Mueller Investigation Part 2: Release The Report

[fraurosena]

*stops reading again*

Another weighty paragraph:

The investigation did not always yield admissible information or testimony, or a complete picture of the activities undertaken by subjects of the investigation. Some individuals invoked their Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination and were not, in the Office's judgment, appropriate candidates for grants of immunity. 

Now I want to know which individuals invoked the Fifth. Kushner and Prince spring to mind immediately...

Editing to add... Holy wow, sweet Rufus! Take a load of this:

Further the Office learned that some of the individuals we interviewed or whose conduct we investigated -- including some associated with the Trump Campaign -- deleted relevant communications or communicated during the relevant period using applications that feature encryption or that do not provide for long term retention or communications records. In such cases the Office was not able to corroborate witness statements through comparison to contemporaneous communications or fully question witnesses about statements that appeared inconsistent with other known facts.

*resumes avid reading once more*

Edited April 18, 2019 by fraurosena

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[SilverBeach]

The report also said that Dump's written responses were inadequate. Mueller weighed pressing this (subpoenaing Dump) against the delay it would cause in getting the investigation wrapped up and the report issued.

The magnitude of Russia's involvement and the startling number of contacts cannot be overlooked. It smells to high heaven.

Good commentary by Rep. Swalwell (sp) calling for new laws to prohibit a lot of the bullshit that happened with the Russians..

Edited April 18, 2019 by SilverBeach

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Running to lunch to closest place so I can get back to the news.

No idea why I typed that - but thanks for  the updates. 

[fraurosena]

And yet another very important paragraph, that should not be overlooked:

From its inception, the Office recognized that its investigation could identify foreign intelligence and counter-intelligence information relevant to the FBI's broader national security mission. FBI personnel who assisted the Office established procedures to identify and convey such information to the FBI. The FBI's Counterintelligence Division met with the Office regularly for that purpose for most of the Office's tenure. For more that the past year, the FBI also embedded personnel at the Office who did not work on the Special Counsel's investigation, but whose purpose was to review the results of the investigation and to send -- in writing -- summaries of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information to FBIHQ and FBI Field Offices. Those communications and other correspondence between the Office and the FBI contain information derived from the investigation, not all of which is contained in this Volume. This Volume is a summary. It contains, in the Office's judgment, that information necessary to account for the Special Counsel's prosecution and declination decisions and to describe the investigations main factual results.

This is important because Mueller not so subtly implies here that there was a lot of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information found during his investigation, but as that did not fall within the parameters of his investigation, the information was given to the FBI. If I'm interpreting this correctly, this means that the FBI still has (an) ongoing counterintelligence investigation(s) on the Trump Campaign and those associated with it. 

[SilverBeach]

Just skimming now, as this will be my summer reading, like when the 911 Commission report was published (I learned so much about Islam from that report, which was very thorough and well written). However, it is clear that Dump is guilty as fuck of obstruction.

Edited April 18, 2019 by SilverBeach

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[formergothardite]

6 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

 

I would love to know what the blacked out part said. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Just now, formergothardite said:

I would love to know what the blacked out part said. 

Wouldn't we all?

 

 

[SilverBeach]

The current talking head is saying that the report was a handoff to Congress. Mueller was hamstrung by not being able to indict a sitting president. Congress needs to pick up the gauntlet and get rid of this fucker, no matter what Pelosi says.

[fraurosena]

I'm now reading the text with [redacted] parts. It's pretty clear that there's damaging information under those 'Harm to Ongoing Matter' redactions. It also seems that Barr slipped up here, because he left the last part in, that clearly implicates that Trump himself was in communication with someone (Stone?) about what Wikileaks would be releasing:

According to Gates, by the late summer of 2016, the Trump Campaign was planning a press strategy, a communications campaign, and messaging based on the possible release of Clinton emails by WikiLeaks [redacted]. [Redacted] while Trump and Gates were driving to LaGuardia Airport. [Redacted], shortly after the call candidate Trump told Gates that more releases of damaging information would be coming.

(I'm - reluctantly - taking a break now to make dinner)

[Howl]

here ya go: 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[fraurosena]

From the report:

Between November 18 and 19, 2015, Klokov and Cohen had at least one telephone call and exchanged several emails. Describing himself in emails to Cohen as a "trusted person" who could offer the Campaign "political synergy" and "synergy on a government level," Klokov recommended that Cohen travel to Russia to speak with him and an unidentified intermediary. Klokov siad that those conversations could facilitate a later meeting in Russia between the candidate and an individual Klokov described as "our person of interest." In an email to the Office, Erchova later identified the "person of interest" as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Political synergy. Synergy on a government level. To me, this reeks of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence issues. If House Dems are smart, they'll delve into this, because it points to the presidunce being compromised on the level of national security. That should be their focus point.

