Attorney General William Barr sent a letter to the leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on Sunday briefing them of the “principal conclusions” in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
The letter, which is four pages long, said Mueller found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Mueller also addresses whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice. “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,’” Barr wrote. The letter added that both Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded there is a lack of “sufficient” evidence from the investigation to conclude the president committed such an offense.
Mueller delivered his confidential report to Barr on Friday afternoon, concluding his nearly two-year investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and looking into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
Barr spent the weekend at the Justice Department with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the investigation, analyzing the report and determining how much of it Congress and the American public will get to see. The attorney general has said he wants to be transparent, though how much of the report will be released depends on the law. Justice Department guidelines recommend against releasing negative information on people who have not been indicted.
A contentious battle is expected over the report as top Democrats demand the full release of Mueller’s report, while some Republicans want to take transparency a step further, including the release of the scope memo for the Russia investigation and related documents. Earlier this month, the House voted 420-0 to pass a resolution calling for the release of Mueller’s final report to the public, with four Republicans voting “present.”
