--- title: Sanders: Report 'Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Vagueness description: Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the findings of Robert Mueller's Special Counsel probe "a complete and total exoneration" of President Trump. canonical: https://time.com/5558023/trump-mueller-report-barr-sarah-sanders/ author: Suyin Haynes article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-25T12:26:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T23:07:46.171Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sanders: Mueller Report a 'Complete and Total Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Uncertainty og:description: Democrats and others want the full report made public og:url: https://time.com/5558023/trump-mueller-report-barr-sarah-sanders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbe864a307f2c18f/6989474697cdff12176b78c9/gettyimages-1098348424.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5472 og:image:height: 3078 og:image:alt: White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders Speaks To The Media At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sanders: Mueller Report a 'Complete and Total Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Uncertainty twitter:description: Democrats and others want the full report made public twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbe864a307f2c18f/6989474697cdff12176b78c9/gettyimages-1098348424.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sarah Huckabee Sanders Calls Mueller Report a 'Complete and Total Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Uncertainty > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Mar 25, 2019 12:26 PM UTC  White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks to reporters following a television interview with FOX News outside the White House January 23, 2019 in Washington, DC. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks to reporters following a television interview with FOX News outside the White House January 23, 2019 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Mar 25, 2019 12:26 PM UTC White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday called the [findings of Robert Mueller’s investigation](http://time.com/5557779/bill-barr-mueller-report-congress-conclusions/) into Russian collusion “a complete and total exoneration” of President Donald Trump, echoing Trump’s own words on the subject over the weekend. But, while Mueller’s investigation did not find evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, it left unanswered whether Trump obstructed justice during the course of the probe, according to a [summary](http://time.com/5557779/bill-barr-mueller-report-congress-conclusions/) of Mueller’s report from Attorney General William Barr. The report itself has not been made public. In an interview on NBC’s _TODAY Show_ with Savannah Guthrie, Sanders called Mueller’s probe “a two-year waste of taxpayer time and dollars” and that it was “something frankly that should never have happened.” When asked by Guthrie whether Trump’s claim that the investigation’s findings were a “[total exoneration](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1109918388133023744)” was incorrect, Sanders doubled down on Trump’s view. “Because the Special Counsel said they couldn’t make a decision one way or the other, the way the process works is that they leave that up to the Attorney General.” > [](https://twitter.com/TODAYshow/status/1110138726548676610) “In the legal community, when you can’t convict somebody on something, you’re legally exonerating them,” Sanders said, though Guthrie pushed back on that argument as well. Sanders also dismissed criticism of [Barr](http://time.com/5557096/william-barr-mueller-report/)‘s summary, saying that his final conclusion that Trump had not crossed any legal boundaries was made in conjunction with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and followed the process of the law. Democrats have been quick to seize upon the point that Mueller’s report does not exonerate Trump with regards to obstruction. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over the weekend called for the full release of Mueller’s report and its underlying documents, arguing that “Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5558023/trump-mueller-report-barr-sarah-sanders/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5558023/trump-mueller-report-barr-sarah-sanders/"},"headline":"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Calls Mueller Report a 'Complete and Total Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Uncertainty","datePublished":"2019-03-25T12:26:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T23:07:46.171Z","description":"Democrats and others want the full report made public","url":"https://time.com/5558023/trump-mueller-report-barr-sarah-sanders/","keywords":["White House","onetime","mueller report"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbe864a307f2c18f/6989474697cdff12176b78c9/gettyimages-1098348424.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suyin Haynes","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfbe864a307f2c18f/6989474697cdff12176b78c9/gettyimages-1098348424.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders Speaks To The Media At The White House","caption":"White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders Speaks To The Media At The White House","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5558023/trump-mueller-report-barr-sarah-sanders/","name":"Sarah Huckabee Sanders Calls Mueller Report a 'Complete and Total Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Uncertainty"}}]}] ```