Special Counsel Mueller has submitted his report to Attorney General Barr

[Maxima1]

I’m dismayed by those few on the left who are suddenly questioning Mueller’s allegiances or accusing both him and Barr of a coverup. Let’s be clear—everything we know about the Mueller report thus far is based on a few choice excerpts sprinkled in with Barr’s interpretation. It’s like trying to judge a symphony based on the first 4 bars.

Barr running interference is obvious. This isn't his first time.

I don’t think there’s any intention to mislead the public, and I’m even giving Barr the benefit of the doubt. Mainly because Barr is on record saying that an obstruction investigation predicated on Trump asking Comey to let Flynn off/firing Comey was “fatally misconceived”. So no matter the evidence, Barr was never going to recommend charges of obstruction from DoJ.

He didn't use that reasoning for his decision, though. He's using the lame excuse that because Donnie isn't charged, we can't know his intent (despite him saying explicitly and making it painfully obvious in various ways) because Article II powers give him discretion to fire etc. Barr also is being an obvious asshole by deciding the obstruction angle in order to preempt Congress and control the narrative. Both Barr and Rosenstein have reasons to recuse from the decision.

If we are wont to entertain conspiracy theories, I’d think it’s far more likely that Mueller erred on the side of caution in recommending official charges/indictments against Americans in order to protect the FBI/DoJ. Enough damage has been done to those institutions in 2 years by Trump, his cronies and enablers in Congress.

Mueller may have decided to frame his report in the least biased light in order to a) ensure the full report is released, or b) put the job of prosecuting obstruction or other tangential crimes in Congress’ lap (I.e. since it already got political, leave it in the political realm.)

If Mueller actually decided to withold stuff to placate the Republicans, then he's part of the problem, and that's laughable to think he's making the report sort of neutral to guarantee it'll come public. Anyway, we're going to have to see the report. it could be right next to prosecutable and very damning, which is one reason I keep rolling my eyes seeing everyone say this "clears" Trump on collusion.

 

[K1052]

Congress should keep doing their oversight job (with a little less fanfare but it’s important work) but as far as the 2020 candidates are concerned, Russian collusion and obstruction of Comey/Mueller is no longer a campaign issue. Time to move onto emoluments, campaign finance violations and a million other policy decisions that Americans don’t agree with.

It really wasn't to begin with for basically any candidate. From their perspective the broader impression of Trump as corrupt will persist through the next election and voters want to hear about healthcare, the environment, and education. Those are areas where Trump made a lot of promises that voters now consider bullshit.

 

[soulcougher73]

Copy/pasting this from another source. Its not my work.

Mueller has farmed out federal indictments to:

1) the SDNY, in Manhattan,
2) the EDNY, in Brooklyn,
3) the EDVA in Virginia,
4) the U.S. Attorney’s office in LA,
5) the U.S. Attorney’s office in DC,
6) the DOJ National Security Division,
7) the DOJ Criminal Division.

Those who are familiar with Mueller’s investigation understand that “no more indictments from Mueller” doesn’t mean “no more indictments.”
It means every single one of Mueller’s existing indictments resides in a “presidential pardon proof” prosecutorial district.
Recall how Mueller handed off the Cohen case to the U.S. Attorneys’ office for the SDNY, who sent Cohen to prison.
Meanwhile, the investigation has led to 199 criminal charges, 37 indictments or guilty pleas, and five prison sentences.
The string of crimes that have already been unearthed is staggering and unprecedented in our nation’s history...and Congress, the SDNY, EDNY, EDVA, the U.S. Attorney’s office in LA, the U.S. Attorney’s office in DC, the DOJ National Security Division, and the DOJ Criminal Division...will likely uncover much more...
In other words, the people on Team Trump who are naïvely celebrating right now are merely suffering from a lack of understanding about the rule of law and how federal and state prosecutions work.
It’s bizarre to see naïve under-informed #Foxwashed consumers spiking the ball before making it to the end zone, tho I must admit it’s also quite funny.

 

[Moonbeam]

I hope you are truly not surprised.

Not in the slightest. I have expected it for some time. Mueller is a conservative and punted the issue just like the Supreme court always does on hot potato issues. He chose to protect the institution. It will now be up to the people, and the congress to deal with the issue. I expect the congress to punt the issue too. Everybody covers their own ass rather that save the country. Democracy or fascism, the elites will still have a job. You back the most worthless President the country has ever seen out of party loyalty. You are as worthless as the rest. But it's not your fault. You are a sleep walking programmed machine and none of it was your own doing. You would have dies of psychic trauma had you not broken. You survived, but as a machine. It's no longer necessary because everything you seek to protect yourself from has already happened. Try to relax and be happy.

