A new poll shows a jump in Republicans who believe President Trump attempted to stop investigations into his administration and Russia, though that figure is only slightly more than a third of party members.
The IPSOS/Reuters survey published Friday shows that 36% of Republicans believe Trump attempted to obstruct justice, a day after a redacted version of the Mueller report was released to the public by the Department of Justice. A survey conducted last month, also by IPSOS/Reuters, showed that only 27% of Republicans believed at the time that Trump tried to stop investigations into his administration.
Mueller’s investigation identified 10 episodes that could be viewed as potential obstruction of justice but did not recommend any further indictments, allowing the Justice Department to make its own determination.
At Attorney General William Barr’s press conference on Thursday morning, Barr said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein disagreed with some of the legal frameworks used by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team regarding possible obstruction of justice and “felt that some of the episodes examined did not amount to obstruction as a matter of law.”
“In assessing the president’s actions discussed in the report, it is important to bear in mind the context,” Barr said. “President Trump faced an unprecedented situation. As he entered into office and sought to perform his responsibilities as president, federal agents and prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office and the conduct of some of his associates. At the same time, there was relentless speculation in the news media about the president’s personal culpability.”
“Apart from whether the acts were obstructive, this evidence of noncorrupt motives weighs heavily against any allegation that the president had a corrupt intent to obstruct the investigation,” Barr said.
The survey also showed Trump’s approval rating among Republicans has fallen after Mueller’s report: 75% of Republicans approve of the president’s job, down from 83% last month.
The poll was conducted April 18-19 with a sample size of 1,003 adults of voting age nationwide. This sample includes 353 Democrats, 344 Republicans, and 210 independents.
