President Donald Trump began his victory lap over special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings on Sunday with a tweet that read, simply: “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!”
Later, the president spoke to reporters at an airport in south Florida.
“It’s a shame that our country had to go through this,” Trump said. “This was an illegal takedown that failed.”
“It’s a shame that your president has had to go through this,” Trump said.
Trump has routinely declared, on social media and in public forums, that he had not colluded with Russian operatives during the 2016 election and that he had not obstructed justice.
The president’s remarks came shortly after Attorney General William Barr revealed that he had determined the Mueller’s report showed there was insufficient evidence that Trump had committed crimes.
Barr noted, however, that while Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation did not provide sufficient evidence that Trump had obstructed justice, the attorney general did say that Mueller did not exonerate the president on the matter.
Still, it was clear that Trump and his allies were prepared to use Barr’s summary of Mueller’s findings as a formidable political weapon on the 2020 presidential campaign trail.
Mueller’s probe, which wrapped up with the submission of his report Friday, had generated dozens of indictments, several guilty pleas, including from former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen, and the conviction of Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort.
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