James Comey said he's confused that Mueller didn't rule on whether Trump obstructed justice, which he says throws the whole point of a special counsel probe into question

• Former FBI Director James Comey said he is "confused" that special counsel Robert Mueller chose neither to charge nor exonerate President Donald Trump over obstruction of justice.
• Speaking at an event in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday, Comey expressed his "great faith" in Mueller, who led the FBI directly before him.
• But he added that "the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions."
• In his report filed Friday, Mueller said that he uncovered no evidence that Trump and his team conspired with Russia to win the 2016 presidential election.
• Summarizing the report to Congress, Attorney General William Barr said that the evidence he saw means obstruction charges cannot be brought.

Former FBI Director James Comey said Tuesday that he finds it "confusing" that special counsel Robert Mueller decided neither to file obstruction charges against President Donald Trump nor absolve him.

Speaking to an audience in Charlotte, North Carolina on Tuesday, Comey wondered why the decision whether or not to charge the president was left in the hands of Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

He said leaving political figures to make charges decisions undermines the whole point of a special counsel probe.

Mueller declined to reach a conclusion on obstruction when he submitted his report on Friday. He also said that he found no evidence of Trump or his campaign colluding with Russia.

"The part that's confusing is I can't quite understand what's going on with the obstruction stuff," Comey told the audience at the Belk Theatre, according to NBC News.

"And I have great faith in Bob Mueller, but I just can't tell from the letter why didn't he decide these questions when the entire rationale for a special counsel is to make sure the politicals aren't making the key charging decisions," he added.

Comey was a senior official in the Department of Justice while Mueller was FBI Director. When Mueller stepped down, Comey took his place.

Trump's decision to fire Comey in May 2017 was among the factors that prompted the Justice Department to appoint Mueller as special counsel.

In his summary of Mueller's report, submitted to Congress on Sunday, Barr described the grounds for his decision not to charge the president with obstructing justice.

He said that the "absence of" evidence of collusion means that "corrupt intent" could not be established, making charges impossible.

Barr wrote that "to obtain and sustain an obstruction conviction, the government would need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person, acting with corrupt intent, engaged in obstructive conduct."

In his remarks Tuesday, Comey questioned the decision.

"The notion that obstruction cases are somehow undermined by the absence of proof of an underlying crime, that is not my experience in 40 years of doing this nor is it the Department of Justice's tradition.

"Obstruction crimes matter without regard to what you prove about the underlying crime," Comey said.

While allies of the president have hailed Mueller's report as a vindication of his claim to be innocent of collusion and obstruction of justice, Democrats have demanded to see Mueller's report in full, and to know the grounds for Mueller declining to reach a conclusion over obstruction charges.

Legal scholars have torn into Barr's reasoning for not filing obstruction charges. Some critics have claimed that Mueller's decision could weaken legal oversight of the White House, and embolden future presidents to break the law.

Former Democratic Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, who was a member of the House panel that impeached Nixon in 1974, told The New York Times: "They're just trying to create a new kind of monarchy in the United States and have a president who's not accountable."