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April 18, 2019 08:40 AM UTC

Mueller Report Open Thread #1

  • 22 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #4: Rep. Diana DeGette’s statement is much more to the point:

“The report released today paints a very different picture than what the president and attorney general had hoped the American people would see. And it’s now more important than ever that Congress be granted access to the full unredacted report immediately.”

—–

UPDATE #3: Congressman Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs) might be the world’s fastest reader. From the Denver Post:

“I voted for the release of the Mueller report because I value transparency in government and all of my constituents should be able to read the document, firsthand,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Colorado Springs Republican, on Twitter. “Now it’s been released and it’s very clear – absolutely no collusion.”

Lamborn’s conclusions came 45 minutes after release of the 448-page report. [Pols emphasis] The report states that investigators did not search for collusion, but rather coordination, between Trump’s former campaign and the Russian government as the latter interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

—–

UPDATE #2: This deserves its own post.

—–

UPDATE: A key portion of the report appears to acknowledge that President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice, but was prevented from doing so by subordinates who refused to break the law:

That’s pretty far from “exonerating.”

—–

Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Attorney General William Barr

The 400-page Mueller Report will be revealed today (in a redacted form) for the first time. This morning, President Trump’s personal attorney Attorney General William Barr held a press conference to discuss the report’s release but also to preemptively defend his client the President.

We don’t yet know what the Mueller Report says, and it will take awhile for everything to be read and digested by news outlets, but here’s Aaron Blake of the Washington Post after Barr’s press conference this morning:

When Attorney General William P. Barr announced he was going to hold a news conference before the release of the Mueller report Thursday, there was instant pushback. How can the media ask questions about a report it hasn’t seen? Would this just be a whole bunch of pre-spin from a man already accused of being too friendly to the president who appointed him?

Barr’s performance did nothing to argue against those allegations.

In a lengthy opening statement, Barr found just about every way possible to say that there was no coordination, cooperation or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. He also said Trump was right about “no collusion,” expanding the Mueller report’s clearing of Trump to a more nebulous term with little legal significance.

But perhaps more importantly, on obstruction of justice, he seemed to go to bat for Trump personally, offering a sympathetic take on the president’s state of mind and cooperation. [Pols emphasis]

There will no doubt be much more to discuss on this topic as the day progresses.

Comments

22 thoughts on “Mueller Report Open Thread #1

  1. My fervent hope is that Democrat leaders and the 30+ candidates for President will continue to stomp their feet, ring their hands, shout loudly, and show the American people exactly who they are. The Democrat House must impeach President Trump. Do it now….do it now! Maxine Waters needs to be on every network 24/7. Please get the criminal Trump out of the White House. Do it now!

    1. Really, it's not like Dems have a whole bunch of issues to pound Trump on.  Trying to take away peoples' health care, or the #taxscam.

      Ran the numbers on my personal taxes between 2017 and 2018 taxes with no changes between those 2 years.  I owed $900 more for 2018 than 2017.  This is with NO change in circumstances.  So, yeah.  Your President's tax plan is unequivocally a piece of shit.

    2. This process will have a long tail, Pfruit. Your fervent hope will be fulfilled, just not for the reasons you think it will. 

      Mueller referred 14 investigations to other offices, 12 of them were lightly redacted blacked-out in the report. 

      Special counsel Robert Mueller's team referred 14 investigations to other US attorney's offices, including the prosecution of Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen and Greg Craig, the Skadden Arps attorney who was indicted for lying to DOJ about work he had done for the Ukraine Ministry of Justice.

       

      1. No, Pelosi has ruled out impeachment. But I would think that even Pear would have to grudgingly admit that Trump screws himself every time he tweets. Trump isn't smart enough to keep his scheming under wraps.

        Interesting comment I saw on Yahoo a while ago…… Trump's real problem is the ongoing criminal investigations in NY State for bank fraud, insurance fraud, tax fraud. Trump already lost two civil cases in NY regarding tax fraud. Maybe Trump will imitate Al Capone, who got nailed for tax fraud and none of his other crimes.

        1. I wasn't responding to the impeachment issue; I don't think we need to go down that road until/unless Congress gets a chance to absorb the entirety of an unredacted report and leadership reaches a different opinion.  *rump has given us more than enough to run on in 2020.

          As to Pfruit's ringing of the hands…

          1. Michael: sorry for confusion. My reply about impeachment was directed at Pear, not you. We all know that replies here on Pols may end up anywhere. Cheers!   CHB

        2. You're spot on, CHB. The Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of Virginia, as well as D.C., itself all have prosecutions on ice for the day he departs the White House and becomes, once again, a private citizen.That's why I've thought for a while that, whether it's 2020 or '24, it'll be harder to pry him out of there than it was to dislodge Mary Todd Lincoln.

          1. Congress needs to do its Constitutionally mandated duty and begin impeachment proceedings. It doesn't matter whether it's politically expedient. It doesn't matter that we don't have the votes in the Senate. There is more than enough evidence unearthed in even the redacted Mueller report to proceed.

            If we wait until 2020 for elections to check the problem, this President could have solidified his autocracy. Trump himself is incompetent, but Putin  is competent. Trump is surrounding himself with toadies like Barr and McConnell (and Cory Gardner) who will not obey the law, laugh at "norms", and consider absolute loyalty to Dear Leader to be their only guide of conduct.

            Keep pressing for tax disclosure, Deutsche Bank revelations, all of the various RICO avenues the New York courts are pursuing. But begin impeachment proceedings as well.

