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Russia collusion ‘debunked’

Mueller probe finds Russia tried to interfere in 2016 US Presidential polls.

Washington: Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 US presidential polls, according to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe which did not find any evidence that members of the Trump campaign “conspired or coordinated” with Moscow, Attorney General William Barr said on Thursday.

The special counsel’s report states that his “investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Barr told reporters at a crowded news conference here.

Briefing reporters on the details of the recently concluded Mueller investigations, Barr said the report makes clear, the Russian government sought to interfere in American elections. “But thanks to the special counsel’s thorough investigation, we now know that the Russian operatives who perpetrated these schemes did not have the cooperation of President Trump or the Trump campaign — or the knowing assistance of any other Americans for that matter,” he said.

The report details efforts by the Internet Research Agency, a Russian company with close ties to the Russian government, to sow social discord among American voters through disinformation and social media operations.

Following a thorough investigation of this disinformation campaign, Mueller brought charges in federal court against several Russian nationals and entities for their respective roles in this scheme. Those charges are pending, and individual defendants remain at large, Barr said.

“But special counsel found no evidence that any Americans — including anyone associated with the Trump campaign — conspired or coordinated with the Russian government or the IRA in carrying out this illegal scheme,” he said. It details efforts by Russian military officials associated with the GRU (Russian intelligence agency) to hack into computers and steal documents and emails from individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton for the purpose of eventually publicising those emails, he said.

Asserting that obtaining such unauthorised access into computers is a federal crime, he said following a thorough probe, Mueller brought charges in federal court against several Russian military officers for illegal hacking activities. "But again...there was no evidence of Trump campaign ‘collusion’ with the Russian government’s hacking," Barr said.

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