Trump fumes at Mueller after claiming exoneration

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - U.S. President Donald Trump raged Friday at Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report on Russian interference, one day after he claimed total exoneration.

"Statements are made about me by certain people in the Crazy Mueller Report, in itself written by 18 Angry Democrat Trump Haters, which are fabricated & totally untrue," Trump said on Twitter. "It was not necessary for me to respond to statements made in the “Report” about me, some of which are total bulls**t & only given to make the other person look good (or me to look bad)."

The president's comments are a far cry from his claim shortly before the report was made public that Mueller's team's work proved there was "No collusion. No obstruction."

While the special counsel determined there was a lack of evidence linking the Trump campaign to Russia's attempts to sway the 2016 election in Trump's favor, it was not as clear-cut on obstruction as the president suggested.

"The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment," Mueller wrote, noting he is not doing so based on department practice and significant constitutional latitude given to presidents on how they direct officials.

Still, he added that if his team was confident that Trump was clear of any possible obstruction, it would explicitly state so.

"Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment," the report says.

The version released to the public Thursday redacts certain material, including information pertaining to ongoing cases, and while Attorney General William Barr said ahead of its release that an unredacted version would be made available to a select group of bipartisan lawmakers, House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler subpoenaed the Justice Department for the full report and all underlying information.

"The redactions appear to be significant," Nadler said in a statement. "We have so far seen none of the actual evidence that the Special Counsel developed to make this case. Even the redacted version of the report outlines serious instances of wrongdoing by President Trump and some of his closest associates. It now falls to Congress to determine the full scope of that alleged misconduct."

Nadler set a May 1 deadline for the department to comply.