“I’m f*cked.” According to the finally released 448-page Mueller Report, that was President Trump’s initial reaction to word that a special counsel had been appointed. It may have been one of the few times the divisive president spoke for all Americans as the nation soon found itself sinking into a swirling pit of breaking news quicksand that would come to dominate our discourse, online and off, for nearly two years. We might spend just as long arguing about what the report actually means for the future of the presidency (this one, and others), and the future of American elections. In the meantime, thanks to some excellent reporting and our communal obsession, we already knew much about what we’re reading in the report. A lot of the things you assumed were happening were, a lot of the things that seemed like lies were lies, and that which was called a hoax was nothing of the sort. Here are some key outtakes from America’s first national book club meeting.

+ “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.”

+ “Substantial evidence indicates that the catalyst for the president’s decision to fire Comey was Comey’s unwillingness to publicly state that the president was not personally under investigation.”

+ “The president called McGahn at home and directed him to call the acting attorney general and say that the special counsel had conflicts of interest and must be removed. McGahn did not carry out the direction, however, deciding that he would resign rather than trigger what he regarded as a potential Saturday Night Massacre.”

+ “While the investigation identified numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign, the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges.”

+ On the pattern of obstruction: “These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General’s recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony.”

+ While there was not a finding of conspiracy, the campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.”

+ On the Trump Tower meeting: “On the facts here, the government would unlikely be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the June 9 meeting participants had general knowledge that their conduct was unlawful. ”

+ “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.” (It’s worth noting that most of those who declined to carry out such orders are long gone and have been replaced by those perceived to be more loyal to the president…)

+ You can read along with WaPo, the NYT, The Atlantic, and CNN.