Mueller: No Collusion with Russians
But president accused of obstructing probe, Russia of interference.
Special Counsel WASHINGTON — Robert Mueller concluded that President Donald Trump attempted to thwart the investigation into whether his 2016 campaign colludedwith Russian offifficials, but his effffffffffffortswere stymiedby topaideswho repeatedly declined to carry out his orders.
Although Mueller’s 448-page report said that a sitting president cannot be indicted on federal criminal charges, he said that his offiffice could not clear Trump from trying to block the special counsel’s investigation.
The report released Thursday accused Russia of a “sweeping and systematic” effffffffffffort to damage the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee HillaryClinton. But it also revealed that time after time theWhite House staffff either protected or tried to protect Trump fromself-destructive, self-preserving instincts that could have violated the law.
Mueller reported in the summer of 2017, President Trump telephoned then-White House counselDonMcGahn at his home
to have the Justice Department dismiss Mueller, who had been named to investigate Russia’s involvement in trying to sabotage Clinton’s campaign.
According to the report, McGahn threatened to resign rather than “carry out the direction,” fearing it would lead to another Saturday NightMassacre, a reference to President Richard Nixon’s 1973 firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox who was investigating theWatergate scandal.
The report also said that Trump urged adviser Corey Lewandowski to tell thenU.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the special counsel investigation to “investigating election meddling for future elections.”
Lewandowski ultimately did not deliver the message, though he tried to have senior White House official Rick Dearborn do so. Dearborn, also, was too uncomfortable with the task to follow through.
In addition, the report said that when the Justice Department named Mueller as special prosecutor in May 2017, the president complained, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency.’’
Trump demanded that Sessions resign, but when the attorney general sent in his resignation, Trump declined to accept it upon the urging of his staff.
The report paints a picture of a president fixated with worry that the investigation would serve to delegitimize his presidency, with both communications aides Hope Hicks and Sean Spicer telling the special counsel of Trump’s fears.
Jordan: Report clears Trump
“No collusion! No obstruction! Complete cooperation fromthe President. No executive privilege asserted,” local Congressman Jim Jordan said Thursday.
Although Trump and ardent supporters, such as Jordan of Urbana, claimed the report cleared the president, Mueller’s report declared that “if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.
“Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment,” the report said.
Mueller followed Justice Department’sOffice of Legal Counsel guidance that a sitting president could not be indicted or criminally prosecuted, but noted thatwhile “a sitting president may not be prosecuted, it recognized that a criminal investigation during the president’s term is permissible.”
By doing so, Mueller took the same position that Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski adopted in 1974 when he named Nixon an unindicted co-conspirator in a cover-up of efforts by Nixon’s campaign teamto wiretap the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate complex.
Instead, Jaworski concluded that while a president could be indicted after leaving office, the Constitution required Congress to impeach and remove a president fromoffice before he or she could be charged with a criminal offense.
Russia launched a ‘targeted operation’
The s p e c i a l counsel charged that Russia launched a “targeted operation” that “favored” Trump and “disparaged” Clinton, a former secretary of state who had angered Russian President Vladimir Putin during her years in the President Barack Obama administration.
Mueller concluded that “while the investigation identified numerous links between” Russian officials and people associated with the Trump campaign, the special counsel did not produce “sufficient” evidence that anymemberofTrump’s campaign team “conspired with” Russian officials to impact the campaign.
The report indicates as well that Trump seemed to believe he could fire his way out of the investigation.
When he fired FBI Director James Comey in 2017, he told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak “that’s taken of...I’m not under investigation.”
And when he f i red National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who was being investigated for his interactions with the Russians, he told adviser and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, “Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over.”
Christie laughed and responded, “No way,” according to the report.
Jordan said Democrats should “read the Special Counsel’s report before jumping to conclusions,” adding “it would be a miscarriage of justice to use cherry-picked bits of information from the report to sow further divisiveness and spread conspiracies that serve only to undermine our democratic institutions.
“One thing, however, is clearwith the release of the report today: this sad chapter of American history is behind us,” Jordan said. “It is time to turn back to the people’s work of improving the efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of how their tax dollars are spent.”
Brown, Turner ‘deeply concerned’
Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, said while the report did not show any U.S. aides conspired with Russian officials, he said he is “deeply concerned by the efforts undertaken in 2016 by Russians to interfere in our election.”
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, also said Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election is amajor concern.
“The American people deserve to hear the truth directly fromRobertMueller in public testimony before Congress,” said Brown. “At the same time, we cannot afford to lose focus on the fact that a foreign government attacked our elections.
“Our security is bigger than any one political party, and Republicans andDemocrats need to come together and do what it takes to protect our institutions. President Trump should get off of Twitter and help lead that effort.”
Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, says the Mueller investigationwas not about Russian involvement in the election and has been about trying to “deligitimize candidate Trump and ultimately the presidency.”
“It’s time to move on,” Davidson said.