Mueller Investigation Part 2: Release The Report

[GreyhoundFan]

Continued from here:

 

 

 

[kpmom]

If Trump is completely exonerated, why aren't the Repubs chomping at the bit to release it instead of blocking it?

Not a rhetorical question, I'm actually wondering.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

From Dana Milbank: "William Barr has made this a win for Moscow"

Spoiler

Attorney General William P. Barr’s summary of the Mueller report is scandalous — for reasons that have little to do with “collusion.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert S. Mueller III nearly two years ago “to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” as he put it then. Mueller’s report, submitted to the Justice Department on Friday, is titled: “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election.”

This was supposed to be the last word on Russian interference, a definitive investigation that would show the United States and the world, in detail, how it happened — and, as a subsidiary question, whether Trump campaign officials were involved.

But Barr kissed off the central charge of the investigation with a few paragraphs of summary material already in the public domain. He wrote that the “report outlines the Russian effort to influence the election and documents crimes committed by persons associated with the Russian government in connection with those efforts.” But Barr’s letter provides no such information. If Barr doesn’t give a full public accounting, and soon, he will have squandered Mueller’s heroic efforts and done a disservice to the national interest.

The immediate reaction has been, predictably, a sandbox fight about whether Trump “colluded” with Moscow. “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION,” Trump tweeted. That’s false: The probe explicitly didn’t exonerate Trump, and the attorney general’s letter doesn’t mention “collusion,” focusing on the high legal standard of conspiracy and not whether Trump’s campaign sought Russian help, as it clearly did.

But Trump is free to claim vindication. That’s politics. The outrage is Barr has also made this a win for Moscow, which claims vindication despite indisputable Kremlin-committed crimes. That’s unacceptable.

“In short, Russia did not elect Trump,” pro-Putin media personality Evgeny Popov tweeted in response to Barr, adding a taunt: “And what about sanctions for ‘election interference?’ Hello, Mueller!”

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman also asserted vindication, falsely stating, that “our country has not interfered in the domestic affairs of other countries.”

Alexey Pushkov, a Russian senator, crowed about Barr’s findings, saying, “Democrats will still shout that there was a conspiracy. Conspiracy theory maniacs don’t need facts.”

This is exactly why the world needs Mueller’s facts. How can Barr betray what was always the central purpose of the investigation? I applauded the night Mueller was appointed because while “Democrats were often leaping to conclude that there was high-level collusion . . . nearly everybody had lost track of the most important issue: Russia, arguably our leading global adversary, had successfully interfered in a U.S. presidential election — undermining confidence in our system of government — and was ready to do it again.”

Barr’s summary — a news release addressed to lawmakers — contained not one full sentence from the Mueller report. Barr seemed determined to exonerate, declaring Trump had not obstructed justice even though Mueller drew no conclusion. Barr’s letter, though saying Mueller found no conspiracy, didn’t address what we colloquially call collusion. As Trump himself helpfully informed us, “collusion is not a crime,” and even his attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani claimed he “never said there was no collusion” between Russia and Trump’s campaign. I had speculated in 2017 that Trump and his team “were too incompetent to organize a conspiracy.” That Mueller found no conspiracy is a relief, sparing us the crisis of having a president who betrayed the country.

Ironically, the probe ended where it began. The pretext for firing James B. Comey, which set everything in motion, was the former FBI director declining to charge Hillary Clinton but releasing “derogatory information” about her, detailing how “extremely careless” she was with classified information. Trump now occupies that same netherworld between guilt and innocence: “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Perhaps congressional investigations and spinoff cases by federal prosecutors in New York and Washington will add clarity. More likely, nobody’s mind will change. Trump will be the same man of dubious integrity he was before Mueller indicted or procured guilty pleas from 34 people, including six prominent Trump advisers.

Even if Barr squelches the report, Mueller’s exercise had some benefit. The lurking prosecutor served as a check on Trump’s excesses at a time before Democrats took control of the House. Mueller made it difficult, for example, for Trump to lift sanctions against Russia.

But now Putin is using Barr’s words to exculpate Russia, even as it prepares to sabotage our 2020 elections. Trump’s allies are helping the whitewash: “There should be no more talk of Russia,” Chris Christie proclaimed Sunday. And Trump, who famously can’t “see any reason” to disbelieve Putin, isn’t about to blow the whistle.

Barr owes it to his country to let the world see exactly what Russia did.

 

[polecat]

2 hours ago, kpmom said:

If Trump is completely exonerated, why aren't the Repubs chomping at the bit to release it instead of blocking it?

Not a rhetorical question, I'm actually wondering.

