--- title: John Oliver Reports on Robert Mueller's "Incredible" Report description: "Some of the details in this report were incredible,” said John Oliver on Robert Mueller's report on Donald Trump's Administration. canonical: https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-04-22T12:43:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:08.383Z og:title: John Oliver Reports on Robert Mueller's "Incredible" Report og:description: "Some of the details in this report were incredible,” said Oliver og:url: https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Oliver Reports on Robert Mueller's "Incredible" Report twitter:description: "Some of the details in this report were incredible,” said Oliver twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # John Oliver Digs Into the 'Incredible' Mueller Report on _Last Week Tonight_ > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bef29928-a966-406b-b407-1fc628891435&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Trump Claims vs. Mueller Report Facts [Watch (HLS stream): Trump Claims vs. Mueller Report Facts](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fUwk0jSG.m3u8) (3:05)  _Published 2019-04-17. Trump Claims vs. Mueller Report Facts_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 22, 2019 12:43 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 22, 2019 12:43 PM UTC On Sunday night’s episode of _Last Week Tonight,_ John Oliver continued his investigation into what he calls “Stupid Watergate” in light of the release of [Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report](http://time.com/5567077/mueller-report-release/) on [Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election](http://time.com/5572927/mueller-report-elections-fixes/). While [Attorney General William Barr’s](http://time.com/5573085/attorney-general-william-barr-transcript-mueller-report/) preliminary summary of the report made it seem that Mueller’s investigation completely exonerated the president, Oliver disagreed. “Once the Mueller Report had actually been read,” Oliver told his audience, “it became clear that there was a lot in it.” According to Oliver, Trump was investigated for no fewer than 10 possible acts of obstruction of justice, with the report concluding, “If we had confidence … that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state,” which Oliver called “a pretty conspicuous non-exoneration.” In Oliver’s summation of the “incredible” report, Trump’s main defenses against obstruction of justice and collusion were “incompetence” and “disobedience”. For example, Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen attempted to reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press spokesman Dmitry Peskov, but sent the email to the wrong address. And at one point, Oliver noted, Cohen seemed to think Russian communications officer Dmitry Klokov — who had reached out to Ivanka Trump and the campaign — was actually an Olympic weightlifter of the same name. As Oliver noted, “When it comes to conspiracy, Trump’s saving grace may have been that, despite Russians wanting to help, everyone around them was too inept to work with them.” Trump’s other saving grace, according to Oliver, was that his own staff frequently disobeyed or outright ignored him. “The news that the President ordered subordinates to do things that might constitute obstruction, and then they just ignored him, is both reassuring and also terrifying,” Oliver said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/"},"headline":"John Oliver Digs Into the 'Incredible' Mueller Report on Last Week Tonight","datePublished":"2019-04-22T12:43:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:08.383Z","description":"\"Some of the details in this report were incredible,” said Oliver on Robert Mueller's report on Donald Trump's Administration","url":"https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Late Night Television","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight","onetime","mueller report"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/","name":"John Oliver Digs Into the 'Incredible' Mueller Report on Last Week Tonight"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Trump Claims vs. Mueller Report Facts","description":"Trump Claims vs. Mueller Report Facts","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fUwk0jSG/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-04-17T18:11:15.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fUwk0jSG.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/","duration":"PT3M5S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5575099/john-oliver-digs-into-the-incredible-mueller-report-on-last-week-tonight/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```