From The Post's Editorial Board: The Mueller report is the opposite of exoneration
By Editorial Board April 18 at 6:38 PM THE REPORT of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is not what the American public had been led to expect. As Attorney General William P. Barr said last month, the special counsel found little evidence of a coordinated plot between Russia and the Trump campaign to swing the 2016 election. But Mr. Mueller told a very different story about whether President Trump obstructed justice than the one Mr.
Nor did the investigation find evidence that Mr. Trump approved, or even knew about, questionable pre-inauguration contacts between soon-to-be national security adviser Michael Flynn and the Russian ambassador, during which Mr. Flynn urged moderation by the Kremlin in responding to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration. Mr. Mueller did indeed compile evidence that Mr. Trump attempted to derail prosecution of Mr.
No matter his findings, we now learn, the special counsel was never going to declare Mr. Trump guilty. Mr. Mueller’s report states that, from the very start, “we determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes.” That is because Justice Department guidelines bar prosecuting a sitting president, Mr. Mueller explained, and it would be unfair to charge someone who had no chance to win exoneration in court.
When Mr. Trump twice told then-White House counsel Donald McGahn to fire Mr. Mueller — “Mueller has to go”; “you gotta do this” — he knew he was under investigation, he knew there was no rational basis for removing the special counsel, and he had been told he should not be discussing the matter with Mr. McGahn. He later sought to have Mr. McGahn deny he had ever told him to fire Mr. Mueller. The story is similar when Mr.
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