In Donald Trump’s first rally since Robert Mueller’s investigation partially cleared him of conspiracy with Russia, the US president delivered an angry, sustained and at times incoherent assault on his perceived enemies.

To the delight of the crowd in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Mr Trump on Thursday evening spent about half of his 90-minute speech tearing into critics and media outlets who had reported on the sprawling 22-month investigation.

“After three years of lies and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead,” Mr Trump said, to cheers from his audience. “The collusion delusion is over. The special counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction. I could have told you that two and a half years ago very easily. Total exoneration, complete vindication.”

It came after a four-page summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's some 300-page report cleared Mr Trump's presidential campaign of criminally conspiring with Moscow and concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge the president with obstruction of justice.

It explicitly did not, however, exonerate the president. Mr Barr’s letter quoted Mr Mueller’s report as stating: "While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."

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Nevertheless, Mr Trump repeatedly misled those in attendance at the rally, claiming the investigation was an attempt by Democrats, the “fake news media” and the “deep state” to overturn the result of the 2016 presidential election.

“This was nothing more than a sinister effort to undermine our historic election victory, and to sabotage the will of the American people,” Mr Trump said.

The initial investigation was in fact sparked by fears in the FBI a Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, was acting as an agent for Russia. Mr Mueller’s probe was launched the following year after Mr Trump sacked FBI director James Comey, citing in a television interview "this Russia thing” as a reason for doing so.

Mr Trump took special delight in bashing Adam Schiff, who was earlier called on to resign by Republicans for vowing as chair of the House intelligence committee to continue investigating Mr Trump’s ties to Russia.

“Little pencil neck Adam Schiff. He has the smallest, thinnest neck I have ever seen,” Mr Trump said mockingly.

After attempting to impersonate the Democratic senator and his colleague Jerrold Nadler, Mr Trump called them both “sick” for their oversight of the president, and called for officials involved in the probe to be held “accountable”.

The rally in Michigan, which was dominated by Democratic victories in the midterms last year, was a reminder of the state’s importance to Mr Trump’s 2020 re-election bid. To cheers, Mr Trump recounted it was the site of his final rally before the 2016 election, and went into detail about his Electoral College victory there and in other states.

He also returned to a familiar refrain, attempting to convince his audience, and at times apparently even himself, that he was part of the so-called elite.

"I always say, they say, 'the elite', they're the elite and I'm not. Well, I have a better education than them, I'm smarter than them, I went to the best schools they didn't, much more beautiful house, much more beautiful apartment, much more beautiful everything. And I'm president and they're not.

He continued: “I get a kick I hear ‘So-and-so the elite’, then you see this guy like this little schlepper – this is elite? I’m not elite? We’re the elites, you’re smarter, you’re sharper, you’re more loyal, you’re a hell of a lot tougher.”

Mr Trump praised Fox News, reeling off a string of hosts who consistently support the president’s agenda and repeat many of his false claims, including Jeanine Pirro, who amid pressure by the president was reinstated by the news channel following an attack on Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who she suggested was against the Constitution.

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After claiming the Democratic party was “defrauding the public” with “bulls***” – the second time in recent weeks he has sworn at a rally – Mr Trump launched into a bizarre tribute to the Great Lakes and mocked those who support renewable energy.

"I support the Great Lakes. Always have. They are beautiful, they are big, very deep. Record deepness, right?" he said, before moving onto wind power.

"If Hillary got in ... you'd be doing wind. Windmills. Wiiiiiing. And if it doesn't blow, you can forget about television for that night. 'Darling, I want to watch television.' 'I'm sorry! The wind isn't blowing.' I know a lot about wind."

In fact, getting electricity from wind farms does not mean power is only available when the wind is blowing. Battery-based storage systems allow power to be kept for when it is needed, a fact consistently overlooked by Mr Trump.

After touting his tax cut legislation, push to lower drug prices and his attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act – which were met with cheers from his supporters – Mr Trump moved onto one of his favourite topics; bashing the Green New Deal, a radical environmental proposal tabled by some Democrats.

The president again claimed falsely that if implemented, the deal would ban flying and that Democrats were “working on some kind of train system” to replace flights to Hawaii.

It came after the crowd chanted "AOC sucks!" during a warm-up speech by the president's son, Donald Trump Jr, who falsely claimed every "mainstream" Democratic presidential candidate was receiving advice from congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who unveiled the Green New Deal late last year.

Returning to one of his major pre-midterms talking points, the president bashed Mexico for illegal immigration into the US, boasted about building sections of wall across the southern border, and mocked people seeking asylum.

“You have people coming up, they’re all met by the lawyers, the lawyers of … and they come out, they’re all met by the lawyers, and they say, ‘Say the following phrase, “I am very afraid for my life, I am very afraid for my life”’,” he said.

“Ok, then I look at the guy, he looks like he just got out of the ring, he’s a heavyweight champion of the world, he’s afraid. It’s a big fat con job.”