The Associated Press reports that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday that the Mueller report failed to offer proof that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. He said that the Kremlin rejects the accusations that the Russian state meddled in the US election and pointed out that there is “no evidence substantiated by any facts”. He further stressed that Putin denies the accusations of interference “because there was none.”
According to Reuters, while on the conference call with reporters, Peskov said, “In general, the report still does not include any reasonable evidence at all that Russia allegedly interfered in the U.S. election. We, as before, do not accept such allegations.”
The Kremlin spokesman spoke of Russia’s regrets that the Mueller report is impacting its relationship with the US. “We regret that a document of this quality is having a direct impact on the development of bilateral Russian-U.S. relations that are already not in the best condition,” Peskov said.
While Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the information committee of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, mocked the Mueller investigation for failing to prove collusion between the Kremlin and President Trump while spending millions of taxpayer dollars, Russian media rejected Mueller’s findings as they related to Russian interference, per the AP.
Russia state TV said the Mueller report lacks credibility because it did not release specific files or the content of hacked emails. The Rossiya program Vesti. Economy said, “The Mueller probe was an attempt to threaten the current government and influence U.S. foreign policy without offering any specific evidence.”
While the Mueller report found that no members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Kremlin and that no actions of President Trump or his circle rose to the legal definition of criminal conspiracy, it did say that Trump campaign officials had an expectation of benefiting from Russia’s support for Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Per The Hill, Mueller’s report notes instances of Russian officials attempting to reach out to the Trump campaign via “business connections, offers of assistance to the Campaign, invitations for candidate Trump and Putin to meet in person, invitations for Campaign officials and representatives of the Russian government to meet, and policy positions seeking improved U.S.-Russian relations.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee, headed at the time by GOP Senator Richard Burr, issued a report in July 2018 supporting the Intelligence Community Assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, saying the committee found the conclusions drawn by the intelligence agencies “were well-supported and the tradecraft was strong.”
That assessment concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the U.S. presidential election and that Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump while having a goal to undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency.
Robert Mueller, on February 16, 2018, indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations for their efforts to influence the 2016 election. The DOJ, on July 13, 2018, indicted twelve Russian GRU officers for their involvement in the DNC email leak. In addition, Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukrainian with ties to Russian intelligence, was indicted on charges of obstructing justice and witness tampering. Kilimnik is a close business associate of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager.
Paul Manafort, in addition to being found guilty on eight charges and pleading guilty to others and being sentenced to several years in prison, has been ordered to forfeit more than $22 million in property and cash, offsetting more than half of the cost of the Mueller investigation.