 

Well, because he wasn't exonerated, and the summary states quite clearly that "it does not exonerate him."

I do reputation management, and I'm just going to say that the summary is as significant for what it doesn't say as for what it does.

I'm dying to read that report, though.

 

[AmazonGrace]

George P: I'm like, a honest person, srsly, I didn't lie to the investigators, I lied to the judge when I said I lied to the investigators. Buy my book to read my new lies in paperback!

 

[SassyPants]

I am so sick of corrupt, wealthy people in powerful positions doing whatever they want and seemingly walking away with little to no consequences. Sick of it. I’m hoping that the SDNY steps up and does it due diligence in regards to Trump, his businesses and finances. So sick of these folks skirting the law and getting, at the most, a hand slap.

Edited March 26, 2019 by SassyPants

[Howl]

4 hours ago, kpmom said:

f Trump is completely exonerated, why aren't the Repubs chomping at the bit to release it instead of blocking it?

Not a rhetorical question, I'm actually wondering.

I'm starting to get the picture.  The Republican National Committee released a long list of talking points (I'll try to find them)  for Trump surrogates, relative to the Barr letter. 

 Trump media and political surrogates will hammer those talking points relentlessly -- this is something that they are very, very good at.  Congressional Repubs will divert by trying to set up hearings investigating Mueller/Clinton/FBI, because that is red meat to the base and they MUST, at any cost, discount the findings of the Mueller probe. 

This also means to me that Republicans will fight to the absolute death to keep the Mueller Report under wraps, because there is a lot of damaging stuff in there.   This is truly a battle for hearts and minds for the 2020 elections. 

If the Mueller Report does surface either in print or the contents are sussed out in Congressional hearings, Republican operatives and Trump media surrogates have pre-emptively discounted ANY Mueller Report conclusions that put Trump or Trump associated in a criminal/treasonous light;  these will be automatically and totally discounted because "no collusion,"  Deep State, whatever.   

McConnell still has an iron grip on the Senate and he will obstruct, obstruct, obstruct to his dying breath.  Yesterday, Monday, he blocked a non-binding Senate vote on release of the Mueller Report. 

Barr and Whitaker were put in place with very specific tasks relative to the Mueller Report and that task was to run interference and do damage control by keeping the Mueller Report under wraps. 

There was never a possibility, EVER, that AG Barr would or will promote transparency  and would or will do the right thing, EVER, by the American people.  Like all loyalists, he's there to protect Trump and Republican interests.  

Edited March 26, 2019 by Howl

[Howl]

And, this is a pre-emptive attack on the legitimacy of any Democratic attempts at impeachment. 

I am so f**king steamed right now. 

So, in the previous thread, I noted that Whitaker and Barr had assigned tasks.  So who made the decision to give the Mueller report to Barr, rather than send it directly to Congress? 

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by Howl

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

And, this is a pre-emptive attack on the legitimacy of any Democratic attempts at impeachment. 

I am so f**king steamed right now. 

So, in the previous thread, I noted that Whitaker and Barr had assigned tasks.  So who made the decision to give the Mueller report to Barr, rather than send it directly to Congress? 

 

Awe, the libs are cute if they think they can get the republicans to follow any rules they make the dems follow.  The GOP is going to do what it wants when it wants, and we are all going to sit here gnashing our teeth, signing petitions online and staying "woke" on Twitter while eating our avocado toast and scrolling through Instagram. 

Until some far left faction goes off nothing is going to happen.  We can play by all the rules we want, it won't matter when the other side makes them up as they go along and doesn't give a fuck about following them.  They've rigged the system to their benefit and turned us into a bunch of pussy ass nice guys who don't want to hurt anyone's feelings.  Meaning, they will steal the elections and rub their corruption in our faces while we kvetch about proper fucking pronouns and if Brecken got his fat free gluten free sugar free snack and no one made fun of him for eating a stick while the other kids ate Twinkies, bull shit that liberals tend to get stuck on because if everyone can't have nice things then NO ONE can have nice things. 

And yeah I sound like a conservative, I'm acting like one, I'm going to be that asshole until we finally get up and actually DO fucking something besides sitting around waiting for the next election, that they have rigged in their favor. 

[Howl]

and this

Redactions under executive privilege?  What. The. Actual. Fuckety. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.  

[Howl]

The "Mueller Report" will be released in the coming weeks after grand jury testimony has been redacted and the WH has redacted anything that implicates Trump and his associates.  The final version may very well be shorter than the Barr Letter.  

Installing Barr was a critical part of neutering the Mueller Report.  He's playing his part. 

