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LAST UPDATE | 24 Mar 2019
THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election”, US Attorney General William Barr has said.
The Attorney General received a copy of Mueller’s report on Friday, and said in a letter this evening that he was advising of the “principal conclusions” of the report.
In a statement following Barr’s letter, the White House said it’s a “total and complete exoneration” of President Donald Trump, but some politicians claimed otherwise.
The report from special counsel Robert Mueller “thoroughly investigated allegations that members of the presidential campaign of Donald J Trump, and other associated with it, conspired with the Russian government in its efforts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, or sought to obstruct the related federal investigation”.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, one of those who received the letter from the Justice Department, however said Mueller’s report “does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Representative Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the judiciary committee, said “must be full transparency in what Special Counsel Mueller uncovered to not exonerate the President from wrongdoing”.
However, the White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that it’s a “complete exoneration” of the president.
While it doesn’t find collusion between the Trump campaign, Mueller’s report does focus in on efforts by Russia to disrupt and influence the election campaign.
This included “gathering and disseminating information to influence the election”.
Furthermore, evidence gathered in Mueller’s investigation “is not sufficient to establish” that President Trump committed obstruction of justice.
In the summary from Barr, he said Mueller’s team issued more than 2,800 subpoenas and executed nearly 500 search warrants in its probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election and any potential involvement by President Donald Trump’s campaign.
Barr’s summary this evening comes without the publication of Mueller’s report.
The Attorney General’s letter now marks the conclusion of the 22-month investigation by Mueller, a former FBI director, into allegations that Trump’s election campaign coordinated and colluded with Russians to skew the 2016 vote so the billionaire real estate magnate would win.
But it also marks the beginning of a new phase: the determination of Democrats in Congress to further investigate Trump, using the evidence from the Mueller probe.
“Seems like the Department of Justice is putting matters squarely in Congress’ court,” tweeted the Democratic representative Nadler.
“Special Counsel Mueller clearly and explicitly is not exonerating the President, and we must hear from AG Barr about his decision making and see all the underlying evidence for the American people to know all the facts.”
With reporting from AFP
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The Witch hunt has failed!
@Sean Murphy: Thought’s and prayer’s for all the Trump hater’s that dominate the Irish mainstream media. This is a very bad day for them.
@John Wilson: that is his election campaign sorted now. This is gonna be everywhere for his next run
@Karl Alldritt: for sure , has to have new campaign team though because theres a whole bunch of them indicted and in jail – from the Muller Investigation ;-) how Ironic eh.
@hSean Murphy: & John Wilson. Do ye not cringe when ye see the carry on the last week with his tweets and speeches about john McCain and Kelly Anne Conway’s husband. I’m not over exercised about Trump one way or another but seriously lads, are ye not embarrassed by him.
@John Wilson: Thought’s’ an’d prayer’s for whatever mediocre Englis’h teacher taught you gramm’ar when you grew up in Россия.
@Jane: I don’t condone/support Trump in any way, I think he’s an opinion flip flopping moron that represents the majority of the US very well, however, this witch hunt was desperation, and it’s funny to laugh at.
@John Wilson: Almost as bad as when you got 1.72% of votes in the 2016 Election, lol!
@John Wilson: great comment
@bopter: Another lonely member of the grammar police you poor soul.
@Orla Smith: hi Orla….. Hahahhaa
@Sean Murphy: just wait until you see what’s comes out of the other 16 probes. And we still have to see the full Muller documents
@Jane: nope. He’s doing a great job which he was elected to do.
That’s the Donald back in office in 2020.
@Johnny Rotten: let’s hope not for the sake of our collective sanity
@Awkward Jake: could America afford a different outcome
@Tommy C: screw what it can afford I think I speak for everyone when I say let’s go back to a time when everyone wasn’t so dang divided on everything and weather you support trump or you don’t you can’t say he isn’t a big part of that division. It’s been 2 years of a presidency that’s felt like 10 with the constant bombardment of conflicting media, agonisingly stupid or uncomfortable trump statements and just a general feeling of both sides getting so aggressive that neither deserves anything they want.
