The 2-year Mueller investigation is finally over and although Donald Trump is celebrating what he calls a “total exoneration” from the report summary, he would be wise to recognize that the fat lady has not yet sung and any potential trouble for him is far from over.
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Late Friday evening, Special Counsel Robert Mueller submitted his final report to Attorney General William Barr regarding the 2-year investigation into possible collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. On Sunday afternoon, Attorney General Barr issued a summary of the full Mueller investigation report.
“While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” the summarized report said.
According to the 4-page summary issued by Barr, Mueller did not find evidence of collusion, however, he’s unsure about the possibility of obstruction. Or, in other words, the Mueller investigation is inconclusive and Barr has yet to brief Congress on the full report.
“It was a complete and total exoneration. It’s a shame that our country had to go through this. It’s a shame that your President has had to go through this.” – Donald Trump
To date, Robert Mueller has found several Trump associates guilty of a variety of crimes connected to ‘The Donald’s’ 2016 presidential election. However, he was unsuccessful in finding enough substantial evidence to tie Trump himself to any of those and other crimes.
Does that mean Trump is completely exonerated and innocent as he claims? NO! Does that mean all investigations into Donald Trump, the Trump family, the Trump businesses, and various Trump associates are over? ABSOLUTELY NO!!
Robert Mueller failed to secure a sit-down interview with Donald Trump, relying solely on a hand-written questionnaire in lieu of a face-to-face cross-examination (an interrogation Trump’s legal team feared would sink their client and they fought tooth-and-nail to avoid at all cost). However, the Mueller investigation was conducted on behalf of the US Justice Department. That particular inquiry is not the end-all and is far from the finale.
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“Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers. The fact that Special Counsel Mueller’s report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public without any further delay. Given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the Special Counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report. And most obviously, for the president to say he is completely exonerated directly contradicts the words of Mr. Mueller and is not to be taken with any degree of credibility. Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents so that the Committees can proceed with their independent work, including oversight and legislating to address any issues the Mueller report may raise. The American people have a right to know.” – Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer
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WHAT’S NEXT FOR TRUMP?
With Nancy Pelosi and Democrats powerfully in control of the US House of Representatives, Congress has already vowed to conduct their own investigation and fill in the gaps that the Mueller investigation left open. Further, the Southern District of New York has already been conducting their own investigation into Donald Trump, his businesses, and his potential business ties to Russia. According to most political pundits, if Trump should be in fear of any inquiry, the SDNY investigation is it. Not only are they looking into Trump himself, but also his family, his campaign, his taxes, and more. Stay tuned…
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YOU CAN’T INDICT A SITTING PRESIDENT
According to a decades-long US Justice Department policy, it is not possible to indict a sitting president since it “would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.” However, that does not stop Congress and the SDNY from preparing a series of indictments that could take effect and take down Donald Trump the day he leaves office.
This is particularly interesting in the SDNY, since (if convicted) Trump could not rely on any presidential pardon (from a future GOP president) to save him. A presidential pardon can only be issued in a federal crime. Any potential SDNY indictment/conviction would be a state matter and therefore ineligible for a pardon.
For the past 24 hours, the champagne bottles have likely been flowing and Donald Trump has almost certainly been dancing a celebratory jig inside The White House while under the assumption that his troubles are all over. Well, guess again, Donald. The fact that many of his most senior people have been indicted and/or convicted doesn’t bode well for his presumed innocence.
The Mueller investigation report may have been inconclusive — but that doesn’t mean Congress or NY investigators will reach the same conclusion.
Buckle up. This roller-coaster of a ride is only just beginning.
“While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” the summarized report said. […]- DJ
According to the 4-page summary issued by Barr, Mueller did not find evidence of collusion, however, he’s unsure about the possibility of obstruction. Or, in other words, the Mueller investigation is inconclusive and Barr has yet to brief Congress on the full report. […] – DJ
Well that about sums it up doesn’t it?
What an absolute muddled mess we’re left with..with this result! Mueller’s report does state clearly that “No evidence” of collusion was found. That’s a might big deal and Trump is justified in claiming “Victory” on that.
However, aside from that fact, the report (or at least what little we know about it thus far) leaves many questions STILL UNANSWERED!?! And after 2 yrs and major taxpayers dollars spent paying for that investigation, this muddled outcome does NOT sit well with me at all….smh!
Frankly, I expected a better job by Mueller and his team.
(continuing my thoughts)…….