 

[jackstar7]

I hope the full report is released. If not, I sure hope it is leaked.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Trump clearly seems to have a quid-pro-quo or subservient (compromised/blackmailed?) relationship with Putin. He never contradicts Putin publically, he loudly proclaims that he trusts Putin over his own intelligence agencies, he refuses to enforce stronger sanctions on Russia that were voted unanimously by congress. This is a man who has blasted everyone in the world except for Putin, and who will not take any action against Russia, even when legally required to. The only person in the world who is above criticism from Trump is Putin.

His behavior basically paints a picture of someone who, either through intimidation or quid-pro-quo is subservient to Putin. And intimidation is more likely than quid-pro-quo because as president, Trump no longer needs Putin, he's already practically more powerful than Putin, so why feel completely beholden to him even as he faces political pressure at home for softballing Putin? The answer to that has to be that Putin still has compromising information on Trump that's significant enough that he can control Trump. I can't even formulate an alternative explanation for Trump's behavior in regards to Putin because on it's face, it's so clear.

 

[outriding]

I hope the full report is released. If not, I sure hope it is leaked.

F--- It.. if it is not released and after the dust settles... i personally will do a FOIA request for it..

I have done it before with fact checking the orange turds comments and i will do it again..

 

[Jhhnn]

Trump clearly seems to have a quid-pro-quo or subservient (compromised/blackmailed?) relationship with Putin. He never contradicts Putin publically, he loudly proclaims that he trusts Putin over his own intelligence agencies, he refuses to enforce stronger sanctions on Russia that were voted unanimously by congress. This is a man who has blasted everyone in the world except for Putin, and who will not take any action against Russia, even when legally required to. The only person in the world who is above criticism from Trump is Putin.

His behavior basically paints a picture of someone who, either through intimidation or quid-pro-quo is subservient to Putin. And intimidation is more likely than quid-pro-quo because as president, Trump no longer needs Putin, he's already practically more powerful than Putin, so why feel completely beholden to him even as he faces political pressure at home for softballing Putin? The answer to that has to be that Putin still has compromising information on Trump that's significant enough that he can control Trump. I can't even formulate an alternative explanation for Trump's behavior in regards to Putin because on it's face, it's so clear.

Or maybe Trump the Globalist just sees Putin as a path to getting Oligarch Rich, not just Trump Rich. The only thing Putin needs to exploit there is greed.

 

[Fern]

If the AG would not back an obstruction charge or at least a finding then there Rod's options are to resign and tell everybody or be the political animal that he is and survive. I mean he wrote the original Comey firing memos so the answer on that last part is relatively apparent and he seems to have again made some sort of peace with Trump. It's not exactly the first time that political appointees in the DOJ would have agreed to sweep nefarious doings by the executive branch under the rug.

Rosenstein lying to "survive"?

Survive what?, he's leaving in a matter of days anyway.

Fern

 

[VRAMdemon]

The Atlantic offers an intelligent summary of the Mueller investigation.

This was a pretty good analysis. I wonder what the political landscape would look like this morning if we hadn't been seeing the results of this investigation play out in indictments and court filings over the last 22 months.

What if Robert Mueller had been working up until this point in silence and secrecy, and then had dropped his report on Barr's desk along with indictments of Trump's campaign chairman, deputy campaign chairman, White House National Security Director), and personal attorney, plus no small quantity of various Russian agents associated with trying to affect the election?

Would the Trump apologists be dancing around crying "No collusion! Full exoneration!"? Rather, I think, we would be hearing any number of wails and teeth-gnashes about "corrupt Mueller" and "witch hunt" and "angry Democrats". And yet, those four individuals I listed have not only been indicted, but are actually and legally guilty of a number of crimes.

If there really is nothing (as per Barr's account) worth considering as a crime, then why the hell were all of these Trump sycophants so determined to lie about their knowledge and actions?

 

[Mai72]

This is bad news for the Dems and for cable news. Nothing is going to happen to Trump

Guys agree?

 

[jackstar7]

Rosenstein lying to "survive"?

Survive what?, he's leaving in a matter of days anyway.

Fern

So you think he'd be lying by supporting Trump? I can't parse your logic here.

 

[jackstar7]

This is bad news for the Dems and for cable news. Nothing is going to happen to Trump

Guys agree?

Not bad news for Dems at all. They have the House to continue investigations and hound this dipshit executive into understanding checks and balances.

Trump isn't clear of anything. As usual, he's prematurely declaring victory.

