DISINFO: Mueller report presents no traces of Russian interference in US elections
SUMMARY
Mueller report presents no traces of Russian interference in US elections. Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller had spent almost two years investigating whether Trump’s 2016 election campaign team had colluded with Russia and whether this had led to obstructions of justice. At the end of March, he presented his final report, according to which no conclusive evidence of a crime could be found.
RESPONSE
Recurring narrative on Russian interference in 2016 US elections. Although Robert Mueller's investigation was concluded with no proof of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, it did conclude that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Mueller's report determined that there were "two main Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election". It led to US senators' proposals to extend sanctions on Russia to deter it from further election meddling. The claim that the report provides no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion is spurious. Gathering evidence of "collusion" - which is not a legal concept - fell outside the scope of the investigation. The aim of the probe was not merely to ascertain contacts between the Trump Campaign and Russia-linked individuals during the election period, but to establish whether these interactions were deliberate enough on the part of Trump Campaign officials to sustain charges of conspiracy (p. 2). In fact, the report explicitly identifies "numerous links between individuals with ties to the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump Campaign" (p. 9). A number of these individuals later "made false statements about those contacts and took other steps to obstruct" the probe (p. 180). See further debunking by The Insider.