Kudos to Nancy Pelosi for recognizing early on that ANY talk of “impeachment” -absent concrete evidence of collusion AND the support of the majority of the American people – was reckless and just plain stupid.
Despite the fact that several Dem clowns took the “impeachment” bait pushed by cable news shmucks on CNN and MSNBC (to satisfy their own “busine$$” agenda), Nancy has stood firm, held the reins and shut that foolishness down.
Going forward she will no doubt have to continue providing strong leadership for the Dem party because thus far NO other Dem has shown himself/or herself to be the person to fill that role.
And lastly……a word about American cable news and the role they continue to play to the detriment of our nation.
Regular readers of OK WASSUP! know that generally I do not have a good opinion of American cable news. IMO, except for a 3 or 4 cable news hosts and maybe 3 or 4 contributors, the rest are pretty much useless.
And let me be clear. I’ve never viewed CNN or MSNBC as peddlers of “fake news.” My issue with those two networks is that the vast majority of so-called “news” they present is, IMO, Trump-related *garbage* news, repeated ad nausea, 24/7. They’ve presented little else the past 3 yrs, as if no other news in the world was/is ever unfolding.
CNN and MSNBC are shameless networks who detest Trump but helped him Rise to power. They want him gone but will continue to ride his coat-tail because he’s “good for busine$$.”
The problem for CNN and MSNBC and therefore, the nation: Trump has got their number and he plays them like a fiddle…..Every Time.
The liberal witch-hunt against our president is over. Thank God.
Explain how this was a liberal witch hunt when the entire investigation was run by a Republican?
This is all we get for millions of dollars spent over two years time? I call BS.
Here we go…
CNN’s Jim Acosta reports that Trumpworld is going to go after the press hard in the coming days. The Republican National Committee is already blasting out emails with titles like “The Media Was Obsessed With The Democrat Lie.” And many of Fox’s talk show hosts are blasting CNN and MSNBC.
A Trump adviser who speaks to the president regularly told Acosta to expect Trump and his team to “slam and shame the media” over Mueller’s no-collusion conclusion. “This is like Geraldo Rivera and Al Capone’s vault all over again,” the adviser said.
The WaPo’s White House team expects the same thing: “Aides say Trump plans to highlight the cost of the probe and call for organizations to fire members of the media and former government officials who he believes made false accusations about him.”
Welp….whatever headache Trump (and his sycophants) causes cable news and the press they have it coming. You forge a symbiotic relationship with a venomous Viper (like Trump) don’t be surprised when he sinks his fangs into you.
Frankly Mueller should have known better than to turn in some half-azzed report that leaves Us (the American people) with MORE questions than answers. He’s had 2 yrs and millions of dollars to get it done. WE deserve a more conclusive outcome than what WE got. Millions of Americans, like me, put a lot of faith in what we’d been told about Mueller regarding his competency.
Granted. He is older now (will turn 75 in Aug). But IF he wasn’t up to task he should have turned it down in the first place. Now we’ve got one H*ll of a muddled mess on Our hands.
Trump is America’s *reckoning* of THAT I have NO doubt. And it looks like we’re going to continue paying one H*ll of a price for quite some time longer.
I have been waiting to get to this all day. I don’t care what nobody says I am not accepting this as a done deal. Like Pelosi said that whole report needs to be released to congress first All everybody is going on is four pages Barr came up with and threw out there. I want to know where our tax money went all these years and hear the whole thing before I decide anything. There is no way all those people around Trump committed crimes and he did nothing. The truth always comes out and I will wait until it does.
I agree BD. The whole report needs to be released to Congress first. Nothing, short of that, will do.
‘Today’ host Savannah Guthrie asks Sarah Sanders if Donald Trump owes Robert Mueller an apology
After two years, $25.2 million, almost 3,000 subpoenas and approximately 500 witnesses interviewed, does President Trump owe Robert Mueller an apology?
That’s the question NBC host Savannah Guthrie asked White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Monday in the wake of Attorney General William Barr releasing the “principal conclusions” of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s completed Russia probe in a bombshell four-page letter to Capitol Hill lawmakers.
“Did Robert Mueller deserve better from the president than this kind of language and behavior?” Guthrie asked on “Today.”
