Day 794: AG Barr releases self-selected, abridged alleged summary of Mueller report
Donald Trump’s handpicked attorney general, William Barr, sent a four-page letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Committees on Sunday afternoon allegedly detailing special counsel Robert Mueller’s principal findings. Barr’s synopsis came less than 48 hours after receiving Mueller’s report.
According to Barr, Mueller — who spent two years investigating, indicting and charging numerous people in and out of Trump’s circle — found no evidence of a Trump-Russia conspiracy. Mueller came to no conclusion about obstruction of justice, apparently leaving the issue for Congress. However, Barr and deputy attorney general — in the few hours after reviewing the Mueller report, applicable law and other pertinent facts — determined that there was no obstruction of justice.
What’s curious about Barr and Rosenstein’s finding is that there is a DOJ memorandum indicating that a sitting president can’t be indicted, only impeached. While the matter is not settled law, the DOJ seems to be operating with the memo as an operating guideline. Yet Barr and Rosenstein are essentially making a finding of law that they shouldn’t even be weighing in on, per that DOJ memo. For example, if they found that Trump did commit obstruction, they still wouldn’t be able to indict per the memo.
Mueller’s report should be honored by Democrats and Republicans. The special counsel knows more about what happened or didn’t happen than anyone, having spent two years exclusively delving into the issue. But Americans deserve more than an Cliff’s Notes version crafted by a political appointee.
Many in the media are treating the letter as the be-all and end-all of the probe and all Trump investigations, despite the Southern District of New York having multiple active investigations involving Trump and his family. On top of that, Trump, those in his orbit, and many pundits are declaring Barr’s letter a resounding victory for Trump, seemingly ignoring Mueller’s previous actions.
Sanders’ account is blatantly wrong, even according to Barr’s own letter, which explicitly states, “While the report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” [emphasis added]
The Mueller probe results were always going to be spun by Trump. He’s laid the groundwork of undercutting the investigation for two years by frequently calling it a witch hunt. If the report said there was a conspiracy, he would have decried it as a sham. Now, he’s holding up a non-exoneration as a complete victory.
Because Barr’s letter may be misleading, spun for political gain and doesn’t include all of Mueller’s findings, it is incomplete and insufficient.
For transparency, the Mueller report must be released in its entirety.
794 days in, 668 to go
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