Day 819: Mueller Report: Trump obstructed, Trump campaign colluded
The long-anticipated Robert Mueller report was finally published for the general public Thursday, though it was heavily redacted. Despite attorney general William Barr spinning and shilling for Donald Trump — against all sorts of democratic and Justice Department norms — the report spoke thousands of decibels louder than a four-page alleged summary or faux press conference trying to define the narrative.
Mueller’s report is clear: Donald Trump obstructed justice. Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.
As for obstruction, the report lays out the various acts that Trump undertook to undermine the investigation.
Mueller noted that Trump tried awful hard, multiple times, to get those around him to hinder the probe. Trump was ultimately helped because most were unwilling to help him.
However, that didn’t stop them from lying over and over again.
Should Congress wish to proceed on obstruction-related impeachment charges, they’ll have many options on the actions they wish to use.
The report strongly hints that Mueller didn’t charge Trump with obstruction because of a DOJ policy that a sitting president can’t be indicted.
And even if Congress allows the obstructive actions to go unimpeached, that does not mean Trump can’t face criminal penalties once he’s out of office, as Mueller lays out in a remarkable footnote.
On the collusion front, ironically, Trump’s defining of the issue is his downfall. There is no legal culpability for “collusion.” It’s a word in everyday parlance, but not one found in criminal codes, though “conspiracy” is. The definition of conspiracy is far more nuanced and requires more elements to be met for a crime to be charged. Ultimately, Mueller noted that he did not believe he could prove each beyond a reasonable doubt, so he didn’t recommend charges as to conspiracy.
But that’s to say nothing about collusion, which, while not explicitly illegal, is unethical and unbecoming of anyone running for office. Collusion — as Trump chose to frame the issue — is a far lower standard and can certainly trigger additional investigations, scrutiny and even impeachment. Had Trump simply argued for years that there was “no conspiracy” he’d have been proven right, at least from a criminal charges perspective.
Collusion, however, is laid out everywhere in Mueller’s report.
Mueller’s report notes that “the investigation established multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government” including Russian offers for assistance that “the Campaign was receptive to” in some cases.
Trump’s campaign manager (and now convicted felon) Paul Manafort was meeting and actively exchanging information with a member of Russian intelligence.
Trump requested, Russia helped.
WikiLeaks — categorized as a Russia asset by U.S. intelligence — acted, and gave Team Trump a heads up.
And Trump, who has tried to act publicly confident for years about the investigation — even as White House leak after White House leak indicated he was in constant distress about it — didn’t have the reaction of an innocent man when he learned a special counsel had been appointed, saying, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.”
Not “no obstruction.”
Not “no collusion.”
But rather, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency.
“I’m fucked.”
819 days in, 643 to go
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