The key is at what point did Mueller realize that there was no collusion. At that point the investigation should have ended. The other thing that I heard a lawyer friend of mine mention is that Mueller never should have written the second section. "The Government only speaks in court." was what he said. If there is not enough evidence to charge them with a crime, then Government should never come out and say "Person X almost did this." Simply because it does not give the accused Due Process. Which is what Mueller did here. If he thought that Trump committed a crime, but was only protected by OLC guidance, he should have had that conversation with Barr and then made that clear in his report. BUT, he told Barr that the OLC guidance did not apply as Mueller didn't think Trump's actions/statements/tweets rose to the level of obstruction.*
*- I will point out at the Mueller was able to interview, at length, any and all members of the administration, and put the screws to Flynn, Manafort, Gates, Cohen, Papandopolis, et al. The investigation continued unhindered for 2 years. And while I agree with Cordex's last paragraph, I do think that initial premise of the investigation was trainted. Carter Page did not work for the government, nor did he have a clearance, nor access to classified material, nor was suspected of passing classified materials, therefore there NEVER should have been FISA warrant issued. And the Steele dossier was never vetted, nor was the FISA court provided with the contrary information (Funded via Hillary/DNC via a cutout law firm) along with the various conflicts of interest. Plus, no crime was ever specified for Mueller to investigate other then Russian interference in the election. The actual amount of Russian "interference" is laughable in light of sound and fury in an attempt to tie Trump and the campaign to Russia.
I actually laugh out loud when a Democrat* says "THERE WERE SERIOUS ATTEMPTS TO INFLUENCE OUR ELECTIONS IN 2016 AND WE SHOULD ALL BE ANGRY ABOUT THAT!!!"
Yeah. Of course there were. And they were,
at best, on par with the efforts in 2018, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000, 1998, 1996, 1994, 1992, 1990, 1988, 1986...
Foreign governments, friend, foe, and other, ALL try to influence our election, legitimately and illegitimately. You're just pretending it mattered in 2016 because a SURE THING!â„¢ lost and you don't want to admit your candidate was possibly the worst you could have chosen.
*pick any of them, they are all doing it