Mueller report conclusion on no conspiracy between Trump staff, Russia could not have been different - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax) - The main conclusion made in the report by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller that there was no conspiracy between the Donald Trump campaign staff and Russia was inevitable, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"The main conclusion that there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign staff and Russia simply could not have been any different. It is surprising, however, that to make this conclusion, it has taken a team of 19 law experts, 40 FBI agents, criminalists, and other employees nearly two years of work, during which 2,800 subpoenas have been issued, 500 witnesses questioned, and as many searches conducted," the ministry said in a commentary on Monday.
"That is, disproving an obvious fake has taken colossal efforts and apparently quite a significant amount of taxpayers' money," it said.
"Since the moment the first allegations of Russian meddling were made nearly three years ago, Moscow has pointed out that they were absolutely farfetched," it said.
"All this time, Russia has been asking for any facts that confirm this; firstly from the previous Washington administration that published this lie, and then from the incumbent U.S. authorities. The Mueller investigation has also failed to provide any evidence of Moscow's responsibility for notorious cyberattacks and other attempts to 'undermine American democracy', which Russia has been endlessly accused of," it said.
"Moscow has long been inviting Washington to discuss possible complaints regarding influence on voting processes in a professional way. In particular, we have regularly brought up the issue of reestablishing a cyber security taskforce, but the U.S. has been dodging this, as it has nothing to uphold its unwarranted assertions with," it said.
"We hope that one day, Washington will work up the courage to officially admit that, apart from the fact that there was no collusion whatsoever, all insinuations about 'Russian influence' are just a groundless malicious slander thought up to be used in the U.S.' own domestic political struggle," the commentary said.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr presented a letter to the U.S. Congress on Sunday, in which he summed up the findings of the investigation conducted by U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the alleged Russian connection to Donald Trump's electoral campaign.
According to the document, Mueller found no firm evidence that Trump or his team had colluded with the Russian government with a view to impeding the 2016 election. The letter also indicates that Mueller came to no certain conclusion as to whether Trump had obstructed justice or not.