Frankly, it’s difficult to say anything definitive yet about Mueller’s investigation and report, beyond it being over, given that the only summary we have received is a quick “Nothing to see here, move along” from an Attorney General who was not only appointed by the central figure of the Special Counsel’s investigation, but who applied for the job with an essay about why the investigation was illegitimate.
In short, taking at face value Barr’s word as to what the report actually says — treating his quick turn-around summary as all that needs be said, and his decision that there’s not enough there to prosecute for obstruction of justice is — would be foolish.
Bottom line, the report needs to be made public, as much and as quickly as possible.
It’s possible that the entire report can’t be made public, of course. That’s because there’s a raft of ongoing parallel investigations, on the federal and state level, that the report might touch on. That’s the essential second part of this equation: Mueller’s investigation was critically important, but it was not the be-all, end-all review of the activities of the President, his family business/governing partners, and his coterie of deplorables. There may very well be nothing there, but the overall outcome of the Mueller investigation — prior to the report — suggests otherwise:
Along with a team of experienced prosecutors and attorneys, the former FBI director has indicted, convicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies, including top advisers to President Trump, Russian spies and hackers with ties to the Kremlin. The charges range from interfering with the 2016 election and hacking emails to lying to investigators and tampering with witnesses.
All that’s is not for nothing, and indicative that there remains ample ground for further investigation and indictment.
Granted, even if every line of pursuit were exhausted and every investigator personally satisfied that there’s nothing more there, I have no doubt that we’d have people still clamoring for more — just as I have no doubt that, in the face of a smoking gun on the steps of the White House, we’d have people still screeching that there was “No collusion!” That is, sadly, the political situation we live in, an era of hyper-partisanship coupled with a president whose never-ending outrageous behavior makes it difficult sometimes to definitively see where actions have gone from highly sketchy to illegal.
Nevertheless, there’s not just smoke but fire that’s been uncovered, and those who claim the president has been completely exonerated at this point are — perhaps knowingly — being disingenuous, let alone those now gloatingly asserting that the whole affair was a hoax and plot. Nothing of the sort has been demonstrated, even if — and that’s a big if — AG Barr’s handwaving is an accurate interpretation of the Mueller report.
First, can you or anyone show me where colluding is a Federal crime? If we are speaking on the “meeting” with Don jr., that was set up as a dirt on Hillary, but wasn’t. Like the Hillary camp wouldn’t have taken a meeting with the Devil if he has dirt on Trump. Which, he probably does.
Of the 34 and companies, well….those indictments that Mueller issued are people living in Russia and since we don’t have an extradition policy with Russia, that was just good old politicin’.
The people he did get guilty pleas from are the: intern-whom never meet Trump, Gen. Flynn-how was interviewed by the FBI, never told he was being interviewed for any wrong doing and they six months later, the FBI writes it’s report stating Flynn lied. Flynn, whom the FBI bankrupt and was threatening to go after his son, gave in an pleaded guilty-even the judge at the sentencing begged him to reconsider his plea.
Cohen, well, what can you say about someone the FBI has been investigating since early 2016, yet, still took the advise of Lanny Davis-big Hillary supporter-and pleaded guilty to crimes that were not crimes.
Manafort, well, since there wasn’t a specific crime the “special counsel” was given to investigate, and gee, since 1 year into the hideous offense of Trump being elected, well, lets look into good ol’Paul’s history and low and behold, we go back to years before Trump was evening running. Note,the vast majority that have been charged with the same offensive, got off with fines. Was it really necessary to put Manafort into solitary confinement?
The only smoking gun was the dossier. The political hack piece paid for the Fusion GPS, who was paid by attorneys that represented the Clinton campaign. That dossier was leaked to every news outlet and none touched it until NBC’s Buzzfeed released it. Then, you get Sen. McCain pushing it to the FBI and then having his assistant push it further.
Do you really believe that dossier? Then I have a bridge to sell you, it’s really nice.
The real crimes are the Justice departments cover up under the, gasp-Obama administration and the lengths your side goes to when you loose. Doesn’t matter how many lives you have to ruin, does it?
There is no smoking gun, at least not at the White House. However, there are many smoking guns in Arkansas and NY, where the Clinton’s reside. Look into the pay and play deals the Clinton Foundation did. Does it bother you the uranium deal they put together? And, what charity work does the Clinton Foundation do? Clean water? Education? What does that “non-profit” actually do?
Yes, I’m sure your reply will be to say I’m sounding like Sean Hannity. Give me a break, David. If you did any reading of the latest Senate hearings regarding Lisa Page, Strotz and the Asst. AG, I forget his name, I want to say Att. Hsu?? Read a little more that NPR or Buzzfeed. Read both sides, like I do. But really, did you believe that Trump actually paid Russian hookers to urinate on a bed the Obama’s slept in? Maybe that’s why you like comic books and super hero movies. I’m just saying, wait, I just insulted you like you insult people that disagree with you.
