Mueller Report Finds No Proof Of Trump's Collusion With Russia

 Mueller Report Finds No Proof of Trump's Collusion With Russia

A two-year probe by US special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence that President Donald Trump's camp colluded with Russia but stopped short of fully exonerating him

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2019) A two-year probe by US special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence that President Donald Trump's camp colluded with Russia but stopped short of fully exonerating him.

US Attorney General William Barr submitted his four-page summary of principle conclusions to Congress on Sunday, prompting Democrats to demand a full disclosure and Republicans to call for the nation to move on.

After years of Trump claiming that the collusion probe was a "witch hunt," the report drew a line under the accusations that his allies had coordinated with Russia during the 2016 US election campaign.

"[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities," Barr quoted from the report.

On obstruction of justice by Trump, the attorney general stated that "while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

The special counsel's investigation determined that there were two main Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

"The first involved attempts by a Russian organization, the internet Research Agency (IRA), to conduct disinformation and social media operations in the United States designed to sow social discord," Barr said.

He stressed that Mueller did not find evidence of any US person conspiring with IRA in its efforts. The special counsel brought criminal charges against 26 Russians and three Russian companies.

"The second element involved the Russian government's efforts to conduct computer hacking operations designed to gather and disseminate information to influence the election," Barr said further.

In his own words, Russian government actors had hacked into computers and obtained emails from Hillary Clinton's and the Democratic Party's associates, and publicized them through various intermediaries, including WikiLeaks.

"But as noted above, the Special Counsel did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in these efforts, despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign," Barr stressed.

Trump praised the findings on Twitter as "No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION," and later told reporters that he wanted the "other side" to be probed.

"It's a shame that our country had to go through this... And hopefully, somebody's going to be looking at the other side. This was an illegal takedown that failed," he said.

The White House chimed in, saying Mueller's conclusions amounted to a "total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States."

White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders slammed the Democrats for accusing Trump of conspiring with Russia, calling their claims a "malicious, preposterous lie."

"Democrats and their liberal media allies for two years slandered President Donald Trump for 'conspiring with Russia.' It was all a malicious, preposterous lie given wall to wall media coverage despite zero evidence. This should never again happen to an American President," she tweeted.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement that Barr's summary "raises as many questions as it answers" and called for the full disclosure.

They argued that the attorney general had a "public record of bias against the Special Counsel's inquiry" and was therefore not a "neutral observer" who would be in a position to make objective determinations about the report.

Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal echoed their request for a full report, saying "the American people deserve the Mueller report, not just the Barr report."

"The need for transparency and full disclosure is even more urgent now... Ongoing investigations in other Federal prosecutorial offices as well as the FBI's counterintelligence inquiry must be supported," he tweeted.

House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler said the Democrats were going to call Barr in to testify in the near future. In an earlier appearance on CNN, he claimed they would take the matter to the top court if needed.

Meanwhile, US Vice President Mike Pence urged the Democrats to let it go and help Trump to advance his agenda of making the country even more prosperous and more secure.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney called Mueller's conclusion "good news." He rejected the Democrats' calls for more inquiries, saying "It is now time for the country to move forward."

The publication of the long-awaited findings met a chilly response in Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik they had not seen the results of the investigation yet.

Russian Sen. Alexey Pushkov argued that the Democrats would continue to pile blame on Russia despite the Mueller findings and come up with new "crazy conspiracy theories."

"From the very start it was a biased, artificial, provocative, conspiratorial, designed-to-fuel-hatred towards Trump campaign. Its second goal was to demonize Russia and prevent any US moves towards better relations with Moscow," he tweeted in English.

Sputnik and RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said she expected a new wave of accusations against Russia.

"It's good news that Mueller did not find [proof of] collusion. For Trump. It's all the same to us. Because now they will say, 'There was no collusion but Russia interfered anyway. Of its own treacherous initiative.' Just watch."