![]() ![]() ![]() Accordingly while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards however we are unable to reach that judgment. At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. Mueller made clear he was not exonerating Trump of obstruction, writing: In other words, Mueller ultimately did not definitively conclude that Trump obstructed justice, but it was not for a lack of trying. “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful,” the report states, “but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.” They included Trump’s request that the then FBI director, James Comey, drop the investigation of the former national security adviser Michael Flynn Trump’s attempts to stop the then attorney general Jeff Sessions’ recusal from overseeing the Russia investigation Trump’s demand that the special counsel’s investigation be limited to election meddling only and Trump’s efforts behind the scenes to fire Mueller. Mueller investigated 10 instances in which Trump sought to use the power of the presidency to obstruct justice by either personally interfering with the Russia investigation or directing his aides to do so. The report also said there was "substantial evidence" that Mr Trump fired James Comey as FBI director in 2017 due to his "unwillingness to publicly state that the President was not personally under investigation".Obstruction inquiry finds numerous ‘episodes’ involving Trump Mr McGahn refused to carry out Mr Trump's order to fire Mr Mueller "for fear of being seen as triggering another Saturday night massacre". In June 2017, Mr Trump directed White House counsel Don McGahn to tell the then-acting attorney general that Mr Mueller had conflicts of interest and must be removed, the report said. "The evidence supports the inference that the President intended Manafort to believe that he could receive a pardon, which would make cooperation with the government as a means of obtaining a lesser sentence unnecessary." Loading. "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." "Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." "The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. "When Sessions told the President that a Special Counsel had been appointed, the President slumped back in his chair and said, 'Oh my God. Here's some of what it contains: Key quotes from the Mueller report ![]() ![]() The revelation is one of many after the long-awaited 448-page Mueller report was released with redactions. When then-attorney general Jeff Sessions told US President Donald Trump that a special counsel was being appointed to investigate potential links between his campaign and Russian meddling in the election, Mr Trump said "this is the end of my Presidency". ![]()
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