However, on the positive side, I like the new look of the site.
@michael – This is a little like the Laundry List of (yes) Sean Hannity Talking Points about the Mueller investigation, but let me see if I can parse out some things that can actually be addressed.
1. Per se, no, the US Code does not include “collusion”. It does include a number of items regarding election campaign violations. For example, The Don Jr. meeting, if actually set up to deal with getting election assistance (e.g., “dirt” on Clinton) might be a violation of laws that prohibit foreigners from providing any “thing of value” to a federal campaign. Working with Russian hackers might be a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
2. Impeachment does not require specific criminal code violations. If there were sufficient evidence that the Trump campaign, with the knowing participation of the President, collaborated with Russian government interests to win the election, then even if no particular federal crime was identified, Congress could still impeach him.
I don’t even know what that means.
Oddly enough, “someone else would have done it, too” is not usually considered a great legal defense.
We are all sinners.
So are you suggesting that Russian hackers didn’t interfere with the election? That any accusation about that is “just good old politicin'”?
I’m not sure which person you are referring to here.
Because a former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former National Security Advisor didn’t know that lying to the FBI might get him in trouble? (Note: he admitted he did.) Note that he continued to lie even weeks later, after he had retained counsel.
Because he did. Which he admitted.
A lot of people face bankruptcy because of criminal charges and investigations. Doesn’t make them any less guilty.
Who appears to have been involved in his father’s shady dealings.
That would be the same judge who said, “Arguably, you sold your country out”?
I’m pretty sure tax fraud, making false statements to a bank, and campaign fraud are all crimes.
The Special Counsel was authorized to investigate:
And to prosecute federal crimes that arose from that investigation.
Granted that I would prefer Trump had not been elected, nobody is asserting his election per se was a crime, just that it may have been facilitated through “links and/or coordination” with the Russian government. Given that we knew (and still know) that Russian government actors were involved in interfering with the 2016 election, that most of that interference was on behalf of the Trump campaign, that Trump was in fact elected, and that then a whole bunch of Trump folk continuously lied about (or had to be repeatedly reminded of) contacts they had with Russians and Russian government officials (let alone lies about other things), it seems a worthwhile set of investigations to me.
True. And it seems likely that, as with some of the other players, the effort was made in order to get Manafort to flip on Trump. That said, the crimes he was accused of were, in fact, federal crimes, and he was found guilty of both them and further crimes after his indictment.
First, he was put in solitary while under indictment, not after he’d been found guilty. Second, given he violated the terms of his release while awaiting trial, by tampering with witnesses while under house arrest and continuing to lie while under a plea agreement — and given that the facility he was in couldn’t guarantee his safety in the general population, and and that it’s not quite the “solitary confinement” we may think of from Cool Hand Luke, yes.
Not in the least. There were investigations going on or under consideration prior to the “dossier” being passed to the FBI.
The dossier was opposition research, the gathering of information and rumors about a political figure. It was not intended as something for publication (and was, in fact, not in final form), but was a collection of information (17 memos put together between 7-12/2016) gathered through various means (and evaluated for likelihood) about the candidate. Oppo research is pretty standard in any political campaign, though rarely does it get this prominence (perhaps because rarely are the data collected so spectacular).
Fusion GPS was (separately) contracted both by conservative interests (the Washington Free Beacon) and by an attorney on behalf of the Clinton Campaign and the DNC to do oppo research on Trump. The Beacon dropped its contract when Trump became the presumptive nominee. Steele began his work for Fusion GPS subsequent to that. The Clinton/DNC interests stopped funding when the election occurred. Steele was funded directly by Fusion GPS after that to finish his information collection.
Because of its explosive (and in some cases salacious) nature, because it hadn’t come out until after the election, and because they hadn’t yet verified the details presented.
NBCUniversal owns about 1/3 of BuzzFeed.
McCain wanted to be sure that it has been seen and addressed by the FBI after he had been informed of it through UK sources. Which seems perfectly reasonable, given its underlying theme of Russian links with the Trump campaign. Granted, there was no love lost between McCain and Trump, but passing the matter on to the FBI seems quite appropriate. Heck, Lindsay Graham, now Trump’s Number One Senate supporter, said he urged McCain to pass it on to the FBI.
There are a number of items from the dossier that have never been verified or that appear to be wrong.
There are others where it is asserted that they have been verified, but this cannot be confirmed because of the intelligence source of the verification.
