- That there was nothing of the garden variety obstruction. No witness tampering. No destruction of evidence. No lying under oath.
- That the 10 instances will be areas where there "could" be a crime, if the President acted with "corrupt intent".
- The disagreement on law will be that some believed that an action like firing of the FBI director could not be considered obstruction, while others did believe it could (if corrupt intent was proven).
- The other disagreement would be whether or not there was actual evidence of corrupt intent.
- The fact that the President and his team was completely compliant with Special Counsel requests on issues of documents, interviews, and other information played into the idea that the President did not in fact, show intent to obstruct.
Now some of the analysis on CNN suggests that the fact that the President was frustrated and angry with the investigation is evidence that he might have committed the crime. But what William Barr (possibly garnering some of this from the Mueller report) are arguing is that the President's intentions was to vent frustration and claim innocence, and that would actually preclude the idea that his intention was one of "obstructing" the investigation.
Keep in mind that both innocent and guilty people accused of criminal activity will demand their own innocence. Unless there is a "gag" order given by a Judge, there is no crime to speak publicly about your innocence or attack the investigation or charges as unfounded. You cannot charge someone with obstruction, because they want to undercut a narrative or get out ahead of charges. Investigations and trials are by nature an adversarial event.
The reality here is that the DOJ did not find "any" of the 10 instances would, in fact, be something that they believe would rise to the level of being able to prove charges in the court of law. I'll be curious whether or not they break down which of these instances were closer than others to being seen as possible obstruction.
18 comments:
Trump, the 448-page report reveals, was panicked when he first found out about Mueller's appointment, saying, "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m fucked," citing testimony from then Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff.
The president knew that Cohen was going to lie to Congress.
The report also says Mueller did not believe he had to interview Trump because his state of mind was obvious.
“The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment,” the partially-redacted report says. “At the same time, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that judgement. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Muller will be required to testify under oath. If he disagrees with Barr, the house committee may initiate impeachment hearings.
Mueller Did Not Investigate ‘Collusion’
April 18, 2019 at 11:48 am EDT
The Mueller report clearly states that the special counsel’s team did not believe “collusion” — which President Trump has incessantly insisted he did not commit — to be a legal term. For that reason, prosecutors did not assess whether Trump’s campaign “colluded” with Russia, the Washington Post reports.
They said they instead examined whether anyone associated with the Trump campaign “coordinated” with Russians, as defined by conspiracy law, which required “an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference.”
Mueller’s team noted that an agreement requires two parties taking actions “informed by or responsive to the other’s actions or interests.”
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Mueller Referred 14 Investigations to Other Offices
April 18, 2019 at 11:42 am EDT
“Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team referred 14 investigations to other US attorney’s offices, including the prosecution of Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen and Greg Craig, the Skadden Arps attorney who was indicted for lying to DOJ about work he had done for the Ukraine Ministry of Justice,” CNN reports.
“The other 12 investigations are redacted.”
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Quote of the Day
April 18, 2019 at 11:18 am EDT
“With respect to whether the President can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has the authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.”
— The Mueller Report, on why the special counsel did not make a determination on whether President Trump obstructed justice.
@seanmdav
The Mueller report section on the Trump Tower meeting somehow never mentions that the Russian lawyer who requested the June 9 meeting was at that very moment a top client of the Clinton campaign contractor which fed false information on Carter Page to the FBI and DOJ.
@seanmdav
In the Carter Page section, the report never discloses that Page previously served as an FBI informant in 2013 and helped DOJ snag several unregistered Russian foreign agents. Instead, the language in the report makes it sound like he was a co-conspirator.
I'm trudging through the collusion section of the Mueller report, and it's difficult to convey how unimpressed I am with it. For example, the Papadopoulos/Downer meeting, which we're told sparked the *ENTIRE* 2016 anti-Trump investigation, is barely a footnote.
Mueller's report concluded that allegations against Carter Page used to justify a FISA spying campaign against him were false. "The investigation did not establish that Page coordinated with the Russian government in its efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election."
The report also notes Veselnitskaya's work for Prevezon, which was charged with money laundering and sanctions violations, yet fails to note that Clinton campaign contractor Fusion GPS was working for her and Prevezon on that issue. How does a collusion investigation miss that?
The Mueller report discusses Natalia Veselnitskaya's work against Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act, yet somehow forgets to note that her PR partner in the matter--Fusion GPS--was working for Hillary Clinton and met with her before and after the Trump Tower meeting.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller found that President Trump tried to control the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and encouraged witnesses not to cooperate—but Attorney General William Barr decided that wasn’t a crime.
At a press conference ahead of the Mueller report’s release, Barr went out of his way to explain how he disagreed with Mueller’s legal theories and explain away Trump’s behavior.
So, no collusion and no obstruction. Just hysteria from the tin hat brigade.
@seanmdav
The section on contacts between Roger Stone/Michael Caputo and Henry Oknyansky aka Henry Greenberg also failed to disclose that federal court documents indicate Oknyansky was an FBI informant using his FBI work to justify his continued stay in the U.S.
That Michael Caputo
@MichaelRCaputo
That Michael Caputo Retweeted Sean Davis
Color me shocked. Here’s all the federal court documents and 14 FBI visa waivers proving Greenberg is an FBI informant, even listing the name and telephone number of his FBI handler. There is no doubt he worked for Comey/McCabe. http://DemocratDossier.com/dossier
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I'm wondering if Rosenstein has flipped. And boy are top officials f*ed if that is the case, to use Trump's term
"corrupt intent" is very important.
If he "intended" is very difficult because if intent can be proven, the prosecutor would use it to indict the person of a crime.
@DonaldJTrumpJr
Despite the media’s endless lies about me supposedly committing perjury, I spent 27 hours testifying under oath to Congress & was always open/honest with them. It's pretty clear that had I done something wrong, Muellers team of Dems would have charged me. Better luck next hoax!
"CommonsenseApril 18, 2019 at 11:19 AM
So, no collusion and no obstruction."
Bingo.
Roger was/is wrong, but, is too stupid to realize it.
Funny to watch him.
Roger, This President never used Executive Privilege as you claimed he did.
"President Trump is not a traitor. He did not collude with Russians; He did not obstruct investigators; He did not betray the United States of America.
Rather, he is the victim of one of the ugliest political witch hunts in American history."
The left has literally blown themselves up. and can't quit.
Tod is right.
@SaraCarterDC
It’s insane. America needs to heal and those who perpetrated this fraud need to be brought to justice.
NBC reporting that Barr's summary tracks very closely to the Mueller report.
Another democrat media turd flushed.
Roger is wearing a life vest.
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