Robert Mueller Speaks Publicly about the Special Counsel’s Investigation for the First Time
Today May 29, 2019 Robert Mueller addressed the public to discuss the conclusion of his Special Counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In a press conference this morning Mueller reiterated the findings of the report, saying, “Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system… designed and timed to interfere with our election and to damage a presidential candidate… [and] a private Russian entity engaged in a social media operation where Russian citizens posed as Americans in order to interfere in the election” (1). Continuing, he reaffirmed the report’s “conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge” President Trump nor members of the Trump Campaign with “a broader conspiracy” with Russia (1). The Special Counsel also “investigated efforts to obstruct the investigation” by President Trump; the outcome of which has been a topic of debate following the report’s release due to the ambiguity of its results. Robert Mueller attempted to clear the air on this account today by saying, “[w]hen a subject of an investigation obstructs that investigation or lies to investigators, it strikes at the core of the government’s effort to find the truth and hold wrongdoers accountable… and if we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the President did commit a crime” (1). Mueller went on to explain the Special Counsel’s reasoning for not making a decision on whether or not the President committed an obstruction of justice crime by defense of existing law saying that “a President cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. That is unconstitutional… [T]he Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting President of wrongdoing” (1). Mueller closed his press conference “by reiterating the central allegation of [the special counsel’s] indictments—that there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election… [an] allegation [that] deserves the attention of every American” (1).
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