WTF Just Happened Today

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

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1/ Robert Mueller declined to clear Trump of obstruction of justice and suggested that only Congress can "formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing" in his first public remarks about his two-year-long investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. The special counsel noted that "charging the president with a crime was […] not an option we could consider," because Justice Department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president. Mueller emphasized that if his office "had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so." Mueller concluded his remarks by reiterating his report's conclusion that "There were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every American." (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Associated Press / CNN / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / NPR)

• Read the transcript of Mueller's statement. (NPR / Politico)

• What the Mueller report actually said: "The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion," Mueller wrote. This help "favored presidential candidate Donald J. Trump and disparaged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton." The Trump campaign "expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts," and it "welcomed" this help. Today, Mueller said "We chose those words carefully, and the work speaks for itself." (The Atlantic)

• ???? Day 819: Attorney General William Barr repeatedly insisted that Robert Mueller "found no evidence" that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that Russian efforts to interfere "did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaign." Barr also claimed Mueller's report did not find "collusion" between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Further, Barr said that even if the Trump campaign had colluded with WikiLeaks, that was not a crime. Mueller identified "numerous" Trump campaign-Russia contacts, but the report says there was "insufficient evidence" to establish a criminal conspiracy between Trump or his campaign aides and their contacts with Russians. The report outlines how Trump was elected with Russia's help and when a federal inquiry was started to investigate the effort, Trump took mul...

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