--- 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: 2026-10-13T08:26:12.305Z 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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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=33d2778c-9de0-4d47-a6d8-67fc37599b89&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Calls Mueller Report a 'Complete and Total Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Uncertainty [Watch (HLS stream): Sarah Huckabee Sanders Calls Mueller Report a 'Complete and Total Exoneration' Despite Obstruction Uncertainty](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Kp29dwqH.m3u8) (1:10)  _Published 2019-03-25. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday called the findings of Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian collusion “a complete and total exoneration” of President Donald Trump._ by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Mar 25, 2019 12:26 PM UTC 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.” ## Transcript Well, I, frankly disagree with you and so does the Attorney General and the deputy attorney general. The report found that they were unable to make a decision that went over to the Department of Justice where they did make a decision. The Attorney General followed the legal process. He worked with the Deputy Attorney General, who's been involved since the very beginning of this Two year absurdity and they made a decision that there was no obstruction. So that makes it a complete and total exoneration. I don't know any other way to look at it when the whole purpose of this investigation was to determine whether or not there was collusion The President has spoken on this already. He wants full transparency as he does in everything everyday. However, that decision is being left up to the attorney general. He'll make that determination when he's ready. One thing we do want to be careful about and be clear Is that we want to do the right thing, not just for this President, but for all administrations. We want to make sure we're protecting the office of the presidency. We have to look at things like executive privilege. We have to look at protecting sources and methods for the intelligence community. Those are things that you're gonna see the attorney general determine and he'll make that decision. 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