DOJ releases secret Russia probe memo recommending against charging Trump with obstruction

WASHINGTON – A previously-secret Justice Department memorandum recommending that then-President Donald Trump not be prosecuted for obstructing the Russia investigation asserted that there was "no precedent" for such a case based on evidence gathered by Russia special counsel Robert Mueller.

Because Mueller's team found insufficient proof to charge Trump campaign officials with conspiring with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, Justice officials concluded that it would be "rare" to bring an obstruction prosecution that did not arise from a "separate crime."

A redacted version of the March 2019 memo was made public last year, but a federal appeals court ordered the full text of the document released based on a lawsuit brought by a government watchdog group.

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The nine-page document was prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr, who was rebuked by a federal judge who claimed that Barr had already made the decision not to charge Trump before reviewing the memo.

While the DOJ memo referred to "potentially obstructive conduct" by Trump, Justice officials said the actions "amounted to attempts to modify the process under which the special counsel investigation progressed rather than efforts to impair or intentionally alter evidence that would negatively impact the special counsel's ability to obtain and develop evidence."

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"The memo presents a breathtakingly generous view of the law and facts for Donald Trump," said Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the group which sought the document's release. "It significantly twists the facts and the law to benefit Donald Trump and does not comport with a serious reading of the law of obstruction of justice or the facts as found by Special Counsel Mueller.

"Among many other problems, it is premised on the fact that there was no underlying criminal conduct, which is not what Mueller found, and waives its hand at there being no exact precedent to compare it to."

In Mueller's final report, the special counsel did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed the investigation, but prosecutors found "multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations."

Among them: Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, after the director had acknowledged that federal authorities were examining possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. In addition, Trump repeatedly discussed dismissing Mueller during the course of the inquiry.

Efforts to obstruct the inquiry, Mueller said, "were mostly unsuccessful ... largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: DOJ releases previously secret Russia probe memo