What Will Really Matter in the Mueller Report

[homersapien 11,447]

Good article on the Mueller report regarding the political and legal perspectives of it's release.

The public will be looking for salacious details on collusion. But the most important legal questions all have to do with obstruction.

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/12/mueller-report-investigation-trump-russia-analysis-barr-226651

 

[alexava 6,973]

Collusion was never provable. Obstruction was obvious. But it was other conflicts of interests that I was looking for..

[homersapien 11,447]

3 hours ago, alexava said:

Collusion was never provable. Obstruction was obvious. But it was other conflicts of interests that I was looking for..

I agree, David will undoubtedly chime in soon with an extreme rant about my impeachment obsession, but I gave up on that long ago - thanks to the hypocrisy and venality of what currently passes for Republicans. 

Trump was at least right about one thing, he could murder someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it.

Just like his tax returns, this is really about revealing even more information on the malignant, narcissistic psychopath we have as POTUS before the 2020 election. 

Keep in mind that only about 30% of the electorate have their heads up their asses.

[Hspoprn 199]

Nothing will matter in the Mueller report, because there appears to be nothing in the report other than some expensively gained fodder for liberals to use as talking points as they continue hounding our president while NOTHING gets done in Congress. 

The only difference between a Democratic politician and a Republican politician is the lies they choose to tell. The only difference between a Democratic voter and a Republican voter is the lies they choose to believe.

[SaltyTiger 7,859]

7 hours ago, homersapien said:

I agree, David will undoubtedly chime in soon with an extreme rant about my impeachment obsession, but I gave up on that long ago - thanks to the hypocrisy and venality of what currently passes for Republicans. 

You did not give it up. If you had you would not continue to bring it up......getting old

Trump was at least right about one thing, he could murder someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it.

Wrong forum forum Brother Homer. Direct slap at the people who support him.

Just like his tax returns, this is really about revealing even more information on the malignant, narcissistic psychopath we have as POTUS before the 2020 election. 

Keep in mind that only about 30% of the electorate have their heads up their asses.

Wrong forum again as you repeat so eloquently. There was article posted 2 or 3 weeks ago about  "obstruction coming" in the other forum. Guess you were to embarrassed to comment considering the "collusion obsession" embedded in you for 2 plus years. 

 Brother Homer,  2020 November is rolling at us like freight train. About time your side start concerning yourself with your horse. Quit screwing around with our horse starving.

 

[homersapien 11,447]

12 hours ago, SaltyTiger said:

 

There was nothing out of line for this forum in what I posted.

(And seriously, you are taking offense over my quoting Trump?   That's rich! ) 

And please, let's try to be accurate with our terminology.  Apparently, Mueller concluded a case for criminal conspiracy could not be made.

I remember Trump asking in a speech for "Russer (sic):  please release Hillary's emails"!  And lo and behold, they appeared!  

Everyone knows the details of the trump tower meeting and how Trump tried to cover it up.  At no point did the Trump administration notify the FBI they were being contacted by agents of the Russian government who were volunteering hacked information.  In fact, they did just the opposite.  We already know all this.

While - for some reason - that apparently does not meet the standards for criminal "conspiracy", anyone capable of critical thinking would agree it amounted to "collusion" with the Russians. 

So, please stop parroting the "Mueller determined there was no collusion" line of thought.  It's not accurate.

[homersapien 11,447]

Oh and we don't know what is is the Mueller report concerning obstruction.

But whatever it is, it needs to be made public.  After all, as you say, the 2020 election is barrelling down on us.

[NolaAuTiger 3,295]

Good to see the "but what about his tax returns" talking point. Will be needed once the Mueller report disappoints. 

[homersapien 11,447]

19 hours ago, NolaAuTiger said:

Good to see the "but what about his tax returns" talking point. Will be needed once the Mueller report disappoints. 

