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The act of unfinished parts of ongoing investigation and cases means that Mueller was in no way finished and so convenyently since wiki leaks was going to need to say there part in this. So trump with his man at the DOJ was finally able to stop the investigations. How a legal dispute between Mueller and Barr drove the end of the special counsel’s probe
A long-standing legal opinion at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) that a sitting president should not be indicted, even if the charges remained sealed is crap as that opinion is not law at all in that you are placing the president above the law even if the crimes happened before being placed into office.....
Barr charaterized the reports content as spying for a reason as that is what Trump had called it when he tried to have As Russia probe began, Trump called on spy chiefs for help stop the investigation which is not spying in any shape of the word.
Morally corrupt is an understatement for Trump which leaves a wake of financial issues in his path all the way from the past to the present. Cohens testimony shows it and so does the state of NY cases that he is involved in. So the efforts to get Trumps taxes as a part of clearing the air on further corruption and connection is part of what congress is doing. The presendential candidates have all been giving there taxes so what is he trying to hide.
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SpaceNut, Mueller has had *two years* to do his investigation. If it's really as serious as people have claimed it to be, it's no use finishing the probe after Trump's second term.
Use what is abundant and build to last
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Terraformer:
Yes, it really is serious. The wording Mueller used "not exoneration" is the crux. He did not find enough evidence for obstruction to be a slam-dunk conviction under DOJ rules and procedures, nor did he find enough evidence to ignore the DOJ rule about not indicting a sitting president.
But, he did find plenty of evidence, and he documented it in his report (he said that is what he did in the report, too). The purpose of documenting evidence of bad behavior is for the American people to decide to un-elect this clown in 2020, or for congress to impeach him, or both. What is so hard to understand about that?
It doesn't matter what the president's lawyers or spokespersons have to say about it. Nor does it matter what AG Barr has to say about it (now that he rules out DOJ prosecution). It only matters what the voters and congress have to say about it.
This is messy, and it will take a while for the dust to settle and the chips to fall.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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Did not see any re-election in the 14 Mueller Report Takeaways You Might Have Missed along with many a choice word or two for the 2 section of the reports content.
The two volumes paint a picture of Donald Trump as deeply narcissistic and incompetent, alternately conned and ignored by everyone around him.
Investigation into crimes take so long as the key elemental evidence is not always in plain site and once hints of it is being sought there is the eradication of the trail to keep from getting charged for the crime.
The use of free speech is a shield for hint hint telling others in a codish way to commit the act which Trump has repeatedly done.
Trump showdown with House Democrats ignites into all-out war
The Oversight Committee subpoena'd and have scheduled a vote to hold Kline in contempt for refusing to comply which if it were you or me we would have a warrant issued for arrest and put into jail. Any others not answered Tax returns should come with the same consequence....
The Tipping point has been reached for many and they are calling for impeachment.
Those that have had enough GOP lawmaker quits party because of Trump's 'disregard for the truth'
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Trump falsy believes that he can stop any impeachment by going to the supreme court and is even instructing others to not answer there subpoena to which that is obstruction and those that do are in contempt. President Donald Trump is trying to show Congress that he's boss.
Increasingly, constitutional experts say Trump is providing evidence to conclude that there are grounds outside Mueller's findings that he has crossed the Constitution's loosely defined "high crimes and misdemeanors" threshold for impeachment. Trump is demonstrating a resistance to the constraints on his office — and a disrespect for the powers of the other "co-equal" branches of his government.
As the Constitution sets out in Article I, Sections 2 and 3, the House of Representatives has “the sole power of impeachment,” and the Senate has “the sole power to try all impeachments. Article II, Section 4 of the Constitution provides that “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
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One of the many Russian operatives is Russia's Vladimir Putin blasts U.S. sentencing of Marina Butina as a 'travesty of justice'; Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday blasted the U.S. sentencing of self-styled Russian political
Maria Butina to get 18 months in prison in the US, In Butina’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said Butina was not considered a spy in the traditional sense, but still deemed her a threat to national security. After serving her sentence, she will be deported.
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Special counsel Robert Mueller expressed frustration to Attorney General William Barr last month about how the findings of his Russia investigation were being portrayed, saying he worried that a letter summarizing the main conclusions of the probe lacked the necessary context and was creating public confusion about his team's work.
