The death last week of Robert Mueller, the special counsel who oversaw the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, revived acrimonious controversies over "Russiagate" — further goaded by President Donald Trump's "I'm glad he's dead" social media post. The reaction from many on the right has been to say that while the president's attack was unseemly, the Mueller investigation was part of an equally deplorable political witch hunt.

But that's a false narrative. A careful look shows that the investigation was not only justified but necessary — and that, while some allegations about the Trump-Russia connection were false or overhyped, Mueller handled the matter with careful professionalism.

Ironically, many critics of the Mueller probe also claim that his report "exonerated" Trump and disproved allegations of Trump "collusion" with the Kremlin. In fact, while Mueller found no evidence that the Trump campaign was involved in a criminal conspiracy, he established that (1) Russia interfered in the........

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