@Awkward Jake: blame the media and snowflake democrats
@Cryptoalcho: no both sides are to blame for this carry on. Media would also include Fox News and its insidious rhetoric and if you want to throw the term snowflake around that also accounts to trump supporters who get triggered by anyone who doesn’t share there political views just like how some liberals also have the same reaction
How much did this Democrat fairytale cost?
@Candace: Cost $25 million, but they collected $45 million from tax fraud and evasion. Made a nice profit.
@Candace: Nothing much only the complete loss of trust in the major media companies. Whatever was left after the Iraq war.
What a surprise, could see from the start this was a distraction from Hilary’s disastrous campaign
@John O’Se: didn’t it start months before election day?
@Dave O’Keeffe: no, the first reports of Russian interference started in Oct 2016 but that was inside the departments. After the election we started to hear the reports and in May 2017 the Mueller investigation started after Comey was fired
@John O’Se: so JOS fake profile much?
@Paul Quirke: same as the demarcates, change the subject when you can’t rebut an argument
@John O’Se: simply not true. The intelligence agencies concluded and publicly announced thst it was happening in October (before election day) which means it was being looked into earlier
@Dave O’Keeffe: I looked it up and you’re right Dave, reports started in late September
Can’t wait to see all the mainstream media outlets make their apologies…
@Sirius: get a real job
Must…dig….deeper….. It will be interesting to see what they try next now lol
@D_Murph:
Build on the 9 convictions already secured?
@Brinster: for matters unrelated
@Brinster: convictions that had nothing to do with President Trump.
All that money wasted based on a very bad excuse for losing the election. US and Russian relations have totally collapsed as a result and the world is a much more dangerous place for it.
@Cal Mooney: Cost $25 million, but collected $45 million. Not a waste of money.
@Cal Mooney: read the article, relations weren’t good before the investigation
@Cal Mooney: agreed there was a slim chance that things could be better between usa and Russia with trump and Putin and in turn most proxy wars would be fixed
God forbid how much would that cost the arms industry the cia and the rest of big business
Oh wait that actually makes sense I should not post this here so
@Cal Mooney: Please stop demonising Russia. That Alt-Right trope has left the building.
Peace trumps war.
@Battaz: The Leninist has spoken.
@Cal Mooney: you do talk some bull
@Battaz: they deserve to be demonized
@Cal Mooney: relations soured because of Russian cyber espionage, a dozen or so Russians were indicted by Mueller.
But… but.. orange man bad
@NPC4452347: in the morning?
This is a big W for papa Trump
Spare a thought for all the cat ladies and #NeverTrumpers who bought this obvious BS for the past two years.
YESSS. USA USA USA. MAGA
@Dill Funk: KAGA
Not exonerated, all we need to know!
@Orla Smith: after two years of investigation and still nothing, there’s very little chance that there will be any evidence found
@Common sense: Not at all, he wasn’t exonerated, great news, and also his bribe to Stormy Daniels is out in public now too!
@Orla Smith: noone gives a toss about his payoff, yesterday’s news. He’s a shoe-in for 2020 considering the nominees for the deranged party.
@Orla Smith: And the next president of the United States is that’s right you guessed it Donald J Trump. The Democratic Party have no one that take him on.
@Orla Smith:
Dry your eyes, Liam.
@Vote4Pedro: LOL! What a simpleton, he has the lowest ratings of any President since Reagan, and has never gone above the 50% mark. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/
@Orla Smith: give it a rest. Media and democrats have said the past two years there was definte collusion. Those polls are probably fake too.
@Winston Smith: You spent the last 2 years saying Mueller was a liar and AFP was Fake News, now you’re saying he’s telling the truth and AFP isn’t Fake News? You are one confused little puppy! This is only the tip of the iceberg, Trump will get nailed by Congress investigations now.
@RisingSpirit: Everything is Fake to racists.
@Orla Smith: as the Donald would say.. You are a LOSER! COVEFE MAGA!!
@Orla Smith:
Usually the racists are the ones that bring up skin colour,race & racism, take a look in the mirror Liam. The Dems are a joke, from pro Sharia and anti semitism (Omar) and crap for brains (AOC), some of them think their historical figures (Spartacus)lol. Also let’s not forget their roots, pyjamas and pointy hats etc they are an absolute shambles Liam, Bit it like yourself lad.
