Mueller report finds no collusion between Trump and Russia

US justice department special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that US President Donald Trump did not collude with Russia during the campaign of the 2016 general elections, but did not exonerate him from allegations that he might have obstructed justice.

In a letter sent to Congress following a 22-month long probe, US attorney-general William Barr said Mueller “did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or co-ordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 US presidential election”.

However, on whether Trump obstructed justice, in the letter delivered on Sunday afternoon, Barr said: “The special counsel states that 'while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it does not exonerate him'."

So while no proof was found that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia, the possibility that Trump obstructed justice by undermining the investigations had apparently not been completely ruled out.

The president, who had regularly said the investigation was an uncalled for “witch hunt” orchestrated by the opposition, tweeted on Sunday: “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!”.

“It was just announced there was no collusion with Russia [...] There was no obstruction,” Trump said on Sunday. “It was a complete and total exoneration. It's a shame that our country had to go through this [...] This was an illegal takedown that failed.”

According to Reuters, his democratic opponents expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome and vowed to continue congressional probes into the President's actions and personal business affairs.

In a joint statement, House leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said the conclusions raised “as many questions as it answers”.

“For the president to say he is completely exonerated directly contradicts the words of Mr Mueller and is not to be taken with any degree of credibility,” they said.

“Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents so that the committees can proceed with their independent work, including oversight and legislating to address any issues the Mueller report may raise. The American people have a right to know.”

Trump was still facing a panoply of other inquiries, some stemming from Mueller’s original investigation, including the case against Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, as well as a probe into Trump’s inaugural committee.

Although Mueller did not manage to find proof of Trump's direct meddling with the 2016 elections, over the course of the 22-month long investigation he did charge Donald Trump's lawyer of 12 years, Michael Cohen with jail time of three years for crimes including tax and bank fraud, lying to Congress and arranging payments funded from campaign donations to silence women who threatened Trump's presidential run, which was in violation of campaign finance law.

Legal documents taken from Cohen had revealed that in 2015 he had discussed a potential meeting between Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

More recently, the president's inaugural committee received a subpoena from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in an ongoing criminal investigations into the inauguration’s money practices.

Since last year, there have been reports that Mueller was also investigating potential foreign donations to the inaugural committee.

Trump’s inaugural committee raised an astonishing $106.7m (double than the previous record set by Obama in 2009) and there have long been doubts regarding the source of the money and where it went.