“For the last two years the president has absolutely eviscerated Bob Mueller, a lifelong public servant, a former Marine, a registered Republican. […] – FoxNews.com
WashPost Reader:
There is only one explanation for the president’s relentless attacks. He thought that Mueller was likely to throw the book at him. And there are only two explanations for that expectation. Either Trump knew he deserved it, or Trump assumed Mueller would sink to his own level of mendacity and self-serving to pervert justice. The idea that a public servant, indeed, a team of public servants, would quietly discharge a mission with honor was utterly beyond Trump’s fathoming. […]
TAC Reader:
Constant vitriolic and false attacks didn’t start with Trump. They started with Obama. With Fox News daily barrages against a sitting president.
Now it is CNN and MSNBCs turn. Why? Because it drives ratings. The simple fact of the matter is that the average Americans intelligence is just slightly higher than that of a chimpanzee.
Turn off the “news”. Here’s a secret: It’s not news. It is garbage intended to maximize shareholder value for network programming investors. You will get at least an hour back of each day that you can spend with your children or grandchildren.
President Trump is not Putin’s puppet. President Obama was not a Nigerian Muslim. Respect your country and sitting President regardless of party. Either that or go eat a banana and pick bugs out of the back hair of your mate. […]
A few correct points stand out in this article. Congress led by Nancy Pelosi is going to drag this all the way into the election. Also SDNY is about to be Trump’s worst nightmare.
“Also SDNY is about to be Trump’s worst nightmare.”
I’m cautiously optimistic you’re right on this, Rodney.
TAC Reader:
The happiest man in the world today isn’t Trump, it’s Putin. He installed a US President and got away with it. Trump doesn’t need any help destroying America. He is doing that excellently all on his own. […]
“Clearing Up Some of the Mueller Report’s Falsehoods”
Excerpts:
[The airwaves, print, and social media are brimming with false or misleading statements about the Mueller report and Attorney General William Barr’s letter to key members of Congress.
As a concession to the shortness of life and my editor’s insistent word count restrictions in this space, I would like to underscore the most egregious examples, with some accompanying legal clarifications.
1) The Mueller investigation wasted $25 million in a witch hunt because it found no criminal collusion or conspiracy between the Trump 2016 presidential campaign and Russian agents.
False. The purpose of an investigation is not to prosecute a case but to see that justice is done. Justice is vindicated when a prosecutor refrains from indicting individuals where the evidence seems insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt to impartial jurors. Moreover, the Mueller investigation did establish criminal Russian endeavors to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. That conclusion accords with the unanimous finding of Trump’s intelligence agencies. It discredits Trump’s insistence that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him the truth in denying Russian interference.
2) The Mueller investigation completely exonerates Trump.
False. Trump could still be named as an unindicted co-conspirator by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in its ongoing federal election law investigation of Trump’s pay-offs to a porn star and Playboy Bunny in exchange for silence about his adulteries to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. President Richard Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Watergate cover-up prosecution by Special Prosecutor Leon Jarworski.
Additionally, the Mueller report did not exonerate Trump from an obstruction of justice prosecution once he departs the White House. It marshaled both incriminating and exculpatory evidence but refrained from opining on whether the totality of the evidence proved guilt or innocence because he is bound by Justice Department policy against indicting or prosecuting a sitting president. To boost the political standing of Trump, Attorney General William Barr gratuitously decreed that obstruction was not proven. Barr’s statement commands no legal standing and does not foreclose a criminal prosecution of Trump once he leaves office.
In sum, the Mueller Report will be only the seventh inning stretch of a nine inning game. House Democrats can keep this going if they want, and they probably will.] – Bruce Fein, writer at TAC
Bruce Fein was associate deputy attorney general and general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission under President Reagan and counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee on Covert Arms Sales to Iran. He is a partner in the law firm of Fein & DelValle PLLC.
This is the best explanation I’ve heard.
(CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller found that no one in the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government in 2016 — but Democrats are not ready to accept that finding.
In interviews since Attorney General William Barr issued his four-page letter on Sunday, Democrats have refused to accept that determination, saying there’s ample evidence of Trump campaign and Russia contacts that may not have risen to the level of criminal conduct. They are demanding the full release of the Mueller report to determine what else the special counsel found, and they appear intent to continue investigating ties between Trump and Russia.
But that strategy risks political backlash for Democrats if they are viewed as overreaching and probing into an area that has already been exhaustively investigated by a special counsel whose investigation turned up no criminal wrongdoing.
“What I accept was there was apparently no criminal conspiracy … with the Russians,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, told CNN. “That doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of activity with the Russians that ranges from unsavory to treacherous.”
There will be more incriminating evidence to come out even though 45 is being real cocky now. But this report is by no means exoneration. The SDNY prosecutors are all over the shyster in chief. Be patient people.