Donald Trump 'did not conspire with Russia', investigation reveals

A 22-month long investigation into Moscow’s alleged meddling with the 2016 election has found that President Donald Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russia, according to a summary of the findings.

Attorney General William Barr wrote in a letter made public on Sunday that US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference did not find that members of the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Russia in its efforts to influence the vote.

In the letter, Barr released the summary of “principle conclusions” of Mueller’s investigation, after the special counsel delivered his report on Friday.

“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.'”

But Trump and the White House welcomed the report as a “complete exoneration” nonetheless.

Mueller made no conclusion on whether Trump’s conduct during the investigation rose to the level of obstruction of justice.

“The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him’.”

Instead, it left the obstruction of justice question to Barr, who concluded that they found no actions that, in our judgement, constitute obstructive conduct” on the part of the president.

Trump on Sunday welcomed the report with a tweet.

The White House reacted with a sense of vindication.

“The Special Counsel did not find any collusion and did not find any obstruction,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote on Twitter.

“AG Barr and DAG Rosenstein further determined there was no obstruction.

“The findings of the Department of Justice are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.”

Rudy Giuliani, one of the president’s lawyers, also said on CNN that they viewed it as a “complete exoneration”.

But House Judiciary Committee Chairman and Democrat Jerry Nadler tweeted that his panel would call Attorney General William Barr to testify shortly, citing concerns over Barr’s conclusions from the report.

“In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before @HouseJudiciary in the near future,” Nadler said.

Mueller’s investigation, stretching nearly two years, has been the source of ongoing anticipation of whether it would in any way implicate President Trump, particularly when it comes to questions of whether he attempted to stymie the probe or even obstruct justice.

Trump has repeatedly insisted that there was “no collusion,” and has characterised Mueller’s investigation as a “witch hunt.”

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