Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

~~~

~~~

Saturday, March 23, 2019

The Mueller Report

New York Times:


Give President Trump this much: In the face of the biggest existential threat to his presidency, the special counsel’s Russia investigation, he checked himself where it mattered most. Yes, his near-daily campaign to mock and discredit Robert Mueller’s “witch hunt” has now lasted longer than his campaign for the White House. His shameful, conspiratorial attacks on the “deep state,” and on the integrity of those who have devoted their lives to upholding the rule of law, have damaged the institutions of federal law enforcement and may have gotten him in even deeper trouble. Still, one persistent danger — that Mr. Trump would find a way to scuttle the investigation before it could be completed — never materialized.

On Friday afternoon, Mr. Mueller, nearly two years after he was appointed to look into possible ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, delivered a full report of his findings and recommendations to the attorney general, as required by Justice Department regulations. Mr. Trump even joined a remarkably bipartisan House of Representatives, along with a vast majority of the American public, in calling for the release of Mr. Mueller’s report. “Let people see it,” he said on Wednesday. “There was no collusion. There was no obstruction. There was no nothing.”

On the first point, we can all agree. William Barr, the attorney general, needs to release as much of Mr. Mueller’s work as he possibly can, and soon. 

 We’ll reserve judgment on the second. It may prove that Mr. Trump has kept repeating his mantra of “no collusion” because it’s true. But even if Mr. Mueller has found in the end that Mr. Trump did not knowingly conspire with Russia — and it is profoundly to be hoped that the report settles that question, one way or the other — that doesn't mean this inquiry has been a witch hunt. 

 Throughout the campaign and transition, Mr. Trump and many of his top officials and advisers had more than 100 contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries. These contacts were apparently so unmemorable that many Trump advisers forgot all about them, even when asked under oath.

Read the rest here.

6 comments:

skudrunner said...

I feel confident that the democrats will start new investigations into what trump had for breakfast that will last until the elections. When they get trounced in an election they will stop at nothing to get their revenge. Now it is letting 16 year vote and increasing the number of SCOTUS. Maybe someday the elected elite can get back to serving the people in the country.

Dervish Sanders said...

Mr. Trump and many of his top officials and advisers had more than 100 contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries.

Exactly. We already know, from all the information available publicly, that tRump colluded.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Judge Snders the TrumpCultists ignore that fact and continue to pretend that Trump is good for America. They ignore the exploding trade deficits, and the exploding deficit because he gave the 1% an enormous tax break. The economy is still doing well since President Obama rescued it in 2009 but wages are still stagnant.

Trump promised again and again to repeal and replace ObamaCare. He's done neither and America knows he doesn't care about healthcare. He's never presented a plan to replace the ACA -- that was the reason John McCain did not support Trump in repealing it. There was nothing to replace those who would be without coverage.

skud says above that the Dems will stop at nothing when they're beaten in an election.

He willfully ignores what the GOP did on the eve of President Obama's inauguration: They got together and vowed to stonewall, sabotage, and repeal ANYTHING President Obama tried to do. And we all remember what he did with Merrick Garland.

The Goopers whine because the Dems don't give Trump credit for anything? Remember when Osama bin Laden was taken out by the Obama administration? I do. The Goopers mocked Mr. Obama and did not give him an ounce of credit for the huge gamble he took and won.

But if you listen to skud, ONLY the Dems are sore losers.

Ray Cranston said...

The Trumpanzees are already making excuses fsor the Crime Boss, Trump:

"Let’s think about those things for which they have been indicted or found guilty. Collusion with Russia? Something else?

An important thing to remember: collusion is not a crime. Or so has stated Mark Levin.

I think that looking at any man of financial power will reveal irregularities among his employees."



So collusion with a hostile government is no crime, in their hypocritical minds. I wonder if they'd say such rot if, say, a Democratic candidate was cozy, cozy with Raul Castro when he was the president of Cuba, or if a Democrat and his or her aides or even campaign manager colluded with Cuba to get some electoral advantage. The same hypocrite who dismisses collusion would have dropped her knickers in rage if a Dem was ever as cozy with Cuba as Trump and his team were with the Ruskies.

Then she dismisses "irregularities" because RICH MAN! Doesn't matter to her that Trump, according to Cohen, directed his personal lawyer to pay off a porn star and his other mistress so that it wouldn't come out before the election. That made the $$$ transaction a material value to Trump's campaign (because it hid his whoring from the American public) and that is a crime.

But little miss prissy pants sees nothing wrong with it. After all all powerful rich people cheat, lie, and break the law and so do their employees, and isn't she and her devoted Xtians willing to look the other way too when it happens to a Democrat? BWAHAHAHAHAHA! What fking two-faced phony.

One good thing about their shocking hypocrisy is that they will never get away with calling out any Democratic pol who does even half of what Crooked Donald has done.

Shaw Kenawe said...


Ray,The Mother Ship would support the Devil himself if he had an "R" after his name.

It's not surprising to hear them making excuses for the execrable Trump.

Les Carpenter said...

Trump is certainly a jackass and on many levels. So many in fact they are too many to mention. As we await the public disclosed of the Mueller report, I assume Barr will be smart and do so, it's best to hold the tongue.

skud, regardless of his oft statements indicating the contrary, is obviously a tRumper. He also supports what is now the tRump GOP and its agenda and policy positions. But I do acknowledge that skud is simply doing what many, many, many progressives do.

Ain't politics a real gas?