@Valthebear: Lol! Says the Irexit Bear, ha ha!
@Orla Smith: I never once said he was a liar. Are you embarrassed by how gullible you’ve been? Do you think mummy took you out of the remedial class a little too soon now in hindsight? Gotta admit, if I’d spent two years believing such obvious nonsense I’d be really embarrassed.
@Winston Smith: You did, on multiple ocassions, and you also said you were delighted that Trump was friends with the Saudis, some very suspect comments. I’m a Harvard Law Graduate.
@Orla Smith: Are you advocating the arrest of OJ Simpson too?
Your Alt-Right undercurrent is palpable.
@Battaz: Ah it’s The Journal’s resident Cultural Marxist! How are things in Petrograd these days Comrade?
@Orla Smith: nope, you’re just lying again Liam. Just like the below, you’ve got form champ – do you think your persistent lying will distract people from your gullibility and stupidity?
So honestly, on a scale of 1 – absolute moron, how you feeling today cupcake?
@Winston Smith: that’s superb. how is Jussie doing these days Winston? I’m sure Orla/Liam would like an update.
@Orla Smith: you thought Trump wouldn’t win.. You thought Trump would be taken down.. History not on your side loser liam.. Keep watching if you can see through your tears.. So enjoyable watching self righteous lib extremists like yourself implode when the truth comes out..
@Orla Smith: Winston doesn’t say he’s a liar, he says that he’s got nothing on trump, which has turned out to be true.
@Orla Smith: that’s not me Liam. A lot of people choose this name online because it’s a famous character from a book. Do you not read books yourself, no?
@Winston Smith: It is you, same Twitter handle, @Winston83397789 you have been rumbled! And my name is Orla.
@Orla Smith: you’re lying again Liam, or do you struggle as badly with numbers as you do with literature? I just set this up this evening to laugh and you and your ilk. Do you really think doubling down on your incredibly obvious stupidity is a wise move on a day your two year dream based on nonsense that a remedial child could see through is coming to light?
@Winston Smith: I provided a link to your comment, and you’re still denying it! Deflect, deflect, look over there! Your Saudi masters will be pleased with your trolling here.
@Orla Smith: no, you provided a link to someone else who used Winston Smith as a moniker. You ever read any books at all, or so you just avoid the classics?
@Winston Smith: It was you. Yes, I’m well aware of the main character from Orwell’s 1984, it’s a very popular book, very childish to think using that name is somehow edgy, why not post under your real name instead of a fake Twitter account? Something to hide perhaps?
@Orla Smith: that’s a lovely fake comment you’ve mocked up. Next time try putting the name to the left as they are on all comments.
@Common sense: you haven’t seen the report. Few people have
@Vote4Pedro: wanna bet ?
@Orla Smith: and you loose ever argument on here ? ha ya haven’t the brains to get into high school never mind Harvard full of s**t is what you are
@Damien Barton: Reading your comment, I can only conclude you excelled in academia!
@Orla Smith: TDS
@Orla Smith: the real legal jeopardy for Trump are the SDNY investigations that no one is talking about
@Orla Smith: ah, there it is the Race Card.. When all else fails..
This comment section should be fun
Maybe they’re right? Anyone think maybe this proves that we’re all wrong? Or that we’ve been deceived again .. none of us can tell ..the hate this whole world has against this man ,we want to believe everything bad he has ever done .. no one knows exactly , not the public anyway .. .
@orla: if you believed that a country with a GDP less than Italy was able to hack an election in the greatest superpower on this planet with a few FB ads and some emails you need your head examined.
@orla: we all? Lots of people could see this agenda driven nonsense from the beginning, so don’t assume “we all” were as easily taken in as you. You should be embarrassed if you believed this rubbish just cos the TV man said it was so. You should learn from this.
@Sean Murphy: but here’s the thing, that has been proven. Not hacking but influencing. I don’t think anyone accused them seriously of hacking the election. The same report that says no collusion says it happened so you can pick and choose what to believe from it based on your agenda or believe it all.
