WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe and related investigations have been more damaging to US democracy than Russia’s attempt to interfere in the 2016 presidential election via a handful of social media ads, White House Adviser Jared Kushner said at an event on Tuesday.
"The investigations and all the speculation that has happened for the last two years has had a much harsher impact on democracy than a couple Facebook ads," Kushner said during the Time 100 event. "I think the ensuing investigations have been way more harmful to our country."
Mueller’s report, released last week, claimed that Russia interfered in the 2016 US election in systemic fashion in favour of then-candidate Donald Trump. However, the report also said that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Several Democrats in Congress have claimed the findings provide evidence that Trump committed crimes, citing ten episodes in the report that Mueller said may constitute obstruction of justice by the president.
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US Attorney General William Barr said on Thursday that the evidence provided in the Mueller report was insufficient to raise Trump’s actions to the level of an obstruction of justice offence.
Moscow denies that Russian officials attempted to sway US voters in the 2016 election, saying the allegations were made up to excuse the election loss of Trump’s opponent as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.
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