Discussion: Mueller Resigns, Asks That Special Counsel's Report 'Speak For Itself'

I’m certain the report would speak for itself, if Bob Barr didn’t have his hand over its mouth.

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Note that Mueller said: 1) The evidence discovered in the investigation was “insufficient” to establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians, and 2) Regardless of what the evidence established, the Special Counsel could not charge the President with the crime of obstruction of justice. However, if the evidence established that the President DID NOT commit a crime, the Special Counsel would have said so. That is a long, long way from “total exoneration” and quite a distance away from Barr’s two summaries characterizing (really, mis-characterizing) the Special Counsel’s report.

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By resigning, he is no longer under the control of the DOJ or the White House.

He is now a regular citizen and can testify whenever he wants to, BUT, he will no longer have any access to any documentation or evidence.

HOWEVER, the WH has (and will continue to) claim expansive “Executive Privilege” to try to muzzle him in the future.

Being a “good soldier” and a loyal Republican for 50 years, I’m sure he doesn’t want to blow up a Republican Administration, but his evident disgust with the Trump White House may still sway him in the future.

We can only hope.

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yes he can be subpoenaed.

That being said, there are two issues that would need to be resolved.

  1. Executive privilege concerns. Trump will claim exec privilege. Oversight v Holder found that there is a constitutionally based “deliberative privilege” – and Mueller’s job was to investigate, and deliberate.

  2. DoJ policy regarding investigation materials not disclosed as part of a case are generally not made public. THAT being said, when the GOP was running the Judiciary, they demanded, and got, these kinds of material…

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Is the report not a road map for impeachment? Amash thinks so.

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It’s possible that he did, but the odds are that ‘ol Billy’ saw ‘I resign’ on Mueller’s statement and saw it as a ‘W’.

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Democratic Party “Leadership” and Russiagate hysterics were fully invested in Mueller playing the role of Deus ex Machina, decending from the heavens to save us from ourselves. But they have been left playing the role of Fool. Mark my words: They will screw this up, because they have no stomach for impeachment. (The donor class is just not on board with it!) As a result, they will hand the 2020 election to Trump and the Republicant’s just in time for redistricting and two more Supreme Court vacancies, especially if Biden is the nominee…

And he adds, there is a branch of government empowered to finish this task.

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I think that Mueller’s statement that he would not provide further testimony is a bombshell.

That is simply unacceptable – if for no other reason than Congress has a right to know how the NEW “special prosecutor” law is working…

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  1. If he’s subpoena’d, Mueller will testify to the Congress. So Nadler should get there before Graham.

  2. He won’t go beyond the written report – which is a huge opportunity for Ds if only they will read the damned thing closely. For example, the Special Counsel noted “insufficient” evidence for a Trump campaign conspiracy with a hostile foreign power – and it also notes what evidence was missing: documents that Manafort destroyed or encrypted. He should be asked about that evidence.

  3. He should also be asked about the private polling data that the Trump campaign provided a hostile foreign power so it could use material it had stolen from Americans more effectively, in the states the Trump campaign identified: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Why wasn’t that sufficient evidence of conspiracy?

  4. Likewise, Mueller should be asked about all of the 10 instances cited in the obstruction section – particularly witness tampering with Manafort. That line of questioning should establish and reinforce why the evidence was insufficient for conspiracy.

  5. Ds should ask Mueller if an underlying crime is necessary for obstruction.

  6. Mueller should be asked how the elements of obstruction apply to McGahn’s testimony: ordering White House Counsel to misrepresent a material fact in an ongoing criminal investigation, then objecting to Counsel’s notes.

Mueller did his job and stayed in his lane – so Congress should do its job, expecting him to remain in his lane.

Cuz it goes places.

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FIFY :smile:
The actual question is, did Barr WRITE the speech before it was given? You know he did.

Did you watch? How did you come away with a nothing burger? He clearly said he could not exonerate the President on Obstruction, but policy prevented him from chargeing a sitting President. He further went on to explain that there was a political solution thru Congress to act.
Simply put he told Congress that he presented them with evidence and it was up to Congress to act.

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Who said that OLC held him back from making a call.

Again. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Stop it. The ONLY thing it opens up to us is the grand jury information under the explicit statutory exception. IT DOES NOT WAVE A MAGIC WAND AND GET US ANYTHING ELSE ANY QUICKER.

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Mueller’s words on obstruction were very powerful. Imagine hearing that on your drive home from work! It will move things because it aligns to Amash’s messaging.

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The part where it’s not written in crayon to make sure the stupids can’t misinterpret it

the grand jury information won’t tell us stuff like the extent to which Rosenstein may have interferred, why Mueller chose to not subpoena Jared, Jr, Ivanka, etc, whether Mueller looked into Trump’s finances – and if so how deeply…

the only way we’re going to get that if from people on the inside of the investigation. and the best source for that is Mueller.

Nope. You’re wading into tinfoil hat territory now.

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Sure, but again, formally instituting impeachment proceedings won’t change Congress’ already existing power to get that information. Mueller is going to testify whether he likes it or not.

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he didn’t say anything that wasn’t said in the report itself.

substantially, it was a nothing-burger.

The only question is whether watching a boring old white guy paraphrase his report will move the needle.