25 March 2019 - Mueller report clears Trump of conspiring with Russia
Mueller report: Trump cleared of conspiring with Russia
(BBC, 25/03/2019)
US President Donald Trump's campaign did not conspire with Russia during the 2016 election, a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report says.
However, the summary submitted to Congress by Attorney General William Barr is inconclusive as to whether Mr Trump illegally obstructed justice.
On Sunday, Mr Trump responded: "No collusion, No obstruction. Complete and total exoneration."
Opposition Democrats are demanding full access to the Mueller report.
No, Mueller’s report is not a ‘total exoneration’ for Trump
The Times Editorial Board (Los Angeles Times, 24/03/2019)
President Trump and his defenders are understandably exulting now that the Justice Department has released a summary of Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s principal conclusions about his investigation of Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. But, all too characteristically, the president is portraying Mueller’s findings as a “total exoneration.” It’s no such thing.
The summary of Mueller’s conclusions came in a letter Atty. Gen. William Barr sent to Congress Sunday. According to Barr, Mueller did not establish that the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated with” the Russian government or a Russian “troll farm” in two notorious operations: the social-media disinformation campaign launched by the Internet Research Agency and the hacking of Democratic email accounts and the release of embarrassing emails via WikiLeaks.
We should all be celebrating the collapse of Hillary’s big lie
Michael Goodwin (New York Post, 24/03/2019)
Stick a fork in impeachment. It’s dead.
Victory doesn’t get any sweeter for the winners. Or more important for our country.
The results of the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller are a tremendous vindication for President Trump and the many millions of Americans who never doubted his innocence. The findings prove, once and for all time, that he won the 2016 election fair and square.
Let me repeat the point: It is now a fact beyond any doubt whatsoever that Donald Trump is the legitimate 45th president of the United States.
Explainer: Why an obstruction case against Trump was so difficult
Jan Wolfe (Reuters, 25/03/2019)
Barr sent a four-page letter to congressional leaders summarizing a report by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller handed in on Friday, which remains confidential.
Mueller was appointed to investigate whether Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election and to probe whether the president later unlawfully sought to obstruct the probe.
Mueller vindicated Trump on the core question of Russian collusion, writing in his report that “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” according to Barr’s letter.
Mueller probe: A timeline from beginning to end
Olivia Beavers, Jacqueline Thomsen and Brett Samuels (The Hill, 24/03/2019)
Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin has come to an end after 22 months.
The special counsel's investigation implicated six former Trump associates and more than two dozen Russian nationals and entities. It ultimately did not explicitly allege the president committed a crime, and did not uncover evidence of collusion.
Here's a full timeline of Mueller's investigation, which captivated the nation's capital for nearly two years and promises to influence the months to come.