Looking forward to Trump’s tweet; ‘Bob Muller, great guy, always said he was, no obstruction or pee pee tape’
What will Matt Cooper and Pat Kenny do now? They had everything pinned on this. Can’t wait to hear their rubbish excuses tomorrow
@Nowa Huta: I might listen to Denny radio tomorrow for once,but probably only wasting my time they probably won’t even mention it. Thank God for tuinin radio
@Nowa Huta: Kenny has always been and will continue to be under. Theres no denying, hes becoming KAGA
Looking for skeletons in the cupboard, that should shut up the Democrats once and for all.
The media are a disgrace how they portray trump
He only tells lies because he’s been reduced to their level
He’s doing great things. Wish we had a trump as leader
This is a big kick in the teeth for the dirty Democrats and for all the commenters here who were taken in by same Democrats.
It’s like a bad reality show
@Jim Buckley Barrett: did you shed a few tears just like Rachel Maddow when you heard the news?
@Winston Smith: Except she didn’t, more lies from Trump supporters. Sad.
@Orla Smith: haha you believed a lie for two years! Do you feel like an absolute moron today, or just remarkably gullible and stupid?
@Winston Smith: You got caught out lying, take it like a man!
Trump wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but he was elected by his people to be President. What part of democracy do the PC Brigade not understand.
@Josh Hanners: Democrats can’t accept losing. It’s just the way they are. They still can’t accept that they lost the election. Now they want to change the Supreme Court, and do away with the Electoral College. They don’t want free speech on college campuses, they resort to violence when they see or hear something they disagree with.
Is this FAKE news Doh!
A WIN OF ENORMOUS SUBSTANCE
He publicly asked Russia to hack the DNC, which they did. Is that not obstruction?
@Stevie Doran: No, he asked them to find the 30,000 e-mails that Hilary had wiped. Why were they wiped, ever ask yourself? Also the DNC refused to hand over their servers to the FBI to be forensically analyzed. Instead they paid a private company, Crowdstrike, to do it. Not suspicious at all. If it was Trump’s servers, I somehow doubt the FBI or DOJ would accept him not handing over the servers and accepting the analysis of a company he hired. In any case, they weren’t hacked by anyone. The download speeds were 4x faster than the internet speed. The DNC files were downloaded onto a USB stick.
@Shane Dignam: dont forget the Steele dossier which Huber is investigating, cud see dems heads roll yet, cud be d biggest beating dey take since the war dey fought to keep slavery
@Vote4Pedro: *don’t / *could / *the / *they
@Vote4Pedro: That’s just for starters Pedro. What’s gonna come out over the next few years will have everyone’s jaws dropping. There’s so many investigations going on in the background for the past two years, all waiting for mueller to finish.
@Shane Dignam: like Ivanka’s?
@Paul Quirke: No, nothing like Ivanka’s…at all. Hilary used a private server to transfer classified information out of government control and into her control for her own personal use. Ivanka used her personal gmail account for logistics and scheduling concerning her family. It was dumb, but completely incomparable to what HRC did.
I’m confused did Manafort not get a few years? Cohen is going for a stint and Stone awaiting trial?
TRUMP 2020.
The alternatives are crazy.
Left something out?
“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
@Ian McNally: do you know what the phrase “presumption of innocence” means? Do you also know what the phrases “clutching at straws” and “moronically gullible” mean?
@Winston Smith: im not clutching at anything, the report hasnt been released to the public this is a simple parsing by trumps own AG, also theres still several sealed inditctments waiting for the people they relate to
@Ian McNally: actually it looks like theres no sealed indictments, i was going off reporting from yesterday
Shame
@Mel Fitzpatrick: on the fools who believed this nonsense?
@Mel Fitzpatrick: And yet you’re silent on the crimes of Obama and Clinton.
Dumb or Dishonest?
@Winston Smith: No, shame he won’t be impeached.
@Battaz: Poor attempt at trolling
What a shocker….not
And in other news Ron Weasley snogged his childhood sweetheart.
So all this started with Hillary who couldn’t accept being defeated, she had the power and the media on her side.
After 3 years they found nothing but because you don’t like Trump that this is no reason and excuse to believe he had anything to do with Russia. It is McCarthyism for fear of so called socialism and the belief that Hillary must have lost due to exterior reasons. I am no way for Trump but because you don’t like him then there is no excuse to make stuff up about him to try to persuade others not to like him either?