He's certainly hiding something.  I'd like to know what.  Apparently, so do an overwhelming majority of Americans:

Poll: Two-thirds of voters think Trump should release tax returns

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/374875-poll-two-thirds-of-voters-think-trump-should-release-his-tax-returns

[NolaAuTiger 3,295]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

He's certainly hiding something.  I'd like to know what.  Apparently, so do an overwhelming majority of Americans:

Poll: Two-thirds of voters think Trump should release tax returns

https://thehill.com/policy/finance/374875-poll-two-thirds-of-voters-think-trump-should-release-his-tax-returns

#FakePoll

[Hspoprn 199]

Mueller report, tax returns, no immigration reform, Medicare-for-all, "free" college tuition, conjecture, suppositions,. yada yada yada. What brilliant strategy to keep American eyes and minds off of the incompetency of the do-nothings on both sides of the aisle in Congress. 

[homersapien 11,447]

4 hours ago, NolaAuTiger said:

#FakePoll

Wrong Forum

[homersapien 11,447]

1 hour ago, Hspoprn said:

Mueller report, tax returns, no immigration reform, Medicare-for-all, "free" college tuition, conjecture, suppositions,. yada yada yada. What brilliant strategy to keep American eyes and minds off of the incompetency of the do-nothings on both sides of the aisle in Congress. 

You seem confused.  Need help?

[DKW 86 7,440]

 

 

 

On 4/15/2019 at 1:01 PM, homersapien said:

I agree, David...lives in my head, in a condo, with a hot tub and a wet bar, grows and smokes fine herb, and does all that rent free...

 

[Hspoprn 199]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

You seem confused.  Need help?

Any logical person who is not confused by the actions - oops, inaction- of Congress, other than their sniping at each other based upon political affiliation so they can get interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, or FOX news certainly needs help. What can I do for you?

[homersapien 11,447]

18 hours ago, Hspoprn said:

Any logical person who is not confused by the actions - oops, inaction- of Congress, other than their sniping at each other based upon political affiliation so they can get interviewed on CNN, MSNBC, or FOX news certainly needs help. What can I do for you?

I suggest you start by organizing your complaints into logical categories for discussion.  You had a laundry list of current legislative issues combined with campaign positions. 

But I agree our government has become progressively more dysfunctional and partisan over the recent years.  Trump has made it even worse and continues to do so.  Hopefully, he represents the nadir of that trend and won't have the chance to continue the damage with a second term.

[AUDub 11,184]

Well then. 

 

[AUDub 11,184]

Lol

 

[AUDub 11,184]

Well, pretty clear Barr is a lying bag of a**holes. 

[AuCivilEng1 11,026]

8 minutes ago, AUDub said:

Well, pretty clear Barr is a lying bag of a**holes. 

You surprised? Lol

[aubiefifty 16,906]

trump is the biggest liar i have ever seen so is it unreasonable to conclude he would or did encourage others to lie? from the pundits on the tele the report states the collusion thing could not be proven because of all the lies they were told by folks in trumps white house.

also i stated on here that mueller and company farmed out continuing investigations to federal judges,etc, and was told that was a lie. well according to the folks going through the report on msnbc that was in fact true. and before some of you start trying to discredit msnbc remember you guys are taking up for one of the biggest liars and crookedest presidents in american history.

[homersapien 11,447]

https://www.vox.com/2019/4/18/18484817/william-barr-news-conference-mueller-report-walks-away-reilly

Watch: Barr walks away after he’s asked the most important question about the Mueller report

The press conference was a charade. One moment captures it.

Attorney General William Barr invited the press to ask him questions Thursday morning about the Mueller report. The final question got to the heart of the problem: Reporters didn’t get to read the report first.

“Do you think it creates an appearance of impropriety for you to come out and sort of, what appears to be spinning the report before the public gets a chance to read it?” Ryan Reilly of HuffPost asked, referring to the decision the Trump administration made to hold a news conference about the Mueller report before it was even released to Congress for review.

“No,” Barr replied curtly. He then walked away, ending the news conference.

That moment captured the essence of Barr’s news conference. The point of the event was, in name, to illuminate how the Mueller report came together. Instead, it gave the attorney general a chance to set a positive stage for President Trump before the public got to see the details.

REPORTER: Is it an impropriety for you to come out and sort of spin the report before people are able to read it?

