On May 17, 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel after the FBI began investigating Russian election interference and links involving Donald Trump’s campaign. Mueller’s report, delivered to Attorney General William Barr on March 22, 2019, concluded that the Russian Internet Research Agency ran a social-media influence campaign favoring Trump and attacking Hillary Clinton, while Russian intelligence hacked Democratic campaign and party organizations and released damaging material. The operation targeted public trust in the U.S. electoral system, using online platforms as instruments of covert political manipulation.
The investigation identified numerous links between the Russian government and Trump’s campaign and found that campaign members expected to benefit electorally from the hacking, but it did not establish that the campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government. The probe nevertheless produced charges against 34 individuals and three companies, eight guilty pleas, and one trial conviction, including cases involving former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Mueller’s report, publicly released in a redacted form on April 18, 2019, also documented ten episodes potentially involving obstruction by Trump, leaving Congress—not prosecutors—to assess that issue under Justice Department policy barring indictment of a sitting president.
