Mueller Investigation!

[GreyhoundFan]

 

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[GreyhoundFan]

The WaPo has an article they are updating frequently. I'll quote a handful of parts I think are the most interesting: "Mueller report fallout: Trump, Russia, others react to Barr summary"

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6:10 p.m.: McConnell blocks Schumer resolution to make Mueller report public

Citing national security concerns, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objected to a move Monday by Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to vote on a resolution urging the Justice Department to release the entirety of Mueller’s report.

The House voted overwhelmingly earlier this month to approve the resolution. Schumer has repeatedly tried to bring the measure to the Senate floor, without success.

 

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5 p.m.: In House floor speech, Rep. Mo Brooks compares Democrats, media to Hitler

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) delivered a House floor speech Monday in which he compared Democrats and the news media to Adolf Hitler.

“America can either learn from history or be doomed to repeat it,” Brooks said. “When it comes to ‘Big Lie’ political propaganda in America, as the Mueller report confirms, America’s Socialists and their fake news media allies are experts and have no peers.”

Brooks also read a passage from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” in which the Nazi dictator wrote about the “big lie” propaganda strategy.

Monday marked at least the second time that Brooks referenced Hitler in public remarks, according to the website Al.com, which first reported on the lawmaker’s floor speech.

 

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4 p.m.: White House may not review full Mueller report

White House officials are not automatically going to ask to review the full Mueller report, and there is even a slim possibility that they may never look at it, two people familiar with the discussion told The Post’s Carol Leonnig on the condition of anonymity.

Trump advisers believe the obstruction portion of Mueller’s report will include a heavy dose of privileged material that the White House might object to revealing, particularly Trump’s private communication with such senior aides as former White House counsel Donald McGahn.

Though administration officials have said that the White House would be able to demand to see the case report in any Department of Justice investigation that included privileged White House discussions, the two people said it may be unnecessary here. Trump could decide that Justice and its Office of Legal Counsel can properly protect such privilege as part of its review. Such a move would also have the added benefit of shielding the White House from claims or the impression of political interference.

 

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2:40 p.m.: Papadopoulos applies for pardon

Caroline Polisi, an attorney for George Papadopoulos, said she has already submitted an application to the White House requesting a pardon for the former Trump campaign adviser, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about Russia contacts.

“It would be malpractice not to,” Polisi told The Post’s Rosalind S. Helderman. “We submitted it prior to the investigation coming to an end, but the results of the investigation only strengthen our arguments.”

Papadopoulos, who has a book coming out this week about his experiences with the investigation into alleged collusion between Russians and the Trump campaign, has acknowledged that he was told by a London based professor in April 2016 that the Russians held damaging information about Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. The professor then introduced him to a Russian think tank director. Papadopoulos served 12 days in prison in November for lying to the FBI.

 

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2:10 p.m.: Graham says he advised McCain to give dossier to FBI

Graham said Monday that he had told Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to give the FBI the dossier on the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia. The infamous dossier, compiled for Democrats by a former British intelligence officer, contains a number of unverified claims about Trump’s alleged Russia connections.

The revelation from Graham comes after Trump repeatedly assailed McCain for handing over the dossier, even accusing him of doing so “for very evil purposes.” McCain died of brain cancer in August.

Graham told reporters that McCain showed him the dossier when he received it in late 2016.

“And I told him the only thing I knew to do with it, it could be a bunch of garbage, it could be true, who knows? Turn it over to somebody whose job it is to find these things out, and John McCain acted appropriately,” Graham said.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"The biggest lesson from the Mueller probe? It’s about character."

Spoiler

The long-awaited Mueller report still remains under lock and key at the Justice Department, but the few summary conclusions transmitted by Attorney General William P. Barr to Capitol Hill on Sunday afternoon caused the president to gleefully claim “a complete exoneration” on Twitter.

Beyond the president’s well-practiced braggadocio, what have we actually learned from Robert S. Mueller III’s 674-day investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and the president’s conduct and approach to national security once in office?

Well, we know that Russia’s campaign to help elect Donald Trump was a multimillion-dollar sophisticated campaign directed by the Kremlin and carried out by, among others, senior members of Russian military intelligence. Mueller indicted 26 Russian nationals and three Russian entities in that effort.

We know that the Trump campaign and transition team were in contact with Russia-linked operatives more than 100 times and had at least 28 meetings.

We know that in July 2016, candidate Trump called on the Russians to continue to break U.S. law and, as uncovered by Mueller, we now know that they promptly did. Notwithstanding those facts, Mueller concluded that he could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Trump campaign and the Russians engaged in a criminal conspiracy. The public must await the release of the full report to understand Mueller’s reasoning on why the many contacts and the encouragement still fell short of criminal conspiracy.

We also know that the president’s national security adviser, campaign chairman, deputy campaign chairman, personal lawyer and foreign policy adviser were convicted or pleaded guilty to a variety of crimes, including lying to Congress and federal investigators and obstructing justice to cover up their actions. Roger Stone, one ofTrump’s longest-serving and most trusted political advisers, awaits trial in U.S. court on similar charges.

It remains unclear why Mueller did not demand that Trump testify under oath; perhaps we will learn his reasoning when the report is released in full.

Finally, we learned from Barr’s summary something of what Mueller thought about Trump’s constant attempts to undermine the investigation, denigrate the prosecutors, excuse Russia’s active measures to attack our democracy and side with Russian President Vladimir Putin on key foreign policy issues. Mueller’s take, according to Barr: “While the report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it does not exonerate him.” If that constitutes “total exoneration” in Trump’s words, March Madness must have made its way to Mar-a-Lago.

Congress will and should take the time to chew over Mueller’s findings and the facts he uncovered/ And investigations continue by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and by state attorneys general.

Still, the biggest immediate lesson people can take away from this investigation is about the character of the two protagonists. Mueller conducted his service to the American public with the highest level of nonpartisan professionalism, integrity, respect for the rule of law and concern for our country’s national security. And then there is Trump. The American people would do well to remember the difference if Trump’s name is on the ballot in 2020.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[VixenToast]

What do we Do?! What do we do?! Omg. What is hope? It’s the crushing of dreams ?

 

[GreyhoundFan]

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