Mueller Report Summary: No Collusion, No Exoneration

WASHINGTON, DC — Robert Mueller's sweeping, 22-month investigation ended with the special counsel finding neither President Donald Trump nor members of his campaign plotted or coordinated with Russia to meddle in the 2016 presidential election. That's according to a four-page summary of the findings by Attorney General William Barr, which was delivered to Congressional lawmakers Sunday.

U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler tweeted out the letter, which you can read in its entirety here.

Barr's review of the findings remains ongoing, but he acknowledged it was in the public's best interest to describe the report and summarize what he called the "principal conclusions" reached by Mueller's team, as well as the results of the lengthy investigation.

Mueller and his team thoroughly investigated whether the Trump campaign and others associated with it conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election or obstruct related federal investigations, the report explained. Here's what he found, according to Barr:

• Neither the Trump campaign nor anyone associated with it "conspired or coordinated" with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.
• There were two main Russian efforts to sway the election. One involved attempts by the Russian organization Internet Research Agency to disseminate disinformation and conduct social media operations in America to sow social discord and interfere with the election. The second effort involved the Russian government's effort to hack into computers and obtain emails of people affiliated with Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democratic organizations. Mueller brought criminal charges against numerous Russian military officers, but did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone linked to it conspired or coordinated with Russia to aid in these efforts despite "multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals" to help.
• Mueller's team decided not to make a "traditional prosecutorial judgment" into obstruction of justice allegations against President Trump. The Special Counsel therefore "did not draw a conclusion — one way or the other — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction," the letter stated. Mueller noted that while the report does not conclude Trump committed a crime, "it also does not exonerate him."
• Mueller's decision not to reach any legal conclusions leaves it to the attorney general to decide whether Trump obstructed justice. Barr said he and deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein found the evidence was "not sufficient" to prove Trump committed an "obstruction-of-justice offense.”

Trump on Sunday celebrated by taking to Twitter to boast, incorrectly, that he was completely cleared.

"No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION," the president tweeted. "KEEP AMERICA GREAT!"

Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election ended last week and the country has waited on pins and needles to hear his findings. Democrats have pressed for the report to be fully released and threatened to use subpoena powers or other legal options if need be.

"I suspect that we'll find those words of transparency to prove hollow, that in fact they will fight to make sure that Congress doesn't get this underlying evidence," U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California, chairman of the House intelligence committee, said on ABC's "This Week."

His plan: Ask for information and if that's denied, subpoena.

"If subpoenas are denied, we will haul people before the Congress," he said. "And yes, we will prosecute in court as necessary to get this information."

Nearly three dozen people have been swept up in the Mueller probe, which concluded without recommending any further indictments.

"It won't be months," he said on CNN's "State of the Union."

Mueller was assigned to investigate Russian meddling in May 2017 by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Under the regulations governing his appointment, Mueller had to submit a report to the Justice Department at the end of the investigation.

Both Barr and Rosenstein have scrutinized Mueller's report. Barr has said he wants to release as much as he legally can. According to the AP, his decision will take into account the Justice Department's longstanding protocol not to release negative information about people who aren't indicted, as well as the public's interest in whether President Donald Trump and his campaign committed wrongdoings.

Justice Department legal opinions have also held that sitting presidents may not be indicted.

Trump, notably, faces a separate Justice Department investigation in New York into hush money payments made to two women who said they had sex with him years before the election. He's also been implicated in a potential campaign finance violation by his former lawyer and "fixer," Michael Cohen. Cohen said Trump asked him to arrange the transactions. Federal prosecutors, also in New York, have been investigating foreign contributions made to the president's inaugural committee.

Donald Trump Jr. said in a statement that Mueller's findings prove what "those of us with sane minds have known all along, there was ZERO collusion with Russia."

"Sadly, instead of apologizing for needlessly destabilizing the country in a transparent attempt to delegitimize the 2016 election, it's clear that the Collusion Truthers in the media and the Democrat Party are only going to double down on their sick and twisted conspiracy theories," he said.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted that the findings constitute a "total and complete exoneration" of Trump.

"The special counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction," she wrote. "AG Barr and DAG Rosenstein further determined there was no obstruction. The findings of the Department of Justice are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States."