Attorney General William Barr’s summary of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian election interference declares simply and with authority that investigators did “not establish that the President was involved” in any crime related to Russian interference.
But on the other key question investigated by Mueller and his team – whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct the Russia investigation – Barr’s summary raises more questions than it answers. Over the weekend, Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein – both Trump’s appointees, both among the few people who have read the full Mueller report – decided Trump should not be charged with obstruction, but Barr’s summary includes a fairly damning quote: “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Related: Read the entire summary
Here’s how CNN’s legal experts are interpreting that carefully crafted language in interviews, via email and on the air – and what they believe are the key new questions the summary raises in that specific passage on obstruction of justice. Text from the summary is on the left and analysis is on the right.
