Mueller report does not, as Trump claims, clear him of trying to thwart probe

WASHINGTON – One of the most important findings of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report is how the people around President Donald Trump saved him from crossing a legal line by refusing to “carry out his orders.”

That counters the claim by Trump that the report “exonerates” him.

On Page 158, the Mueller Report states: “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”

Former FBI Director “Comey did not end the investigation of Flynn, which ultimately resulted in Flynn’s prosecution and conviction for lying to the FBI. (Former White House Counsel Andrew) McGahn did not tell the Acting Attorney General that the Special Counsel must be removed, but was instead prepared to resign over the President’s order.”

Former Trump campaign manager Corey “Lewandowski and (White House advisor Rick) Dearborn did not deliver the President’s message to Sessions that he should confine the Russia investigation to future election meddling only. And McGahn refused to recede from his recollections about events surrounding the President’s direction to have the Special Counsel removed, despite the President’s multiple demands that he do so. Consistent with that pattern, the evidence we obtained would not support potential obstruction charges against the President’s aides and associates beyond those already filed.”

Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., a member of the House Oversight Committee said in a statement: “What we can see from the Mueller Report makes it clear that the President is not exonerated because there is evidence against the President, his Administration and his allies.”

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