Washington DC, May 30: United States special counsel Robert Mueller has announced on Wednesday his resignation from the department of justice after presenting his first public statement since the cease of a 22-month long probe into the alleged Russian interference in 2016 US presidential election.
According to ANI news reports, Mueller, in a statement over the probe into Russia meddling, said he was also shutting the office of the special counsel.
Mueller’s resignation announcement has come amidst mounting demands for him to testify before the US Congress on Capitol Hill about his probe findings and tensions with Attorney-General William Barr over the handling of the report.
Earlier today, Mueller has claimed the report is his testimony, adding he expects and hopes Wednesday is the “only time” that would speak about the report, but however, “any testimony from (his) office would not go beyond the report”.
In April, a redacted copy of the Mueller probe report was publically released which concluded there wasn’t conspiracy between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. However, Mueller refused to produce a judgement over whether Trump had obstructed justice.
AG William Barr, along with ex-AG Rod Rosenstein determined the US president had not violated the law.
Mueller further stated charging Trump was never an option for him or his prosecuting team, while citing guidelines of the justice department that prohibits charging current nation’s president. He told reporters, “Charging the president with a crime was … not an option we could consider.”
Mueller was quoted as saying, “We concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime.” He added, “If we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did or did not.”
Press secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted the White House statement on the special counsel’s statement today, where she wrote the report was clear that there was no conclusion and no conspiracy and that the justice department confirmed there was no obstruction.
White House Statement on Mueller statement today: pic.twitter.com/f5TXzf3Qpd
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) May 29, 2019
The US president also tweeted “nothing changed”, shortly after Mueller’s statement.
Nothing changes from the Mueller Report. There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed! Thank you.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2019
Meanwhile, Mueller’s statement ramped up calls for the impeachment proceedings against Trump, a move which the Democrats have halted.