{"id":138409,"date":"2019-03-25T10:17:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-25T16:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=138409"},"modified":"2019-03-25T10:17:44","modified_gmt":"2019-03-25T16:17:44","slug":"on-the-the-end-of-the-mueller-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/25\/on-the-the-end-of-the-mueller-investigation.html","title":{"rendered":"On the the end of the Mueller Investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Bottom line, the report needs to be made public, as much and as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

It’s possible that the entire<\/em> report can’t<\/em> 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 —\u00a0suggests otherwise<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All that’s is not for nothing, and indicative that there remains ample ground for further investigation and indictment.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0if<\/em> — AG Barr’s handwaving is an accurate interpretation of the Mueller report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[532,1071],"tags":[1581,1077],"class_list":["post-138409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-elections-2016","category-trump","tag-mueller","tag-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/trump-and-mueller.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138973,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/05\/29\/case-not-closed.html","url_meta":{"origin":138409,"position":0},"title":"Case NOT closed","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 29-May-19 11:38pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Mueller's verbal summary of his own report demonstrates the need for more investigation, if not impeachment.","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2016"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2016","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2016"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/robert-mueller.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/robert-mueller.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/robert-mueller.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/robert-mueller.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":136481,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/05\/21\/crocodile-tears-over-the-cost-of-the-mueller-investigation.html","url_meta":{"origin":138409,"position":1},"title":"Crocodile Tears over the cost of the Mueller Investigation","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 21-May-18 9:01am","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/18965459\/status\/997314774135377920 RT @MrDane1982: Mueller's investigation: $3.2M Benghazi \"investigation\": $7M Bill Clinton investigation: $70M Trump's golfing trips: $83M\u2026 As the Mueller investigation runs into its second year, a talking point has developed that this is all Some Horrible Waste of Time and Money. Which, on reflection and comparison (Benghazi!), in particular\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/trump-some-more.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135657,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/14\/but-their-text-messages.html","url_meta":{"origin":138409,"position":2},"title":"“But their text messages!”","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 14-Dec-17 4:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"It's a sign the Mueller investigation is actually turning up dirt -- and threatens to turn in far more -- that the White House, the conservative media machine, and now the GOP Congress are doing all they can to discredit Mueller, the investigation, and, now the FBI as a whole.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/fbi-trump-texts.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":136088,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/04\/10\/its-all-a-hillary-democratic-deep-state-witch-hunt-plot.html","url_meta":{"origin":138409,"position":3},"title":"It’s all a Hillary Democratic Deep State Witch Hunt Plot!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 10-Apr-18 4:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Hannity said so! (Probably ... I lose track of what sort of zaniness comes out of Hannity's mouth. ) Of course the fact that all the key players are Republican is doesn't disproves this, as the loudest Trumpists (including our Trump-in-Chief) don't consider anyone a Republican who isn't utterly and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/republican-gop-logo.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135232,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/31\/look-monday-mueller-moves.html","url_meta":{"origin":138409,"position":4},"title":"A look at the Monday Mueller moves","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 31-Oct-17 7:30am","format":false,"excerpt":"Amidst the various breathless commentary out there, this article seems the clearest on what actually got announced and what it presently means (certainly more so than random Presidential tweets). Before we dive any deeper into the Manafort-Gates indictment\u2014charges to which both pled not guilty to Monday\u2014or the Papadopoulos plea and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Mueller.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":138633,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/19\/so-the-mueller-report.html","url_meta":{"origin":138409,"position":5},"title":"So, the Mueller Report …","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 19-Apr-19 8:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Bottom line: Trump is guilty as sin. Now what do we do?","rel":"","context":"In "Crime & Punishment"","block_context":{"text":"Crime & Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/princess-bride-let-me-explain-sum-up.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/princess-bride-let-me-explain-sum-up.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/princess-bride-let-me-explain-sum-up.gif?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138409"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138412,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138409\/revisions\/138412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}