Day 792: Mueller completes report— how much does it matter?
The Department of Justice announced Friday afternoon that special counsel Robert Mueller has completed his reported and handed it over to attorney general William Barr. Congress will likely be briefed on it this weekend. If and when the public will get access to the full report or highlights is anyone’s guess.
One important question: how much does the report actually matter as it relates to Donald Trump?
Mueller has already scored numerous victories against all aspects of Trump’s inner circle and campaign.
On top of that, the infamous — and likely illegal —June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower, headed by Donald Trump Jr., to get dirt on Hillary Clinton from Russian operatives has been exposed.
The elder Trump has been implicated in campaign finance crimes as an unindicted co-conspirator.
The Southern District of New York is known to be investigating numerous crimes involving Trump and his family.
Despite the report being submitted, many of Mueller’s investigations are not complete yet.
Even though Mr. Mueller’s report is complete, some aspects of his inquiry remain active and may be overseen by the same prosecutors once they are reassigned to their old jobs in the Justice Department. For instance, recently filed court documents suggest that investigators are still examining why the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort turned over campaign polling data in 2016 to a Russian associate who prosecutors said was tied to Russian intelligence.
Mueller’s report is important, to be sure. He was tasked with getting to the bottom of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Based on the indictments, guilty pleas and convictions, it’s clear that Team Trump benefited from Russian interference, spoke directly and indirectly with Russian officials and even passed polling information to them. The report should detail exactly how the Russians interfered and the extent of Trump’s and/or his team’s involvement.
But the report is not necessary to show the already-exposed array of illegal, unethical and undemocratic behavior by Trump and his campaign, many of which are already grounds for impeachment.
792 days in, 670 to go
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