https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... -questions
Attorney General William Barr has notified Congress that special counsel Robert Mueller found no evidence during his inquiry that President Trump’s campaign conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. The bombshell disclosure appeared to resolve a core question of the Mueller investigation. It sent shock waves through Washington, with Trump and his allies claiming total vindication of the president after the investigation dogged the White House for just shy of two years.
However, Barr’s four-page letter sent Sunday has raised new questions, and the full contents of Mueller’s final, confidential report to the Justice Department remain shrouded in mystery.
...Why didn’t Mueller make a judgment on obstruction of justice?
...What investigations did he refer to other districts?
... What does the report actually say?
The conclusion of Mueller’s investigation has set the stage for a potentially bruising showdown between the legislative and executive branches over Mueller’s closing documentation if House Democrats are unsatisfied with the information Barr gives them.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... rt/585631/
The Mueller Probe Was an Unmitigated Success
The scandal is how much corruption it exposed—and how much turns out to have been perfectly legal.
Through his investigation, Mueller has also provided a plausible answer to the question that first bothered me. Trump’s motive for praising Putin appears to have been, in large part, commercial. With his relentless pursuit of Trump Tower Moscow, the Republican nominee for president had active commercial interests in Russia that he failed to disclose to the American people. In fact, he explicitly and shamelessly lied about them. As Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen implied in his congressional testimony, Trump ran his campaign as something of an infomercial, hoping to convince the Russians that he was a good partner. To enrich himself, Trump promised to realign American foreign policy.
This is the very definition of corruption, and it provides the plot line that runs through the entirety of Trump’s political life. The president never chooses to distinguish—and indeed, may be temperamentally incapable of distinguishing—his personal interests from the national interest... |
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house ... s-behavior
The dots did not connect.
That appears to be at the heart of special counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that, as quoted in a letter from Attorney General William P. Barr to congressional leaders, members of the Trump presidential campaign did not conspire or coordinate with “the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Separately, Mueller’s investigation did not find that President Trump committed obstruction of justice, but it did not “exonerate” him either. Nonetheless, Barr wrote that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had determined that the evidence did not establish that Trump committed obstruction of justice (more about that later).
Certainly, the Mueller investigation of conspiracy with Russia did not lack for suspicious dots...
So, many are asking, how could there not have been a conspiracy? Largely overlooked during the Mueller investigation is the most exacting legal standard in all of American law, which is the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt burden that a prosecutor must meet to convict a defendant of a crime...
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... er/585628/
Barr’s Startling and Unseemly Haste
The attorney general’s letter will do little to bridge the partisan divide.
Ken White
Attorney and former federal prosecutor
We cannot yet see the report that Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted to Attorney General William Barr on Friday. But we can see its shadow in the four-page letter Barr sent to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on Sunday afternoon. The letter will be touted as vindication by President Donald Trump and his supporters, but will do little to bridge the partisan divide over Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation, and will inspire more vociferous demands to release the entire report.
... The letter revealed that Mueller closed his investigation without recommending more criminal charges, and that no further indictments are under seal, as some had speculated. That’s a great relief for Trump and his family and associates, but it’s not the end of their federal criminal jeopardy...
Next, Barr reported that the special counsel concluded that Russia attempted to interfere with the 2016 presidential election... But crucially, Mueller reported that his investigation “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” whether expressly or tacitly. ...Trump’s triumphant supporters notwithstanding, we don’t yet know what that means. ... Without seeing Mueller’s full report, we don’t know whether this is a firm conclusion about lack of coordination or a frank admission of insufficient evidence....
The other big reveal in Barr’s letter is that Mueller “determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment” about whether the president obstructed justice over the course of the two-year investigation of Russian interference in the election. Instead, Mueller laid out the relevant evidence “on both sides” of the issue, ....
Mueller’s report “does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it does not exonerate him.” Mueller punted....
The attorney general showed no such circumspection.... this conclusion reflects startling and unseemly haste for such a historic matter....
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... ry/585634/
In a letter to Congress on Sunday, Attorney General William Barr declared that while Robert Mueller’s report found evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and did not exonerate President Donald Trump, it also did “not conclude that the president committed a crime.” And so the special counsel’s months-long investigation into Trump’s dealings with Russia ended with an inconclusive conclusion: No smoking gun would result in Trump’s hasty removal from office.
Not just Democratic lawmakers had been banking on a final blow to the Trump administration. Pundits, commentators, and opportunistic entrepreneurs had all held up Mueller as a hero for their cause—and, in the process, constructed a cottage industry of Mueller-pegged media content and accessories....
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archi ... ed/585625/
Good news, America. Russia helped install your president. But although he owes his job in large part to that help, the president did not conspire or collude with his helpers. He was the beneficiary of a foreign intelligence operation, but not an active participant in that operation. He received the stolen goods, but he did not conspire with the thieves in advance.
This is what Donald Trump’s administration and its enablers in Congress and the media are already calling exoneration. But it offers no reassurance to Americans who cherish the independence and integrity of their political process.
The question unanswered by the attorney general’s summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report is: Why? Russian President Vladimir Putin took an extreme risk by interfering in the 2016 election...
btw, I saw a great election bumper sticker this weekend. On a red, white and blue background, it said "Any Competent Adult 2020." That says it all.
