Mueller’s report does not have proof of Trump crimes, says Justice Department

US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian
interference in the 2016 election did not find that President Donald Trump
committed a crime but also does not exonerate him, according to a summary of
Mueller’s findings released on Sunday.
Mueller, who spent nearly two years investigating
allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat his
Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, also found no evidence that any member of
Trump’s election campaign conspired with Russia during the election.
“While this report does not conclude that the president
committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Attorney General William
Barr quoted Mueller as writing in his report on the issue of possible
obstruction of justice.
Mueller said he would leave it to the attorney general to
decide whether a crime was committed.
Barr’s summary said Mueller found no evidence that the Trump
campaign coordinated with Russia, despite multiple offers from individuals
associated with Russia.
The release of the summary is likely to ignite a new
political fight in Washington as Democrats push for Barr to release the full
report, and Trump seizes on the findings as vindication of his near daily
assertion that he was a victim of a “witch hunt” that has cast a long shadow
over his presidency.
Trump has always denied collaborating with Moscow or
obstructing justice. Russia says it did not interfere in the election, although
US intelligence agencies concluded that it did.
Barr said the investigation also found insufficient evidence
that Trump had attempted to obstruct justice. Many of his opponents accused him
of obstructing the Russia probe when he fired former FBI director James Comey.
The Department of Justice announced on Friday that Mueller
had ended his investigation after bringing charges against 34 people, including
Russian agents and former key allies of Trump, such as his campaign chairman
Paul Manafort, former national security adviser Mike Flynn and his personal
lawyer Michael Cohen.
None of those charges, however, directly related to whether
Trump’s campaign worked with Moscow.
White House reaction
The White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Sunday the
Department of Justice’s findings on the probe into Russian interference in the
2016 election were a “total and complete exoneration of the President of the
United States.”