Attorney General William Barr has released a four-page summary of the final report of the Mueller investigation. Lawfare has provided a copy here. Here’s a quick summary of Mr. Barr’s letter.
- The investigation did not find evidence that the Trump campaign “joined the Russian conspiracies to influence the election”.
- The Mueller investigation did not draw a conclusion on whether the president or his election campaign had obstructed justice, instead leaving that determination to the AG.
- Mssrs Barr and Rosenstein have concluded that there is not evidence to “establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense”.
- In light of the public interest in this matter, the AG and his office are determining how much of the report to release to the public.
- That process will be completed ASAP and will take relevant statutes governing grand jury testimony, etc. into account.
In this country we have no finding intermediary between guilty and innocent, no “not proven”. That is just about as close to an exoneration as we’re likely to get. That should be the end of the matter. It won’t be. This subject will continue to be up in the air for the duration of Trump’s term and beyond.
I look forward to additional informed commentary on Mr. Barr’s letter and, ultimately, the Mueller report itself.
I commented in the other thread the report gives the House a reason to hold impeachment hearings on obstruction of justice if it wants, on reflection, those hearings will happen, and then will the house vote on impeachment or like President Jackson, censor him.
Mr Taibbi comparison between WMD’s and Russiagate has proven to somewhat apt.
I put my response in that thread.
I’ve tried to be as fair and accurate in my summary as I could. If anyone disagrees with it (as a summary of Mr. Barr’s letter), please tell me, I will assess the disagreement, and alter my summary as necessary.
Mr. Taibbi’s point was that the media are self-immolating over the Russia collusion story.
This may seem like a technicality, but it’s fundamental. Prosecutors don’t exonerate. Rather, they found no reason for criminal referral. Democrats (like Nadler and Schiff) who are blubbering about lack of exoneration are just vile people.
#4 is a layup. They should release as much as they can consistent with the law and department policy.
I’m shocked you haven’t covered the other big news of the day. Purdue pounded Villanova by 26 last night.
So, there don’t appear to be any real surprises.
Will the #NeverTrump and Trump haters ever accept that they are wrong?
Did Ahab ever stop hunting for Moby Dick (before he died)?
Hmm, put it in context. Suppose Eric Holder was the only to read and provide a summation of an article. How many Republicans, how many people here at this blog, would just accept every claim he made? No one on the right would. Once we can see Mueller’s summary and everything that be legally released is out, then I think we are OK.
Steve
And thus, the Russian Truthers are born.
The lack of evidence in the Mueller report is proof that this conspiracy is larger than anybody could have imagined.
If only we had a @FamousFictionWriter to explain the Truth to us.