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2019
Letter
Modern Era
Attorney General's Letter to Congress on the Special Counsel's Report
Attorney General William P. Barr
"The Special Counsel's investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election." Barr wrote that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein "concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense."
About this source
Sent March 24, 2019, two days after the report reached the Justice Department and nearly four weeks before the public saw the report. Four pages, describing the report's "principal conclusions."
Why it matters for the project
The best media-literacy document in the set. Barr quoted the report accurately, and the report's own team objected that his summary 'did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance' of their work. Put the letter beside the report and the difference between an accurate quote and a fair summary becomes something students can see for themselves.