IMO, we already know more than enough to get rid of Trump via impeachment or the 25th amendment, regardless of what Barr has revealed. He's incompetent, ignorant, unwilling to learn and arrogant, a dangerous combination. The reason more than one member of his administration has called him a moron. Not to mention that he seems perfectly comfortable with cruelty and unethical behavior as long as it serves his ends. Most other civilized countries would have removed him long before now, on those grounds alone. But too many Americans are poorly informed, tribal and complacent.
I have to admit, I'll be curious what we'll know about the full Mueller report in 10 years, once it all comes out. I suspect there was evidence of illegality in the Trump campaign - there's too much coincidence and too many Trump lies otherwise (like not knowing anything about the Trump tower meeting) - but Trump's associates were too sure of their eventual pardons to turn on him. At this point, I'm predicting that Trump will pardon Manafort, Gates, Stone et al. shortly before he leaves office. Maybe earlier. If it's earlier, I also predict that Congress is unlikely to have the spine to boot Trump out as he deserves.
EDIT: There still seem to be some loose ends in Mueller's investigation.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-ba ... jury-fight
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from a mystery company over a grand jury subpoena tied to special counsel Robert Mueller’s now completed Russia probe.
...The federal grand jury subpoena, which is being kept under seal along with related court filings, seeks information from a corporation owned by a foreign government, known in court filings only as “Country A.”
The Supreme Court in January refused to block the contempt order, which forced the company to comply with the subpoena...In refusing to turn over the requested information, the company faces $50,000 per day in fines.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4355 ... control-of
President Trump’s decision to recognize Israel’s control of the Golan Heights will be formalized Monday when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House, Israel’s ambassador to the United States said Sunday.
Ambassador Ron Dermer made the announcement at the opening night of this year’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference in Washington, D.C., after having been asked about the threat Israel faces from Iran in Syria.
“If we’re going to talk about Syria, I think it’s important for me to thank President Trump for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” Dermer said to applause from the crowd.
“I think that deserves a standing ovation,” he added, with the crowd following suit by standing to applaud...
AIPAC is the very successful pro-Israel lobbying group that connects politicians with pro-Israel donors. Though it seems that they no longer sponsor the all-expenses-paid (and no doubt carefully controlled) trip to Israel for freshmen in Congress - that bit of lobbying has been passed off to another group. Most politicians, from Trump to Pelosi, seem to attend AIPAC conferences, though most of the Democratic candidates for president seem to be avoiding it this year. I expect most of them will come to heel later.
(btw, My cynicism doesn't apply to Bernie Sanders, who is unusual among politicians in that he seems to have principles and stick to them. Despite being Jewish and having spent time in Israel, he's not into blind allegiance and agreement. From The Jerusalem Post:
https://www.jpost.com/US-Elections/What ... ver-448803
What Sanders said on Israel in AIPAC speech that he was not allowed to deliver
Democratic presidential candidate sought to address conference remotely, but lobby group turned him down.
EDIT: Not surprisingly, Trump and cronies are treating Barr's synopsis of the Mueller report as a full vindication, never mind that it is nothing of the sort, and an opportunity to attack.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-47699611
Trump hints at payback for 'evil' enemies over Mueller report
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... rats-media
Trump set to weaponize Mueller report in war on Democrats and media
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/artic ... mlin-warms
President Donald Trump, cleared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller of conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election, on Monday vented his anger at the inquiry and vowed investigations into unnamed political enemies who did "evil" and "treasonous things."
...Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican Senate Judiciary Committee chairman and a Trump ally, said he would ask Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate the origins of the Russia probe, which was first handled by the FBI and then by Mueller after the president fired the agency's director, James Comey, in May 2017.
The Republican president pledged new investigations but did not specify who would conduct them or who should be targeted. Trump in the past has called for investigations of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate he defeated in 2016.
...White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders called for congressional hearings to investigate prominent Trump critics including former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan, Comey and other FBI figures.
Not that I expected anything different from Trump. In fact, I expect him to be bolder and to act even more like a king. That weird attack last week on his own Treasury Dept. on behalf of Kim Jong Un was already beyond bizarre.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4357 ... s-of-putin
Fox News host Steve Hilton on Monday accused a list of people and entities, including CNN and MSNBC, of being the "real agents" of Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow. Hilton, a former director of strategy for ex-British Prime Minister David Cameron, made the comments on Fox News while speaking about Attorney General William Barr's summary of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.
Which makes this even more ironic:
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... guests-who
The Trump campaign on Monday called on various TV producers to challenge their guests' "outlandish, false" accusations about alleged collusion between Trump's associates and Russia now that the claim has "proven to be false."
Tim Murtaugh, the director of communications for Trump's campaign, made the request in an email just a day after Attorney General William Barr said that the special counsel investigation did not uncover evidence to conclude the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.
And here we go. Mitch McConnell has blocked a nonbinding resolution in the Senate to release the full Mueller report. Lindsay Graham, another Trump ally, blocked this resolution the last time.
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/435 ... e-released
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday blocked a resolution calling on special counsel Robert Mueller's report to be released publicly.
Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked for unanimous consent for the nonbinding resolution, which cleared the House 420-0, to be passed by the Senate following Mueller's submission of his final report on Friday.
His excuse is "leave it up to Barr."