Robert
S. Mueller III served as special counsel for the Justice Department from 2017
to 2019.
The
work of the special counsel’s office — its report, indictments, guilty pleas
and convictions — should speak for itself. But I feel compelled to respond both
to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were
improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office.
The Russia investigation was of paramount importance. Stone was prosecuted and
convicted because he committed federal crimes. He remains a convicted felon,
and rightly so.
Russia’s
actions were a threat to America’s democracy. It was critical that they be
investigated and understood. By late 2016, the FBI had evidence that the
Russians had signaled to a Trump campaign adviser that they could assist the
campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to the
Democratic candidate. And the FBI knew that the Russians had done just that:
Beginning in July 2016, WikiLeaks released emails stolen by Russian
military intelligence officers from the Clinton campaign. Other online personas
using false names — fronts for Russian military intelligence — also released
Clinton campaign emails.
Following
FBI Director James B. Comey’s termination in May 2017, the acting attorney general named
me as special counsel and directed the special counsel’s office to investigate
Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The order specified
lines of investigation for us to pursue, including any links or coordination
between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump
campaign. One of our cases involved Stone, an official on the campaign until
mid-2015 and a supporter of the campaign throughout 2016. Stone became a
central figure in our investigation for two key reasons: He communicated in
2016 with individuals known to us to be Russian intelligence officers, and he
claimed advance knowledge of WikiLeaks’ release of emails stolen by those
Russian intelligence officers.
We
now have a detailed picture of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential
election. The special counsel’s office identified two principal operations
directed at our election: hacking and dumping Clinton campaign emails, and an
online social media campaign to disparage the Democratic candidate. We also
identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump campaign
personnel — Stone among them. We did not establish that members of the Trump
campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities. The
investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it
would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome. It
also established that the campaign expected it would benefit electorally from
information stolen and released through Russian efforts.
Uncovering
and tracing Russian outreach and interference activities was a complex task.
The investigation to understand these activities took two years and substantial
effort. Based on our work, eight individuals pleaded guilty or were convicted
at trial, and more than two dozen Russian individuals and entities, including
senior Russian intelligence officers, were charged with federal crimes.
Congress
also investigated and sought information from Stone. A jury later determined he
lied repeatedly to members of Congress. He lied about the identity of his
intermediary to WikiLeaks. He lied about the existence of written
communications with his intermediary. He lied by denying he had communicated
with the Trump campaign about the timing of WikiLeaks’ releases. He in fact
updated senior campaign officials repeatedly about WikiLeaks. And he tampered
with a witness, imploring him to stonewall Congress.
The
jury ultimately convicted Stone of obstruction of a congressional
investigation, five counts of making false statements to Congress and tampering
with a witness. Because his sentence has been commuted, he will not go to
prison. But his conviction stands.
Russian
efforts to interfere in our political system, and the essential question of
whether those efforts involved the Trump campaign, required investigation. In
that investigation, it was critical for us (and, before us, the FBI) to obtain
full and accurate information. Likewise, it was critical for Congress to obtain
accurate information from its witnesses. When a subject lies to investigators,
it strikes at the core of the government’s efforts to find the truth and hold
wrongdoers accountable. It may ultimately impede those efforts.
We
made every decision in Stone’s case, as in all our cases, based solely on the
facts and the law and in accordance with the rule of law. The women and men who
conducted these investigations and prosecutions acted with the highest
integrity. Claims to the contrary are false.
-Robert
S. Mueller III
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