Best article by far on Mueller's report, Barr's deception and Congress' way forward

[Arazi]

Renato Marriotti lays it all out. No paywall either


The Obstruction Case Against Trump that Barr Tried to Hide
Even with redactions, Mueller’s report is clear Trump undermined the Russia investigation.

For nearly a month, the American public has been under the impression, thanks to a four-page "summary" by Attorney General William Barr, that Robert Mueller could not decide whether President Donald Trump had obstructed justice because of “difficult questions of law and fact.” Barr suggested that the special counsel, after 22 months of investigation, simply couldn’t make up his mind and left it to his boss to decide.

Now that we have seen almost the entire report of more than 400 pages, we know Barr intentionally misled the American people about Mueller’s findings and his legal reasoning. As a former federal prosecutor, when I look at Mueller’s work, I don’t see a murky set of facts. I see a case meticulously laid out by a prosecutor who knew he was not allowed to bring it.

Snip

Mueller’s report detailed extraordinary efforts by Trump to abuse his power as president to undermine Mueller’s investigation. The case is so detailed that it is hard to escape the conclusion that Mueller could have indicted and convicted Trump for obstruction of justice—if he were permitted to do so. And the reason he is not permitted to do so is very clear: Department of Justice policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president.

Snip

In fact, Mueller concluded that Congress has the authority to remove Trump from office, noting that his “conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President's corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.” Mueller appears to believe that it is the role of Congress to ensure Trump is not above the law.

Snip

https://www.politico.com/magazine/amp/story/2019/04/19/barr-obstruction-mueller-trump-226664?__twitter_impression=true

[tblue37]

1. K&R for visibility. nt

[True Blue American]

2. Thanks for that.

It is very clear Mueller did the job he was supposed to do and expected it to go to Congress to act.

Barr put himself in the middle by claiming it was his right to decide. Barr is still as corrupt as he was during the Iran/ Contra affair. How sad that a man would sully his reputation twice to cover wrong doing. There is no honor left in the man.

What bothers me is that a man so well versed in Law would think he could cover this.

[watoos]

6. He got away with it twice before.

[anarch]

3. at the end of the day, I have to agree with Mueller's assessment with respect to roles

and duties here. It was never the SCO's job to actually prosecute anyone; just to investigate and then present the evidence along with any referral for action to the proper authorities. In the case of POTUS, the "proper authorities" for oversight are in fact Congress. So, here we are. It seems incumbent upon the co-equal legislative branch of government to do its fucking job and reign in a rogue, power-abusing and criminal so-called POTUS.


It's almost incomprehensible how badly the Republicans have degraded our nation's basic governmental infrastructure. Their whole criminal-enterprise "political party" needs to be voted out of existence.

[MyOwnPeace]

4. OUTSTANDING!

Great article - and loved the comments by True Blue and Anarch - good stuff!

Does a great job of doing just what Mueller did - lay out the facts and wait for someone to do their job.

Hello, Congress - anybody there?

[oasis]

5. House Dems to turn the heat up on Trump's sorry ass. Squirm, baby squirm.

[watoos]

7. and turn the heat up on Barr.

[True Blue American]

9. Absolutely!

Barr is disgraced beyond belief! Trying to do the same thing he did during the 1980’s!

News for you Barr, this is the 21st Century. You are being exposed this time. Even Woodward compared you to Al Hague, who tried to take over when Reagan was shot!

[oasis]

11. House committees can take turns chewing away at Barr's weak

interpretation of the law. Dems should hire ass kicking lawyers to take part in the grilling.

[Lonestarblue]

13. Barr could be impeached, but of course Republicans don't care about the law.

He clearly had the intent and took actions to obstruct Congress in learning all the results of Mueller’s investigation, a high crime committed in plain sight. I’m really tired of the essential lawlessness of high-level Republicans.

[Vinca]

8. It turns out as we suspected. Barr is just a cult member with a high ranking.

[FailureToCommunicate]

10. Thanks. As Swalwell said yesterday, Barr is either the People's lawyer, or Trumps, but

he can't be both. And he clearly is on the side of lawlessness (Trump, et al) and should resign, or be impeached.

[cstanleytech]

12. This is why I have changed my mind and think the time to impeach both

him and Barr (and maybe Pence if its warranted) is now.
That then will force the Repugnants to finally either embrace being the real and sole party of corruption or reject it but either way it will be a win for us as we can use the ones that embrace it against all the others in the upcoming election.

[woodsprite]

16. Let's hang all this like a stone around their necks. nt

[cstanleytech]

17. Well they were the ones that made it so its only proper that they get to wear it. nt

[dalton99a]

19. +1

[highplainsdem]

14. K&R

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

15. K & R...

Great easy to understand summary, thanks.

[dalton99a]

18. Barr is thoroughly corrupt and must be impeached

Despite Trump's refusal to sit for an interview—as other presidents like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton did—Barr touted Trump's “full cooperation” with the investigation. On this matter, as with so many others, Barr deceived the public.

That is not the only time Barr deliberately misled the American people. His letter from March is full of half-truths and highly misleading statements. For example, Barr quoted the following passage from the report: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Barr omitted the first part of that sentence, which read: “Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

If I engaged in that sort of selective quotation in a court of law, I would be censured for misleading the court. As attorney general of the United States, Barr should be held to a higher standard than any ordinary lawyer. There can be no serious question that Barr deliberately misled the American people and its elected representatives about a matter of the utmost public concern.

[lindysalsagal]

20. The money lines:

The Mueller report paints a picture of a president who took extraordinary steps to undermine a lawful investigation into him and his associates. Trump fired the FBI director, tried to fire Mueller, asked the FBI director to stop investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn, tried to persuade Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reverse his recusal and tank the investigation, and tried to influence the testimony of witnesses. Mueller properly rejected all of the defenses to obstruction of justice put forward by Trump's lawyers. Candidly, as a criminal defense attorney, I cannot see how I would convince a jury that there is reasonable doubt based on these facts.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

21. k&r

[Arazi]

22. So excellent I'm gonna bump this beauty for the pm crowd