By Kyle Cheney
POLITICO
May 4, 2019
Federal prosecutors argued Friday that special counsel Robert Mueller did not need to prove conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign to show that longtime Trump ally Roger Stone obstructed Congress’ investigation of the matter.
“To establish the defendant’s guilt of the crimes with which he is charged, the government is not required to prove the existence of a conspiracy with the Russian government to interfere in the U.S. presidential election,” Mueller’s team, along with the U.S. attorney in Washington D.C., wrote in response to filings Stone submitted on March 28.
That argument has been the subject of controversy in recent weeks, following Attorney General Bill Barr’s suggestion that evidence collected by Mueller implicating President Donald Trump for multiple efforts to thwart his probe fell short, in part because Mueller didn’t establish the existence of a criminal conspiracy.