So i guess this means that the report, in full will never be seen by congress…
Reading the Headlines on the major news sites and papers today, it is quite evident that the total Right-Wing “capture” of the MSM is now complete.
The statements being Trumpeted (pun intended) on the front pages is exactly what the Trump Administration wanted said, Word for Word, with any and all disclaimers and caveats being buried deep, deep down in the articles in the last few paragraphs to provide “both-sideism” cover for the editors.
Face it. We lost. It’s over. Barr did exactly what he was hired by Trump to do; repeat what he did with the Iran-Contra investigation by obscuring it in “Legalese Bullshit” to cover up for a Republican President and Vice President who had blatantly broken the law.
Now we have a much, MUCH harder uphill fight for the 2020 elections (assuming we even are allowed to have them) with a vindictive and viciously revenge-obsessed President who is now convinced that NOTHING and NO ONE can oppose him.
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We can infer from Barr’s letter that Mueller has found evidence of collusion and obstruction. It is meant for Congress to evaluate.
Barr defined down the standard for ‘collusion’ to matters which no one ever accused Trump of having a hand in while excluding the main issue: trade offs on election help for sanctions relief/other policy changes.
On obstruction, Barr illegally imposed his own judgment on the matter. This was a criminal investigation of the sitting President. That’s an important thing to underscore. For most of the 2 year Mueller appointment, the media never confirmed whether the President was himself a subject. We now know that he was pretty much always a subject and potential target of the investigation.
Where the criminal liability of a sitting President is concerned, only Congress has the legal authority to evaluate the matter. The DOJ’s OLC memo is the current policy. Acceptance of that memo assumes that the only place to handle criminal matters following an investigation is the Congress.
By sitting on the Mueller Report and refusing to release it, Barr is impeding an important constitutional function. By issuing his own judgment on both obstruction and collusion, Barr is illegally imposing his own judgment on the matter when he has no legal or constitutional authority to do so. This is obstruction of justice in the middle of 5th Avenue. We all need to wake up and demand that report.
I have many Dem friends who think we can turn the page on this. I disagree. I can accept if Pelosi and Nadler decide not to impeach after they’ve reviewed the findings, but not before. We cannot let Trump escape this moment of accountability. If we do he becomes a political Houdini, a virtual dictator, and the idea that you’re going to beat him by saying ‘we’re going to give you better health insurance options’ simply won’t wash.
The constitutional process must be protected. #releasethereport. #leakthereport.
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Best explantion is that Barr misrepresented what Mueller actually did.
Mueller probably said there was sufficient evidence to bring an obstruction indictment, but was not going to override current DoJ policy. The :“evidence on both sides” that Barr claims Mueller sent him was arguments for and against indicting a sitting President (specifically, Mueller argued that at minimum, an exception should be made when a President uses his office to obstruct), but left the final decision whether to change DoJ policy up to Barr.
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That’s right. You are completely blameless in your vociferous rejection of Clinton and endless characterization of Bernie as the “savior” of humanity.
The Russians had nothing to do with it, it was all that damn Hillary’s fault for being such a sucky candidate when YOU KNEW BETTER. Ignore the fact that she kicked Bernie’s ass in the Primaries and buried him in delegate count. Ignore the fact that Bernie was and remains a carpet-bagger and refuses EVEN NOW to join the Democratic Party.
Ignore the mountains of evidence that the Russians had great influence (via Cambridge Analytica et. al.) on the US electorate, and ignore that Hillary lost the Electoral College by LESS than 75,000 votes nationwide (less than even Jill Stein got nationally.)
Yes. You were Right. The rest of the world was wrong. It was all that bitch Hillary’s fault. /s
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Well DUH!
Barr did the exact same thing with the Iran-Contra investigation, and that is WHY Trump hired him in the first place.
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Nice reads, but overly hopeful. Anyone writing an analysis of what we’re going to see in the next weeks that assumes it will all be subject to the law as it exists, as written, based on precedent and stare decisis, is a clown. We’re so fucking far beyond the law mattering, it’s not even funny. Trump has now been given full license to do whatever the fuck he wants to protect himself without any political repercussions. Let that sink in and stew. The LAW does not matter anymore. Period. Full stop. Trump has been positioned to claim self-defense from any further hoaxing and harassment of his presidency and oh so many of the voters who we thought he’d lost are going to be sliding back into his camp now. Barr will pull out all the stops to protect him and prevent the Mueller Report from being released in any way so that none of Trump’s egregious behavior is ever known, and the Fascist Five will do whatever it takes to support it. We lost and we’re probably now going to lose 2020 as it all sinks into the general public psyche that this is going to be the limited state of our knowledge of what the Mueller report contains unless and until a Dem POTUS is elected. Any exoneration at all was going to be treated as full exoneration, but Trump received full exoneration anyway. THAT is the only thing most voters are going to understand. Congressional investigations are now a serious liability and we’re about to watch the public;s tolerance for them slide down the rabbit hole. Precisely nothing is off limits for them to hamper those investigations and it is 100% in their best interest to make them into a complete shitshow that requires court order after court order after court order so that the public’s patience and endurance are worn out…not to mention the clock being run out. Fuck, I wouldn’t even be surprised if Trump sends an order to Barr to destroy the report.