Mueller communicated his agitation in a letter to the Justice Department just days after Barr issued a four-page document that summarized the special counsel's conclusions about whether President Donald Trump's campaign had conspired with Russia and whether the president had tried to illegally obstruct the probe, the official said. Mueller and Barr had a phone call the following day where the same concerns were addressed.
The letter lays bare a simmering rift between the Justice Department and the special counsel about whether Barr's summary adequately conveyed the gravity of Mueller's findings, particularly on the key question of obstruction. The revelation is likely to sharpen attacks by Democrats who accuse Barr of unduly protecting the president and of spinning Mueller's conclusions in Trump's favor.
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When the Mueller Investigation Ended, the Battle Over Its Conclusions Began. Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday that he did not review the underlying evidence in special counsel Robert Mueller's report before he concluded that Mueller's findings did not reach the threshold to charge President Trump with obstructing justice. None of the 400-page report on his investigation into Russian election interference and possible obstruction of justice by Trump was used. Attorney General William Barr’s obfuscating, querulous, and disingenuous congressional testimony on Wednesday was the kind of performance we’ve come to expect from him. Barr criticized special counsel Robert Mueller for declining to issue a definitive conclusion on whether President Donald Trump committed obstruction. Barr Has Left Congress No Choice: Mueller Must Testify Next....
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The testimony to the senate Judiciary committee was lacking answers to question or a non answer to what was asked wednesday. Barr repeatedly gave his opinion that Trump and his campaign was falsely accused of colluding with the Russians, and accused of being treasonous, and accused of being a Russian agent without any evidence since the report contradicts his testimony.
Barr like his master thinks he is above the law as Attorney General William Barr threatened to skip a House Judiciary hearing this week thursday because of issues with its format. Democrats have accused of protecting the president, wanted to be questioned only by lawmakers on the committee — not by their staff and lawyers. The push is on now with Nadler accusing Barr and the Justice Department of trying to "blackmail" his committee by having the "nerve" to dictate the parameters of a Congressional hearing.
The chairman said he will not issue a subpoena Thursday morning, but the committee is considering a contempt citation against Barr if the Justice Department does not provide them the underacted Mueller report in the coming days. Which should be not a consideration but a real charge of obstruction and a warrant.
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What I said in posts 240 and 250 above is looking increasingly accurate as time goes by and ever more information surfaces.
Mueller found no actual conspiracy with the Russians, while documenting plenty of close connections and real causes for concern. Mueller found no cause for an obstruction-of-justice indictment at DOJ prosecution standard levels, while finding plenty of obstructive behavior and definite intent to obstruct justice. (Causes for impeachment or unelection do not have to meet DOJ indictment standards, and never have.)
All that I would add is that as time goes by and more information surfaces, I am increasingly disappointed with AG Barr.
He put a minimization-spin on this to protect Trump, that quite apparently included lying under oath to Congress (not just “perjury”, but an offense in and of itself). He quite clearly prioritizes protecting Trump (who hired him) above the good of the country (what he swore to, in his oath of office). That is something I cannot abide, which is also why I detest so many politicians from both parties (only one example is Lindsay Grahamn, who has quite obviously completely sold out to Trump, for fear of getting primaried by Trump supporters).
But as I said before in the cited posts, we need more than just this to seriously consider impeachment. Whatever surfaces, it will have to be egregious enough to convince the Senate republicans to throw Trump under the bus. Otherwise, impeachment is a fool’s errand with no possibility of conviction.
That being said, a lot can surface in a year. And it will, mark my words.
From what I read, significantly more about what is loosely termed the “Steele dossier” has been verified than has been discredited. What is often claimed about how bogus that document supposedly is, by GOP & Trump supporters, has proven to be quite wrong.
That part of it compiled by Mr. Steele was indeed funded by the Democrats, but the total opposition study, which includes more than what Mr. Steele compiled, was initially funded by a conservative PAC of the “never-Trump” type. That total package has a lot of damning stuff in it. (And no, it was NOT the basis of the FISA requests, only a piece of the total picture.)
And there is the damage weakening our alliances. While Trump may (or may not) have induced NATO members to pay more (a good thing), it appears also true that many of our allies no longer think they can count on us if war comes. That’s a really bad thing, far outweighing any good Trump might have done. And, as best I understand it, most of the NATO members were already moving toward paying their own ways before Trump was ever elected. If that’s true, then the scales tip even more dramatically toward Trump doing bad things to the NATO alliance.
