BILL'S LYING, IT'S AN IMPEACHMENT REFERRAL:

Here're a few of the top takeaways from Mueller's public statement Wednesday morning on the Russian investigation:

If We Had Confidence the President Clearly Did Not Commit a Crime--We Would Have Said So

Yes, unlike the words of Attorney General William Barr--who said that Trump was completely exonerated--Mueller's team did not determine that the president did not commit a crime. And if you look at the converse of that statement, it can also mean that the president did commit a crime.

A little Catch 22: Mueller's team is bound by the policy of the Department of Justice (DOJ), which states it's unconstitutional to charge a sitting president with a crime while in office. Thus, it wasn't even an option that Mueller's team could consider charging Trump. (Private citizen Trump might have been a different story.) If they could've indicted Trump, they would have done it--but the law wouldn't allow Mueller to do so. Even then, Mueller could not clear Trump.

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