Bill Of Impeachment: Article I, Obstruction Of Justice

[Lord Jim]

After 22 months of investigation, Bob Mueller decided to neither indict nor exonerate Trump on the criminal law standard for obstruction of justice based on the evidence he developed, (why he decided that needs to be explained) but in less than 48 hours Bill Barr is able to review the evidence and reach conclusions on it...

That will be an enormous area of contention going forward...

That being said, regardless of how this plays out going forward with the Congress and all the other criminal investigations going on, it is indisputable that Barr has handed Team Trump a very good day for today...

He has played straight into the "no collusion, no obstruction" narrative that Trump and his minions have been spinning all along, and they will now hammer on it relentlessly...

[ex-khobar Andy]

No collusion and not enough evidence to support an obstruction of justice prosecution, says Barr.

I'll come back to something I posted many moons ago. The questions I wanted answered were these, in this order:

Did Russia attempt to sway the 2016 election? Yes, undoubtedly and now confirmed by Mueller.

Can we quantify this effort? In other words, can it be said that this effort was sufficient to alter the results? I think yes, but Mueller did not see this as part of his remit.

And did Trump's team attempt to cooperate - sanction - condone - go along - turn a blind eye - OK collude with this effort? Mueller says no: but I cannot see any other way to read that email from Don Jr. To me that was the least important question. If they profited by the illegal efforts of non-US actors to influence it, then the election was invalid and there should be a redo.

OK the fact that the man is a mendacious tax evading serial cheater incompetent is not, in fact, an impeachable offense.

Looks to me as if he's managed to get away with it. Unfortunately I don't see Biden and Sanders as realistic challengers for 2020. I can like Gillebrand or Warren or Harris or even Buttigieg but I don't see them as being equal to the task. Warren could surprise me but she will always be vulnerable to that Pocahontas thing.

[Crackpot]

I. wish I can believe this but I have a sneezing suspicion that this is a lie designed to give cover from the revelations to come.

[rubato]

A great cartoon by ... Tim Eagen! I thought I recognized his style. Local boy made good. Ran for DA back in the 1970s. Made a campaign bet. Wore the "bunny ears of shame" on election night.
I think he was involved with the KUSP 15-minute comedy hour.

https://localwiki.org/santacruz/Tim_Eagan


yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

Adam Schiff sums it up:



He forgot the disgraceful change made to the GOP platform weakening support for Ukraine...

[wesw]

omg....

I ll resist, but damn..., omg.....

ok..., I won t.....

so..., I was crawlin' under this snakes belly and do you know who I met??????

think for yourself.....

Q

[wesw]

adam Schiff?

really?

so fucking sad.

who are you?

your hatred makes you.....

[Bicycle Bill]

so..., I was crawlin' under this snakes belly and do you know who I met??????

Donald, on his hands and knees, with Melania riding him like a horsie while Junior was sitting on her shoulders??

-"BB"-

[Econoline]

[Lord Jim]

I was crawlin' under this snakes belly and do you know who I met??????

Well it wouldn't be Donald Trump...

You'd have to be crawling under the worm that's under the slug that's under the snake to meet him...

It's important to keep proper perspective about just what exactly Trump and his henchmen have been "exonerated" of, based on what we know of the report at this point:

All we know for a fact is that apparently Mueller did not find enough evidence that he believed would be sufficient to meet the standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" to charge anyone with directly conspiring with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

And even that very narrow and limited "exoneration" may be a function more of how the law about this is written than about the amount of evidence. (If the relevant law governing this is anything like the federal bribery laws for example, it may not have been possible for Mueller to meet the "beyond a reasonable doubt" threshold short of catching a direct quid pro quo agreement on video tape.)

That limited finding by Mueller does absolutely nothing to change the known facts that Schiff catalogs well in that video clip, (nice job addressing those, wes) nor does it even address the myriad of other (some Russia related, like money laundering) criminal and/or corrupt actions by this President and those around him that properly remain the subject of multiple law enforcement and Congressional investigations. It also does absolutely nothing to clear Trump of the charge that he is somehow and for some reason under the improper influence of a hostile foreign power.

Absolutely nothing...

Regarding obstruction of justice, all we know at this point is that for some reason Mueller chose not to make a finding regarding Trump. We have Barr's claim that it was Mueller's intent that this decision be left to him.

However a very plausible alternative explanation is that Mueller didn't reach a conclusion on obstruction by Trump because he (Mueller) was in the business of figuring out who he could indict for crimes, and under existing DOJ regs he couldn't indict Trump. So it was Mueller's intent that the evidence that he accumulated be provided to the Congress for disposition, since that is the branch of government that clearly does have the Constitutional authority to hold the President accountable. (That would make perfect sense; it's pretty much what Ken Starr did when he concluded the Clinton investigation.)

