No Collusion? Trump Might Be Right; It Could Be Worse!
Hillary Clinton may have hit the nail on the head during the third presidential debate in Oct. 2016 when she told the country Donald Trump was Vladimir Putin's puppet.
It may also be true President has been correct with his “no collusion” mantra.
Think about it. A puppet does not collude. It performs. Follow along here as I delve into some recent developments...
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For twenty two months the special counsel’s office led by Robert Mueller conducted an investigation into “Any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump and any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”
There was almost universal admiration for the lack of leaks to the media about the course of the inquiry.
Almost all the sourced reporting on the subject came from documents filed in connection with more than three dozen indictments, plea bargains, and convictions.
All that changed late Wednesday, with reports by the New York Times, Washington Post and NBC News, sourced from disgruntled investigators unhappy with how their work was being characterized.
The February 2018 indictments of 13 Russian nationals and three companies gave us answers to questions about the Russians involvement, asserting “Defendant ORGANIZATION had a strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
Attorney General William Barr received a report from the Mueller investigation on March 22 and released what was initially described as a four page summary on March 24.
From Vox:
According to Barr, Mueller’s team, after interviewing nearly 500 witnesses and issuing nearly 2,800 subpoenas, did not find that Trump associates coordinated or conspired with Russia to meddle in the 2016 election.
On the question of whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice, Barr said the special counsel “did not draw a conclusion — one way or another — as to whether the examined conduct constituted obstruction of justice.”
Barr said that the special counsel states in his report that “‘while this report does not conclude the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
What happened next represents one of the greatest failures of the media in recent history.
The Barr document was mistakenly touted as accurately reflecting the content of the Special Counsel’s report, an error so egregious as to cause a follow up statement from the Attorney General:
“I am aware of some media reports and other public statements mischaracterizing my March 24, 2019, supplemental notification as a ‘summary’ of the Special Counsel’s investigation and report,” Barr wrote. He added, “My March 24 letter was not, and did not purport to be, an exhaustive recounting of the Special Counsel’s investigation or report. As my letter made clear, my notification to Congress and the public provided, pending release of the report, a summary of its ‘principal conclusions’ – that is, its bottom line…. I do not believe it would be in the public’s interest for me to attempt to summarize the full report or to release it in serial or piecemeal fashion.”
While Barr’s letter was NOT the Mueller report, headline writers jumped to the conclusion that Trump was not the bad guy we’d all been led to believe he was.
The President took laps around the White House proclaiming the “collusion delusion” was over, suggesting Congress should now get to work, and urging retribution on those who’d made disparaging allegations.
Trump defenders on state media (aka Fox News) went further, demanding prosecutions and resignations.
After a week of sneering celebrations, the administration’s tone changed. Releasing any version of the Mueller report became a bad idea.
Wednesday night/Thursday morning we found out why.
Reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post said Mueller's team members were talking about their report containing "acute" evidence of Trump obstructing the investigation of Russian links to his 2016 campaign.
Both reports also noted that Mueller's team had prepared summaries meant to be made public, but none of which have emerged.
From Politico:
Though Trump initially expressed confidence that Mueller's report exonerated him, he has begun to betray concerns in recent days, suggesting repeatedly that he doesn't like the notion of House Democrats getting access to the full report and highlighting news clips that emphasize Barr has no obligation to reveal the report to Congress or the public. Trump continued that line of attack Thursday morning.
"There is nothing we can ever give to the Democrats that will make them happy," he tweeted. "This is the highest level of Presidential Harassment in the history of our Country!"
The White House also weighed in on the reports, with press secretary Sarah Sanders calling Democrats "sore losers."
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/1113820627213934592
From Bloomberg:
In an interview with Fox News’s Laura Ingraham on Wednesday evening, one of Trump’s attorneys, Rudy Giuliani, offered his take on why Mueller’s people were suddenly talking. “They are a bunch of sneaky, unethical leakers. And they are rabid Democrats who hate the president of the United States,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much false information they leaked during the course of the investigation… How could you have any confidence in this?”
The bad news couldn’t have surfaced at a worse time for the White House. On Wednesday, Congressional Democrats authorized a subpoena for the Mueller report, formally requested Trump's taxes and prepared to issue a subpoena for Trump financial records from an accounting firm.
News reports about a breach at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club by a Chinese national were drawing interest from investigators, along with indications the House Intelligence Committee have delved into reviewing records from Trump's inauguration.
The real bombshell came from the NBC News reporting.
The official who has spoken to members of Mueller's team says they described the evidence on obstruction as compelling and said it includes more information than has been made public.
According to a senior law enforcement official who has spoken to members of Mueller's team, Mueller team members say it includes detailed accounts of Trump campaign contacts with Russia. While Mueller found no coordination or criminal conspiracy, the official said, some team members say his findings paint a picture of a campaign whose members were manipulated by a sophisticated Russian intelligence operation. Some of that information may be classified, the official said, so it's not clear whether it will be released in a few weeks when Barr makes public a redacted version of the Mueller report.
So Trump was a tool and a tactic; the Russians had a strategy and plan, maybe.
The President’s framing the questions about his conduct in terms of collusion gave created an opening to triumphantly declare himself innocent.
Could it be that a our very stable genius left a trail of breadcrumbs suggesting he was manipulated into wrongdoing? Without being able to prove some awareness of what was happening, there may not be criminal intent. And Trump has always gotten off scott free.
No collusion. No conspiracy. Just a manchild seemingly playing with anybody who will pay attention as he acts out cruel fantasies. How perfect.
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Things are about to get tough.
One of Donald Trump’s earliest associations was with Roy Cohn, who was better known as Congressman Joe McCarthy’s attorney. The man who is now President of the United States was taught to never apologize, always attack.
https://twitter.com/neeratanden/status/1113759486748106752
There are four local protests today demanding release of the Mueller report, all at 5pm in Imperial Beach, Oceanside, Escondido, and Carlsbad.
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On the brighter side...
https://twitter.com/LOLGOP/status/1113814800608432130
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Email me at DougPorter@WordsAndDeedsBlog.com