He has plenty of other things they should investigate him about like vote gerrymandering, which no one wants to talk about, why?
@TamuMassif2019: nonsense. Clinton accepted she had been defeated on election night. The special counsel investigation was instigated by members of his own team months after the election. Much of the reason for that was down to Trumps own actions which were deeply suspicious. This has nothing to do with Clinton or the Democrats, the media or any other bogeyman you have going on in your head.
@Kevin O’Donnell: your delusional
Delaney Out!!
And what about Catherine Zappones travel expenses? You going to tell me that’s fake news as well}
Oh Lordy, he’s snorting lines of Adderrel, downing cans of Diet Coke, beating his chest and cracking his fingers to start a Twitter firestorm.
@Billy Nomates: nice
So now we know that the campaign didn’t deliberately work with Russia.
Only four pages long bullshite on this am appointee by Trump to cover this report up and make it for pages long do Have a Trump can read it.
You can’t Trump ,Trump
Russia US relations haven’t soured over this.
Short version
HRC Muller etc sold Uranium to Russia (and other places)
HRC GOT $145mm
All was fine until Obama threw a spanner in the works and funded a coup in Ukraine.
Possible loss of Crimea made Putin very cross.
Trump wins, Meets Putin privately, no secretaries
Putin throws HRC sous l’autobus and tells Trump all about U1 etc.
All the Russian Collusion was with HRC.
The Russian interference in the election was negligible before anybody says it.
That’s just the short version, the Dramatis Personae list is quite long, but they will be household names soon.
I wonder why
Eat your heart out Collette Brown
Is the world or America any worse off now than he took over
@Alan Carthy: deficit
Remember, the attorney general is a trump pick so probably wants to please the person that put him where he is! And he’s under no obligation to release the report. So we only have his word that the principle points that he makes are the real principle points.
@Colm O’Leary:
Uranium One *cough.
This comment section is really grim.
@Jen McCartney: it’s full of maga trolls…
@Colm O’Leary: and Russian bots probably!
So says the mouthpiece of trump. I’ll wait until the whole report is released thanks! If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck chances are it is indeed a duck!
@Colm O’Leary: Stephen Colbert (on trump) “if it walks like a duck talks then why does it keep goose-stepping”
Usauly I would be quicker to a major report at face value but
-”Russia if your listening” ,
-Saying on live t.v. that he fired James Comey because of Russia,
-Don Jrs email exchange and meeting in Trump tower with the Russians(then lieing about it ) amongst many others something just isn’t adding up….. will await the full report and SDNY
You mean he might have been telling the truth for once? Hard to believe. ‘Russia if you’re listening…’
It reminds me of The Mortiarty Tribunal!
Eh, they still found some people guilty and got some convictions out of it so it’s not for nothing. I really hope this doesn’t make Trump a shoe-in for 2020 though but I’m afraid it might :c
@Keith O’Reilly:
Lol @ the convictions
Trump right now is that Bear in The Reverent
Democrats goin get …..nuff said
The headline to this article is wrong based on the wording of the Barr summary, which is all we have to go on at this stage. It should read “Mueller probe does not find that the Trump campaign conspired with THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT on 2016 presidential election”. A very important distinction. The probe did find that Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort was in regular contact with, and was curiously sharing polling data with, Konstantin Kolimnik who is described as a “political consultant” and thus does not technically represent the government. But it doesn’t surprise me that so many are quick to gleefully hail this as some kind of victory for the President, just as he is.
So, rather than exonerating Trump all it does is say that they couldn’t find sufficient evidence to drag him into court!!! And that Congress needs to dig deeper than he had powers to!
Just a happy coincidence.
@Matthew Gorman: No, just 3 years of repeating the same bull constantly…
All the clever little Worms are crawling out of their Holes, Oh ! They knew all along what the outcome would be,
The FOOLS, Trump and Company have a long way to go, to get to the Edge of the Woods.
They’re still here being smug! It’s a disease!
So all we know is that one shower of conmen took a shot at another shower of conmen , and missed.
Go back and have another look
have your say