There was substantial evidence of criminal intent by the president , in his view. Were going to see bob mueller walk out and were going to be watching for is he alone, is mr. Barr behind him or in the room, what are the first words that bob mueller wants to publicly utter . A man who is reticent, sometimes to a fault his supporters say. He clearly has something to say. Does he in any way elude to or cite what we know to be major disagreements with mr. Barr about what mueller found in his investigation and about evidence about sitting the president. Here we have for the first time publicly in more than two years Robert Mueller. Thank you for being here. Two years ago the Acting Attorney General asked me to sv as Special Counsel. And he created the special
counsels office. The appointed directed the office to investigate russian interference in the 2016 president ial election. This included investigating any links or coordination between the russian government and individuals associated
apprised of the progress of our work. as said forth in the report after, that investigation 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 commit a crime. the introduction to the volume two of our report explains that decision. it explains that under long standing department policy a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. even if the charge is kept under seal and hissdden from public view, that too is prohibited. the special counsel s office is part of the department of justice and by regulation, it was bound by that department policy. charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider.
crimes, mueller would have said so. two from the outset mueller was restrained from recommending criminal charges against trump by a doj policy that holds you cannot indict a sitting president. and three, the special counsel clearly intended for congress, not attorney general william barr, to make the decision on what to do with the findings of his probe, particularly around the incidents of obstruction detailed in the second volume. here is some of that extraordinary statement from robert mueller today. 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 commit a crime. the introduction to volume two of our report explains that decision. it explains that under long-standing department policy a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional.
he s saying don t lose sight of this, the fact we re talking about obstruction of justice and the president should not go unattended to. it is at the heart of everything that our justice system and our democracy is about, i think he s calling attention to that. i think it s important that he praise the integrity of the prosecutors and investigators who work with him. we don t hear it often enough from the department of justice but you heard it from mueller today. a quick reminder here. this is the sound bite that probably is going to get a great deal of attention from robert mueller, which is what he said a few moments ago as it related to evidence against the president. take a listen. we do not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. the introduction to the volume two of our report explains that decision. it explains that under long-standing department policy a president cannot be charged
said so. we did not, however, make a determination as to whether the president did commit a crime. the introduction to the volume two of our report explains that decision. it explains that under long-standing department policy a president cannot be charged with a federal crime while he is in office. that is unconstitutional. even if the charge is kept under seal and hidden from public view, that, too, is prohibited. the special counsel s office is part of the department of justice and by regulation it was bound by that department policy. charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider. mueller added that while his work may be complete, future actions could still be taken by those outside of the justice department. the opinion says that the