After a nearly 2 year investigation, Robert Mueller, the US Special Counsel, handed his findings into Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election to William Barr, the Attorney General, who wrote a four-page letter of his own account of the special counsel's findings. The letter to lawmakers stated that Mueller’s probe did not find enough evidence to prove Moscow's involvement in the 2016 election or that Trump committed an obstruction of justice offence.
Barr’s letter was broken into two parts. On Russia, Mueller ‘did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated’ with Russia, adding ‘The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities’. On whether Trump obstructed justice, the message was more clouded, ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him’ Barr remarked, adding that both he and Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General ‘have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offence’. Barr also says Mueller found no evidence that those around Trump during the campaign had any hand in the Russian cyber attacks on Clinton and other Democratic members, even though they had ‘multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign’.
A delighted Donald Trump described the report as ‘a complete and total exoneration’ as he returned from a golfing weekend (and there was me thinking being the leader of the free world was a 7-day a week job). He added ‘It’s a shame that our country had to go through this, to be honest, it’s a shame that your president has had to go through this for, before I even got elected it began’ adding ‘This was an illegal take-down that failed’.
Kellyanne Conway, the White House advisor, also seemed to be over the moon with the outcome, tweeting ‘congratulations’ to Trump, adding ‘Today you won the 2016 election all over again. And got a gift for the 2020 election’ before finishing ‘They’ll never get you because they’ll never ‘get’ you’.