Now, the Russians have for 7 decades (on and off, under two different governments) tried to weaken the NATO alliance without success. Trump went and did it for them in under a year and half. There is no doubt that Russia (under either of those governments) was a dangerous adversary (synonym: enemy). So how is weakening the alliance for Russia not providing aid and comfort to the enemy? And millions witnessed this on TV.
The Constitution only needs 2 witnesses to the act (or acts), and specifically lists treason as being either making war upon the US, or providing aid and comfort to its enemies. Doesn’t say a word about intent, although that is implied.
I think there is a strong case to be made that Trump has committed treason (or near-treason) by weakening the NATO alliance. John Brennan said so publicly and lost his security clearance for saying so (how petty is THAT revenge?).
Now, for all you true Trump believers, I’m sorry, but them’s the facts. You need to take a step back and examine what really motivates you: do you operate based on facts, or on a belief system? If a belief system, what you have to face is the possibility it might be false. Facts never are.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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Early on investigation by F.B.I. Sent Investigator Posing as Assistant to Meet With Trump Aide in 2016
This occurred as information from an Austrailian dimplomat was give on the aide.
The again Carter Page was the one with the FISA warrant...
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Barr tried to say what Trump wanted and to protect him as if he was his lawyer and not the DOJ looking to follow the truth. So when Barr refused to testify he opened the door for his own possible impeachment as well as his bosses. Trump has said that all should not answer subpena's and that is step one towards obstruction. So what is he hiding.....House committee aims for Mueller to testify May 15; Trump says he shouldn't but thats not all as DOJ attorneys defend Mueller's ability to investigate Trump in Roger Stone filing down the gucifer and wikileak paths. There’s Nothing Trump Can Do to Stop Mueller from Testifying in which Trump thinks that just because Mueller was stopped but The Russia Investigation Will Continue which means that the redacted content will continue towards what may be testimony that names Trump’s Other Impeachable Offense with a list that continues to grow.. Then there are the other actions that are ongoing with regards to Trump inthe courts of NY.
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Barr has a long history of supporting the notion of an "imperial presidency", including his services in previous administrations. What he did spinning Mueller to protect Trump is quite understandable in that context, and should not be a surprise to anyone.
But Barr did go too far lying to the Senate about what concerns Mueller had with his summary. Lying under oath to congress (either the House or the Senate) is a crime. THAT is what Pelosi was talking about when she used that term. Barr should be held accountable for that.
As for Trump, I stand by what I wrote in posts 240, 250, and 260 above. So far, my interpretations are holding up very well indeed.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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Lots of activity on the report from the house lead McConnel wanting to make the claim that the investigation is done and even the sub commitee is saying they are done and its time to move on.
Trump is now making his wild claim that he should get 2 more years due to the investigation for his administration while over 500 prosecutors would convict on the obstruction if he was not president....
The initial version of the Mueller report released last month labeled redactions in categories like "harm to an ongoing matter" and "grand jury information," and would be far from finished. There are several quests for the unredacted report through law suits and via the congress as well. A second redacted report was released but its not all that different other than it comes with more explanations for what is redacted.
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Trump is telling his staff to ignore subpoenas to testify before congress (really the House). How is that NOT obstruction of justice? It was, for Nixon and Clinton.
Mnuchin tells the IRS not to release Trump's tax returns, when IRS has said audits are no reason to withhold them since before the 2016 election. IRS is obligated under law to respond to a House subpoena for those tax returns. However, under Mnuchin, they have not responded, which puts them violation of the law. How is that NOT some sort of offense, up to and including obstruction?
Barr lied about Mueller's March 27 letter, to the Senate judiciary committee. He was under oath. How is that NOT a crime? Yet under McConnell, the Senate has done nothing about it. How is that NOT obstruction (on the part of McConnell, to protect Trump)?
Just asking.
As I have said before, facts do not lead you astray. Political belief systems quite often do.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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Trumps continual voice of free speech on twitter lashing out at others, order on witness tampering, obstruction of justice and more as the latest victim in McGahn refused request by White House to say Trump did not obstruct justice after Mueller report’s release
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I'm about halfway through reading Vol 1 (of 2) of the publicly-available, redacted form of Mueller's report. All I can say so far is that the executive summaries of both volumes are pretty good summaries of what he found, and that the it is easy to get lost in the details in the main bodies of the two volumes. If any of you read this thing, start with the tables of contents and the introduction and summaries Mueller provided for each volume.
