US to Talk of Election Meddling With Russia Amid Mueller Report Release – Pompeo

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The United States will raise the issue of election interference with Russian officials following the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report that concluded Moscow meddled in the 2016 US presidential election, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press conference.

"We will talk about the steadfast requirement that Russia not engage in activity that impacts the capacity of our democracy to be successful … As you’ve seen from this administration, we will take tough actions, which raise the costs for Russian malign activity. And we will continue to do that", Pompeo said.

The statement comes after the Justice Department published on 18 April Mueller’s final report of the investigation into allegations of Trump-Russia collusion and Russia’s interference in the 2016 US elections.

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Mueller described in the report ten episodes involving Trump that could amount to the president obstructing justice in the Russia probe. The report, however, did not exonerate Trump of obstruction of justice charges and concluded that Russia did try to interfere in the US election.

US Attorney General William Barr stated the report said the investigation did not find any evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Russia has repeatedly refuted any claims of interference in the US political system, saying the allegations were made up to excuse the election loss of Trump's opponent as well as deflect public attention from actual instances of election fraud and corruption.