No Collusion: Attorney General William Barr Releases Mueller's Findings, Finds No Evidence of Conspiracy, Obstruction

A letter released to Congress by Attorney General William Barr Sunday afternoon claims that Special Counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence “to establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference.”

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“The Special Counsel found no evidence that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired with the Russians to influence the election, despite offers by the Russians to do so,” the report reads.

The four page letter, available from the House Judiciary Committee, however, says that while Mueller’s “report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,’” leaving the final conclusions up to Congress and other judicial bodies. The Department of Justice, however, will not prosecute.

Manu Raju✔@mkraju

BARR letter to Congress here

1:45 PM – Mar 24, 2019

Mueller’s investigation, Barr says, was nothing if not thorough. Mueller used a team of 19 lawyers and 40 FBI special agents to issue “more than 2,800 subpoenas,” execute “nearly 500 search warrants,” obtain “more than 230 orders for communication records,” issue requests to 13 foreign countries and interview more than 500 witnesses.

The Special Counsel found that, despite overt efforts on the part of Russian officials and the Russian-controlled “Internet Research Agency” to influence the election through on- and off-line misinformation campaigns, no members of the Trump Campaign — or any Americans, for that matter — collaborated with the Russians in their efforts.

Charges of obstruction of justice, routinely leveled at President Donald Trump over the course of Mueller’s investigation, have also come to naught. Although the report lists actions Trump took during the course of the investigation that could be considered “obstruction,” upon review of the Special Counsel’s report, neither Barr nor Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein felt that those actions rose to a level requiring further inquiry or prosecution.

“Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I 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,” Barr says. In fact, Barr concluded that the “report identifies no actions that in our judgement constitutes obstructive conduct.”

Barr adds that the pair’s decision was made without regard to Constitutional concerns over indicting a sitting President.

Democrats were quick to note that Mueller does not explicitly “exonerate” the President, and are using the line to justify ongoing investigations into Trump’s past, business dealings, and campaign communications.

(((Rep. Nadler)))✔@RepJerryNadler

Replying to @RepJerryNadler

Barr says that the President may have acted to obstruct justice, but that for an obstruction conviction, “the government would need to proved beyond a reasonable doubt that a person, acting with corrupt intent, engaged in obstructive conduct”.

(((Rep. Nadler)))✔@RepJerryNadler

But Special Counsel Mueller clearly and explicitly is not exonerating the President, and we must hear from AG Barr about his decision making and see all the underlying evidence for the American people to know all the facts.

1:56 PM – Mar 24, 2019

“But Special Counsel Mueller clearly and explicitly is not exonerating the President, and we must hear from AG Barr about his decision making and see all the underlying evidence for the American people to know all the facts,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), the head of the House Judiciary Committee Tweeted upon receiving the report.

The letter from Barr notes that the full Mueller report is supposed to be a “confidential” document for certain eyes only, and that the document falls under restrictions put into place by Federal law, but that he will do his best to work with Congress to make as much of the report available to the public as possible.