*(Via HuffPost) – Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report did not exonerate President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice for Trump’s reactions to Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
A redacted version of the report, which Attorney General William Barr made public Thursday, describes 10 instances in which Trump may have obstructed justice by using his authority to interfere with the special counsel investigation. Mueller declined to make a determination about whether the president obstructed justice.
Mueller also found extensive ties between members of the Trump campaign and Russian officials — but he ultimately did not find that any Trump affiliate illegally participated in Moscow’s efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
“Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President’s conduct,” the report states. “The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgement.”
“At the same time, 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, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” it says.
Most of the initial focus was on the report’s troubling revelations of additional instances of Trump’s potential interference in the investigation. But Mueller also laid out extensive evidence of Russian election interference efforts.
“The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a sweeping and systematic fashion,” the report states.
Read/learn MORE at HuffPost.com.
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