Stuff like this, makes it really hard for me to believe Barr and Whitaker didnât pressure the SC into closing down their investigations early.
Of course, the other side of that coin is, this provides cover for Barr to refuse to release details, since there is a GJ still convened.
Mueller found no evidence President Donald Trumpâs campaign âconspired or coordinatedâ with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election"
We donât know what evidence Mueller found, we only know that tRump and Barr concluded there wasnât enough evidence of collusion with the russian government to prosecute.
If Mueller needs evidence of collusion and coordination with russia I suggest he look again at the tRump tower meeting, the sharing of polling data with russians, and tRumpâs own statements on record concerning russian help in his campaign and 'election.
WTF is going on. No doubt Barrâs fingerprints are all over Muellerâs early dismissal.
Fixed.
(Stenography masquerading as âjournalismâ is becoming tedious.)
Iâm beginning to think that Mueller was fired.
Thatâs right. Weâve seen cooperation with a Russian lawyer âlinked toâ the Russian government and an operative of oligarchs that was previously part of the GRU and thought to still be connected to the government.
Itâs possible the issue is that they couldnât prove those incidents were linked to the Russian government beyond a reasonable doubt.
The lackey did not even claim that. Thatâs just the AP filling in their own conclusions.
Thanks, this is driving me crazy in media reports. Letâs all repeat twenty times one of the few things that we actually know from the Mueller report: âThe investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.â Not establishing conspiracy or coordination that could pass muster in a court of law is a very different thing than âfinding no evidence.â
I actually think something else is going onâŚ
Mueller wanted to get out of the firing line, and only had a few details left over, which were better done under the radar in the SD of NY and D of DC and D of VA US attorneyâs offices. 95% of his work was evidently done, and best to take the pressure off, and let the last work go on under the radar.
I also think that Muellerâs report will have a lot of detail which is not so exculpatory. When we see the actual report, it will become clear if (a) Barr is a hack, and (b) if Mueller was laying out the evidence for impeachment. Also will be very interesting to see what Mueller says on the âcounter-intelligenceâ part of his investigation, keeping in mind that the original probe was to see if Trump or those in his orbit were under undue influence from Russian or others.
What do you think is going on?
I want the Russia probe continuing robotically.
Like a relentless Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 Terminator.
Barr was rumored for weeks (on twitter) to have aggressively moved to close down Muellerâs probe as soon as he got the job. Itâs not clear to me how hard Mueller fought it. It may have been his view that while other investigations could move forward through other USAOs, he had more than enough info for Congress to evaluate Trumpâs personal role and thatâs what he intended to happen. We do need Mueller to indicate what his intent was, but most of all we need the Mueller report. Muellerâs testimony on. Barr will go to Barrâs criminal liability exposure for obstruction of justice. It would appear that right after he assured Senators he would not interfere w/Mueller and would release the report, he did the exact opposite. That would suggest corrupt intent to obstruct the probe and Congressâ right to review and deliberate on Muellerâs findings.
As I have said for a long while, these contacts donât show âconspiracyâ as nothing specific was ever discussed. You have to have an AGREEMENT on something. What they show is that Trump was willing to take, and wanted Russian help. This is what the Russians wanted to know, they were probing Trump and Co. Last thing they wanted to do was try to help Trump and have Trump then do the honorable thing and attack them, say it was unacceptable. They wanted to know their would be some pay-off down the road for them in helping Trump.
BUT the key point is that their was likely (or put another way, it appears Mueller never found) not ever an agreement on exactly what that help would be.
The âcrimeâ is arguably âattempted solicitation of foreign in kind campaign contributionsâ but the line between this and free speech is a tricky issue, probably not one that Mueller would want to test.
That said, the contacts themselves compromised Trump - and may be part of why Trump is sucking up to Putin, for fear of Putin releasing damaging information on Trump. Again, Barr did not address these issues, which were part of Muellerâs assignmentâŚ
There are probably lots of things going on behind the scenes.
But Mueller shutting down so abruptly while the GJ is still convened, while a prosecution against Stone is still pending, while Gates hasnât been sentencedâŚthere are just a ton of loose threads, and prosecutors typically donât like loose threads.
A firing line is pressure. Which is kind of my original point.
Thatâs the piece I have the lowest expectations that we will ever see, as that is where claims of IC clearance will be made abundantly. Indeed, if we look back, the original Trump legal team was building a defense based precisely upon that factâŚthat they didnât have clearance, so therefore no court could have clearance to hear such evidence,either.
The other troubling factor for me, is, based on the Barr letter (which I agree, we should all be skeptical of), is how narrowly Mueller kept his investigation focused. He was given, at least officially, a much broader mandate. But apparently, he chose to keep a very narrow focus. Why? Was he being pressured by Rosenstein (who was definitely being pressured by the WH) to do so? Even if he was âsensitiveâ to such a perceived pressureâŚits pressure.
If so, Barr is going to be miserable. He clearly thinks that âpolite Americansâ are still a thing.
Also liking this tweet from Nicolle Wallace:
Thatâs right.
This is from yesterday, but relevant still.
Itâs a fake grand jury.