Mueller Submits Long-Awaited Report
For nearly his entire presidency, Donald Trump has been under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller regarding his knowledge of Russian tampering in the 2016 presidential election. On Friday, March 22, 2019, Mueller finally completed his report. Two days later, Attorney General William Barr submitted a summary of the document to Congress. Here, Election Central takes a closer look at the main findings, and what they might mean for the future of the president and the United States.
What Did the Report Say?
Mueller’s report stated that he had used a team of 19 lawyers and approximately 40 FBI agents to conduct a thorough investigation of the president, which included more than 2,800 subpoenas, 500 search warrants, and interviews of roughly 500 witnesses. Nevertheless, Mueller said that he did not find any evidence that the Trump campaign (or anyone associated with it) had conspired with the Russians during the 2016 presidential election.
Moreover, the Mueller report found that there was not enough evidence to draw a conclusion one way or the other about whether or not Trump had committed obstruction of justice by trying to halt the investigation. In other words, Mueller didn’t find beyond a reasonable doubt that the president committed the crime of obstruction, but he didn’t exonerate the president either. Now it falls to the Attorney General to interpret the report’s findings and decide whether or not Trump’s actions constitute a crime.
Related Links: Click this link to see the summary report that Attorney General Barr submitted about the Mueller Report.
The Nation Responds
Congressional Republicans celebrated alongside the president, saying that he is now free to focus on governing and to prepare for the upcoming 2020 presidential election. Democrats, predictably, are outraged. They point to the fact that the president was never subpoenaed (or even interviewed) as evidence of the report being flawed. Meanwhile, both parties agree on the importance of Congress having access to the full text of the report and all of its underlying material–and if possible, to make it available to the public as well. How fast the report becomes public (if at all) depends on how quickly the Justice Department can comb it for sensitive material that must remain confidential, though Attorney Genreal Barr has indicated that the redacted report could come as soon as mid-April.
More to Come?
This end to the Mueller investigation doesn’t mean that President Trump is completely off the hook. He currently faces several other criminal investigations: some from the Justice Department, and some from Congress. Trump currently faces at least eight federal criminal cases for financial fraud, issues with his inaugural committee, and more. Meanwhile, in Congress, the Senate intelligence committee is still working on its own report of the 2016 election interference issue. The House Judiciary Committee has also stated that it will require Attorney General Barr to come to Capitol Hill for at least one hearing, to answer the Committee’s questions about the Mueller report’s findings.
What Do You Think? The Justice Department must now redact, or black out, sensitive information from the report before it can be released to the public. In your opinion, is it more important to redact information for the purpose of national security, or to give the public access to the full story? Explain.
