President Trump just performed the biggest 180 of all time.
After years of railing against Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into the Trump campaign's conduct surrounding Russian election interference, Trump finally got to see Attorney General William Barr's primary conclusions from the investigation on Sunday. Barr's letter said that, while Trump wasn't exonerated, he wouldn't face charges following Mueller's report. But Trump has proceeded to flip that determination on its head, going so far as to say "the Mueller report was great" and "it could not have been better" on Tuesday.
Trump went on to claim the report declared there was "no obstruction" and "no collusion," adding to his Sunday tweet claiming Mueller's report concluded "total exoneration" in his favor. That's not true. Per Barr's letter, Mueller's investigation did not find that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia, but also left it up to Barr "to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime." Barr decided there wasn't enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Starbucks workers are planning their ‘biggest strike’ everThe Explainer The union said 92% of its members voted to strike
-
‘These wouldn’t be playgrounds for billionaires’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The 5 best nuclear war movies of all timeThe Week Recommends ‘A House of Dynamite’ reanimates a dormant cinematic genre for our new age of atomic insecurity
-
Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