So these blatantly dishonest attempts by Trump, his henchmen, minions and other assorted acolytes to try to claim that this report "clears" Trump of any and all wrong doing regarding Russia (or even clears him of any and all wrong doing period as some of his most triumphalist supporters are trying to assert) are utterly ludicrous for anyone who actually cares about real facts...(which of course would not be any of them...)

[Lord Jim]

Looks like a clear majority of the American people are not being hoodwinked by the dishonest propaganda offensive that has been unleashed by the Trumpists:

Most Americans say Trump not exonerated of Russia collusion after Barr letter: Poll

The majority of Americans do not believe President Trump and his campaign have been cleared from Russia collusion by the conclusion of the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as told by a summary from the attorney general, according to a new poll.

Based on what they have heard or read, 56 percent said they believe the Trump campaign "have NOT been exonerated, but collusion could not be proven," the results of a CNN survey released Wednesday show. Forty-three percent said Trump and his campaign have been exonerated, and 1 percent had no opinion.

A majority of Americans favor Congress to hold hearing and investigate the findings of the Mueller report, with 57 percent in favor of it. The other 43 percent said any investigation on the matter should conclude immediately.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news ... etter-poll

So a clear majority of the public is not prepared to accept the four page summary of a 300 page report (written by an individual who wrote a 19 page argument that a President could not be guilty of obstructing justice when he was auditioning for his job) as the final word on this, and that is exactly as it should be...

This "summary" was clearly and deliberately designed to try and create as much cover for Trump as possible. It was released to try and provide a preemptive positive and exculpatory narrative, and that is exactly how Trump and the denizens of Trumpistan have used it...

I admit to being kind of depressed about all of this in recent days; I find the fact that apparently the American people are seeing through this shameless ruse to be heartening...

[Burning Petard]

"And did Trump's team attempt to cooperate - sanction - condone - go along - turn a blind eye - OK collude with this effort? Mueller says no"

W R O N G ! ! ! BARR wrote that. We DO NOT KNOW what Mueller says. Mueller is an experienced investigator and prosecutor. He was looking for criminal activity. Collusion is not a crime. Conspiracy is. Conspiracy conviction requires elements beyond cooperation and/or public expressions of approval of the activities of another.

As noted by another above, we still have no explanation for the Trump team expressing complete indifference to the content of the GOP platform at the convention, as long as it said nothing about Russia/Ukraine.

snailgate

[ex-khobar Andy]

I understand the need to redact information which might be confidential such as grand jury stuff. I don't know why it should take until mid-April to identify that information; and of course there is always the lingering suspicion that Barr will take out embarrassing stuff as well as confidential material.

It would seem to me (which is why it won't happen) that the sensible thing to do would be to give the redacted and unredacted versions to say four individuals, two Reps and two Dems from the Senate and House, whose sole job would be to look at it and confirm to their colleagues and to us that the redactions were reasonable and solely to remove confidential information. I'd buy that.

And of course literally. If the President is so concerned with the cost of the investigation, print the full report and sell it at, say, $20 each. I'll buy a copy.

[RayThom]

Our Douchebag-in-Chief says to release the full report. Of course, he safely says this knowing that butt-buddy Barr will not be doing so -- unless forced -- and then the redactions will no doubt cover his orange ass, regardless.

Nonetheless, Fuckface Von Clownstick almost forces you to listen to his spiel only because we need to hear what he's going to say next.

Sad.

[Econoline]

[Lord Jim]

More encouraging proof that despite the help he got from Bill Barr, Trump is still only fooling the people he already had suckered:

New Polls Show Most Americans Don’t Think Trump Has Been Exonerated

Two new national polls conducted in the past week find that less than a third of Americans believe the Mueller report exonerated President Trump.

A joint NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll which asked Americans what they thought of the results of the two-year investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller finds that “only 29% say Trump has been cleared of wrongdoing” while a Washington Post-Schar School poll finds “only 32% say Trump has been exonerated on obstruction.”

Jeff Horwitt of the Democratic firm Hart Research who conducted the NBC/WSJ poll with Republican pollster Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies, found that, “The public is still in a wait-and-see view of this investigation and what it means for Trump.” [that makes perfect sense, since we haven't seen the report...]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-polls ... exonerated

[Bicycle Bill]

-"BB"-

[ex-khobar Andy]

Well he did say "to the best of my ability" : it's entirely possible that he was telling the truth.

[Econoline]

From Charlie Pierce (my emphasis):

• I would like to recommend the hours between 3 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time on April 3 as the News Cycle of the Year. In those eight hours, we learned that the institutions of the government have decided to open a second front. To wit:
  
  1) House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal of the Commonwealth (God save it!) decided he needs to see the last six years of the president*'s tax returns. From The New York Times:

  • Representative Richard E. Neal, Democrat of Massachusetts, hand-delivered a two-page letter laying out the request to Charles P. Rettig, the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, ending months of speculation about when he would do so and almost certainly prompting a legal challenge from the Trump administration. Responding to questions from reporters in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump suggested that he would fight the request because, he said, he was being audited. “I guess when you have a name, you are audited, but until such time as I’m not under audit I would not be inclined to do that,” he said.