[GreyhoundFan]

"The 10 Trump actions Mueller spotlighted for potential obstruction"

Spoiler

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election details 10 episodes of potential obstruction of justice by President Trump that prosecutors examined. Mueller did so even as he declined to make a traditional judgment about whether Trump committed a crime.

“The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment,” the report stated. “At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgment.”

Attorney General William P. Barr and his deputy, Rod J. Rosenstein, examined the obstruction evidence laid out by Mueller’s team and concluded that it did not rise to the level of obstruction of justice — a controversial decision, given Trump recently appointed Barr and Barr had criticized Mueller’s obstruction probe.

At a news conference Thursday, Barr said he and Rosenstein disagreed with “some of the special counsel’s legal theories” but ultimately found the evidence was “not sufficient” to allege that the president engaged in criminal obstruction. He defended Trump’s actions, saying the president was frustrated and angry about the probe.

What follows is a breakdown of the 10 episodes examined by the special counsel’s office.

1. “Conduct involving [FBI] Director [James B.] Comey and Michael Flynn”

Flynn, the White House’s national security adviser, had lied about his interactions with the Russian ambassador during the transition period between Trump’s election and his inauguration. When Trump fired him, he said, “Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over.” This matches how Trump adviser and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has portrayed things.

The report also confirms reporting about a request Trump made to Comey shortly thereafter: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.” Trump has denied saying such a thing, but Mueller says it happened.

Trump also directed deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland to send an email denying that Trump had instructed Flynn to have such conversations. McFarland declined to do so, since she didn’t know whether it was true.

2. “The President’s reaction to the continuing Russia investigation”

Trump attempted to prevent Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the investigation before the special counsel was appointed. He said he needed an attorney general who would protect him.

Trump also tried to get top intelligence officials and Comey to publicly distance Trump from the investigation. His outreach to Comey came despite guidance from then-White House counsel Donald McGahn not to get involved in internal Justice Department matters.

3. “The President’s termination of Comey”

The report indicates that the breaking point for Trump was when Comey testified to Congress that there was a Russia investigation but declined to elaborate or say whether anyone on the Trump campaign was a target — including whether he had ruled out Trump personally.

Trump quickly declared to Attorney General Jeff Sessions: “This is terrible, Jeff. It’s all because you recused.” Then the next weekend, the report says, “the President stated that he wanted to remove Comey and had ideas for a letter that would be used to make the announcement.”

A memo was drafted explaining Comey’s firing, but one aide wrote at the time that the White House Counsel’s Office had decided that it should “[n]ot [see the] light of day” and that they should instead rely on justifications offered by Sessions and Rosenstein.

4. “The appointment of a Special Counsel and efforts to remove him”

Trump responded to the May 2017 appointment of Mueller as special counsel by saying he was “f---ed” and that it was “the end of his presidency.” Trump insisted that Mueller had conflicts of interest, but was told they were meritless and that they had already been a part of his consideration.

Three days after the media reported that Mueller was looking into potential obstruction, Trump called McGahn and told him to have Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein publicly attack Mueller’s alleged conflicts and call for his removal. McGahn declined.

5. “Efforts to curtail the Special Counsel’s investigation”

The report says Trump, two days after the above event, also tried to get Sessions to attack the investigation:

On June 19, 2017, the President met one-on-one in the Oval Office with his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, a trusted advisor outside the government, and dictated a message for Lewandowski to deliver to Sessions. The message said that Sessions should publicly announce that, notwithstanding his recusal from the Russia investigation, the investigation was “very unfair” to the President, the President had done nothing wrong, and Sessions planned to meet with the Special Counsel and “let [him] move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections.” Lewandowski said he understood what the President wanted Sessions to do.

But Lewandowski dragged his feet. Eventually, when Trump followed up a month later, Lewandowski asked senior White House official Rick Dearborn to do it. “Dearborn was uncomfortable with the task and did not follow through,” the report says.

6. “Efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence”

Mueller fills in the details of previous Washington Post reporting that Trump sought to mislead about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer:

On several occasions, the President directed aides not to publicly disclose the emails setting up the June 9 meeting, suggesting that the emails would not leak and that the number of lawyers with access to them should be limited. Before the emails became public, the President edited a press statement for Trump Jr. by deleting a line that acknowledged that the meeting was with "an individual who [Trump Jr.] was told might have information helpful to the campaign and instead said only that the meeting was about adoptions of Russian children.

7. “Further efforts to have the Attorney General take control of the investigation”

Trump called Sessions at home in summer 2017 to ask him to un-recuse himself and take control of the Russia probe. Sessions declined. Trump asked Sessions in October 2017 to take another look at investigating Hillary Clinton. He also told him in December 2017 that if he un-recused, he would be a “hero.”

Trump told Sessions, “I’m not going to do anything or direct you to do anything, I just want to be treated fairly.”

