NO CONSPIRACY
Mueller leaves obstruction issue to attorney general
WASHINGTON – Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation did not find evidence President Donald Trump or members of his campaign conspired with Russia’s efforts to sway the 2016 election, delivering a boost to the president in a case that has shadowed his administration since its first days.
But the special counsel’s report leaves “unresolved whether the president’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction,” Attorney General William Barr said in a letter to Congress delivered Sunday.
“While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him” on whether he obstructed justice, Mueller said in the report, according to Barr’s four-page summary.
Because the special counsel did not reach a conclusion on obstruction, Barr wrote that the ultimate decision was left to him, adding that he and Deputy At-
On the question of obstruction, “the Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.’ ” Attorney General William Barr’s letter to lawmakers
torney General Rod Rosenstein determined that Trump’s conduct did not constitute a crime.
Barr told lawmakers that Mueller’s report described two efforts by Russia to interfere in the presidential election that put Trump in office. One was a hacking operation that targeted Democratic political organizations; the other was a “disinformation and social media” effort to sow discord.
Mueller’s investigation also concluded Trump’s campaign received “multiple offers” of assistance from people linked to Russia. The central question of Mueller’s investigation was to answer whether Trump or anyone in his campaign collaborated in those efforts.
Barr said Mueller concluded neither Trump nor other Americans had joined those Russian conspiracies. The evidence Mueller’s team gathered “does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference,” Barr’s letter says.
That determination was part of Barr’s decision that the president could not be prosecuted for obstruction of justice. A Justice Department official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said Barr did not consult with Mueller while preparing the summary letter.
Barr indicated that his determination that Trump’s conduct did not constitute obstruction was made without regard to the constitutional considerations of whether a sitting president can be prosecuted. Long-standing Justice Department guidelines state that a president cannot be charged while in office.
The attorney general’s obstruction conclusions are likely to cast a new spotlight on Barr, who had had written a memo critical of Mueller’s obstruction inquiry before he was nominated by Trump to succeed Jeff Sessions at the
Justice Department. In the 2018 memo, which he sent to White House lawyers and was a major focus of inquiry at his confirmation hearing, Barr wrote that Mueller “should not be permitted to demand that the President submit to interrogation about alleged obstruction.”
Ultimately, Trump did not submit to an interview. Instead, he provided written answers to questions provided by the special counsel.
Democrats in the House and Senate immediately signaled that they wanted to know far more about the facts Mueller gathered and Barr’s conclusion that Trump had not committed obstruction.
“Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer of New York. “The fact that special counsel Mueller’s report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public without any further delay. Given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the special counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said lawmakers would summon Barr to testify about “very concerning discrepancies and final decision-making” in his letter.
The delivery of Mueller’s findings ends a weekend of anticipation in Washington, as lawmakers and the White House awaited the findings of an inquiry that shadowed the first two years of Trump’s presidency and could shape its future.
Mueller’s findings seemed destined to fuel a highly political fight unfolding against the backdrop of a presidential campaign – with a crowded field of Democrats vying to unseat a president who has been tailed by criminal investigations almost since he took office. Although the summary of Mueller’s findings lifted a cloud that has been towering over Trump’s presidency, the special counsel’s investigation produced a cascade of other criminal investigations targeting people around Trump, which have not yet concluded.
Barr’s summary described a massive investigation by Mueller’s staff of 19 lawyers. The special counsel’s office issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants and interviewed about 500 witnesses. Mueller’s investigators also obtained dozens of communication records and requests to foreign governments for evidence, the letter states.
How much of the report Barr is willing to disclose remains unclear. Barr warned that he might withhold some aspects of Mueller’s report because it was based on grand jury testimony, which is supposed to remain secret. He said other parts of the report could contain information relevant to “other ongoing matters” that Mueller referred to prosecutors elsewhere in the Justice Department.
That decision appeared unlikely to satisfy congressional Democrats, who said they would press for access to the complete report.