Full Mueller report 'confirms Russian meddling but Donald Trump had no part in it', says US Attorney General

Jacob Jarvis18 April 2019

The full Mueller report confirms Russia's government did try to meddle in the 2016 US election but Donald Trump played no part, according to the US Attorney General.

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities", William Barr told a news conference.

He also said it did not find any "other Americans" were involved.

In regards to obstruction of justice during the investigation, which Mr Mueller did not come to a conclusion on, he said: "The deputy attorney general and I concluded that the evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the president committed an obstruction of justice offence."

The Mueller report says US President Donald Trump did not collude with Russia, according to the US Attorney General
EPA

These comments were made ahead of the publication of the full report, a redacted version of which has now been released.

Mr Barr said the report recounts 10 episodes involving Mr Trump that were investigated as potential acts of criminal obstruction of justice.

President Trump tweeted a Game of Thrones style image which said: "No collusion. No obstruction. For the haters and the radical left democrats - game over."

Earlier, he used a tweet to claim the investigation into Russian election meddling was "The Greatest Political Hoax of all time!".

President Trump was a "having a good day" following the release of the Mueller report, adding, "It's called no collusion, no obstruction."

"There never was, by the way, and there never will be," he told a gathering of wounded troops at the White House. "We do have to get to the bottom of these things, I will say, and this should never happen ... to another president again."

Mr Barr also said President Donald Trump did not exert executive privilege over any information included in special counsel Mr Mueller's report.

The White House counsel reviewed a redacted version of the report before Mr Trump decided not to invoke executive privilege.

US Attorney General William Barr at Thursday's press conference
AP

Mr Barr will also allow congress to view the report with nothing redacted other than grand jury information.

Three other categories of information were also redacted in the publicly released report, including information pertaining to ongoing prosecutions and sensitive intelligence sources and methods.

Special counsel Robert Mueller
AP

In addition, he said that he would allow Mr Mueller himself to testify on the report to Congress.

The US House Judiciary Committee has since put in a request for this to happen.

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