The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021

by Peter Baker

Barr’s letter selectively characterized the report in several important respects. He wrote that Mueller did not find that the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated with Russia” but did not mention that the special counsel report nonetheless documented extensive links between the two and noted that the Trump team knowingly benefited from Moscow’s help in the election. As for obstruction of justice, the attorney general quoted Mueller saying that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him”—entirely leaving out that Mueller identified ten episodes that were potentially obstruction. Barr left the impression that Mueller “did not draw a conclusion—one way or the other” even though the clear message of the special counsel’s report was that Mueller did consider them potentially obstruction but felt he could not say so because of the Justice Department policy barring indictment of a sitting president.