The findings from Special Counsel Robert Mueller mean talk of impeaching President Trump are likely over, according to Garrett Graff, a Vermont-based reporter who’s followed Mueller's career for years.
Attorney General William Barr's summary of Mueller’s report says the investigation did not find evidence of coordination between Trump’s campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election.
Barr says Mueller was inconclusive on obstruction of justice, noting in his summary the investigation “does not exonerate” Trump.
Reporter Garrett Graff has covered the special counsel for years and wrote a book about Mueller’s years leading the FBI.
Graff tells Vermont Edition that, even as many call for the full report's release, Trump has likely avoided the biggest challenge to his office.
"I think Democrats will not be satisfied without seeing the report, for good reason," Graff says. "At the same time, I think that this very much and very solidly takes impeachment off the table for the next two years.”
Graff says Barr’s summary raises as many questions as it answers, including multiple members of the campaign lying about their contacts with Russian officials.
The end of Mueller's investigation is not the end of President Trump’s legal worries. More than a dozen investigations in D.C., New York and Virginia are underway into Trump’s business and campaign.
Listen to the full interview above to hear more about the Mueller investigation, Barr's summary, what the findings mean for President Trump and what the "baffling number of questions" Graff says are left unanswered about Mueller's investigation at this point.
Disclosure: Graff is a member of VPR's Board of Directors.
Update 3/26/19 8:49 a.m. The original headline was updated to now include attribution to Graff.
Broadcast live on Monday, March 25, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
