Read the $%#@@$ Mueller Report - It's Your Patriotic Duty
There is a bunch of polling being released this week not likely to be pleasing to the President. State level surveys by Quinnipiac University, which historically have been more favorable than others, show Texas of all places, giving former Vice President Joe Biden a four point margin.
Quinnipiac University has for the first time conducted national head-to-head polls matching up Trump and some of the leading Democratic presidential hopefuls. None of the matchups is good for Trump.
Trump trails all six by between five and 13 points, with Joe Biden holding the biggest advantage and the lesser-known candidates — Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Mayor Pete Buttigieg — holding the smallest leads.
According to the New York Times, Trump has told aides to deny or ignore reports saying his campaign’s own polling of 17 states projecting losses in key states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.
It’s way too early to make any assumptions about any polling or candidate strength.
And I shouldn’t need to remind anybody about 2016 polling suggesting Trump would lose, and lose big. (It’s also true that he did lose the popular vote by a 2.8 million margin.)
Apart from polling trends there is one factor that seems to be persuading people to move away from supporting the President -- people who have read the Mueller Report.
GOP Congressman Justin Amash has read the report, and thinks there’s something there.
From Daily Kos:
Donald Trump is already supporting a primary opponent for the sole Republican to admit that the Mueller report actually does include impeachable offenses. Now that Rep. Justin Amash has violated the One Commandment—never speak ill of Trump—Republicans are not sure he can remain in the club. Neither is Amash. But he may do something else that causes Trump as much grief as his talk about impeachment.
There is nothing that focuses Trump’s attention like someone who won’t bow on command, but what Amash is doing is far worse than simply refusing to get his lickspittle on. Amash is quoting from the Mueller report. He’s encouraging other people to read the Mueller report. He’s confirming Democratic statements that what’s in the Mueller report is easily enough to warrant an immediate impeachment inquiry. As much as Republicans have suggested that opening impeachment proceedings against Trump would be great for Trump and great for their party, the idea that Amash is actually supporting that process seems to scare them to death. How odd.
Mark Sumner also reports Amash is considering a bid for president as a candidate of the Libertarian Party. (Please!)
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After watching the testimony of former Nixon lawyer John Dean before the House Judiciary Committee this week, it becomes clear that “Special Counsel report literacy” is a cause worth taking up.
The Republican members of the committee seemed to take pride in their ignorance, spending much of their time trying to discredit Dean --a lifelong Republican-- as a witness.
Here’s Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Toady) trying to sound smart and drawing lots of laughter from the gallery:
https://youtu.be/CFeCraCU2ds
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Here’s Fox News Shep Smith:
Remember, in his 400-plus page report that everyone in America should read ― everyone ― Robert Mueller laid out 10 instances of apparent obstruction of justice, criminal obstruction of justice, potentially, by President Trump. The special counsel did not exonerate the president. Said if they could’ve they would’ve, but they couldn’t so they didn’t.
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How we’ll ever get people to read the Special Counsel’s report is the question. Consider it your patriotic duty.
Some resources:
Read the Short Version: Full Text of the Mueller Report's Executive Summaries (About 15 minutes of your time)
Here’s a searchable version, so you can look for references to the pee-pee tape. (Spoiler: there aren’t any)
Listen to the free audio version (Also on Spotify, Apple podcasts & Audiobook)
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Here’s the first sentence of every relevant paragraph from the Executive Summary:
RUSSIAN SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN - The Internet Research Agency (IRA) carried out the earliest Russian interference operations identified by the investigation—a social media campaign designed to provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States...
The IRA later used social media accounts and interest groups to sow discord in the U.S. political system through what it termed "information warfare." The campaign evolved from a generalized program designed in 2014 and 2015 to undermine the U.S. electoral system, to a targeted operation that by early 2016 favored candidate Trump and disparaged candidate Clinton...
RUSSIAN HACKING OPERATIONS - At the same time that the IRA operation began to focus on supporting candidate Trump in early 2016, the Russian government employed a second form of interference: cyber intrusions (hacking) and releases of hacked materials damaging to the Clinton Campaign...
The presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump ("Trump Campaign" or "Campaign") showed interest in WikiLeaks's releases of documents and welcomed their potential to damage candidate Clinton...
RUSSIAN CONTACTS WITH THE CAMPAIGN - The social media campaign and the GRU hacking operations coincided with a series of contacts between Trump Campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government...
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.
Fall 2016. On October 7, 2016, the media released video of candidate Trump speaking in graphic terms about women years earlier, which was considered damaging to his candidacy. Less than an hour later, WikiLeaks made its second release: thousands of John Podesta's emails that had been stolen by the GRU in late March 2016.
Post-2016 Election. Immediately after the November 8 election, Russian government officials and prominent Russian businessmen began trying to make inroads into the new administration.
On January 6, 2017, members of the intelligence community briefed President-Elect Trump on a joint assessment—drafted and coordinated among the Central Intelligence Agency, FBI, and National Security Agency—that concluded with high confidence that Russia had intervened in the election through a variety of means to assist Trump's candidacy and harm Clinton's.
The investigation continued under then-Director Comey for the next seven weeks until May 9, 2017, when President Trump fired Comey as FBI Director—an action which is analyzed in Volume II of the report.
The investigation did not always yield admissible information or testimony, or a complete picture of the activities undertaken by subjects of the investigation. Some individuals invoked their Fifth Amendment right against compelled self-incrimination and were not, in the Office's judgment, appropriate candidates for grants of immunity.
Further, the Office learned that some of the individuals we interviewed or whose conduct we investigated—including some associated with the Trump Campaign—deleted relevant communications or communicated during the relevant period using applications that feature encryption or that do not provide for long-term retention of data or communications records.
FACTUAL RESULTS OF THE OBSTRUCTION INVESTIGATION - The key issues and events we examined include the following:
The Campaign's response to reports about Russian support for Trump.
Conduct involving FBI Director Comey and Michael Flynn.
The President's reaction to the continuing Russia investigation.
The President's termination of Comey.
The appointment of a Special Counsel and efforts to remove him.
Efforts to curtail the Special Counsel's investigation.
Efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence.
Further efforts to have the Attorney General take control of the investigation.
Efforts to have McGahn deny that the President had ordered him to have the Special Counsel removed.
Conduct towards Flynn, Manafort, [Redacted: Harm to Ongoing Matter]
Conduct involving Michael Cohen.
CONCLUSION -Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President's conduct. 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.
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 judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.
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One final note. In case you haven’t already figured it out, the President hasn’t read the Mueller Report, and likely never will.
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