Trump Claims 'EXONERATION' After Release Of Mueller Report's Main Conclusions

President Donald Trump touted “total exoneration” after the release of Attorney General William Barr’s summary of Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Barr shared his summary of Mueller’s investigation with Congress on Sunday after receiving the probe on Friday. Others on Trump’s White House team celebrated Barr’s letter to lawmakers, including Vice President Mike Pence , Dan Scavino,  the director of social media, and press secretary Sarah Sanders .

Members of Trump’s family celebrated Barr’s letter by attacking media outlets. Eric Trump, one of the president’s son, mocked CNN  in a tweet. Donald Trump Jr. , the president’s eldest son, released a statement criticizing “Collusion Truthers in the media and the Democrat Party.”

Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, praised the findings for “exposing the Russia collusion conspiracy theory for the sham that it always was and catching Democrats in an elaborate web of lies and deceit.”

Whether the report’s full contents ever see the light of day remains in doubt. After the probe’s completion, Mueller’s team was required to send its report to Barr, who was required to make at least some parts of it available to members of the House and Senate Judiciary committees. But Barr is not required to release the whole report to the public.

Nearly two years’ worth of investigation provided plenty of time for the U.S. public to grow restless. Communicating largely through court filings, the special counsel hinted at the details of a Russian plot to tip the election in Trump’s favor, but the full extent of his findings was impossible to tell.

Since his appointment in May of 2017, Mueller’s team charged three companies and 34 people in the course of his investigation . Several were close to Trump, including Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney and fixer; Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman; and Roger Stone, his longtime adviser. A whopping 26 were Russian nationals.

In his first public statement about Mueller following the creation of the special counsel’s team, the president offered a measured response: “As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. I look forward to this matter concluding quickly.”

But as the probe crept quietly along, Trump regularly bashed it and attempted to spin it as a partisan stunt, usually in response to headlines in the news on a given day. Over Twitter and in his comments to the press, the president repeatedly and with increasing force called the investigation a “hoax,” a “witch hunt” and an example of the “presidential harassment” he claims to have endured since taking office.

This story has been updated with additional reaction from Trump allies.