Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation and delivered his report to AG Barr. Now we’re waiting for Mr. Barr to release the report and its supporting material, as demanded by Democratic Congressional leaders, release the report with some or none of the supporting material, release a summary of the report, or release nothing. We have also been told that Mr. Mueller will bring no more indictments.
IMO the best commentary to date has been from Benjamin Wittes of Lawfare:
Attorney General William Barr now has the Mueller Report, and the world looks a heck of a lot like it did yesterday, when Barr did not have the Mueller Report. At least, it appears to. The major difference is that the mystery before us has slightly changed form. Before today, we asked what Mueller was going to do, what indictments he was going to bring, and what allegations he was going to make. Today, we ask a subtly different question: What is it that he has written? What allegations has he made? And why has he decided not to make those allegations in the form of additional cases?
We don’t, at this stage, know anything about what information the Mueller Report contains. We don’t know what form the document takes. We don’t even know how many pages comprise it. We don’t know when we will learn what Mueller has found. Speculating about these questions is not useful. A huge amount depends here on how Mueller imagines his role—and on how Barr imagines his.
and concludes
Vindication for the president will take place only when we learn that the facts contained in the report exculpate him. The end of the Mueller probe could well prove tomorrow to be merely the creation of a factual record for the next act of this drama.
Is there anything in any report that would “exculpate” President Trump? I can’t imagine what it would be. Those most vehemently opposed to Mr. Trump will never accept absence of evidence as evidence of absence. Some of those are already citing the indictments that have come down as definitive proof of the material of the claims against the president. What would convince them otherwise? I don’t know.
We don’t know a lot at this point. Here’s how I would summarize what we do know:
- Robert Mueller has completed his investigation.
- He did not subpoena the president or the members of his family.
- He has delivered his report to the Attorney General.
- The next steps are up to the AG.
- The president did not fire Mueller or obstruct justice with respect to his investigation.
- President Trump is surrounded by toadies, sycophants, low-lifes, and nogoodniks.
Presumably, you’re aware of my view of government and politics by now, i.e. that last bullet point is not unique to the Trump Administration.
I’m not sure whether James Joyner, following Chris Cilizza, is correct in his observation this has been “the last week of the Trump presidency as we know it”. As I have said in the past I have no insight whatever into Mr. Trump’s thought processes. I think he’s a boor and an ignoramus who speaks of what he would like to be true as though it were true. I think he’s a counter-puncher. I also think that he’s been subject to a persistent barrage of criticism of a style and tone I can only compare to that which was levied against Richard Nixon, not merely after Watergate but right from the beginning of his presidency, indeed, from before it.
In the light of that how would Trump’s presidency be changed? He would be subjected to more criticism, more investigations? Is that possible?
In the past I have said that I was content to wait for the findings of the Mueller investigation. I’m still waiting. But I may not have to wait for long.
The US can and will have more investigations; ask Congress, SDNY, and the state of New York.
As for criticism, the presidential race has not even started. By the end, Trump may well be criticized for being too young for the Presidentcy!
Yeah, we need to wait and see. But the fact that no Trump associates have been indicted (especially Carter Page) for any kind of collusion strongly indicates Trump is likely legally in the clear for that.
As for what to do with the report, normally I’d say the law and federal rules should be followed – but Comey broke them for Hillary and I think they should be broken for Trump. Barr should err on the side of public transparency.
Agree we should wait, and I would be especially careful about early releases as Barr will want to control the narrative since people mostly just remember what first comes out.
Steve
And Trump will continue to be the lightning rod. Perhaps the greatest lightning rod evah! In the meantime his administration is moving forward with remaking the judiciary, reining in the regulatory agencies, completely revamping trade policy, shaking up foreign relations (safari so good), and a number of other tings that remain beneath the radar. In other times the opposition would vehemently and vocally oppose all of these. But they can’t get any traction because Orange Man Bad sucks all the air out of the room.
The spin and goal post moving is humorous.