            1. Don’t let yourselves be goaded. And, don’t go all “constitutionally blargle” — it sounds way too RMGO — what is allowed, is not necessarily required, particularly when the outcomes are still in doubt. Show a little faith in the woman in charge here, huh?

              The fact is, that 18 months is too short a time frame to get an impeachment processed, even if it could be successfully completed.

              Nothing’s going to solidify the Rumpsters like something perceived as a “purely political” attack.

              Continue the legal discovery — tax returns, Deutsche Bank, Rump’s crime syndicate, Russian money laundering.   The dripping faucet will soon become a torrent — even the hapless GOP toadies will begun to jump ship.

              Trump is a symptom.  Hang the PO(tu)S around every GOPer running for office.  Destroy the roots, not a bloom.

              In the event the socialists fuck up the Presidential election, January 2021 will be the time, then, to consider impeachment.

               

              1. Show a little faith in the woman in charge,

                you say, Dio. Pelosi does not seem to understand that $rump does not play by any rules. They are not even playing the same game. She's playing chess. He's playing the Hunger Games.  She is loyal to the Constitution, and plays by the Constitution's rules. He's loyal to  "Trump", and makes up his own rules as he goes along.

                $rump is perfectly capable of arresting and executing his political enemies. Or if he's squeamish, his allies can. For example:

                Khashoggi

                all the Russian journalists, whistleblowers, opponents, and other political assassinations

                To V's point below, $rump does seem to have pissed off the Pentagon, the FBI, all the normal counterintelligence agencies. But they're not about to stage a military coup – unfortunately, they are also loyal to their crazy commander in chief. To stay loyal to $rump, they have to ignore the political assassinations &rump's allies are fond of.

                If we have any hope of rescuing our democracy, we do have to play Constitution. Pelosi may be a brilliant strategist, as you say, but even in chess, it's often best to keep on checking your opponent from several pieces at once as you back him into a corner to checkmate. Impeachment is a strategy, too – the one you play when you play Constitution. Use it.

                 

                1. I kinda’ knew (with, oh maybe, about 100% certainty) that that one sentence would draw your, um, attention . . .

                  wink

                  (. . . maybe an object lesson in allowing oneself to be goaded, perhaps?)

                  . . . but, are we talking about the same Pelosi (“who doesn’t seem to understand . . .”) who just recently plopped the mango brat onto a stool in the corner with an orange dunce cap, over his wall shutdown??

                  Object lesson, or not, I’m gonna’ continue to think my point is valid. Pelosi, more than probably anyone else in this country, “understands,” of that I have no doubt. (I also have no doubt, she’s read, understands, and has committed to memory, Sun Tzu. We’re talking war, not chess, btw . . . Sometimes, patience, truly is a virtue.)

                  1. I don't think your object is to goad me. If I thought that, I'd ignore you as I ignore others.

                    You seem sincere….I just think that you're wrong. We need to use all weapons and strategies at our disposal, and impeachment power is the one remedy the Constitution gave us to remove an unfit President. I don't think you'll argue that $rump is unfit.

                    Pelosi is in fact a badass and a good leader – but sometimes she takes stuff "off the table" that belongs on the table. Like universal health care, impeachment of George Bush, impeachment of Trump, the Green New Deal.

            2. MJ: I think it's a matter of thinking strategically, which Pelosi is doing. There is enough going on to keep Trump pre-occupied for the next year, until the country gets into the election season again. There will be congressional oversight hearings as well as the ongoing state level cases in New York. These various investigations will be hard for the right wing, dark money, PACs to shine a light on.

              And, almost forgotten around Pols are the ongoing lawsuits against Trump’s attempted downsizing of the national monuments in Utah. I’m expecting those will begin to move this year. The D.C. judge denied a motion to move the cases to Utah. I don’t expect Trump to win on these cases as the language of the Antiquities Act clearly says nothing about a president having authority to reduce or eliminate monuments. Also, the emoluments lawsuits will be proceeding.

              However, impeachment proceedings are an immediate red flag and offer great ammunition for advertising by the dark money PACs. Bear in mind that the average voter has Russia pretty low on their list of priorities. 

              1. I get the feeling this ends dramatically…I don't know how, but El Presidente is an unstable man…not likely to go down quietly.

                Picture James Cagney on top of a burning oil tank, tommygun in hand.

                Scary…ain't it?

    3. Nah, . . .

      https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/politics/white-house-mueller-report.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

      . . . too easy on you and your unconscionable ilk.   I like this stinking orange carp just fine as it hangs and rots around the neck of all you sycophants, hypocrites, and idiots right up through November 2020. Another year and a half of that orange fetid cloud of stench filling your every increasingly desperate breath and pore is small justice.

      Trump’s toast now as it is: “This is the end of [his] presidency. [He’s] fucked.”

      But, stay the course, Pfruit — the voters will reward you. Believe me. Believe me.

      But now, since you praying, preying piglets made this mess, if you decide you need it cleaned up, clean it up your own goddamn selves . . .

      . . . isn’t that what they learnt you in kindergarten, simpleton? Maybe you missed that lesson while you were trying to figure out how to get to the letter H?

      (Psssssst — it stands for, Hellllllllllllp!)

  2. Considering the floodgates that have been released by this massaged report, I can’t wait to see the unredacted version . . . 

    Cheetolini’s little orange fingers aren’t enough to keep the dam plugged any longer.

    . . . life just keeps getting better. 

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