The process and outcome of the Mueller report are not the interpretative mystery that swirling commentaries and reactions are projecting. The special counsel ‘s report and the attorney general’s letter are really quite simple to understand. Each respectively executed their defined roles of statutory and delegated authority.

In Mr. Mueller’s instance, he did so with remarkable humility, respecting institutional boundaries concerning the obstruction issue, while resolutely dispatching the collusion issue. As to the attorney general, he discharged his exclusive responsibility by doing what is done every day by every prosecutor, local and national. He evaluated the report and record Mr. Mueller presented to him, and with the deputy attorney general’s review and concurrence, acted within his prescribed range of authority by declining pursuit of the criminal obstruction issue. Every prosecutor must exercise such discretionary judgment of when and whom to prosecute on the evidence, not on political or media-generated bellowing. The joint actions effectively and jurisdictionally conclude both those issues within their overarching purview and mandates.

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