8. “Efforts to have [White House counsel Don] McGahn deny that the President had ordered him to have the Special Counsel removed”

This episode was originally reported by the New York Times in March 2018, but Mueller fills in the details:

On January 26, 2018, the President’s personal counsel called McGahn’s attorney and said that the President wanted McGahn to put out a statement denying that he had been asked to fire the Special Counsel and that he had threatened to quit in protest. McGahn’s attorney spoke with McGahn about that request and then called the President’s personal counsel to relay that McGahn would not make a statement."' McGahn’s attorney informed the President’s personal counsel that the Times story was accurate in reporting that the President wanted the Special Counsel removed. Accordingly, McGahn’s attorney said, although the article was inaccurate in some other respects, McGahn could not comply with the President’s request to dispute the story." Hicks recalled relaying to the President that one of his attorneys had spoken to McGahn’s attorney about the issue.

9. “Conduct toward [Michael] Flynn, [Paul] Manafort, [REDACTED]”

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying and cut a deal with Mueller to cooperate — and accordingly had to withdraw from his joint defense agreement with Trump’s legal team. But Trump’s personal lawyer reached out to Flynn’s team and assured them that Trump still had warm feelings for Flynn. The lawyer also asked for a heads-up in case Flynn had any “information that implicates that President.” When Flynn’s lawyer said such information couldn’t be shared, Trump’s lawyer said he would relay the message of “hostility” to Trump.

The report also noted Trump’s continued praise for former campaign chairman Manafort during his trials and his leaving open of the possibility of a pardon. Manafort also agreed to cooperate before he voided his deal by lying to investigators.

10. “Conduct involving Michael Cohen”

While Michael Cohen has said Trump didn’t directly tell him to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow effort lingering into the 2016 campaign, Cohen accuses Trump’s lawyers of guiding his testimony. And one key figure declined to dispute that.

“While preparing for his congressional testimony, Cohen had extensive discussions with the President’s personal counsel, who, according to Cohen, said that Cohen should ‘stay on message’ and not contradict the President."

When Cohen didn’t contradict Trump (by lying), he earned praise:

Cohen recalled that the President’s personal counsel said 'his client’ appreciated Cohen, that Cohen should stay on message and not contradict the President, that there was no need to muddy the water, and that it was time to move on. Cohen said he agreed because it was what he was expected to do. After Cohen later pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project, this Office sought to speak with the President’s personal counsel about these conversations with Cohen, but counsel declined, citing potential privilege concerns

 

[fraurosena]

From the report:

On August 23, 2016, Millian sent a Facebook message to Papadopoulos promising that he would "share with you a disruptive technology that might be instrumental in your political work for the campaign."

"Disruptive technology" is a term that sounds pretty ominous to me. Something the House Dems need to investigate. What was it? Was it used? If so, what was the result? 

[fraurosena]

The report reveals (one of) Jeff I-do-not-recall Sessions ties to the Russians:

CNI is a Washington-based non-profit organization that grew out of a center founded by Former President Richard Nixon. [...] CNI is overseen by a board of directors and an advisory council that is largely honorary and whose members at the relevant time included Sessions, who served as an advisor to candidate Trump on national security and foreign policy issues.

Dimitri Simes is president and CEO of CNI and the publisher and CEO of the National Interest. Simes was born in the former Soviet Union [..] Simes personally has many contacts with current and former Russian government officials, as does CNI collectively. [...] 

[SilverBeach]

Presidunce and his crew make Nixon and his crew look like Eagle scouts. Such scum.

[formergothardite]

Looks like the reports reveals that my shitty senator was passing info to the White House. 

Quote

Sen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, “appears to have” briefed the White House as to the targets of an FBI probe, according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

Quote

Then-FBI director James Comey briefed congressional leaders, including Burr, about the bureau’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election on March 9, 2017. The briefing included “identification of the principal U.S. subjects of the investigation,” according to the Mueller report.

The week after that briefing, on March 16, 2017, the White House Counsel’s Office “was in contact with” Burr and “appears to have received information about the status of the FBI investigation,” according to the report.

Ann Donaldson, the chief of staff to the White House counsel, said the White House Counsel’s Office was briefed by Burr on the existence of four or five targets, the Mueller report states.

I am sure he doesn't recall. None of them do. 

Quote

A spokeswoman for Burr told Politico that Burr “does not recall this specific conversation with Mr. McGahn in March 2017.”

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article229429739.html

[fraurosena]

Of course Seth Abramson has a huge mega thread of monstrous proportions on the report. Sorry, but I can’t unroll. Plus, I believe he’s still adding to it!

 

[Dandruff]

9 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Can anything effectively be done about them?

[fraurosena]

2 hours ago, Dandruff said:

Can anything effectively be done about them?

