WHAT'S THE AUSTRALIAN FOR "OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE"?:

President Trump has continually condemned the Mueller inquiry into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 US election as a "witch hunt".

But a meeting between former Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Trump campaign aid George Papadopoulos in May 2016, is believed to have helped trigger an initial FBI inquiry into the matter.

At a London bar, Mr Downer was allegedly told about Russian material that could damage Donald Trump's political rival Hillary Clinton - but the Trump campaign aid disputes this version of events.

Mr Downer informed the Australian government about the details of their conversation, which were later relayed to United States authorities.

He has confirmed having this conversation with Mr Papadopoulos.

"I've got nothing to say about it beyond what I've ever said," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.

A year on, former FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed to lead an investigation into the alleged election interference and potential links between the Russian government and Trump's campaign team.

The Mueller report became a source of hope for President's Trump's political rivals believing the investigation could lead to his downfall.

It implicated 34 members of Trump's campaign team with wrongdoing through indictments, convictions and guilty pleas.

But the final report found insufficient evidence to determine if Trump's campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia.

Its final 448 pages of findings did not reach a conclusion on whether President Trump had committed obstruction of justice through the investigation.

At the time, President Trump said the probe had found "no collusion with Russia" and backed his "complete and total exoneration".

But Mr Mueller later told reporters: "if we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so."

Attorney General William Barr launched a counter inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation in May this year. 

It came after President Trump urged his attorney general to examine the role of the FBI and intelligence agencies and even Australia in setting off the investigation into alleged Russian links.

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