[formergothardite]

I'm so, so depressed about all this. I have a terrible feeling that Trump is going to get away with everything and manage to win the next election.

[fraurosena]

The Repugliklans are going to do anything and everything to hold on to power. No matter what. Even if that means eliciting and accepting help from hostile countries. Every day there is more and more evidence that this is what they are doing, and they feel secure enough to do it blatantly and out in the open. Who's going to stop them after all?

At least, that's what they're thinking. Yes, they've rigged the system in their favor. Yes, the elections are certain to be hacked. However, they are forgetting one very crucial thing. The might of the many. Do not forget what happened in the midterms. Remember that many more people go out to vote for presidential elections than midterms or any other type of election for that matter. And the public is riled. The public is stirring. And the more the Repugliklans do to hold on to power, the more blatantly they do it, the more the public will be inflamed. They will come out in droves the likes of which have never been seen before. No amount of rigging or hacking will be able to withstand it.

So let the Repugliklans withhold the Mueller report. Let the Repugliklans show just what lengths (or should I say depths) they are willing to go to. It will only serve to show their real faces. It will only result in the opposite happening of what they're aiming for. They have already lost the house, and next they will lose the presidency, and they will lose the Senate too.

[Dandruff]

I think the Democratic party, in particular, will need to have solid, effective PR.  Strong, accurate, repetitive, and as difficult to spin as possible.  I expect there to be massive distractions going on at the time.

[Cartmann99]

Warning: I told the swear jar to go directly to hell without passing Go, or collecting $200, so there's that.

Spoiler

We've got to figure out a way to keep the public mad as hell* until November of 2020. If the public's anger turns into despair and hopelessness, then we are well and truly fucked, as despair and hopelessness is the road to hell where we end up meekly accepting whatever these disgusting motherfuckers have in store for us.

For those that are struggling really hard right now, I got you. The truth is a part of me is so done with this bullshit. The desire to just say fuck it and spend the foreseeable future working on an idea I have for a new brownie recipe and listening to classic rock is extremely appealing right now. My country needs me though, so I'm going to keep trying to find a balance between taking care of myself, and fighting against this everlasting gobstopper of a shitshow we currently find ourselves in.

In other words, I'm frustrated and weary, but it's better to be frustrated  and weary together, because that's always better than trying to go it alone.

As my friend @47of74 always says, FUCK TRUMP!!

*Howard Beale from Network. Stick it on your watchlist if you haven't seen it. 

 

 

 

Edited March 27, 2019 by Cartmann99
I can't write for shit.

[smittykins]

I loved that movie!

[Drala]

6 hours ago, formergothardite said:

I'm so, so depressed about all this. I have a terrible feeling that Trump is going to get away with everything and manage to win the next election.

It helps me to put the injustice and corruption of Trump administration into the perspective of time and history.  Slavery was abolished in 1865.  By 1877, Jim Crow laws started to go into effect.  These were not effectively challenged until about 1957. We did not get the Civil Rights Act until 1964.  It was close to 100 years between the end of slavery and the effective implementation of social justice for African Americans.   We're still getting blow-back in 2016 from advancing civil rights in 1964, but the fundamental liberties are still in place.   My point is, if you live long enough, you may see justice served in Trump's case. In the short term, however, injustice may continue to take the day.  But even if you don't live to see the day of reckoning, there is evidence to believe that the "arc of the moral universe...bends toward justice."   

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[VixenToast]

@Cartmann99 @Drala soooo much yes. I needed to hear both of these. I will channel my rage into action. I will live knowing one day there will be exposure of this corruption.

Don’t let the bastards grind you down!

[Dandruff]

I'm hoping that SDNY will succeed where others may have failed.

[AmazonGrace]

Wait what? How can Mueller be done if his GJ isn't?

 

[fraurosena]

48 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

Wait what? How can Mueller be done if his GJ isn't?

 

I think it could be that Mueller has tugged every lead he had, and that in that sense, his role as Special Counsel can be said to be done. That doesn’t mean the further investigation of the leads he has found and brought before GJ’s and the courts have also come to an end. It doesn’t even mean that there won’t be new revelations either. Remember how we the public were always months behind when finding out what Mueller was doing? Well, even though he has delivered his report, I don’t think that necessarily means we’ve caught up with him yet. And that could well be the reason the repugs are doing an about face on transparency of the report. I don’t for one second believe that those that can be hurt by those revelations aren’t aware of what’s in the report. Barr isn’t only helping the presidunce, he’s part of the conspiracy, and is covering up for all co-conspirators.

Edited March 28, 2019 by fraurosena
Riffle

[GreyhoundFan]

 

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