“If there’s evidence of a compromise, whether it arises to criminal conduct or not, it needs to be exposed,” Schiff said.
So comprise can be a high crime or misdemeanor? No way GOP will agree to this.
Not that I disagree with you about what the GOP will or won’t agree to, but “high crimes” is pretty commonly misunderstood. The “high” part isn’t referring to serious or particularly terrible crimes, but crimes from a high place:
“High” in the legal and common parlance of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of “high crimes” signifies activity by or against those who have special duties acquired by taking an oath of office that are not shared with common persons.
So the top elected official being compromised would definitely qualify. Now, whether the GOP would ever agree to that is another matter of course, basically at this point they’ll defend Trump no matter what. For now at least.
No, can’t be.
Barr, being a good friend of Mueller, was playing eleventy-dimensional chess.
You know how House always said “It’s never lupus”? It’s never eleventy-dimensional chess, either.
It seems blindingly obvious to me at this point that the strategy is that Trump says fine, show everyone the report, I don’t mind, then has agreed with Barr that he’ll say here are a few lines, sorry can’t show the rest, then Trump says “Well I wanted it all released, can’t blame me!”
It’s a standard MO for him, announcing that he’s happy to release his tax returns at the right time then later saying well they advised me not to, what can I do. Lots of other examples also.
So which “conservative” approved lawyer will the Republicans in Congress listen to on this distinction?
And, as has repeatedly been reported, the DOJ’s present policy is that the president is unindictable.
Thank god there was a blue wave last fall and Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler, et al, are running the House. I trust Chairman Schiff.
From Mitch McConnell:
“I welcome the announcement that the Special Counsel has finally completed his investigation into Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 elections. Many Republicans have long believed that Russia poses a significant threat to American interests.
From that statement it looks as though the Republicans are expecting some very bad news regarding the behavior of the Russians. I can only imagine that he also knows that our President has been far more involved in Russian affairs than he ought to have been. The Mueller report will be made public; all of it, sooner or later. I don’t believe that anyone has the power to bury it for long. I think McConnell knows that as well.
The treason is in plain sight. Jeez. Our country is doomed.
I just want to know how many indictable / impeachable offenses Mr. Mueller passed on to other prosecutors. Thousands, I hope.
Treason the way these guys did it might not be technically criminal. I don’t think anyone is off the hook yet.
“If there’s evidence of a compromise, whether it arises to criminal conduct or not, it needs to be exposed,” Schiff said.
Absolutely! This is the exact standard that was used by the FBI to shout about Hillary’s email server, even going as far as to call it “extremely careless”, yet not criminal. And Hillary’s email server is trivial in comparison to the compromises of the Trump/Russia alliance. Yet it is becoming obvious that the GOP DOJ is going to try to bury the details under the pretense that lacking incontrovertible proof of criminal activity, there should be no discussion of the evidence. This double standard cannot be allowed to stand!
See my post right below this.
Maybe it will be released. But Barr will do everything he can to try to keep that from happening.
It’s what Schiff is saying too.
“I don’t see what’s good in putting the country through a racking impeachment if it’s not going to be a success,” Schiff, head of the House Intelligence Committee, told The SF Chronicle editorial board shortly before Mueller delivered his report to Attorney General William Barr.
“I don’t think what we’ve seen yet would persuade this Congress or the Republicans in this Congress. The threshold of evidence the special counsel would have to produce would have to be very high to meet this.”
The government and the Constitution are intact. There are still ongoing cases in NY probably of total 17 still on the horizon which will not be under the control of the Congress or the WH. We’re not fucking doomed.
FWIW, I had a convo with Katie Hill this evening. She’s starting to raise money for her next campaign and McCarthy has apparently targeted her, so if you do contribute to political candidates, do think of her.
https://www.katiehillforcongress.com
Anyway, she said the caucus and leadership do take the investigations of Trump very seriously and she also mentioned this same Schiff angle of looking at whether Trump is a threat to national security. They can’t rely on the Mueller report alone and will continue to gather evidence on their end. She was not at all anti-impeachment but acknowledged that there are other members in the caucus that are a bit antsy about it. I think the angle will be to gather evidence and methodically demonstrate (if the evidence warrants) that Trump is compromised and is a threat to national security. She had a very good handle on the extent to which Trump is compromised and the number of potential illicit acts that he is implicated in. She also seemed to understand that this was about the foundations of the Republic and the rule of law. She’s from a purple district mind you, so that’s something to take into account. I came away thinking that there is a window here for impeachment. That this whole thing is just getting started.