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What began with the bombshell firing of then-FBI Director James Comey nearly two years ago ended in a Friday night news dump. After 2,800 subpoenas and 500 witness interviews, the Mueller investigation has come to a close.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his final report from the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election to Attorney General Anthony Barr on last Friday. While the full report has not been released to Congress or made public, Barr did release a four-page document summarizing Mueller’s findings on Sunday.

The main conclusions of the Mueller report are two-fold. First, Mueller’s team “did not establish that members of the Trump 2016 Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” In other words, as President Trump has become fond of saying, there was indeed “no collusion.”

Regarding the allegations that President Trump obstructed justice during the investigation into Russian interference, the Mueller report is more ambiguous. Mueller and his team of prosecutors could not find sufficient evidence to prove beyond a doubt that President Trump willfully acted to obstruct the investigation. However, while Mueller’s report “does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Mueller’s report does not recommend any further indictments as part of the Russian investigation.

President Trump was quick to declare a political win from the Mueller investigation. In a statement to reporters he called the report a “complete and total exoneration.” Even in victory, Trump lambasted the Mueller investigation as an “illegal takedown that failed.”

Leading Republicans joined Trump in applauding the investigation’s findings. Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that “the President and millions of his supporters have been completely vindicated.” In a statement released to Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated that “thousands of subpoenas, hundreds of search warrants, hundreds of witnesses, [and] millions of taxpayer dollars” led to three conclusions: “No collusion. No conspiracy. No obstruction.”

Other Republican senators used the report’s findings as a way to attack the Democrats. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tweeted that it was a “bad day for those hoping the Mueller investigation would take President Trump down.” Senator Marco Rubio of Florida tweeted that “some partisans are reacting with hysteria and disappointment” to the report’s findings, then followed with another tweet referencing a Bible passage about “bearing false witness.”

Leading Democrats have pushed back against Republican posturing in the wake of the Mueller investigation. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer released a joint statement emphasizing that the report does not exonerate Trump from crimes of obstructing justice. They have joined a chorus of Democrats calling for Attorney General Barr to release the full report, rather than his short summary of the report’s findings.

Democrats who hoped the Mueller investigation would work as a silver bullet to oust Trump from the White House were always going to be disappointed. Mueller and his team would have had to uncover irrefutable evidence showing that Donald Trump’s campaign established a relationship with Russia in an effort to undermine the legitimacy of the 2016 election. They would have also needed proof that Donald Trump knew about and authorized such a relationship. Mueller’s report clearly states that he found no such evidence.

Many Democrats are not happy with the summary and have demanded access to the full report. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

With no evidence supporting accusations of collusion, the case for obstruction of justice took a blow as well. Obstruction of justice is a notoriously hard charge to prove; Mueller would have had to prove that Trump fired Comey with the specific intent of obstructing the Russia investigation. In addition, obstruction charges usually apply to the cover-up of a crime. Since Mueller found no evidence that Trump colluded with Russia, it was unlikely that he tried to block the investigation of a crime he did not commit.

Yet if this a victory for Trump, it is a hollow one. The two-year investigation into his campaign’s activities and their potential relationship with Russia damaged his political legitimacy and credibility. Some of his closest aides, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort, personal lawyer Michael Cohen, national security advisor Michael Flynn, and political confidante Roger Stone were all charged as part of the investigation. The constant news coverage of Mueller’s work further eroded public trust in the president. Trump’s frequent tweets calling the probe a “witch hunt” did not project an image of stability and only fueled speculation that he had something to hide. Exoneration from collusion will not instantly reverse the corrosion of stability within the Trump administration.

Both sides of the political spectrum can take small victories from the Mueller report. The Trump 2020 campaign has already sent out emails calling the investigation a “COLLUSION HOAX.” They will cast Trump as a president who wants to focus on the business of running a country but has instead been forced to defend himself against an unjust investigation. The Democrats will latch onto Mueller’s inconclusive findings with regard obstruction of justice to suggest that Trump did seek to stall or scuttle the Russia probe, and that he is not a trustworthy and upstanding leader. The thirty-four indictments resulting from the Mueller investigation give them plenty of evidence to support their argument.

Republicans now believe more than ever that Donald Trump is the innocent victim of an unjust witch-hunt. Democrats remain convinced that, even if Trump did not collude with the Russians, he did obstruct justice. In that regard, the Mueller investigation has been a two-year media and political spectacle that has further polarized the political landscape without providing any satisfying answers. While the investigation is over, the spectacle will continue.

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