'The case is closed!': Trump continues to claim vindication after Mueller speaks

Image: Donald Trump
President Donald Trump, speaks during a news conference at Akasaka Palace on May 27, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan. Copyright Kiyoshi Ota Pool via Getty Images
By Dartunorro Clark with NBC News Politics
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Mueller on Wednesday repeated his conclusion that he was bound by Justice Department rules that prohibit charging a sitting president with a crime.

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued to claim vindication in the Russia investigation moments after special counsel Robert Mueller gave his first public comments on the probe.

"Nothing changes from the Mueller Report," Trump tweeted. "There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed! Thank you."

Mueller said Wednesday that he did not come to a traditional prosecutorial decision on whether Trump obstructed justice in his report and repeated his conclusion that he was bound by Justice Department rules that prohibit charging a sitting president with a crime.

"If we had had confidence that he clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so," Mueller said. "We did not, however, make a determination to whether the president did commit a crime."

"The Constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing," Mueller added, referring to the constitutional provisions for impeaching and convicting a president.

Mueller also said Wednesday that his report "speaks for itself" and that "the report is my testimony," suggesting that any testimony of his before Congress would not provide information "beyond what is already public."

Mueller said that when it came to his report, his team "chose those words carefully and the work speaks for itself."

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