Special counsel Robert Mueller has determined that neither President Donald Trump nor his campaign or administration actively, knowingly colluded with the Russian government to interfere with the 2016 election, according to a summary released by Attorney General William Barr.
The investigation of possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government that began in May 2017 has spanned over 22 months and yielded an upwards of 30 indictments, guilty pleas and convictions, according to ABC News.
On Friday, Mueller delivered his report explaining the methodology and conclusions of the lengthy investigation to Attorney General William Barr, a recent Trump appointee. Barr delivered a four page summary detailing the main findings of the report to Congress on Sunday.
While the investigation found that there were two main efforts by the Russian government to “influence” the 2016 election and discussed their efficacy, “the special counsel did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in these efforts,” said Barr in the summary.
On the issue of obstruction of justice, which stems from Comey’s firing, the special counsel stated that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Barr, a longtime critic of the investigation, stated that “the evidence developed during the special counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”
Trump took to Twitter on Sunday to claim victory.
“No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!,” he tweeted from his personal Twitter account.
Suffolk professor Jeffrey Johnson, a political philosopher who teaches in the philosophy department, commented on the investigation’s findings.
“The Mueller report might not show collusion … but it sure does provide plenty of evidence of corruption. Trump has not been exonerated … This is not over for Mr. Trump,” he said in an interview with The Suffolk Journal.
Reactions from other Republicans condemned the left, specifically the media and Democratic Party, for implying the President’s guilt. The President hinted at retribution.
“There are people out there who have done very bad things, I would say treasonous things against our country. And hopefully, people that have done such harm to our country — we’ve gone through a period of really bad things happening — those people will certainly be looked at,” Trump said during an appearance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was recently indicted on charges of corruption, according to The New York Times.
“I think Democrats and the liberal media owe the president and they owe the American people an apology,” said Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to Today Show host Savannah Guthrie on Monday.
“Good day for the rule of law. Great day for President Trump and his team,” tweeted Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In the process of the investigation, which employed 59 lawyers and FBI agents, Mueller “issued more than 2,800 subpoenas, executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records, issued almost 50 orders authorizing use of pen registers, made 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence and interviewed approximately 500 witnesses,” according to Barr’s summary.
The investigation began with the appointment of an impartial special counsel by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Mueller, a lifelong Republican and former director of the FBI, was selected for the position after the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey by Trump, according to the Department of Justice.
At the time of his dismissal, Comey was in charge of ongoing investigations into ties between the Trump campaign and administration and Russia.
October 2017 saw Paul Manafort, campaign chairman for the Trump campaign during the general election, indicted on 12 counts, including conspiracy against the United States, money laundering and acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government.
In February 2018, Mueller filed an additional 32 charges in the Eastern District of Virginia. More charges were filed in June 2018, when Mueller charged Manafort and aide Konstantin Kilimnik, with conspiracy and obstruction of justice, according to The Washington Post.
Late last year, Manafort, who pleaded guilty on multiple felony charges, was found guilty on others and sentenced to several years in federal prison, according to NPR.
Lobbyist Rick Gates, who served under both Manafort and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, was also charged with crimes relating to his work for pro-Russian figures in Ukraine. He pleaded guilty, according to NBC News.
Also indicted in October was Trump’s campaign advisor George Papadopoulos, who was charged with making false statements to the FBI, according to a Justice Department copy of the indictment. Papadopoulos told investigators he lied to protect the President.
In December 2017, former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to misleading the FBI about conversations he had with Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, a Russian diplomat who was serving as Ambassador to the United States.
In February 2018, Dutch lawyer Alex van der Zwaan was indicted on charges of lying to investigators about contact with Gates and pleaded guilty.
The investigation took a substantial turn in April 2018, when the office of Trump’s personal lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, was raided by FBI agents. Cohen pled guilty in November 2018 to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress. In December, he alleged in his plea that he paid hush money to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump.
In January 2019, long-time Trump advisor and political figure Roger Stone, who also worked for Richard Nixon, was arrested and indicted on charges of lying to investigators. He later posted a photo on his Instagram of Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who was in charge of overseeing the case, with crosshairs near her head. Jackson put a gag order on the case to protect others involved.
The investigation is estimated to have cost more than $25 million, which according to Time Magazine, is less than half the cost of Special Counsel Kenneth Starr’s investigation into infidelity and lying on the part of former President Bill Clinton.
Although Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign has come to an end, several investigations, including offshoots of the special counsel’s, are ongoing. The investigation into Stone continues, and the Southern District of New York (SDNY) is currently investigating Cohen’s allegations of hush money payments.
Additionally, multiple federal jurisdictions are looking into where the Trump campaign raised its record-breaking inauguration funding. SDNY is also investigating the pro-Trump political action committee Rebuilding America Now, according to Time Magazine.
The New York Department of Financial Services is currently investigating the Trump Organization after Cohen alleged Trump’s primary business asset inflated its value to insurance companies. According to The New York Times, The New York Attorney General subpoenaed Deutsche Bank back in March 2018 because of its connections to Trump. Deutsche Bank is one of the few financial institutions left that is willing to write loans to the Trump Organization.
