Explainer: Did Trump obstruct justice? Here's how the case might look like

Mueller's investigation into Trump campaign's numerous contacts with Russia and whether he committed obstruction of justice has cast a cloud over his presidency heading into his 2020 re-election bid

A key element of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into Russia’s role in the 2016 US. election was whether President Donald Trump unlawfully acted to impede the investigation, a crime known as obstruction of justice.

According to US Attorney General William Barr, Mueller’s nearly 400-page report on his findings presents evidence on both sides of the question, and while it “does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

But Barr, two days after Mueller submitted the confidential report on March 22, told US. lawmakers in a four-page letter that he as attorney general concluded that