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Mueller found no evidence that Trump "committed obstruction of justice" -- US AG

WASHINGTON, April 18 (KUNA) -- US Attorney General William Barr affirmed Thursday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller investigation into matters related to Russian attempts to interfere in our 2016 presidential election "did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." Speaking at a press conference, Barr stressed "as the special counsel report makes clear, the Russian government sought to interfere in our election process, but thanks to the special counsel's thorough investigation, we now know that the Russian operatives who perpetrated these schemes did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaign, or the knowing assistance of any other American for that matter." "That is something that all Americans can and should be grateful to have confirmed," he added.
He noted that the special counsel report "outlines two main efforts by the Russian government to influence the 2016 election." "First, the report details efforts by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian company with close ties to the Russian government, to sow social discord among American voters through disinformation and social media operations," he indicated.
He affirmed that "the special counsel found no evidence that any American, including anyone associated with the Trump campaign, conspired or coordinated with the Russian government or the IRA in this illegal scheme." He continued "indeed, as the report states, "the investigation did not identify evidence that any US person knowingly or intentionally coordinated with the IRA's interference operation,"".
He reiterated "put another way the Special Counsel found no collusion by any Americans in IRAs illegal activities." He added "second, the report details the efforts by the Russian military officials associated with the GRU, the Russian military intelligence organization, to hack into computers and steal documents and emails from individuals associated with the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton's campaign." He affirmed "again the Special Counsel's report did not find any evidence that members of the Trump campaign or anyone associated with the campaign conspired were coordinated with the Russian government in these hacking operations. In other words, there was no evidence of the Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government hacking." He continued "finally, the Special Counsel investigated a number of links or contacts between the Trump campaign officials and individuals connected with the Russian government during the 2016 presidential campaign. After reviewing these contacts the Special Counsel did not find any conspiracy to violate US law involving Russian linked persons and any persons associated with the Trump campaign. So that's the bottom line." Barr stressed that "after carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report آ…. the Deputy Attorney General and I concluded that the evidence developed by the Special Counsel is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction of justice offense." Furthermore, Barr said that he is going to transmit copies of the public version of the special counsel's report "to the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees," and that the Department of Justice "will also make the report available to the American people by posting it on the department's website after it has been delivered to Congress." (end) si