Trump jubilates as Special Counsel Mueller finds no evidence of Russia collusion

An ecstatic President Donald Trump fired a tweet on Sunday to celebrate the end of a nearly two-year investigation that found him not guilty of collusion with Russians during the 2016 presidential elections in the United States.

Mr Trump has been extremely critical of the highly publicised probe that commenced shortly after he was elected in November 2016.

Robert Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was appointed a special counsel to oversee the inquiry.

“The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” Mr Mueller was quoted as stating in a four-page excerpt of his report circulated on Sunday by U.S. Attorney-General William Barr.

“No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION,” Trump tweeted. “KEEP AMERICA GREAT,” Mr Trump tweeted shortly after the disclosure Sunday.

Although Mr Mueller was unambiguous in his exoneration of Mr Trump on the Russian collusion allegations, his report left open the critical question about whether or not the president was culpable in obstruction of justice.

Mr Trump heavily criticised Mr Mueller in scores of tweets and public comments since the investigation commenced.

He described the investigation as a witch-hunt, and there were reports he mulled firing Mr Mueller at some point.

Now that the final submission cleared him of any wrongdoing in collusion, Mr Trump and his fellow Republicans have been quick to embrace Mr Mueller.

Democrats quickly downplayed the report as only one of several serious investigations into Mr Trump’s activities, and said they would now shift focus to those.

Mr Mueller’s office indicted about 37 persons, including top aides and associates of Mr Trump, in the course of his probe.

Some of them, like Paul Manafort, were exposed for their shady foreign deals, mostly with Russians and Ukrainians, during the collusion probe, but were not found culpable of facilitating foreign interference in American elections.

American media reported on Sunday that Mr Trump might consider pardoning all his associates who were indicted by Mr Mueller because he saw them as a victim of a larger investigation that ultimately amounted to nothing.