Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway—the person who created the phrase "alternative facts" to explain away President Donald Trump's lies about his inauguration crowd size—did the same tap dance with the Mueller report on Sunday.
In an appearance on ABC's This Week, Conway claimed her boss was correct to claim the Mueller report provided complete exoneration for Trump.
Her reasoning?
"The President says that because he's known from the beginning there was no collusion; there's no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin to try to disrupt and spread misinformation about our elections."
Watch her comments here.
Conway's comments came just after This Week host Martha Raddatz read the statement in the Mueller report that:
"Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California appeared on This Week directly after Conway. The longtime vocal critic of President Trump labeled Conway's earlier commentary "alternative facts."
Schiff stated:
"You heard another display of alternative facts from Kellyanne Conway today where she could not even acknowledge that the Russians tried to help the Trump campaign."
He added:
"...I’ve been very clear over the last year, year and half that there is ample evidence of collusion in plain sight."
Watch his rebuttal here.
Schiff was not alone in crying foul over Conway's assessment of the Mueller report.
Others also took Kellyanne Conway to task for her verbal maneuvers around the clear statements made in the Mueller report.
In addition to the conclusion that Trump could not be exonerated, Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election also stated:
"If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment."
...as well as:
"The evidence does indicate that a thorough FBI investigation would uncover facts about the campaign and the President personally that the President could have understood to be crimes or that would give rise to personal and political concerns."
These statements came after listing 10 potential instances of possible obstruction of justice by President Trump.
Unlike Conway claimed, no one but the Trump administration and his most ardent admirers are defining that as "complete exoneration."
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