 

[Fern]

So you think he'd be lying by supporting Trump? I can't parse your logic here.

Perhaps I misunderstood the post I was responding to, but it he seemed he was saying "Rod" may have gone along with the decision just to save his job.

Fern

 

[K1052]

Rosenstein lying to "survive"?

Survive what?, he's leaving in a matter of days anyway.

Fern

Announcement of his departure was rolled back, no new date is known or even if he's actually still going. Also in this world most everybody recycles (looks at Barr) so thinking about the future would not be a shock.

 

[VRAMdemon]

Looking ridiculous after being called out for a lie is baked right into how this administration operates. It hasn't stopped them from lying up until today, and I don't suspect anyone that works for Trump will suddenly develop a case of the Backbones and integrity.

That being said, perhaps Barr was, in fact, able to fully analyze the report containing 22 months of information in less than 48 hours and summarize it accurately. although for all the arguments that the full report is more damning, would Barr really put himself out there if the full report might come out and contradict his letter? It's possible they're hoping to have already established the narrative against it.

 

[Fern]

Not bad news for Dems at all. They have the House to continue investigations and hound this dipshit executive into understanding checks and balances.

Trump isn't clear of anything. As usual, he's prematurely declaring victory.

Ummm... He's "clear" of two things; (1) a charge of "collusion" and (2) a charge of obstruction of justice.

Fern

 

[VRAMdemon]

Ummm...How is he "clear" of obstruction. He admitted on national TV to Lester Holt that he fired Comey because Comey would not stop an investigation of Trump. Openly confessed obstruction of justice between the president and the director of the federal government's primary investigative body. He has also obstructed justice in other obvious ways, like tweeting mob like threats at witnesses that were scheduled to testify against him.

 

[Jhhnn]

The Atlantic offers an intelligent summary of the Mueller investigation.

This was a pretty good analysis. I wonder what the political landscape would look like this morning if we hadn't been seeing the results of this investigation play out in indictments and court filings over the last 22 months.

What if Robert Mueller had been working up until this point in silence and secrecy, and then had dropped his report on Barr's desk along with indictments of Trump's campaign chairman, deputy campaign chairman, White House National Security Director), and personal attorney, plus no small quantity of various Russian agents associated with trying to affect the election?

Would the Trump apologists be dancing around crying "No collusion! Full exoneration!"? Rather, I think, we would be hearing any number of wails and teeth-gnashes about "corrupt Mueller" and "witch hunt" and "angry Democrats". And yet, those four individuals I listed have not only been indicted, but are actually and legally guilty of a number of crimes.

If there really is nothing (as per Barr's account) worth considering as a crime, then why the hell were all of these Trump sycophants so determined to lie about their knowledge and actions?

Excellent article. Thank you.

 

[Jhhnn]

Ummm... He's "clear" of two things; (1) a charge of "collusion" and (2) a charge of obstruction of justice.

Fern

That's not quite true. Obstruction is an open question that only Congress can answer. They need not follow any standards other than their own in doing so. High crimes & misdemeanors transcend the technicalities of the Law.

 

[LTC8K6]

If Mueller told Barr three weeks ago that he would not reach a conclusion on obstruction, then Barr certainly didn't come to a quick decision about that.

 

[Jhhnn]

If Mueller told Barr three weeks ago that he would not reach a conclusion on obstruction, then Barr certainly didn't come to a quick decision about that.

The only public information is Barr's statement & the veracity of it has yet to be determined.

 

[fskimospy]

Ummm... He's "clear" of two things; (1) a charge of "collusion" and (2) a charge of obstruction of justice.

Fern

Barr's letter was explicit that Trump is not clear on obstruction of justice. Well, he might be clear of being CRIMINALLY charged by Barr for that, but that was never going to happen anyway. From the text of the letter it appears there is significant evidence that Trump did in fact engage in obstruction of justice.

 

[TheVrolok]

Barr's letter was explicit that Trump is not clear on obstruction of justice. Well, he might be clear of being CRIMINALLY charged by Barr for that, but that was never going to happen anyway. From the text of the letter it appears there is significant evidence that Trump did in fact engage in obstruction of justice.

What's also apparently clear, is that many of the Trump faithful still fail to grasp the nuance around not being able to criminally charge one for something, and he or she not having done it.

 

[LTC8K6]

Barr's letter was explicit that Trump is not clear on obstruction of justice. Well, he might be clear of being CRIMINALLY charged by Barr for that, but that was never going to happen anyway. From the text of the letter it appears there is significant evidence that Trump did in fact engage in obstruction of justice.

Mueller would have acted on significant evidence, imo.