Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election details 10 episodes of potential obstruction of justice by President Trump that prosecutors examined. Mueller did so even as he declined to make a traditional judgment about whether Trump committed a crime.
“The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment,” the report stated. “At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”
Attorney General William P. Barr and his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, examined the obstruction evidence laid out by Mueller’s team and concluded that it did not rise to the level of obstruction of justice — a controversial decision, given that Trump recently appointed Barr and Barr had criticized Mueller’s obstruction probe.
View the complete April 18 article by Aaron Blake on The Washington Post website here.