Trump was cleared of obstruction of justice, just as he was cleared of collusion with Russia

After the summary of the report came out Sunday, CNN kept a graphic up onscreen for hours that said, “Mueller report ‘does not conclude Trump committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.'”

The graphic gives the impression that the jury is still out on whether Trump obstructed justice, presumably by firing his own subordinate, FBI Director James Comey. But if you read the summary of the report, you’ll find that it actually does exonerate Trump on the obstruction question.

“The Special Counsel … did not draw a conclusion — one way or the other — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction,” the summary says. “Instead, for each of the relevant actions investigated, the report sets out evidence on both sides of the question and leaves unresolved what the Special Counsel views as ‘difficult issues’ of law and fact concerning whether the President’s actions and intent could be viewed as obstruction.”

It goes on to say that special counsel “leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.”

The Attorney General, William Barr, took it from there. He wrote in his summary that in consultation with his deputy, Rod Rosenstein, he determined that the evidence presented by the special counsel was “not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”

In other words, Mueller deemed the obstruction issue too murky and thus deferred to his bosses, Barr and Rosenstein. They in turn oversaw the special counsel, and the two of them didn’t see any reason for prosecution.

That is, in no uncertain terms, an exoneration, no matter what CNN’s cute graphic wants you to think.