Trump news: President celebrates Mueller report ending as new probes ramp up against White House
Donald Trump has held a joint press conference with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign a proclamation formally recognising Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights as the fallout from the Mueller report continues.
Attorney-general William Barr, a Trump ally handpicked by the president, came to the conclusion Mr Trump had not colluded with Russia to win the 2016 president election after reading FBI special counsel Robert Mueller's report, submitted following the conclusion of a 22-month investigation into the allegation.
In a four-page letter to Congress, Mr Barr quoted Mr Mueller in conceding: “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
“A number of actions” carried out by Mr Trump could raise obstruction of justice concerns, Mr Mueller thought, but Mr Barr and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, decided these actions did not reveal “corrupt intent”.
A jubilant Mr Trump was quick to hail the verdict as a “complete and total exoneration”, repeating his long-running attack on the “witch hunt” as “an illegal takedown that failed” - to the delight of Trump loyalists - while Democrats called for the Mueller report’s full release.
The summary by Mr Barr notes the special counsel's office did not “draw a conclusion — one way or the other — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction,” but rather set out evidence for both sides, leaving the question unanswered.
The attorney general wrote in the summary that ultimately he decided that the evidence developed by Mr Mueller was “not sufficient” to establish, for the purposes of prosecution, that Mr Trump committed obstruction of justice
Mr Barr’s summary also notes that Mr Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia. To prove a crime, the special counsel's office must generally meet a standard of proving an offence beyond a reasonable doubt.
The summary did not clear the president of improper behaviour regarding Russia but did not establish that “he was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference,” Mr Mueller said in a passage from the report quoted by the attorney general.
The four-page summary signed by Mr Barr gave the bottom line only as he and Mr Rosenstein saw it. Mr Mueller’s detailed findings remain confidential at least for now.
Additional reporting by AP. Read The Independent's live coverage on the White House from Monday below.
Well, there’s only one place to start: US attorney-general William Barr’s assessment of the Mueller report, which was finally filed on Friday afternoon and brought a 22-month investigation to an end.
FBI special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded there is no direct evidence that collusion or conspiracy took place between the Trump campaign and Russia’s government to influence the 2016 presidential election but stopped short of deciding whether Donald Trump had obstructed justice, according to Mr Barr’s four-page summary of the report submitted to Congress on Sunday.
Mr Mueller and his team did not find any direct link between the campaign and the multiple strategies the Kremlin employed to influence the outcome of the November 2016 race.
“The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or co-ordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Mr Barr quoted the report as saying.
“While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him”, Mr Mueller said, alluding to “a number of actions” carried out by Mr Trump that could raise obstruction of justice concerns.
Mr Barr and his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, have since concluded these actions do not reveal “corrupt intent”.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler in turn called for Mr Barr to appear before Congress to testify on Justice Department decision-making regarding the "very concerning discrepancies" between Mr Mueller's report and the attorney-general's reaction to it.
William Barr only assumed office on 14 February and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Cory Booker expressed his party's doubts about the man's impartiality as well as anyone yesterday.
Here's a profile of the new US attorney-general with the eyes of the world on him. He's a keen amateur bagpiper, FYI.
Experienced lawyer previously held the post under George HW Bush and has impressed at Senate confirmation hearings by emphasising independence from president
This somewhat cod-poetic response from ex-FBI director James Comey, whose firing by President Trump in May 2017 started this whole affair, is certainly among the oddest reactions to yesterday's news.
CNN's chief media correspondent Brian Stelter has these warnings on the probable next moves of the Trump camp in response to William Barr's verdict on the Mueller report.
Maggie Haberman of The New York Times is also foreseeing "vengeance" even as the president wakes up feeling "elated" this morning.
The jeering has already started in earnest, with Donald Trump Jr trolling House Intelligence Committee chair Adam Schiff and riffing on George Conway's remarks about his father's psychological well-being:
And here's Trump antagonist-turned-loyalist Senator Lindsey Graham going after James Comey. Don Jr retweeted this, by the way.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz has been out on the stump defending the president against renewed hostility from the Democrats.
A generous gesture from a man Donald Trump once regularly derided as "Lyin' Ted", attacking his wife Heidi with an unflattering picture on social media and alleging his late father had been involved in the assassination of John F Kennedy.
President Trump is due to meet with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu today after last week's controversial announcement the US would recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
But Mr Netanyahu is cutting his trip short, returning home early as his country's military dispatches reinforcements to the Gaza border after a rocket attack near Tel Aviv wounded seven people.
