RTThu, 18 Apr 2019 15:03 UTC
© US Justice Department/TrueViralNews/KJN.
The US Department of Justice has released the full report on special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into claims President Donald Trump colluded with Russia.
The two-year probe 'did not establish' any collusion happened.Attorney General William Barr announced
the report's release at a press conference on Thursday morning. He repeated several times that the report establishes that neither Trump nor any other American "conspired or coordinated" with Russia's supposed effort to influence the 2016 election. That effort, the report claims, consisted of the Internet Research Agency's alleged social media manipulation, and the GRU's
supposed hacking of DNC emails and handing them over to WikiLeaks. Both have been repeated almost from the moment of Hillary Clinton's surprise loss to Trump in 2016.
The report does outline contacts between Russians and Trump associates, mostly related to business or of exploratory nature.
"The Russian contacts consisted of business connections, offers of assistance to the campaign, invitations for candidate Trump and Putin to meet in person, invitations for campaign officials and representatives of the Russian government to meet, and policy positions seeking improved US-Russian relations," it says.
None of those alleged contacts are sufficient to bring charges, the report admits.
The released report says there's "substantial evidence" that Trump fired FBI director James Comey, who subsequently became a prominent 'Resistance' hero, for refusing to publicly say Trump wasn't under investigation.The report claims Trump's son Donald Trump Jr has "direct contact" with WikiLeaks during the presidential campaign. WikiLeaks allegedly sent Trump Jr the password to access putintrump.org, which appears to be a website peddling the 'Russiagate' narrative. Wikileaks asked Trump Jr to tweet a link to the leaked emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, which Trump Jr did four days later, the report claims.
Mueller has already indicted 13 Russians he claimed were IRA "trolls" and 12 alleged GRU hackers, and made no recommendations for further indictments in the final report. Russia has repeatedly denied having made any effort to influence the 2016 election.
The report focuses on two main issues: Trump's alleged collusion with Russia in order to tip the scales of the 2016 US presidential election, and his alleged efforts to obstruct the investigation into it. Mueller is bringing
no charges on either of those, but has not fully "exonerated" Trump on the obstruction allegations.
The release of the full report has been craved by anti-Trump 'Resistance' Democrats and media alike, clinging to the Russia collusion allegations which have become known in the conservative camp as the 'Russiagate' conspiracy theory. They have slammed Barr's summary, as well as his pre-release press appearance, as efforts to spin the report's release in a way that would absolve Trump of blame.
The released version of the Mueller report is redacted in order to protect sensitive Grand Jury material, information on intelligence sources and materials, as well as private information on third parties, and data on investigations that are still ongoing.
Comment: Other related news from 4/18/2019:
Trump lashes out ahead of Mueller's report claiming 'Presidential Harassment'!
While Barr has insisted that any redactions to the report have been carried out to protect classified information, Democrats have accused the attorney general of protecting Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted Barr for his "single minded effort to protect" the president, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said "the process is poisoned before the report is even released."
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The pair called on Mueller himself to testify on Capitol Hill, following Barr's "regrettably partisan" handling of the release. Mueller's team, however, did assist the Justice Department with making redactions.
Testifying before Congress last week, Barr said that he believed "spying" had taken place against Trump's team, and would be investigated.
Never satisfied, Democrats call for
Mueller to testify over his report...
Democrats were unhappy with the summary of the report delivered by Barr at the end of March. They have also criticized the decision to roll out the 400-page report with a press conference first as an attempt to control the narrative. The Department of Justice usually holds a media conference before releasing the results of major investigations. But this time, several House Democratic committee chairs demanded that Barr cancel the "unnecessary and inappropriate" presser planned for 9:30am on Thursday.
On the matter of obstruction of justice, Barr said he and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, reviewed Mueller's evidence and "legal theories," and found that there is no evidence to show Trump tried to disrupt the investigation. He said Trump never used his powers to interfere with Mueller, and thus had no "corrupt intent" in the matter.
Barr said that no one outside the Justice Department took part in the redacting process or saw the unredacted version, except for the intelligence community, which was given access to parts of it to protect sources.
Game over? Trump thinks so.
"So that's the bottom line," Barr concluded. "After nearly two years of investigation, thousands of subpoenas, hundreds of warrants and witness interviews, the Special Counsel confirmed that the Russian government sponsored efforts to illegally interfere in the 2016 presidential election, but did not find that the Trump campaign or other Americans colluded in those efforts."
Barr has no objection to a Mueller testimony, while Dems claim he spun the report in Trump's favor.
Minutes after Barr wrapped up his press conference, Nadler published a letter asking Mueller to testify no later than May 23.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked Barr and the "staggering partisan effort" by the Trump administration to "spin" the public's view of the Mueller report. It is unclear whether Pelosi believes Barr is lying about the report's contents or mischaracterizing Mueller's findings, but with the report to be released in a matter of hours, the public will be able to assess the situation for themselves.
Democrats, however, have been speculating that Barr has spun the report in Trump's favor and want to hear directly from Mueller. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler tweeted on Thursday that Congress must hear from Mueller "in person" to "better understand" the findings of the report.
Minutes after Barr wrapped up his press conference, Nadler published a letter asking Mueller to testify no later than May 23.
Comment: Other related news from 4/18/2019:
Trump lashes out ahead of Mueller's report claiming 'Presidential Harassment'! Never satisfied, Democrats call for Mueller to testify over his report...
Game over? Trump thinks so. Barr has no objection to a Mueller testimony, while Dems claim he spun the report in Trump's favor.