Those lawyers familiar with the process, prominently Jon Turley and Deschowitz, point out that the lack of indictments is pretty much the “c’mon man†moment: they’ve got nothing on collusion; give up the ghost. Well blow me over with a feather.
Calls for immediate and complete release are transparently disingenuous as to do so would violate statute and normal practices. It’s just an attempt to keep the ghost alive through innuendo. And remember, because you will never hear it on CNN, MSNBC, WaPo……… This is only the prosecutors side of the story. We have an adversarial legal system.
Politically this is a loser for the Democrats now. After all the wailing and moaning about the great Bob Mueller and how Trump might interfere they are going to haul him up before Congress for questioning? Perfect.
The worm is going to turn The feckless Jeff Sessions is gone as is the culpable Rod Rosenstein. Barr is a play it by the book guy. Page and Strzok have testified the so called dossier was bogus and the DoJ/FBI knew it. (In fact, if you listened to investigative reporter John Solomon you’ve known it for about a year. So Mueller knew it.). They committed a fraud on the FISA court. Loretta Lynch ordered the FBI to stand down on HRC. Did you know who? McCabe and Comey have given conflicting testimony under oath. Barr is going asl “what the fuck happened here?â€
This is not that difficult or mysterious. A bogus piece of Clinton opposition research got magically transformed into FISA-worthy evidence through a compliant FBI and DoJ for completely political persons. It became an effort to defeat a presidential candidate and then president wrapped up in a fantastical story worthy of Mad Magazines Spy vs Spy. I don’t likeBrennan or Comeys odds.
Does anyone have any spare crying towels for Katy Tur or Rachel Maddow? How about Xanax?
So it was ok to release every detail of the Clinton investigation but now you guys don’t want anything released on this one? I am not surprised.
Also, since almost all of this was kept under wraps not buying that this was done to defeat Trump. Since the investigation was done by a GOP controlled Justice department not buying the plot to get rid of him either.
Steve
Anyone who deliberately, knowingly and misleadingly weaponized the courts for political gain should be held accountable.
And, if you do want the report made public in full because you think it will hurt Trump or his family. Are you sure the report won’t damage prominent Democrats?
How many dozens of times did I say here I supported the investigation of Clinton and thought she should suffer whatever consequences came out if it. I am perfectly ok if any Democrats are harmed, or libertarians or anyone else. I am just asking that this be treated like other investigations of a similar nature.
Steve
Stuff it, dishonest steve. Its a felony to release grand jury testimony.
Here’s an interesting take by Matt Taibbi, (before the summary conclusions are released).
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/russiagate-is-wmd-times-a-million
It will be interesting how people think of the whole matter a year, 10 years, 100 years from now.
LOL
I just watched a clip of Chris Mathews spewing spittle all over the camera. He’s one angry man; I think the tingler has shriveled up.
He kept demanding of his guests, and rejecting the obvious, “how did they let Trump off the hook??!!” They were polite, but one guy simply said, “you’ve answered your own question. There isn’t any collusion there.” Mathews moved on to berate the next guest. LOL
Sentence first, verdict afterwards.
It is here.
The route to impeachment hearings for obstruction of justice is there if the House really want it.
But Trump seems vindicated that the accusation of collusion was a witchhunt.
Impeachment is always and everywhere a political act. If AG Barr’s letter is a faithful summary of Mueller’s report, I don’t think that Democrats should proceed with impeachment proceedings. I don’t think that Speaker Pelosi thinks they should, either.
I also think that Speaker Pelosi should discipline members of her caucus who proceed. I doubt that she will. I think that not only will the investigations continue but so will the calls for impeachment. I don’t think there are any findings by Mr. Mueller which would have dissuaded them.
“So it was ok to release every detail of the Clinton investigation but now you guys don’t want anything released on this one? I am not surprised.”
Except that every detail of the Clinton investigation was actually not released – only Comey’s summary and follow-on testimony.
I’m assuming here you’re talking about Hillary’s investigation and not Bill’s.