I'll go out on a limb and ask you to bookmark this post.

[LuckyCharms]

If I am wrong...well, then I am wrong.

For anyone who is chewing their fingernails off because Mueller said that Trump is not a "target"...

1) Don't let the headline be the story. Do a deep dive into what Mueller actually said, and what his words actually mean.

2) Remember that Mueller is lawman, and in an attempt to arrive at justice, he has no legal obligation in my opinion, to tell the truth concerning the nuances between a "subject" and a "target". A "subject" is under investigation.

3) Mueller's words, in my opinion might possibly indicate the following scenarios. a) he thinks Trump is innocent, or b) he thinks Trump is guilty as sin and he is trying to lure Trump into a false sense of security. This may serve two purposes: a) It takes some heat off of Mueller's office, and b) It may lure Trump into an interview without any high-powered lawyers convincing him what to say. Which scenario seems more plausible?

4) Mueller is writing a report, to be released in June or July, concerning Trump's activities related to possible obstruction of justice during his time as POTUS. My opinion is that this will be an attempt to push congress to impeachment.

[rzemanfl]

1. Done. n/t

[Ilsa]

2. Steve Schmidt likened being a "subject" to being

a "fianceé" with a wedding looming.

[Raster]

3. I'll take 3(b) for 10-20!

tRump* is guilty as sin AND ACTS IT.

[Honeycombe8]

4. Hmm...no, prosecutors don't go by what they "think." They go by the evidence.

So it doesn't matter what Mueller thinks, even to Mueller.

(1) The evidence shows some criminality on Trump's part; or (2) The evidence does not show, so far, criminality on Trump's part; or (3) There is some slight circumstantial evidence that could mean Trump did something criminal, but not enough to prosecute.

No, he won't lay his hand out completely.But he won't lie, or his credibility would get damaged. He needs a track record of credibility.

"Trump is not a criminal target at this time" means exactly that, IMO. There is no direct evidence of criminality by Trump personally. This not not preclude that there is some circumstantial evidence that Trump may have committed crimes, but the investigation is over, and the investigation is not pursuing that avenue because the evidence isn't taking them there.

The bosses, including crime bosses, often keep themselves at arm's length from actually doing anything criminal. They issue orders, and their underlings do the dastardly deeds. So the indirect evidence is important...if they all had a pattern of criminal behavior, is i likely they did that without at the least having Trump's blessing? Or even his orders? There is unlikely to be an email from trump to Stone or Manafort saying, "Have you gotten those missing Clinton emails from our Russian contact, liked I asked you to?"

Much more likely to find an obstruction of justice charge against Trump, which is based on his public actions.

We'll see. But it's not GOOD that Mueller doesn't have Trump in his crosshairs, since that means there's no direct evidence of criminality by Trump. And we KNOW Trump is as corrupt and guilty as they come.

Trump has been breaking the law for decades. He knows how to keep himself protected, is my guess.

[Sophia4]

7. A prosecutor must always ask whether the evidence is strong enough to convince the

jury. That is the ultimate question.

That is probably the measure that Mueller will apply to all the evidence his team is reviewing.

[Honeycombe8]

9. Well, yeah. That's what I said. But Trump isn't even a "target,"

which means the team isn't targeting him for criminal behavior, which can only mean there's not enough, if any, evidence to target him. Not even evidence suspicious enough to have the team spend the time on that.

Even if Mueller thinks in his gut Trump is guilty of something, it's his job to go strictly by the evidence.

This is not good news. But it could change. The investigation is over.

What is unclear to me is whether collusion w/Russians or obstruction of justice would be in the "criminal" categories that Mueller is referring to.

[lame54]

5. Trump can lie by the second...

Mueller CAN'T get caught in a single lie
If it's a bluff - it may backfire on him

[forgotmylogin]

8. Good point.

He knows Trump won't get past the headline and "open up the raincoat" so to speak.

Mueller may not even need to indict Trump. It's possible that everything in the cloud around him will sully his veneer enough so he will be impeached by association.