The report also does nothing to vindicate Mr. Trump’s initial assertion that Mr. Comey’s mishandling of the Clinton investigation was the basis for his termination. The president let his real reason out of the bag when he revealed in the Oval Office to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister that the Comey firing relieved “great pressure” related to Russia — and admitted to the journalist Lester Holt that he fired Mr. Comey because of the “Russia thing.” He cannot use the inspector general report to erase those admissions.

As such reports often do, this one covers a grab bag of additional issues — ones that offer no support for Mr. Trump’s attacks on Mr. Mueller, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. For example, while the inspector general has some choice words for former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s lax oversight of Mr. Comey, she was long gone by the time Mr. Mueller commenced his work.

Mr. Trump and his surrogates have from the start been engaged in a smear campaign to discredit the Mueller investigation, starting with their first, spurious claim — nearly a year ago — that Mr. Mueller and members of his team had supposed “conflicts of interest” that disqualified them from working on the Russia investigation. The misrepresentations of the inspector general’s report that have begun, and those sure to follow, are simply the latest attempt to advance the unsupported refrain that the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt” cooked up by members of a “deep state” conspiracy to delegitimize his presidency. It’s not.

On the contrary, the detailed report makes clear the independence of the Justice Department and the value of letting a thorough and fair investigation run its course. That is consistent with recent NBC/Wall Street Journal polling, which indicates that most Americans have confidence that Mr. Mueller is conducting a fair and impartial investigation.

Just as the inspector general has done with respect to the F.B.I.’s handling of the Clinton email investigation, so too should the special counsel be allowed to complete his investigation of Russia’s interference with the election and any efforts by the president or his associates to thwart that investigation, and report his findings to the public. The American people need to know whether the Mr. Trump campaign coordinated with Russia in the 2016 election, and whether President Trump corruptly intervened to stop that or other investigations. We must not allow his persistent efforts to muddy the waters obscure the resolution of those urgent inquiries.