Yes, after reading the report, I believe so. Because it's heavily implied that most, if not all, of them are targets of a counterintelligence investigation.

I have to say that the report is a HUGE letdown. Yes, many, many things have been revealed. A lot of them were already public knowledge, but there is still much that we didn't know that is in the report. Obstruction of justice occurred. Nothing will be done about it, because, awww, the presidunce was frustrated, poor thing. 

On the point of collusion, Mueller has proven there were a ridiculous amount of Russian connections. However, the report itself will not lead to anything, as Mueller's premiss constantly was "If it talks like a duck, and walks like a duck, but somebody says it isn't a duck, well sorry, then it isn't conclusively proven that it is a duck." Or "If it talks like a duck, and walks like a duck, somebody even says it is a duck, but others don't and there is no written evidence that claims it is a duck, then it still isn't conclusively proven that it is a duck." 

It will be up to Congress. Sadly, although the House will do its utmost to investigate the hell out of everything, I don't see the Senate taking its thumb out of its ass before the 2020 elections, unless something so damning, so irrefutable is found that the Repugs will simply have to act. I'm not holding my breath.

But don't lose hope. Do not forget those counterintelligence investigations. It won't be obstruction, or collusion, or collaboration or corruption that will be the undoing of this presiduncy. It will be national security issues that will lead to its downfall.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump’s greatest sin wasn’t what we thought it was"

Spoiler

It has long been presumed that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation was based on an original sin: President Trump’s May 2017 decision to fire James B. Comey as director of the FBI.

But Mueller’s long-awaited report argues that an action of greater potential criminality on the president’s part was one that came a month later, on June 17.

On that Saturday, Trump twice telephoned his then-White House counsel Donald McGahn from Camp David and told McGahn to get rid of Mueller himself.

Though one of the qualifications required of those who work for this president is a high tolerance for his impulsive and questionable behavior, the White House counsel was shocked when Trump told him, “Mueller has to go.”

McGahn refused to carry out an order that, according to the special counsel’s report, he believed was on a par with President Richard M. Nixon’s infamous “Saturday Night Massacre” during the Watergate scandal.

“McGahn considered the President’s request to be an inflection point and he wanted to hit the brakes,” the special counsel’s report said.

From there, McGahn “called his lawyer, drove to the White House, packed up his office, prepared to submit a resignation letter with his chief of staff, told [then-White House Chief of Staff Reince] Priebus that the President had asked him to ‘do crazy s---.’ ”

Ultimately, McGahn decided to stay in his job for another 16 months, and Trump dropped his efforts to remove Mueller. But the relationship between the president and his White House counsel remained strained and was made more so when it became known that McGahn had given 30 hours of testimony to Mueller.

The broad outlines of Trump’s effort to get rid of Mueller had been known, though the president himself had lied when the New York Times first reported it in January 2018. “Fake news, folks,” Trump said at the time.

“Those denials are contrary to the evidence and suggest the President’s awareness that the direction to McGahn could be seen as improper,” the special counsel’s 448 -page document noted.

The Mueller report not only provides a striking and much fuller narrative of Trump’s actions themselves but also shows why they might put his presidency in jeopardy. Though Trump would not be criminally prosecuted while in office, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said at a news conference Thursday that the Mueller report showed “clear evidence” Trump engaged in obstruction of justice and that impeachment is “one possibility.”

Mueller also rejected claims by the president and his allies that he is shielded from obstruction-of-justice laws, writing: “The Constitution does not categorically and permanently immunize the president.”

One reason Trump’s effort to fire Mueller could be so damaging is what it says about the president’s frame of mind; as the report notes, obstruction is a crime only if the perpetrator acted “knowingly and dishonestly” or “with an improper motive.”

When Trump fired Comey, according to the report, he believed — based on assurances from the FBI director himself — that he was not personally under investigation. But as a result of Comey’s dismissal, the probe did indeed pivot toward Trump himself, which the president learned in a Post article published three days before he demanded that McGahn fire Mueller.

So began what the report described as the second of “two distinct phases reflecting a possible shift in the President’s motives.”

“The President became aware that investigators were conducting an obstruction-of-justice inquiry into his own conduct. That awareness marked a significant change in the President’s conduct and the start of a second phase of action,” the report said. “The President launched public attacks on the investigation and individuals involved in it who could possess evidence adverse to the President, while in private, the President engaged in a series of targeted efforts to control the investigation.”

In stopping Trump from firing Mueller, McGahn no doubt thought he was saving the president from himself, and — not incidentally — the White House counsel’s own reputation.

Standing firm to rescue Mueller’s job was the right thing to do, and an act of defiance that we see too rarely among those with whom Trump surrounds himself. But the fact that McGahn had to do it could be the most damning evidence of all to be produced by the investigation — and the dogged investigator — that the president could not make go away.

 

[GreyhoundFan]