Mueller defends Russia probe, says Stone remains a felon

Former special counsel Robert Mueller sharply defended his investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, writing in a newspaper opinion piece Saturday that the probe was of “paramount importance” and asserting that a Trump ally, Roger Stone, “remains a convicted felon, and rightly so" despite the president's decision to commute his prison sentence.

Mueller said that though he had intended for his 448-page report on the investigation to speak for itself, he felt compelled to “respond both to broad claims that our investigation was illegitimate and our motives were improper, and to specific claims that Roger Stone was a victim of our office.

In his first public statement after the conclusion of his investigation, Mueller had said that he had hoped his report would speak for itself.

attorney to investigate the origins of the Russia probe, and the Justice Department moved to dismiss the criminal case against former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn even though Flynn had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition period.

The op-ed traced the basis for the Stone prosecution, with Mueller recounting how Stone had not only tampered with a witness but also lied repeatedly about his efforts to gain inside information about Democratic emails that Russian intelligence operatives stole and provided to WikiLeaks, which published them in the run-up to the election.

Stone was particularly critical to the investigation, Mueller writes, because he claimed inside knowledge about WikiLeaks’ release of the stolen emails and because he communicated during the campaign with people known to be Russian intelligence officers

He also communicated with members of the Trump campaign about the timing of the WikiLeaks releases, something that he denied

“We did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in its activities,” Mueller wrote

“The investigation did, however, establish that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome