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Special Counsel Finds No Collusion btw. Trump & Russia; Dems Call for Release of Report

HeadlineMar 25, 2019

Special counsel Robert Mueller has ended his 22-month probe, concluding President Trump and his aides did not conspire or coordinate with Russia in order to influence the 2016 election. While the full Mueller report has not yet been made public, Attorney General William Barr sent a four-page letter to congressional leaders on Sunday laying out his interpretation of Mueller’s findings. Mueller also examined whether Trump could be criminally charged for obstructing justice, but he did not come to a definitive conclusion. Barr quoted a passage from the Mueller report saying, “[W]hile this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” In his letter, Barr—who became attorney general just last month—announced that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had concluded there is not sufficient evidence to “establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.” President Trump responded to Barr’s letter by tweeting, “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!”

Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are calling on Barr to release the full Mueller report, as well as underlying documentation. Many Democrats criticized Barr for taking just 48 hours to conclude Trump had not committed obstruction of justice. This is New York Congressmember Jerrold Nadler, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler “Attorney General Barr, who auditioned for his role with an open memorandum suggesting that the obstruction investigation was unconscionable and that a president—and that it was almost impossible for any president to commit obstruction of justice since he is the head of the executive branch, made a decision about that evidence in under 48 hours. His conclusions raise more questions than they answer, given the fact that Mueller uncovered evidence that, in his own words, 'does not exonerate' the president.”

Trump and his associates still face a number of investigations, including ones led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York, the attorney general of New York and congressional Democrats. We’ll have more on the Mueller report after headlines with journalists Glenn Greenwald and David Cay Johnston.

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