LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Donald Trump's presidential campaign was, "a colossal waste of money and time."
For Third District Democratic Congressman John Yarmuth, the summary of the Mueller report released by Attorney General William Barr leaves too many questions unanswered.
"We still need to know what engagement or contacts that anyone in the Trump campaign had with the Russians," Yarmuth said.
The reaction to the end of the Mueller probe by members of Kentucky's congressional delegation depended largely on party affiliation. Â Â
The report concluded there was no collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign to influence the 2016 election.
"Nobody's being indicted in the Trump campaign. There was no Russian collusion,"Â Paul told reporters in Louisville. "Absolutely vindication."
Paul, like the president himself, called the whole thing a witch hunt.
"The reason why it's a witch hunt is because it's become very partisan," he said. "You can't turn on some of the news channels without seeing non-stop coverage."
But Yarmuth, the only Kentucky Democrat in Congress, said just because there are no criminal charges does not mean the president is in the clear.
"I think there are sufficient reasons to believe he may have committed impeachable offenses," Yarmuth said. "It doesn't mean that he will be convicted of that and expelled from office. I think that's highly unlikely."
Yarmuth called for the release of the entire report, and pointed out that Mueller drew no conclusions about whether the president committed obstruction of justice.
"Which means there was a substantial amount of evidence that indicated that he attempted to," Yarmuth said. "The American people need to know that even if he's not prosecuted for it."
Paul disagreed.
"It's kinda hard to obstruct justice if there hasn't been a crime," Paul said.
Paul said Democrats will never be satisfied and will continue to investigate Trump.
"They won't ever stop," he said. "If we give them a 100-page summary of this report, they're going to ask for all 500,000 pages of this thing."
Yarmuth called the conclusion of the Mueller report the end of one process and the beginning of another.
"There's still plenty of information the public needs to have of the entire scope of Russian involvement in our elections," he said.
Kentucky U.S Senator and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released the following statement on Twitter.
Special Counsel Confirms No Collusion Between Trump Campaign and Russia. My full statement below: pic.twitter.com/XvIeKmVVgu
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) March 25, 2019
Fourth District Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie tweeted this:
The Mueller report states what was obvious from the start: President Trump is not guilty of collusion. This entire investigation was a waste of taxpayer dollars.
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 25, 2019
Rep. James Comer of Kentucky's 1st District told Bowling Green's WBKO-TV the report vindicates the president.
"I think that my Democrat colleagues in Washington jumped to many unsubstantiated conclusions," Comer said.
Comer went on to say the report should be made public.
"I voted to make it public, and hopefully we can move on as a country," he said.
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