Donald Trump was huddling with his closest aides and lawyers at Mar-a-Lago this weekend as he braced for the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report, which has hung like a sword of Damocles over his presidency.

As Mr Trump took to the golf course his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, compared the wait to "having a baby" or preparing for a jury to return. He added: "If the report is good, I'll hand out cigars."

Asked about the president's mood his deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said: "He's good".

On Friday, after 675 days, Mr Mueller finished his exhaustive investigation into whether there was collusion between Mr Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.

He delivered his report, in hard copy form, to Bill Barr, the attorney general, late on Friday, waiting until after the stock market had closed to avoid impacting it.

Mr Barr said he would try to pass on the "principal conclusions" to Congress, and the public, this weekend.