  If the president* meddles in this process, or attempts to make the IRS act unlawfully, that's an impeachable offense.
  
  2) The House Judiciary Committee voted to subpoena the full report produced by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. From NPR:

  • The committee also authorized subpoenas for figures in the Trump orbit, including former White House counsel Don McGahn; McGahn's former chief of staff Ann Donaldson; former adviser Steve Bannon; former spokesperson Hope Hicks; and former chief of staff Reince Priebus. "We are dealing now, not with the president's private affairs, but with a sustained attack on the integrity of the republic by the president and his closest advisers," said Democratic Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York. "This committee requires the full report and the underlying materials because it is our job, not the attorney general's, to determine whether or not President Trump has abused his office."

  If the president* defies these subpoenas, that's an impeachable offense.
  
  3) The security clearance shenanigans continue to pile up. From the Washington Post:

  • Kushner was identified only as “Senior White House Official 1” in committee documents released this week describing the testimony of Tricia Newbold, a whistleblower in the White House’s personnel security office who said she and another career employee determined that Kushner had too many “significant disqualifying factors” to receive a clearance. Their decision was overruled by Carl Kline, the career official who then headed the office, according to Newbold’s interview with committee staff.

  If the president* intervened on Kushner's behalf for reasons of his own, or Kushner's, pecuniary benefit, that's an impeachable offense.
  
  4) Mueller's staff is clearly fed up with Attorney General William Barr and his four-page press release designed to okey-doke the public about the alleged "exoneration" of the president. First, from the NYT:
  
  

  • Mr. Barr has said he will move quickly to release the nearly 400-page report but needs time to scrub out confidential information. The special counsel’s investigators had already written multiple summaries of the report, and some team members believe that Mr. Barr should have included more of their material in the four-page letter he wrote on March 24 laying out their main conclusions, according to government officials familiar with the investigation. Mr. Barr only briefly cited the special counsel’s work in his letter.

  And, from the Post:

  • But members of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant. “It was much more acute than Barr suggested,” said one person, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity. Some members of the office were particularly disappointed that Barr did not release summary information the special counsel team had prepared, according to two people familiar with their reactions...
    
    Some members of Mueller’s team appear caught off guard by how thoroughly the president has used Barr’s letter to claim total victory, as the limited information about their work has been weaponized in the country’s highly polarized political environment, according to people familiar with their responses.

  
  Don't know why anybody would get "caught off-guard" by this president*'s mendacity any more, but OK. And if the president* is working with Barr in any fashion to finagle this report, that's an impeachable offense.
  
  And the hits kept on coming Thursday. From the Post:

  • The vote was 247 to 175, with one member simply voting “present,” and fell largely along party lines, reflecting how Democrats and Republicans remain divided over how to address Saudi Arabia’s efforts to challenge Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran. It illustrates, too, how lawmakers are split over addressing Trump’s embrace of Saudi leaders after the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a crime for which members of both parties believe Saudi crown price Mohammed bin Salman bears responsibility. The resolution passed in the Senate last month with the support of seven Republicans. Thursday’s vote in the House marks the first time both chambers of Congress have voted to invoke the war-powers resolution to end U.S. military engagement in a foreign conflict.

  It's almost as though the system is daring the president* to abuse his powers so egregiously that Congress will have no choice but to begin the process of ending his presidency*. Political self-respect seems to be making a comeback.

[Lord Jim]

So now the Attorney General is going to have a "press conference" to discuss a report that isn't going to be released till a couple of hours after he holds the "press conference"...

And exactly how are reporters supposed to ask questions about a report none of them have seen? Unless all the news organizations send psychics with the ability to see the future, obviously providing a forum for answering questions is not the intent of this farce...

No, this is just another outrageous and disgraceful effort on the part of the AG (on top of the release of his Trump spin "summary" and assertions about "spying" on the Trump campaign at his Congressional hearing appearances earlier) to serve as the stooge publicist for Donald Trump, rather than as the sworn chief law enforcement officer for the American people...

Before the (redacted) version of the Mueller Report is released, we will have this Barr infomercial, then possibly a press appearance by Individual One himself, and maybe even the release of Trump's lawyers rebuttal to the Mueller report (Made possible because in another outrageous and disgraceful move; apparently Barr's team had extensive discussions with Trump's lawyers about the report prior to it's release. That's right, we may have the rebuttal before we have the actual report... )

What we will not see is Mueller himself or anyone on his team being involved in this dishonest deflection effort...(Mueller wouldn't even agree to review Barr's original faux summary letter...He clearly doesn't want to be tainted by any involvement with Barr's machinations...)

The good news about all of these frantic coordinated pre-release diversion spin-propaganda moves by Trump and his henchmen is that they must mean that even the redacted version of the report is extremely damning...

No matter how much tap dancing, deflection and squirrel pointing they do, it will likely all fall apart within a matter of hours...