'No Collusion, No Conspiracy, No Obstruction'
‘[T]he American people hired this president to clean up the mess of the preceding eight years. That’s exactly what we’ve set about doing. And the results are clear. The nation is clearly better off than it was two years ago. So I sincerely hope that now, at last, our friends on the left will be able to put aside their fixation on permanently re-litigating their loss in 2016 and actually join in the productive work that the rest of us have been proudly engaged in for two years and counting.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding yesterday’s letter from Attorney General Barr to Congress on Special Counsel Mueller's report:
“Yesterday, Attorney General Barr transmitted to Congress his summary of the Special Counsel’s principal conclusions from his investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election. The result of that investigation is being hailed as good news for the president. It certainly is that. But really, it is good news for the country.
“It is good news that our law enforcement professionals know much more about Russia’s malevolent attempts to interfere in American elections. And it is good news that we can conclusively set aside the notion that the president and his team had somehow participated in those attacks on our democracy. According to the Attorney General, the Special Counsel’s in-depth investigation – quote – ‘did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.’
“Further, Attorney General Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein concluded the investigation did not establish that the president engaged in obstruction of justice. So, two years, thousands of subpoenas, hundreds of search warrants, hundreds of witnesses, millions of taxpayer dollars, and these are the findings: No collusion. No conspiracy. No obstruction. What the investigation did produce, it seems, is a deep examination of Russia’s efforts to interfere in our 2016 election.
“The Attorney General reports that Russia carried out online disinformation campaigns and computer hacking efforts designed to sow discord in our nation and interfere in American politics. It is deeply disturbing that the Obama administration was apparently insufficiently prepared to anticipate and counter these Russian threats. It was hardly a secret prior to November 2016 that Putin’s Russia was not and is not our friend. And yet, for years, the previous administration ignored, excused, and failed to confront Putin’s malign activities at home and abroad.
“I am glad the Special Counsel’s report will contribute new insight and new understanding to our awareness of Russian activities. I look forward to the release of more information in the coming days, as the Attorney General has said he intends to do, in consultation with Special Counsel Mueller. And I look forward, as well, to the continuing parallel work of our Senate colleagues on the Select Committee on Intelligence to study the threats that foreign interference pose to our institutions.
“So like I said, in any sane political moment, all of this would be very welcome news to all Americans. But we all know that, amazingly, the reaction in some corners of the far left has seemed not to be celebration, but rather, disappointment. Huge components of the Democratic Party and their media allies have spent years spinning intricate theories about this presidency and trying to sell the American people on their wild claims.
“It’s as if many of our Democratic colleagues are still just unable to process the simple fact that, yes, the American people elected this Republican president over his Democratic opponent. We are faced with new evidence every day that our Republican policies are delivering exactly the change that middle-class families voted for in 2016. Yet even still, many on the left remain convinced that only conspiracy and corruption could possibly explain why they might actually lose an election.
“Well, here in the real world, the American people hired this president to clean up the mess of the preceding eight years. That’s exactly what we’ve set about doing. And the results are clear. The nation is clearly better off than it was two years ago. So I sincerely hope that now, at last, our friends on the left will be able to put aside their fixation on permanently re-litigating their loss in 2016 and actually join in the productive work that the rest of us have been proudly engaged in for two years and counting.”
Related Issues: Campaigns & Elections, Russia
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