Mueller Report Summary
Robert Mueller’s nearly two-year Russia probe concluded without finding adequate evidence to show that officials with Donald Trump’s presidential 2016 campaign aided Russian attempts to interfere with the election.
“The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the special counsel wrote in his findings, which Attorney General William Barr released on Sunday in four-page summary form.
“For each of the relevant actions investigated, the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leave unresolved what the special counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction,” Barr wrote in a letter to the key House and Senate committees.
“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,’” Barr added.
However, in an apparent departure from the four corners of Mueller’s report, Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein “have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
“The Special Counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “AG Barr and DAG Rosenstein further determined there was no obstruction. The findings of the Department of Justice are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.”
That point is certain to unleash a firestorm of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and other President Trump critics who appear eager to enter a protracted legal fight to lift the curtain further on the special counsel’s investigation.
Barr’s summary of the special counsel's investigation describes a probe launched in May 2017 that leaned on more than 2,800 subpoenas, the execution of nearly 500 search warrants, 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence and interviews with about 500 witnesses. But apart from the already known indictments against a series of President Trump officials, including his former campaign chairman, personal lawyer and national security adviser, Barr said there were no additional indictments from Mueller to be made public and no charges under seal.
The attorney general and Rosenstein did not consult or coordinate with Mueller about the letter that was released, a Justice Department official said.
Asked whether there was any disagreement between Barr and Rosenstein over the conclusions made public, the official said: “The deputy attorney general and attorney general have worked hand-in-hand on this.”
With Democrats on alert for any sign of White House influence over the process, Justice officials insisted they were being careful to observe appropriate protocols.
A Justice Department official said Sunday that the process of preparing a fuller version of the Mueller investigation for public release is already underway, but refused to predict how long it would take. Officials have also declined to say how long Mueller’s submission to the Justice Department was, beyond describing it as “comprehensive.”
To read U.S. Attorney General William Barr's summary click here.
