By Viktoria Ristanovic
Nation & World Editor
On Sunday, March 24, Attorney General William P. Barr. announced that Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not find sufficient proof that President Donald Trump or his aides colluded with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election, according to The New York Times.
The almost two years worth of investigation resulted in Mueller discovering that no one in Trump’s election team “‘conspired or coordinated with the Russian government,’” Barr’s four-page synopsis of the special counsel’s report concluded, according to Reuters.
On Friday, March 22, Mueller ended his 22-month-long investigation after he brought charges against 34 people. The list included Russian agents and Trump’s past allies, such as his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, lawyer Michael Cohen and former national security adviser Mike Flynn, according to Reuters.
The New York Times reported that despite Barr writing a letter to Congress that described findings from the report, congressional Democrats are pressing that more information be revealed about Mueller’s discoveries. Barr’s letter “could be just the beginning of a lengthy constitutional battle between Congress and the Justice Department” on making Mueller’s complete report public.
Democrats have also requested for the attorney general to submit all of the special counsel’s investigative files for public knowledge. Barr forewarned that part of the report was rooted on grand jury material that “‘by law cannot be made public,’” according to The New York Times.
Congressman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, reported via Twitter that he planned to contact Barr to testify about what he said, any discrepancies and the final decision making at the Justice Department, The New York Times reported.
Barr’s letter stated that Mueller’s office hired 19 lawyers and was aided by around “40 FBI agents, intelligence analysts, forensic accountants and other staff.” Thirteen foreign governments were requested to submit evidence and there were around 500 witnesses interviewed, according to The New York Times.
Although Mueller’s search came up evidenceless, according to Fox News, Trump called the special counsel’s report a “‘complete exoneration’” and said it was shameful that “his presidency had to deal with the investigation for two years.”
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s current personal lawyer and former mayor of New York, said to Fox News that “‘there has to be a full and complete investigation, with at least as much enthusiasm as this one, to figure out where did this charge emanate, who started it, who paid for it.’”
