William Barr press conference: Attorney General says Mueller report found 10 cases of possible obstruction by Trump
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation found at least 10 examples of possible obstruction of justice on the part of Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr announced at a Thursday morning press conference.
The attorney general described the special counsel’s report ahead of its release to an audience who had not yet read its details or had a chance to look at the episodes he was describing.
Mr Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein disagreed with some legal theories provided in the report while discussing the portion of it that looked at the president’s alleged obstruction of justice.
Ultimately, the two heads of the Justice Department concluded the report did not provide enough evidence to charge Mr Trump with obstruction into the investigation. The special counsel did not “exonerate” the president over the issue of obstruction of justice, as the attorney general noted in his four-page summary.
He frequently echoed the president's claims of "no collusion" throughout the press conference, saying at one point there was "no evidence of collusion with the Russian government's hacking" operations by any members of Mr Trump's 2016 campaign.
"The report recounts ten episodes involving the President and discusses potential legal theories for connecting these actions to elements of an obstruction offence," Mr Barr said Thursday.
He added, "After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report, and in consultation with the Office of Legal Counsel and other department lawyers, 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 offence.
Mr Trump did not exert executive privilege over any information included in the report, according to Mr Barr.
He said the White House counsel reviewed a redacted version of the report before Mr Trump decided not to invoke executive privilege.
The attorney general said “no material has been redacted based on executive privilege.”
Additional reporting by AP
