The investigation report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller is unlikely to end the scandal around Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that has rocked American politics for the last two and a half years. The redacted version that has been released confirms what U.S. Attorney General William Barr had said last month when he released a summary — Mr. Mueller neither indicts nor exonerates President Donald Trump. Mr. Mueller concluded that Russia interfered in the election in a “sweeping and systematic fashion”. The Russians carried out an information campaign on the Internet against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and in favour of Mr. Trump, while Russian hackers hacked into the Democratic National Committee systems as well as Ms. Clinton’s campaign chief’s email account, and dumped the files on the Internet. While there were contacts between the Russians and Trump campaign members, the investigation doesn’t establish that “members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government”. But on the question on obstruction of justice, the Special Counsel was less emphatic.
The report has damning details on how Mr. Trump tried to undermine the investigation. He wanted to fire Mr. Mueller, and when his then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions failed to do so, he wanted him to shut the probe. Mr. Trump didn’t succeed as his staff resisted the orders. In one such instance, White House attorney Donald McGahn preferred to resign rather than carry out Mr. Trump’s order to fire Mr. Mueller. The report also confirms that the President had asked FBI Director James Comey to go easy on Micheal Flynn, Mr. Trump’s original pick for National Security Adviser. Mr. Comey was fired later. What Mr. Mueller has effectively done is to state the facts of Mr. Trump’s efforts to obstruct the probe, while leaving unanswered the question of whether he obstructed justice. He has left the issue for Congress to decide, saying the legislature “has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice”. As soon as the report was out, Mr. Trump had claimed victory by tweeting: “For the haters and the radical left Democrats — Game over.” But the House Judiciary Committee chair has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department to hand over the full report. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is running for the Democratic presidential ticket, has called for impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump. The President’s legal troubles are also not over. A Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into the Russian interference scandal is still on. The Trump campaign is also being probed for alleged campaign finance violations. All this suggests a tough road is ahead for Mr. Trump, though Mr. Mueller stopped short of indicting him.
