Mulvaney: Mueller report ‘not designed’ to exonerate Trump

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was “not designed” to exonerate President Trump.

“That is not what these documents do,” Mulvaney said when asked why Trump has claimed exoneration from obstruction charges despite the fact that the report explicitly says it does not exonerate him. 

{mosads}”When you do an investigation like this, there’s typically two outcomes: Either criminal indictments come down, or it just quietly goes away,” he continued. “These types of investigations are not designed to exonerate people.”

.@jonkarl: “Why do you and why does the president say that Mueller found no obstruction?…he makes no such statement…the president’s out there saying full exoneration”

Mick Mulvaney: “These types of investigations are not designed to exonerate people” https://t.co/P6iz1j1VA4 pic.twitter.com/aOXvQPgYsG

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) March 31, 2019

Last weekend, Attorney General William Barr sent a letter to Congress detailing the top-level findings from Mueller’s 22-month investigation.

According to Barr, the investigation was unable to find any evidence proving collusion between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia.

Trump and his supporters have taken a victory lap following the letter, with the president claiming “complete and total exoneration.”

On the question of obstruction of justice, however, the special counsel did not make a determination, according to Barr.

“While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” Mueller wrote in his report, according to Barr.

Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided not to pursue an obstruction charge after reviewing the special counsel’s findings.

Mulvaney said that decision has cleared Trump.

“So that’s why we are absolutely comfortable saying the president has been fully exonerated,” he said Sunday.