Under this standard, Mueller found that no one associated with the Trump campaign illegally participated in dissemination of the hacked materials. Under applicable law, publication of hacked materials is not criminal unless the publisher also participated in the underlying hacking conspiracy, Barr said. Then the hackers transferred some of the documents to WikiLeaks, which published a series of document dumps. Mueller also determined that Russian-affiliated hackers disseminated documents stolen from Democrats and the Hillary Clinton campaign. His actions must be evaluated based on the situation, Barr concluded. Trump was frustrated and angry that his presidency was being undermined by a special counsel investigation he thought to be fueled by opponents and illegal leaks, Barr said. At the same time, there was “relentless speculation” in the news media about whether Trump was culpable in collusion. Federal agents were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office. In assessing Trump’s actions, it is important to keep in mind the context, Barr said. Rather, they generally target actions that compromise the integrity of judges or juries, or that impair evidence. Barr also said the evaluation used the special counsel’s legal framework for obstruction, although he disagreed with it.īarr had written an unsolicited memo to the Justice Department in June 2018, well before he became attorney general, which had argued that Mueller appeared to be proposing “an unprecedented expansion of obstruction laws.” Barr’s memo said obstruction laws don’t criminalize just any act that can influence a proceeding. compiled highlights here.ĭuring his press conference, Barr addressed why he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish that Trump obstructed the special counsel investigation.īarr said their conclusion was based on Mueller’s examination of 10 instances of possible obstruction. ![]() The report, released about an hour after Barr’s press conference ended, is here. “As he said in the beginning, there was, in fact, no collusion.” Attorney General William Barr said at a press conference Thursday that President Donald Trump did not exert executive privilege to withhold parts of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, nor did the president or his own lawyers make any redactions.īarr emphasized that the report found no collusion with the Russian government by Trump, by anyone associated with his campaign, or by any American.Īlthough Mueller found that Russia did attempt to interfere in the presidential election, Trump’s assertions on collusion were correct, Barr said. Special counsel Robert Mueller and Attorney General William Barr.
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