Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report is on its way to being released. In a summary to Congress on Sunday, Attorney General William Barr summarized the report's findings. In short: there will be no further indictments and no collusion was discovered from the Trump camp.
In describing the investigation's findings of Russian interference with the 2016 election, it determined that there was no conspiracy or coordination with Russian efforts from the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it.
It did, however, find that Russian interests did attempt to meddle in the election through disinformation and social media campaigns, for which numerous Russian nationals were brought up on charges during the course of the investigation. It also found that Russian military hacked into and stole emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign and various Democrat parties, which they distributed through third-party sites, including WikiLeaks.
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Further, the report does not recommend any additional indictments, and there are no sealed indictments coming out.
President Donald Trump responded to Barr's summary on Twitter. "No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION," he wrote. "KEEP AMERICA GREAT!"
No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 24, 2019
In his summary, Barr notes that the Mueller report toes the line when it comes to charges of obstruction of justice by Trump. Ultimately, the report does not conclude that Trump obstructed justice — and Barr does not elaborate on which actions the investigation considered, though he does call them "the subject of public reporting" — but it does not draw a final conclusion, instead deferring to the attorney general's office. "[W]hile this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime," the Mueller report says, "it also does not exonerate him."
Barr writes to Congress that the AG will not pursue charges against Trump for obstruction of justice, concluding that the investigation is not sufficient.
So what's next? The judiciary committee will get the full report at some point, minus the bits that legally cannot be made public due to the rules around grand jury investigations, Barr writes — and so will the public.
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