CNN Poll: Majority says Trump not exonerated of collusion after Barr's summary

Authored by edition.cnn.com and submitted by Emma_Downey
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WASHINGTON (CNN) Though President Donald Trump has claimed "complete and total exoneration" based on Attorney General William Barr's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, the American public disagrees, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS.

A majority (56%) says the President and his campaign have not been exonerated of collusion, but that what they've heard or read about the report shows collusion could not be proven. Fewer, 43%, say Trump and his team have been exonerated of collusion.

Although Mueller could not establish Trump or his campaign "conspired or coordinated with" the Russian government, according to Barr's letter, the poll finds the American people continue to view the issue through partisan lenses.

Republicans and Democrats are on opposite sides of this question: 77% of Republicans say the President has been exonerated, 80% of Democrats say he has not. Independents break against exoneration -- 58% say the President and his campaign were not exonerated.

KingNopeRope on March 31st, 2019 at 14:48 UTC »

Everyone seems to forget that we KNOW Trump is unindicted individual one as per Mueller court filings.

This is fact one.

Fact two is that Justice department policy is to not indict a sitting President.

Trump was never going to be indicted. Anyone saying that the report exonerated him is either not paying attention or a partisan hack.

FleekAdjacent on March 31st, 2019 at 14:11 UTC »

While there have been two years of insane theories by Extremely Online grifters, there's also been a ton of blatant conspiracy documented over and over again in the real world, and I don't think people have forgotten.

For one, you have Donald Trump Jr. agreeing to meet with Russian intelligence specifically to get dirt on a Hillary Clinton as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump" (exact quote). The very literal, no-subtext wording of the email was probably not an accident and intended to trap him when it came out later. Fortunately for us, Don Jr. released the email exchange himself because he's an idiot and thought it exonerated him.

Conspiracy with Russia even made it into the indictment of Roger Stone*checks notes* three months ago.

During the summer of 2016, STONE spoke to senior Trump Campaign officials about Organization 1 and information it might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign. STONE was contacted by senior Trump Campaign officials to inquire about future releases by Organization 1.

After the July 22, 2016 release of stolen DNC emails by Organization 1, a senior Trump Campaign official was directed to contact STONE about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton Campaign. STONE thereafter told the Trump Campaign about potential future releases of damaging material by Organization 1.

People have been inundated with stories for years, but enough people remember what actually, provably did happen to know the Barr summary is bullshit, or the bar for conspiracy was set so high that anything short of a notarized contract wouldn't meet the standard.

Odilious128 on March 31st, 2019 at 13:18 UTC »

It's kinda sad that it's only a majority, since the summary literally says that trump was not exonerated by Mueller's report.