'The Mueller report was great,' Trump says


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.
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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
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