On Tuesday, a newly-released report from The Washington Post revealed that while special counsel Robert Mueller continues to investigate President Donald Trump, he does not consider him a criminal target.
The Post’s report, corroborated by multiple people familiar with the matter, says that Mueller informed Trump’s attorneys last month that he views Trump “as a subject of his investigation.” The Post adds:
Prosecutors view someone as a subject when that person has engaged in conduct that is under investigation but there is not sufficient evidence to bring charges.
The report says that Mueller told Trump’s attorneys that he needs to interview the president to understand if there was any “corrupt intent” to end his investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and to bring to an end this part of his investigation.
The only member of Trump’s staff that would speak about The Post’s report was White House attorney Ty Cobb, who said, “Thank you, but I don’t discuss communications with the president or with the Office of Special Counsel.”
A report from Axios last month suggested that Mueller was no longer investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, but that the investigation was primarily focused on events that happened after the election. The report said that Mueller’s interest in post-election events indicated that he is focused on “obstruction of justice while in office, rather than collusion with Russia during the campaign.”