There were "no surprises" in outgoing special counsel Robert Mueller's comments about his team's investigation into President Donald Trump and Russia on Wednesday, as he repeated "essentially" there was no collusion, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
"He said it was completed, case closed," Sanders told Fox News' "Outnumbered Overtime." "He's shutting down his office and moving on going back to his private life. We think it's great that he's doing that, and we hope everybody else does that as well."
Sanders also said she does not think Mueller was trying to say his hands were tied when it comes to charging Trump with a crime because he already determined he did not have a problem conducting his investigation.
"Let's not forget what this investigation, the entire purpose of it, the entire existence of the special counsel and this process, was to determine whether or not there was collusion," Sanders said. "There was no question he was clear on the fact there was no collusion. He didn't just make that determination on a whim."
Mueller also determined there was not enough evidence for him to decide on obstruction charges, Sanders said, so Attorney General William Barr and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein made that decision, based on Mueller's report.
"If Bob Mueller had thought there was wrongdoing and was sure of it, he would have had a moral obligation to say that," Sanders said. "In fact, he did the opposite. He concluded that there was no collusion, there was no conspiracy, left the determination about obstruction up to the attorney general because he couldn't find enough to make that determination himself."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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