Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: “The next steps are up to Attorney General Barr, and we look forward to the process taking its course.

"The White House has not received or been briefed on the Special Counsel’s report."

In his one-page letter to the Senate and House judiciary committees Mr Barr wrote: "I am reviewing the report and anticipate that I may be in a position to advise you of the special counsel's principal conclusions as soon as this weekend."

He added: "I remain committed to as much transparency as possible."

In his letter Mr Barr also said he was required to tell Congress if there had been any instances where the special counsel's actions had been "inappropriate or unwarranted".

He said there had been "no such instances during the special counsel's investigation".

Shortly before the announcement Mr Trump had intensified his attacks on Mr Mueller's investigation.

Mr Trump criticised how Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, had appointed Mr Mueller to carry out the probe in May 2017.

That appointment followed the president's decision to fire James Comey as director of the FBI.

At the time Mr Comey was leading an FBI investigation into whether there was collusion with Russia.

Mr Trump said: "I have a deputy, appoints a man to write a report on me, to make a determination on my presidency. People will not stand for it."

The president said that Mr Mueller was "best friend" to Mr Comey.

He added: "There was no collusion. There was no obstruction [of justice]. Everybody knows it. It's all a big hoax. It's all a witch hunt." Justice department regulations require only that Mr Mueller give the attorney general a confidential report explaining his decisions to pursue, or not to pursue, prosecutions against people he has investigated.

That could mean the report is anything from a simple list of bullet points to a hefty tome running to hundreds of pages. Mr Barr has said that, after reading Mr Mueller's report, he will write a second one to be seen by Congress and the public.

The major question surrounding the content of Mr Mueller's report is whether it will implicate the president in criminal conduct such as obstruction of justice or campaign finance violations.

Mr Mueller's team, which had wide powers to investigate the president, has already brought criminal charges against 34 people, including six associates of Mr Trump.

Alan Dershowitz, Harvard law professor emeritus, said the conclusion of the report meant there would be "no further indictments form the special counsel himself".

But he said there may still be some in other investigations going on in New York, Washington and Virginia.

However, he added: "If it is concluded there as no collusion or obstruction of justice it takes the wind out of the attack on the president himself."