Tuesday, March 26, 2019
The Barr Report on the Mueller Report
Megan Willome wrote a nice little haiku about the Mueller report yesterday:
Dear Mr. Mueller,
You could've summarized the
whole in a haiku.
She's right, too. I've got some thoughts on the Mueller Report (in addition to what I have said here and here):
1) Regarding a conspiracy with Russians to influence the election, it seems clear that Mueller found insufficient evidence to recommend charges or impeachment. That's not totally surprising. From what we already knew, it seems that events like the Trump Tower meeting the Russians approached people in the Trump organization, talked about some stuff, but the Trump people never agreed to participate in the activity in any active way-- and that agreement is the essence of conspiracy. Sure, it turns out that the Russians went and did stuff to help Trump on their own, but that does not make it a conspiracy.
2) On obstruction, there is the legitimate question of "obstructing what?" I may disagree with the Barr analysis on this, but I can't say until and if we get to see the full Mueller report.
3) It also wasn't surprising that Mueller did not make a recommendation. He was in the role of investigator and the AG was the prosecutor. It is the prosecutor who decides whether to decline a case or advance it.
4) Finally, Democrats probably should be glad for this outcome. A recommendation of impeachment, followed by a House vote that might lead to a trial in the Senate that would almost certainly lead to acquittal was not going to be good for their prospects, or for the nation. These political issues need to be determined at the ballot box-- and will be!
Dear Mr. Mueller,
You could've summarized the
whole in a haiku.
She's right, too. I've got some thoughts on the Mueller Report (in addition to what I have said here and here):
1) Regarding a conspiracy with Russians to influence the election, it seems clear that Mueller found insufficient evidence to recommend charges or impeachment. That's not totally surprising. From what we already knew, it seems that events like the Trump Tower meeting the Russians approached people in the Trump organization, talked about some stuff, but the Trump people never agreed to participate in the activity in any active way-- and that agreement is the essence of conspiracy. Sure, it turns out that the Russians went and did stuff to help Trump on their own, but that does not make it a conspiracy.
2) On obstruction, there is the legitimate question of "obstructing what?" I may disagree with the Barr analysis on this, but I can't say until and if we get to see the full Mueller report.
3) It also wasn't surprising that Mueller did not make a recommendation. He was in the role of investigator and the AG was the prosecutor. It is the prosecutor who decides whether to decline a case or advance it.
4) Finally, Democrats probably should be glad for this outcome. A recommendation of impeachment, followed by a House vote that might lead to a trial in the Senate that would almost certainly lead to acquittal was not going to be good for their prospects, or for the nation. These political issues need to be determined at the ballot box-- and will be!
Comments:
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I think Barr overstepped. He substituted his political judgment for Mueller's decision to leave a question unanswered. It should have been left to a time when Trump was no longer the president and protected by a DOJ policy that says the president cannot be indicted.
# posted by 
: 7:40 AM
: 7:40 AM
WF-- It actually was Barr's role as prosecutor to make that call, not the investigator's. That's why it is so important who we choose as prosecutors!
People around Donald Trump talked to Russians, obstructed, cheated, lied and some were jailed. Donald Trump never asked anyone to do these things. He did suggest that " wouldn't it be nice if these things were done". Michael Cohen described this as his management style. What we have learned is that Donald Trump, his kids and his flunkies thought that they had colluded and so they maybe obstructed justice. Some tried to protect the President, lied and are in the clink.
I think that Donald Trump probably acted in his own best interest and not the nation's and eventually will be voted or thrown out of office. I know for sure that Donald Trump has left a wake of destroyed people, has shattered all our norms of behavior and has declared victory once again.
I think that Donald Trump probably acted in his own best interest and not the nation's and eventually will be voted or thrown out of office. I know for sure that Donald Trump has left a wake of destroyed people, has shattered all our norms of behavior and has declared victory once again.
I'm confused: you only get a special counsel where the "investigation or prosecution of. . . [a] matter by a United States Attorney's Office or litigating Division of the Department of Justice would present a conflict of interest;" and the regulations and Rosenstein's appointment of Mueller explicitly confer the authority to "prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation." In other words, wasn't Mueller both the investigator and the prosecutor? Mueller's team did prosecute Flynn, Manafort, etc. (not to mention all of the Russians). I agree that Mueller could defer prosecutorial decisions to Barr, but wasn't doing so a bit of a punt, for whatever reason, given that Mueller was entitled to prosecute if he thought there was a crime? Not saying he was wrong to do it--prosecuting the president, a legally dubious proposition itself, on an untested and hotly debated legal theory, in a political maelstrom, is substantively different from prosecuting tax fraud and process crimes--but I don't think he had to.
Anyway, I also agree that everyone--Democrats included--should be happy with this outcome. Our president, though a sleazeball of the highest (lowest?) order, is not a foreign agent. But the circus is obviously far from over. This is only intermission...
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Anyway, I also agree that everyone--Democrats included--should be happy with this outcome. Our president, though a sleazeball of the highest (lowest?) order, is not a foreign agent. But the circus is obviously far from over. This is only intermission...
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