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trump campaign and russia

According to a summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report submitted to Congress on March 24, President Donald Trump’s campaign did not conspire with Russia during the 2016 election.

The summary did not draw a conclusion as to whether Donald Trump illegally obstructed justice, but did not exonerate the president.

The report was summarized for Congress by the attorney general, William Barr.

Donald Trump tweeted in response: “No Collusion, No Obstruction.”

The president, who has repeatedly described the inquiry as a witch hunt, said on March 24 that “it was a shame that the country had to go through this”, describing the inquiry as an “illegal takedown that failed”.

The report is the culmination of two years of investigation by Robert Mueller.

He wrote in his report: “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

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The summary letter by William Barr outlines the inquiry’s findings relating to Russian efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

He concluded: “The special counsel did not find that any US person or Trump campaign official conspired or knowingly co-ordinated with Russia.”

The second part of the letter addresses the issue of obstruction of justice. William Barr’s summary says the special counsel report “ultimately determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment”.

The letter read: “The Special Counsel therefore did not draw a conclusion – one way or the other – as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction.”

William Barr says that the evidence was not sufficient “to establish that the president committed an obstruction-of-justice offence”.

The attorney general ends his letter to Congress by saying he will release more from the full report, but that some of the material is subject to restrictions.

William Barr wrote: “Given these restrictions, the schedule for processing the report depends in part on how quickly the Department can identify the [grand jury] material that by law cannot be made public.

“I have requested the assistance of the Special Counsel in identifying all information contained in the report as quickly as possible.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders described the findings of the report as “a total and complete exoneration of the president”.

President Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said the report was “better than I expected”.

Congressman Jerry Nadler, the Democratic Chair of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, emphasized that the attorney general did not rule out that President Trump may have obstructed justice.

Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, said that while there was a lack of evidence to support “a prosecutable criminal conspiracy”, questions remained over whether President Trump had been compromised.

Republican Senator Mitt Romney welcomed the “good news”, tweeting that it was now “time for the country to move forward”.

Jeff Sessions announces he will appear before a Senate panel in response to former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony.

The US Attorney General will appear before the Senate intelligence committee on June 13, he announced in a letter.

Jeff Sessions said the decision had been made “in light of Mr. Comey’s recent testimony”.

James Comey told the panel this week that he had asked Jeff Sessions to “prevent any future direct communication between the president and me”.

The testimony made headlines around the world, as it was the first time James Comey had publicly given his side of the apparent fall-out between himself and President Donald Trump in the run-up to his being fired in May.

In his letter on June 10, Jeff Sessions said: “It is important that I have an opportunity to address these matters in the appropriate forum.”

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Jeff Sessions had been due to appear before the Senate and House appropriations subcommittees on June 6. He said in the letter deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein would attend instead.

He removed himself from the FBI’s inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the US election back in March after it emerged he had met Moscow’s envoy during last year’s White House race.

James Comey told the Senate there were a “variety of reasons” why Jeff Sessions’ involvement in the investigation of Russia’s alleged interference would be problematic.

However, he said he was unable to speak about them in an open session of the hearing.

James Comey also told the Senate that the Trump administration’s comments about him and the FBI were “lies plain and simple”.

He said he was “confused” by the “shifting explanations” for his sacking, which came as he led an inquiry into any links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

President Trump later said he never sought to impede the inquiry, and accused James Comey of saying some things that “just weren’t true”.

The president has said he is “100%” willing to speak under oath about his conversations, denying he asked for James Comey’s loyalty or for the inquiry into former White House aide Michael Flynn to be dropped.

President Trump went on to say he was considering releasing further information about possible recordings of the conversations between himself and James Comey.

Shortly after the press conference, leaders of the House intelligence committee said they had asked the White House whether there were any such tapes.

The House panel requested that if the recordings existed, they should be submitted by June 23.