6:07 p.m. ET, March 24, 2019

President Trump in high spirits as associates fret over legal fees

President Trump was in high spirits at his Mar-a-Lago Club this afternoon after his legal told him that the attorney general was set to release findings from the special counsel’s investigation, which said it did not find that his campaign colluded with Russia, sources tell CNN.

Trump spent the weekend expressing cautious optimism while surrounded by his attorneys and had tweeted only twice, but privately was telling people he did not know what Bill Barr's next move was.

Then Barr’s chief of staff phoned lawyer Emmet Flood to provide a readout of the report. The mood at Mar-a-Lago improved immediately.

“It was a complete and total exoneration,” Trump told reporters before heading back to Washington. “It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. It’s a shame that your President has had to go through this.”

People close to the President say he has remained fixated on one thing in the last several weeks — that he and his allies were harassed by investigators and that this should not happen to another President. These people believe that Trump could potentially push for an investigation into how the Russia investigation began now that it has ended.

“It began illegally and hopefully somebody’s going to look at the other side,” Trump said Sunday.

The mood on Air Force One back to Washington was jovial, one person told CNN.

But not everyone is celebrating: Trump’s associates who were ensnared in the investigation fumed Sunday as they reflected on how much they spent on legal fees for the investigation, two people tell CNN. Several current and former Trump officials from his campaign and administration retained personal lawyers to help them respond to questions throughout the investigation.