CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin declared Sunday that Department of Justice special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election gave President Trump “total vindication” on the issue of collusion.
“Certainly the most important thing is the total vindication of the president and his staff on the issue of collusion,” Toobin said on air Sunday.
“I mean, there’s just no other way around that,” he added. “That was the heart of this investigation, and Director Mueller and his team did not conclude, directly or indirectly, that the Trump campaign helped Russia.”
“I think the obstruction of justice story is somewhat more complicated, and I think it’s worth pointing out here, that the vindication that is described in the obstruction of justice decision here is by Attorney General Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, not by Mueller.”
“Mueller, sort of presented the evidence of obstruction of justice to the Department of Justice, as I understand this, and then it was the attorney general and the deputy attorney general who decided that based on that evidence, there wasn’t enough to prosecute,” Toobin continued.
“That is a–it’s still a vindication, but it’s quite a different one from Mueller’s total vindication of the president on the issue of…collusion with Russia.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller finished his report Friday and handed it over to the attorney general’s office.
On Sunday, Attorney General William Barr sent a letter summarizing the findings of the report to Congress.
In the letter, Barr reports that Mueller found no evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia.
The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 US. presidential election. As the report states: “[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 also reported that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided the Mueller report did not contain evidence “sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
However, Mueller himself did not draw a conclusion on whether the president committed obstruction of justice.
“The Special Counsel states that while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Barr’s letter states.
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