Analysis: AG Barr explained that the Mueller report did not conclude that the president committed a crime, nor did it exonerate him. Barr and Deputy AG Rosenstein then concluded evidence was not sufficient to establish the president committed obstruction.
Tasos Katopodis / Getty ImagesGet breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.On coordination with the Russians, special counsel Robert Mueller was clear, according to the attorney general's letter to Congress Sunday: He did not find"that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Based on that, Barr, along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, decided that the evidence collected by Mueller did not establish that Trump committed the crime of obstruction of justice."The whole point of the special counsel was to take the investigative and prosecutorial decisions away from the Trump appointees," said Gregory Brower, a former top FBI official."Mueller and Barr will have to explain this.
He said Mueller didn't identify actions that in Barr's judgment were done with corrupt intent. That corrupt intent, Barr said, is required"under the Department’s principles of federal prosecution guiding charging decisions, would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to establish an obstruction-of-justice offense."
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