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“Since the facts don’t give rise to a clear case of obstruction,” Weich said
How the hell does Welch know “the facts” in question?
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He may have done an amazing job taking down a crime family, but he wasn’t in that crime family when he did the work.
Capturing the very essence of the issue. Party before country. Even Mueller.
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Bingo…protect the 1 percent…
The “watch what happens” people appear to be promoting the “just world” fallacy, which is essentially a bias that the truth, justice and the moral right will eventually and inevitably win out.
This is a very dangerous belief, particularly in the face of rising fascism.
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Like I said: Projection. (Unhinged at that…)
As for “mountains of evidence”, the Democrats now have subpoena power. When will they use it and when will we see it??? They have to know full well that Barr will NEVER release the full report! But calls to do just that is all we will hear from now until Trump’s second inauguration, while those “mountains of evidence” remain “conveniently” hidden…
I would suggest that Barr mischaracterized Mueller – Mueller told him there was enough evidence to indict, but left the question of DoJ policy regarding indictment of a president up to Barr.
THAT makes sense.
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Folks, at this point, it’s pretty clear that the fix is in and the republic is lost. Anyone who thinks otherwise has their head in the sand. At the very least, Bob Mueller turned out to be a coward. Prosecutors are supposed to offer recommendations, not just “the facts”. They are supposed to use their judgement, based on facts, to determine whether or not to prosecute. None of this “on the one hand, on the other . . .” nonsense and kicking up the decision to a political appointee who was pre-screened specifically for his disdain for this inquiry in the first place.
There clearly was Russia collusion and there clearly was all sorts of illegal activity that, apparently, Mueller was too cowardly to go after. Namely, how big does Mueller feel by locking up Michael Cohen for lying to Congress when Don Jr. does the EXACT same thing (I think even on the same day) and does not indict Don Jr. We can only guess because Mueller was afraid of the repercussions. That’s pretty cowardly for the square jawed FBI director.
If at this point, Mueller’s report is significantly different from Barr’s characterization, then that makes Mueller even more cowardly for not coming out in public to say so. Sometimes, the health of the republic is more important than maintaining chain of command and decorum.
Thus, if we cannot even trust these so-called Elliot Ness types from central casting, there is no one left to trust in this system. Draw your own conclusions.
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In other words Barr told Mueller to wrap it up.
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Y’know, I keep hearing about all this subpoena power the House has. I don’t hear about how every one of those subpoenas will be fought in court, most likely in front of a judge sympathetic to tRump. McTurtle, the Federalist Society and tRump have worked hand in glove to pack the courts with incompetent trump appointees while Rome has been burning. Why is the House asking for documents and just not going the subpoena route to begin with anyway? tRump officials are already saying outright they won’t appear before various committees. No reason given, they just aren’t willing to come. They’re not even citing executive privilege. Just saying they’ll be a no-show. That takes gall. I thought the Dems would be a lot more aggressive in their approach with what we’ve all seen so far, particularly since this only stalls any response from those closest to tRump, but they have moved fairly slowly imo waiting for Mueller. Its been more like waiting for Godot. Understandable to some degree…but what has it gotten them? I really think we’re waaay past comity and trying to play nice at this point. Usurping the rule of law should motivate Dems once and for all to fight fire with fire and show a little muscle. If that means contempt of Congress for not showing up. Prosecute that, then. Gawd, I’m pissed this morning. Prolly time for me to back off this stuff today.
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I wonder if Mueller set-up Barr for a separate charge whereby he is obstructing justice, he gets charged and Mueller then releases the report himself?
Mueller knew Barr was chosen to whitewash whatever the Special Counsel’s team provided. So, perhaps this is a well thought out move where Barr essentially indicts himself.
Any takers here on my thoughts?
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I will say, I feel like Dems should be long past saying things like, “If Republicans don’t cooperate, we’d have to equate that to maximum rudeness and might even have to resort to a subpoena.”
The presumption of good faith on the part of Republicans is based on what I believe is the increasingly misguided notion that everyday Americans value civility over all else.
Americans want people that will fight for their beliefs and pull no punches. Democrats need to stop threatening strong words and subpoenas and start issuing them immediately. No more presumption of good faith on the part of any Republican. Start playing hardball now or we’ve already lost.
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To have faith in the establishment is not a crime.
And neither are many other religious beliefs.
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We need to stop trying to invent ways in which Mueller, a life-long Republican, is actually the noble superhero he was built up to be.