Notably, it was the only time Mueller has spoken publicly since the investigation began. And, he said, this will be the only time he speaks in public about the matter if he can have his way about it.

With little warning, Special Counsel Robert Mueller held a press conference Wednesday to announce that his office is closing and he is officially resigning after completing a two-year investigation into Russian interference of the 2016 presidential election and possible obstruction of justice from President Trump or others.


While Mueller appeared to be careful to reiterate much of what the report detailed in his appearance, there were four noteworthy points from his public statement:

1. Mueller did not exonerate the president from committing a crime or an impeachable offense.

Mueller was clear that while he couldn’t find evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, he couldn’t say for sure whether there wasn’t obstruction of justice by the president.

As was written in the report, Mueller said he was hamstrung by a Department of Justice guideline that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime. And, because a president cannot have a trial, they would not have the opportunity to defend themselves in court. Therefore, Mueller explained, it would be unfair to declare that a president should have been charged.

The flip side, of course, is that Mueller could have exonerated Trump on obstruction if the investigation concluded there was no case against him.

“If we had confidence the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Mueller said.

2. Mueller wants Americans focused on the fact that a foreign government is trying to meddle with our democracy.


Mueller’s departing line seemed to be been the one he wanted to emphasize the most: “I will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments — that there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election. That allegation deserves the attention of every American.”

It was both a comment about the past and future elections. While there has been bipartisan agreement that these attempts to interfere with American elections should be considered an attack, there still hasn’t been major election reform or attempts to prevent these interferences in future elections.

3. Rebuking Trump and some right-wing media, Mueller stood up for the integrity of the process.

Trump has gone as far as to direct the attorney general to basically investigate the investigators, going all the way back to 2016, when the FBI began tracking the Trump campaign. Some, such as Fox News host Sean Hannity, have also fixated on the idea that, under the Obama administration, there was some deep state at work trying to undermine and go after Trump.

This week, former FBI director James Comey wrote a Washington Post op-ed refuting some of these charges as “dumb lies.” (“There were just good people trying to figure out what was true, under unprecedented circumstances,” he wrote).

In his press conference, Mueller thanked those who worked with him and said, “these individuals, who spent nearly two years with the Special Counsel’s Office, were of the highest integrity.”

4. Mueller does not want to testify in front of Congress.


Mueller also made it clear that he doesn’t want to testify in front of Congress or speak again about the matter (“The report is my testimony,” he said). He said Wednesday that Congress could invite him — but said he wouldn’t stray from the findings of the report.

“I hope and expect this to be the only time that I will speak about this matter,” he said. “I am making that decision myself — no one has told me whether I can or should testify or speak further about this matter.”

In other words, Mueller is declaring his role as done.

James Pindell can be reached at james.pindell@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jamespindell or subscribe to his Ground Game newsletter on politics: http://pages.email.bostonglobe.com/GroundGameSignUp