BARR: No.

*walks away* pic.twitter.com/nXH4Tk3Fyd

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 18, 2019

It wasn’t the only time during the news conference that Barr swatted down a legitimate question about his handling of the Mueller report’s release — questions that have persisted since he released a letter summarizing Mueller’s key findings without so much as quoting a single complete sentence from Mueller’s text.

Shortly before Reilly’s question, Paula Reid of CBS asked Barr to respond to critics who have interpreted his conduct as being aimed at protecting Trump, not dealing in good faith with the American people.

“A Republican-appointed judge on Tuesday said you have, quote, created an environment that has caused a significant part of the American public to be concerned about these redactions. You cleared the president on obstruction,” Reid began. “The president is fundraising off your comments about ‘spying,’ and here you have remarks that are quite generous to the president, including acknowledging his feelings and emotions. What do you say to people on both sides of the aisle who are concerned you’re trying to protect the president?”

Barr didn’t really respond to Reid’s question, but instead said, “I’m not sure what your basis is for saying that I’m being generous to the president,” before quickly moving on.

REPORTER: A judge has expressed concerns about your redactions. POTUS is fundraising on your remarks about 'spying.' What do you say to folks who are concerned you're trying to protect the president?

BARR: I'm not sure what you're basis is for saying I'm being generous to POTUS. pic.twitter.com/0LgNVldiCN

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 18, 2019

During his opening statement, Barr confirmed that the White House was given a redacted version of the Mueller report — a luxury not afforded to Congress or the public.

He also explained away questions about possible obstruction of justice by saying Trump “faced an unprecedented situation. As he entered office and sought to perform his responsibilities, prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct ... yet, as he said from the beginning, there was no collusion.”

Then, instead of engaging with legitimate questions from reporters and his critics about the overall propriety of his conduct, Barr walked away.

 

[homersapien 11,447]

Barr’s Narrative of Victimhood

The attorney general’s presentation will likely please the president, but does little for the credibility of the Department of Justice.

 

...........The reason the feds were snooping around the White House and Trump campaign was that Trump kept hiring people who were breaking the law, and others who pushed its boundaries. (Curiously, Barr cited the indictments of Russians in the probe, but didn’t mention any of the Americans who have pleaded guilty to crimes uncovered by Mueller’s probe.) That dishonor roll doesn’t even get into Trump’s bizarre campaign statements, such as his weird plea for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails—which Trump’s defenders insist was a joke, but which Russia doesn’t seem to have taken that way.

Barr continued:

Nonetheless, the White House fully cooperated with the Special Counsel’s investigation, providing unfettered access to campaign and White House documents, directing senior aides to testify freely, and asserting no privilege claims. And at the same time, the President took no act that in fact deprived the Special Counsel of the documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation.

The claim that the White House “fully cooperated” is, charitably, incomplete. Trump did not block aides from testifying, but he also fought hard against sitting for an interview of his own—and, in fact, never did. And the notion that an individual touched by a federal investigation deserves praise for not depriving the investigator of documents or witnesses will strike many prosecutors as novel; this sort of cooperation is generally regarded as a minimal requirement, not a demonstration of good faith.

Apart from whether the acts were obstructive, this evidence of non-corrupt motives weighs heavily against any allegation that the President had a corrupt intent to obstruct the investigation.

The idea that Trump was acting out of sincere motives is a perfectly good political defense of the president—if not an especially convincing one, given his repeated prevarications and the corruption of the many people he hired. But political defense is not supposed to be the attorney general’s job. Barr’s victimhood narrative will likely go over well with Trump, but it does nothing to bolster the credibility of the Justice Department, or its conclusion that there was no obstruction.

 

Read the full article at: 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/barr-trump-real-victim/587476/

[AUDub 11,184]

2 hours ago, AuCivilEng1 said:

You surprised? Lol

If you can't trust a guy that ran cover for Iran-Contra, who can you trust?

[aubiefifty 16,906]

four hours after trump hollered out to russia during his campaign event concerning hillarys emails russians started hacking her site per what was read today straight from the mueller report.