Reporting on The Mueller Report

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What was the Investigation?

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible collusion between President Donald J. Trump and Russia has been highly publicized and followed since the investigation began on May 17, 2017.

The investigation looked into several topics under the umbrella of possible Trump-Russia collusion, including Russian interference in the 2016 election, links between Trump associates and Russian officials, alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian agents, potential obstruction of justice by Trump, financial investigations, Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data scandal, and an assortment of other less consequential topics.

UNITED STATES – JUNE 19: FBI Director Robert Mueller testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Dirksen Building on oversight of the FBI. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Throughout the course of the investigation there were 34 indictments: 7 US nationals, 26 Russian nationals, 1 Dutch national, and 3 Russian organizations. A few notable indictments were George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen, all of whom were members of the Trump campaign.

The final report was submitted and the investigation culminated this Friday, March 22, 2019. The report was given to Attorney General William Barr, but only Barr’s summary was made public. Barr has also recently agreed to testify in front of Congress about the Mueller report.

What’s in the Report?

The report, per Barr’s summary, “does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” The report also states that Special Counsel Mueller does not recommend any further indictments, and he does not have any sealed indictments waiting to be released. Mueller’s investigation was split into two sections: whether Russia influenced the election of 2016 by means of any person associated with the Russian government and whether Russians employed hacking to gather and spread wrong information designed to influence the election.

The first section concluded that no “U.S. person or Trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly coordinated with the IRA in its efforts, although the Special Counsel brought criminal charges against a number of Russian nationals and entities in connection with these activities.” The second section was resolved with the indictment of a number of Russian officers conspiring to hack into US computers with the intent to influence the outcome of the election.

In a surprising twist, Mueller also announced that he will retire as a special counselor in the coming days.

Questions and Criticisms

Many are criticizing the publication for several reasons. The first of which is that Mueller’s original report is reportedly 300 pages long, while Barr’s summary is only 4 pages, and many fear oversimplification.

Another major controversy among liberal media outlets is the amount of questions that are simply left unanswered. How much corruption took place? How much non criminal collusion took place? What other obstruction of justice evidence is there? What about the Trump Tower meeting?

Hopefully, these questions will be answered when Barr takes the stand, but many believe these questions will only be answered if the report is released.