‘Total and complete exoneration’ of President Trump

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U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Lawn prior to his departure from the White House March 22, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump is traveling to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, to meet with Caribbean leaders for a working visit.

The White House on Sunday celebrated the release of Attorney General William Barr’s summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the investigation into Russian interference during the 2016 campaign.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders put out this statement not long after Barr’s letter to Congress was released:

The Special Counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction. Attorney General Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein further determined there was no obstruction. The findings of the Department of Justice are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.

Sanders’ statement comes at the beginning of what will almost certainly be a victory lap for the White House, the president’s allies and, of course, Trump himself – who has often claimed that he did not collude with Russian operatives and that he did not obstruct justice.

Barr’s letter said Mueller investigated whether Trump and the campaign conspired with Russian operatives to sway the results of the 2016 election, as well as whether the president committed obstruction of justice.

When it comes to obstruction of justice, according to Barr: “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.'”

This, in turn, led it to the attorney general to determine whether Trump did obstruct justice. Barr, who received the report Friday, found that the evidence in Mueller’s report “is not sufficient to establish” that Trump committed obstruction of justice.