There are a number of items from the dossier that have, in fact, been verified.
Regardless, especially since it paralleled other investigations that were going on, and came from a respected source, it’s not at all surprising that it was at least taken up by the intelligence community as additional input into a potentially mammoth threat against America.
I’m now going to skip over the frothing about Democrats “ruining lives” and vast Clinton conspiracies and “uranium deals,” given the amount of time I’ve already plowed into this.
The Page and Strzok brouhaha strikes me as much ado about very little.
It’s something I’ve withheld judgment on. Even given Trump’s generally disgusting behavior regarding women and regarding his “enemies,” it seems extreme, but not beyond the realm of possibility. I’d expect far stronger evidence than what Steele had (and even Steele considered the actual report to be far from confirmed).
Thank you!
David, please, you and your side invested over 22 months in the Honorable and beyond reproach Mr. Mueller and after 500 witness and thousands of supernovas, nothing about Russian collusion.
Once again, you try to down play the truth and facts by stating I sound like someone: A) I don’t watch and B) Wouldn’t believe if he was saying it.
No, I use commend sense and curiosity as my guide lines. I read, a lot, and not just one side, but, both. The common thing you seem to miss is the truth.
But, what really bothers you and your side is that you can’t imagine how the anointed one, Hillary, lost! It had to be rigged. Therefore, someone must have influenced the election. It has to be the evil empire Russia, that’s it! There’s no way she could have lost to an outside as vulgar as Trump.
No, it can’t be. We can’t loose, it must be corruption because no one is that stupid to vote for Trump.
Even though his highness, President Obama, went on record during a press conference stating that it would be impossible for any country to rig an election.
Okay, so let’s get rid of the electoral college and lower the voting age to 16, since we lost, therefore it’s not a fair system.
What a bunch of self indulgent, whining, spoiled rotten children you are acting like.
Here’s the reason Trump won. Even though people didn’t see him as the third messiah (Obama being the second) they saw Trump as a person that would protect what they believed in and not be forced to accept what 0.5% of the country believes. And, go figure, he is protecting their way of life.
You just don’t get it and your “intelligence” will never let you until you gain WISDOM.
You sound like: Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rachel Maddow, Don Lemon, Clapper, etc…
You bought a HUGE lie to protect the prior administration. Just look into the FBI’s Crossfire Hurricane or read any of the lasted testimonies from Page and Strozk.
Really, your extreme dislike of those that are not of your thinking or believes is truly sad.
@Michael
I find it ironic that you criticize my “extreme dislike of those that are not of your thinking or believes” when your comment is nothing but invective against “you and your side” and “the anointed one, Hillary” and “his highness, President Obama” and how I need to “gain WISDOM” and “What a bunch of self indulgent, whining, spoiled rotten children you are acting like.”
You might want to check that mote in your own eye.
And, in all honesty and charity, if that’s all you have to say, you really needn’t say it here.
David, David, David, still have to always be right. You never could accept that someone might be smarter or wiser than you. When Republicans lost in 2008 and 2012, we went on with our lives and didn’t try to run Obama out of town. No, if they did, they would have been called racists. Wait, they were call racists. No, they organized and the Tea Party was created.
What have you and the left done the last two years? That’s right, whine, complain, falsely accuse, etc…because you couldn’t believe Hillary, yes Hillary, lost.
You don’t want me to be snarky? Well, don’t start your retort by stating I sound like Sean Hannity. That’s the same strategy used by the extremists-call them names, don’t debate the issue. The reasoning is that the Left isn’t on the side of truth nor facts. No, it’s based off of feelings and good intentions. And, we know what road is paved with “good” intentions. Your beliefs and those you agree with have done more harm to American and it’s founding than the Russians ever could have imagined. The left has ruined education, the arts, music, pick it. And, God forbid if we disagree with you, then, we need hate speech laws.
If you did any serious reading, like: Darkness at Noon, War and Peace or Beirut Rules, you’d see what you are claiming is for the good, is really all about wanting power and control because you’re the educated enlightened ones.
Here’s a great article, that I’m sure you’ll find fault with, but it summarizes what many Americans went through during 2008-2016.
https://spectator.org/america-recognizing-israeli-sovereignty-over-the-golan-heights/
So, stop the complaining and crying that Hillary lost and get on with your life like 51% plus of America did during those years.
Maybe this will help you-once you realize and come to terms with the fact that life isn’t fair and doesn’t always work out the way you want it to, then it becomes easier to live your life.
Michael, just … stop. I don’t want to fight you over this, and I’d rather not figure out how to ban you from the site. But, frankly, comments like the above just seem designed to be insulting and provocative.
Don’t care for my opinions? Don’t feel obliged to come here and read them.