Mueller denies probe cleared Donald Trump
Robert Mueller said yesterday his two-year Russia investigation had not exonerated Donald Trump, but that he lacked the power to charge a sitting president -- passing the baton to Congress where a growing chorus is clamouring for impeachment.
Making his first statement on the high-stakes probe into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election, the special counsel said he could not state that Trump committed no crime, having detailed at least 10 possible acts of obstruction by the president. That oblique conclusion had left the American public confused when Mueller’s summary findings were first released in March, allowing Trump to declare full exoneration.
Mueller sought to clarify Wednesday that he had been bound by longstanding Justice Department guidelines that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime, no matter how strong the evidence. “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” he stressed. Mueller said the case was now in the hands of Congress, where his statement immediately stoked fresh Democratic calls to open impeachment proceedings. But Trump, who has assailed the Russia investigation as a treasonous “witch hunt” and a “hoax,” declared the case over.
“Nothing changes from the Mueller Report. There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent,” he tweeted minutes after Mueller finished speaking. “The case is closed! Thank you.” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren was one of half a dozen White House hopefuls who seized upon Mueller’s remarks to urge Congress to impeach Trump.
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