5 big takeaways from the Mueller report

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Thursday, April 18, 2019

President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation | July 16, 2018 | (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)

No evidence of criminal conspiracy with Russia

Much has been made over the last couple years about the Trump campaign’s links to the Russian government, with accusations that the Trump campaign was part of a collusion to publish emails damaging to Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party through WikiLeaks prior to the November election.

The report explains that the special counsel investigation identified numerous links and points of contact between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.

Even though the investigation established that the Russian government would benefit from a Trump presidency and the Trump campaign would benefit from the release of the stolen data, the “investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

The report stresses that “the evidence was not sufficient to support criminal charges.”

“The Russian contacts consisted of business connections, offers of assistance to the Campaign, invitations for candidate Trump and Putin to meet in person, invitations for Campaign officials and representatives of the Russian government to meet, and policy positions seeking improved U.S.-Russian relations,” the report explains.

“And our evidence about the June 9, 2016 [Trump Tower] meeting and WikiLeaks's releases of hacked materials was not sufficient to charge a criminal campaign-finance violation,” the report adds. “Further, the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign conspired with representatives of the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election.”

That finding was praised by the president in a tweet Thursday morning.

Attorney Gen. William Barr contended during a press conference prior to the report’s release Thursday morning that the report indicates that “the Russian operatives who perpetrated these schemes did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaign – or the knowing assistance of any other Americans for that matter.”

The report explains that efforts were made by a Russian company with ties to the Russian government called Internet Research Agency to influence the election through social media operations. Mueller brought charges against several Russian nationals for their role in the scheme. Those charges are still pending and the defendants remain at-large.

“The Special Counsel found no ‘collusion’ by any Americans in the IRA’s illegal activity,” Barr asserted.

The Mueller report also detailed efforts by Russian military officials to hack into computers and steal documents from the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton campaign. Charges were brought against several Russian military officers for their part in the hacking activities.