Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani attends a campaign rally for candidate for Governor Ron DeSantisin in South Daytona, Florida, U.S., November 4, 2018. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election was more positive than he had anticipated, based on the summary of the report released on Sunday.
“It’s better than I expected,” Giuliani said, adding that he would have a statement soon.
Mueller’s report, according to the summary by U.S. Attorney General William Barr, found no evidence President Donald Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia in the 2016 election. It also did not find that the president obstructed justice, though it did not exonerate him.
Barr said that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein then concluded there was insufficient evidence of obstruction.
“They got it right,” said Washington lawyer John Dowd, who served as Trump’s personal lawyer on the probe until March 2018. “I’m just very, very happy for the president.”
“It’s been an awful two years, in my opinion wholly unjustified,” Dowd told Reuters.
Mueller spent nearly two years investigating allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 election.
The report also outlines the Russian effort to influence the election and document crimes by people associated with Russia in connection with that, Barr said.
Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Leslie Adler