Democratic and Republican lawmakers had sharply differing reactions to Thursday’s release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s redacted Russia report. 

Investigators determined no one on Trump’s campaign knowingly conspired with Russians in Moscow’s 2016 election interference, however they declined to exonerate the president on charges that his actions obstructed justice.

In a statement, Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe described Mueller’s report as “a lot of nothing: no collusion, no obstruction” and accused Democrats of “an effort to smear the president.”

Democrats, by contrast, highlighted portions of the Mueller report documenting contacts between Trump’s inner circle and foreign operatives bent on damaging the president’s 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, by hacking and releasing sensitive emails from her campaign.

They also noted the report’s documentation of instances where Trump sought to thwart the Russia probe.

“The detailed description of wrongdoing in this report, what’s demonstrated in powerful and compelling detail in this report, is nothing less than a national scandal,” Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said. “This report is far from the end of the inquiry that this country needs and deserves.”

“Mueller shows collusion, but perhaps not criminal collusion,” California Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman tweeted. “Collusion in dissemination [of emails], but not in the hacking. And Mueller show lots of criminal obstruction.”

Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania tweeted that a thorough examination of the Mueller report “will not change what we already know: Russia attacked our election in 2016, [and] President Trump and his closest aides and allies welcomed that attack.”

Republicans, meanwhile, focused on the special counsel’s bottom line: no recommendation of charges against Trump.

“Nothing we saw today changes the underlying results of the 22-month-long Mueller investigation that ultimately found no collusion,” House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a statement. “Democrats want to keep searching for imaginary evidence that supports their claims, but it is simply not there.”

That view was echoed by the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.

“The special counsel’s 22-month investigation found no Americans conspired with Russia to interfere in our elections and Democrats’ accusations of criminal obstruction are unfounded.,” Georgia Rep. Doug Collins said in a statement.

Some lawmakers urged the American people to weigh in, as well.

“I’m reading it [the Mueller report]. More importantly, the American people should read the report for themselves and draw their own conclusions,” Maryland Democratic Senator Ben Cardin tweeted.

Cardin noted that the report contains alarming information about Russian efforts to undermine American democracy.

“We have an obligation to protect our country from Russia and others who would want to do us harm, including trying to twist our system for their own purposes,” he said.

Inhofe echoed the concern.

“[T]he Mueller report did remind us of Russia’s clear and persistent efforts to disrupt our democratic process,” the Republican senator said, accusing Moscow of a continuing “effort to sow discord and distrust” within the American electorate.
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