Mueller Report: What do you need to know?

After a long 23 months, resulting in 34 indictments and guilty pleas, 500 search warrants, and 2,300 subpoenas, the conclusion to the investigation of the Trump administration in regard to colluding with Russia has been revealed.

Robert Mueller released the long and overwhelming 448-page document detailing  his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Obviously, there is much to say on this report, but let’s start with the basics.

For starters, the report states that the evidence obtained “about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred.” So basically, the investigation was unable to clear Trump on obstruction, leaving the final results of the case inconclusive.

According to the report, obstruction of justice by Trump failed because others on his team refused to “carry out orders.” So, because of this, members of the Trump campaign clearly knew that possible criminal activity was occurring. They did not choose to take steps to help, even though they knew they would benefit from Russia’s illegal actions to influence the election.

Mueller also touched on why he did not subpoena Trump. The special council decided against doing so because of the fact that it would delay the investigation. There was already a substantial amount of evidence, according to the prosecutors.

Although the report was unable to find hard evidence of coordination, it did offer a list of interactions between Russians and Trump allies. For example, it touched on the infamous Moscow hotel tapes, where Trump was supposedly caught on tape with prostitutes in 2013. According to The New York Times, a Russian business man by the name of Giorgi Rtskhiladze texted Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in October of 2016 to say that he had “stopped flow of tapes from Russia.” However, the report also noted that these tapes were likely “fake.”

The report also pointed out several instances where the president tried to influence or shut down the investigation. Not only did Trump refuse an in-person interview and supplied written responses that Mueller found “inadequate,” but he also repeatedly called Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, ordering that he have Mueller removed. He then proceeded to ask McGahn to deny the stories, making it obvious that Trump was trying to create a false narrative for the press about his actions.

Although Mueller was unable to find Trump guilty, he was also unable to find him innocent. Even though the results were inconclusive, one thing we are able to conclude is that Mueller’s report will most likely forever change the Trump administration’s image and will go down in history as a record of President’s Trump potential misconduct.

Abby Martinson | edinboro.spectator@gmail.com

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