While special counsel Robert Mueller has already made the scope of his testimony publicly clear, the Justice Department officially instructed the special counsel to not speak about the Russia probe beyond what is in his report.
Quelle surprise!!
Color me shocked…not.
Mueller will follow these orders. He has shown he won’t buck the system. IMHO though these are not lawful orders, but he wants out of this mess and he’ll do so by saying as little as possible.
disclaimer: I’m always wrong, but I’m done hanging my hopes on any Republican doing the right thing.
I have only minimal experience dealing with the feds, but “should” is not an instruction. “Shall” or “will” is an instruction. The linked Reuters article uses “must”.
This is Barr announcing, once again, that his Client is guilty as fuck.
Mueller like Barr is a Republican. Loyalty to the party trumps loyalty to country. Barr has ordered Mueller to protect Trump; he will obey
“These privileges would include discussion about investigative steps or decisions made during your investigation not otherwise described in the public version of your report,” it said.
I wonder what that is… 
NCSteve—if you’re out there–what do you make of this?
It doesn’t matter. Nancy has made clear all she wants to do with this testimony is pass some more bills that will die in the senate. She won’t let Dems do any real oversight.
Well, this is going to be a really fucking dumb comment section, isn’t it?
Congressional questioning should include asking Mueller as to the legality of the parameters laid down by the DOJ.
No free speech for Mueller. No opinions, personal observations allowed. Just be a good soldier and take one for the Prez.
Yes. In fact Mueller wrote a prior letter to DOJ asking for instructions from them as regards his testimony. It’s what he wants to justify his not answering questions he doesn’t like. This letter from DOJ is the answer to his letter.
Mueller is, if nothing else, a “company man”. I’m expecting to be let down. But then again, I always expect to be let down. Meh.
We do not know what Mueller will do yet. In absence of that knowledge, doomsdaying is always available…
A few things…
Upthread @daveminnj asked about @ncsteve…which is a fair question
Last night on Lawrence’s show, FBIer Clinton Watts opined that there were ways to work around Barr’s dictum
Our own Josh has a nice essay about this this morning which is in no way defeatist
So now DoJ controls the speech of a former employee? Over things that are not classified?
Barr is Trump’s personal lawyer…he will go to the edge to protect his Client.
My wife and I this morning had a spirited conversation along the lines of:
“Have the American People had enough of this?”
OT
I will never, as I have said before, forgive trump or his immigration officers.
Warning…this is a hard story to read:
@emiliano4 I have had enough of this pustule in the White House.
This doesn’t really do much other than make the DOJ look crooked.
Mueller is a by the book kind of guy he was likely to adhere to these rules without being Ordered.
bingo
They are crooked. They’re saying in effect that the 1st amendment does not apply to former employees.