News Roundup

Late last week Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his report on the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.  Attorney General William Barr wrote a summary of the report to members of Congress on Sunday, saying that the report has two parts, one focusing on whether the Trump campaign coordinated with the Russian government and the other focusing on whether President Trump obstructed justice.  Barr quotes the report as stating that “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”  Barr’s summary says that the Special Counsel did not “make a traditional prosecutorial judgment” on the question of obstruction, and quotes the report as stating that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”  Along with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Barr said that he had concluded that the evidence in the report is “not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”  Keep reading for more news. Underlying Crime & Obstruction.  Attorney General Barr’s summary explains that in making their determination on the obstruction question, he and Rosenstein considered the fact that the evidence in the report did “not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian interference.”  He said that while this fact was “not determinative,” it was relevant to “the President’s intent with respect to obstruction.”  Time has a piece with reaction to Barr’s obstruction [...]