My impression so far matches what I said I expected to find: not enough unambiguous evidence to charge Trump (although some of his people have been), but plenty of well-documented instances and behaviors that raise real concern. This applies to the conspiracy-with-Russians issue, and with the obstruction of justice issue, near as I can tell so far. He makes clear that the DOJ policy of not indicting a sitting president played a big role. So far, there is nothing about any of this that is justifiably claimed as an "exoneration".
The redactions do not hinder making assessments from reading this, but they do make clear that other DOJ/FBI investigations or court proceedings relative to these events are ongoing. We haven't seen the end of this yet, because of those other investigations and court proceedings. That assessment has nothing to do with any of the House or Senate committee investigations.
I've got a long way to go, but I'll keep y'all informed from time to time.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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The actual facts contained in the report are being ignored as in Why the Michael Flynn revelations are so important and that Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan penned a lengthy Twitter thread on Saturday afternoon, concluding that — after having read the full report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller — "President Trump has engaged in impeachable conduct," and "Attorney General [William] Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report." and with all of the obstruction, corruption there is 4 ways Trump is trying to be king and how he is ignoring "We the People".....formed the US in the first place.
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AG Barr Claims He’s Defending the Presidency, Not the President:
Barr is making the claim of the ‘Rules Were Being Changed to Hurt Trump’....and his job is to uphold the law of congress not ignore them....
It appears that Coordinated anti-Trump campaign emerges on Instagram: fair game if Facebook and Twitter were allowed for Trump's success so he should welcome it as thats what he did for a pat of his collusion efforts to win at any cost.
Documented was several attempt to falsify and to obstruct the testimony in the mueller probe.
Cohen told lawmakers Trump attorney Jay Sekulow instructed him to falsely claim Moscow project ended in January 2016
Don McGahn’s Testimony Would Be the Main Event McGahn’s testimony would deal directly with whether and how Trump obstructed justice as he was instructed to do. Trump is saying to ignore the subpoena's for the congress but There's a huge loophole in a new DOJ filing that Trump cited to block Don McGahn from testifying before Congress
Following the money trail in the probe has turned up 'I didn’t need money': Trump bristles at report Deutsche Bank staff saw suspicious activity which showed money laundering. So little reason why his tax returns have meaning.
Federal judge sides with House Democrats over subpoena for Trump’s financial records dating back to 2011. Trumps protestion is getting Some Republicans unsettled by Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity
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The investigation that is unfinished and strill needs to hear from Mueller has told House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler that he would prefer to make a public opening statement, but leave his testimony behind closed doors and have a transcript released afterward.
Mueller was an impartial investigation but Donald Trump Gives William Barr Power to Declassify Intelligence Information in 'a Corrupt Act of Political Retribution
There is a drawback to declassifying Intel chief warns Barr could imperil national security by declassifying documents
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It appears that there is more campaign finance issues as Federal prosecutors demand Cindy Yang records from Mar-a-Lago, Trump campaign demanding they turn over all records relating to Republican Party donor Li “Cindy” Yang and several of her associates and companies. Still following the money trail with Yang, a South Florida massage-parlor entrepreneur. Part of a public corruption investigation seeking to determine if she funneled money from China to the president’s re-election campaign or otherwise violated campaign-finance laws.
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Like its not big deal to do wrong without any sort of recourse...
Amash hits Trump and his allies: They are 'trying to excuse' his obstruction efforts
Judge rules FBI must release some redacted sections of Comey memos
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Not reading the report and taking the words of the criminals which are not stating fact is why the impeachment Case opened: Democrats begin public airing of Mueller report
Trump Lawyer’s Message Was a Clue for Mueller, Who Set It Aside
Legal experts were divided on whether Mr. Mueller’s team should have sought to question Mr. Dowd. The investigators compiled substantial evidence that Mr. Trump tried to obstruct justice even without Mr. Dowd’s testimony, and an attempt to interview him could have set off a lengthy court battle with an uncertain outcome.
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Just another reason in a line of ethics issues for this president Trump Says He Would Accept Dirt On 2020 Opponent From Foreign Government
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Many Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel. They want to understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia's attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign's acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates' obstruction of the investigation into that attack.
Former special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify in public about his two-year Russia investigation at a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee on July 17. The announcement came from the chairmen of the two panels, who issued a subpoena compelling his testimony.
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