People in Arkansas say they are happy the report has been released to
the public – for different reasons. Some Arkansans say that the report will
give the public a chance to see what government officials have been up to and
will help to expose how some of these officials have worked against the
president and tried to damage his reputation. Walter Smith, who is now retired
and lives near Russellville, Arkansas, he says the report will help to shed
light on those in “the deep state”, as he put it. He defines Deep Staters as
“Trump haters” such as the former FBI director, James Comey, and “all those
around him”, says Smith.Smith says he hopes that the Mueller report will help
to ensure that Comey and his associates will “get in trouble and get indicted”
and be held accountable for the ways they were “working against the
presidency”.BBCCopyright: BBCWalter SmithImage caption: Walter SmithOthers are also pleased with the fact that the report has been released because it gives them access to more information. “The more transparency, the better,” says David Cullen, a history professor at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville. Still, Mr Cullen, who is a political independent, says that he was disappointed with the conclusions of Robert Mueller’s report and says he wished Mr Mueller had been able to collect more evidence against the president. Mr Cullen’s own view of the president is clear: “I think he broke the law.”Mr Mueller fell short, Mr Cullen says, in his pursuit of the truth. “He didn’t have hard evidence so he cannot go to court. But he still thought it was in the legal purview of Congress to continue the investigation.” Mr Cullen says he is eager to see what members of Congress will do in their efforts to find out what the president has done.Fayetteville resident Doug Thompson, a Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette political writer, says that the report shows the president may be guilty of crimes. “It means that all those claims he’s been exonerated are made in bad faith. It clearly does not say that,” says Mr Thompson. “The money quote”, Mr Thompson says, is the line where Mr Mueller says that they would have cleared the president if they could have.
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