Case Closed: Special Counsel Mueller Says Russia Investigation Is Over, Nothing More to Say

Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced Wednesday that he has concluded the Russia investigation. He is now closing the special counsel's office and returning to private life.

Democrats in Congress have wanted to have Mueller testify about the report as they launch investigations against President Donald Trump.

But Mueller indicated there would be no point in him testifying before Congress about the investigation, saying the written report of the special counsel speaks for itself and that the words were carefully chosen. 

"I do not believe it is appropriate for me to speak further," he said. For that reason, he did not even take questions from reporters.

The Mueller report found no evidence of any election conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign, but it found plenty of evidence that Russia did interfere on its own.

Mueller says Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military stole private information and released it to interfere in our election and damage a presidential candidate. And a private Russian entity engaged in a social media operation as well to interfere in our political system. 

Mueller says his investigation did not provide a conclusion on whether Trump had obstructed justice, saying his report could not exonerate the president.

"If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," Mueller said. "We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime."

Some media outlets pounced on the fact that Mueller did not exonerate Trump, but Mueller also offered no evidence that Trump had committed a crime.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow released a statement saying, "The announcement by Special Counsel Mueller that the Special Counsel’s Office is closing and that he is resigning to return to private life puts a period on a two-year investigation that produced no findings of collusion or obstruction against the President.  The Attorney General conclusively determined that there was no obstruction by the President.  In the words of Attorney General Barr: ‘the report identifies no actions that, in our judgment, constitute obstructive conduct.’”

President Trump tweeted after Mueller's remarks that, "Nothing changes from the Mueller Report. There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed! Thank you."

Nothing changes from the Mueller Report. There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed! Thank you.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2019