Busiest Job Ever: Fact Finding on Trump, Barr, and Congress Vis-à-Vis Mueller Report

Center of Attraction: Only “One Smiling Joker”

WASHINGTON (The AP via MSN) — President Donald Trump and his team are still twisting the findings of the special counsel's report on the Russia investigation.

At a Senate hearing Wednesday (May 1, 2019), Attorney General William Barr echoed Trump's refrain of “no collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia, “insisting that any and all allegations of collusion have been proven false.”

Well, that's not the case. 

Then Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) got it wrong when he asserted that Mueller had asked Barr to make a ruling on whether Trump obstructed justice. 

A look at the claims:

On Collusion

TRUMP TWEET: “NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION.”

AG BARR: “The evidence is now that the president was falsely accused of colluding with the Russians and accused of being treasonous. Two years of his administration have been dominated by allegations that have now been proven false.”

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): “Mr. Mueller and his team concluded there was no collusion.”

THE FACTS:  

Allegations of “collusion were not proven false” in the Mueller investigation, nor was the issue of “collusion addressed in the report.”

The Mueller report said the investigation did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, saying it had not collected sufficient evidence “to establish or sustain criminal charges.”

The report noted that some Trump campaign officials had declined to testify under the 5th Amendment or had provided false or incomplete testimony, making it difficult to get a complete picture of what happened during the 2016 campaign. 

The special counsel wrote that he “cannot rule out the possibility that unavailable information could have cast a different light on the investigation's findings.” The report also makes clear the investigation did not assess whether “collusion occurred because it is not a legal term.”

The investigation found multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, and the report said it 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.”

On Obstruction of Justice

GRAHAM: “As to obstruction of justice, Mr. Mueller left it to Mr. Barr to decide after two years, and all this time. He said, 'Mr. Barr, you decide.' Mr. Barr did.”

THE FACTS:  

Not true. Mueller did not ask Barr to rule on whether Trump's efforts to undermine the special counsel's Russia investigation had obstructed justice.

According to the report, Mueller's team declined to make a prosecutorial judgment on whether to charge partly because of a Justice Department legal opinion that said sitting presidents shouldn't be indicted.

As a result, the report factually laid out instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, specifically leaving it open for Congress to take up the matter or for prosecutors to do so once Trump leaves office.

Barr wrote in his March 24, 2019 letter that ultimately he decided as attorney general that the evidence developed by Mueller was “not sufficient” to establish, for the purposes of prosecution, that Trump committed obstruction of justice.

Barr subsequently acknowledged that he had not talked directly to Mueller about making that ruling and did not know if Mueller agreed with him.

(I insert this note: That too has been proven to be a Barr lie – NY Times update on that here).

More background on all this:  

Obstruction by Trump: “Fire Sessions” order to Don McGahn (the double-talking and lies about that effort); then asking Corey Lewandowski to deliver letter to Sessions (he did not do that, and did not tell Trump); that from Trump to McGahn was overhead by Reince Priebus and Hope Hicks.

Then a later effort and “suggestion” to “remove Mueller” to McGahn, followed by another Trump denial and with instructions to McGahn to lie about that – McGahn said he could not lie.

Parties on obstruction question:

Three other very good sources and analyses:

1. From the Washington Post (via MSN). 

2. The Entire Mueller Report Published by Just Security and specifically pages from 74 to 97.

3.  Where the public and parties stand on obstruction (Fivethirtyeight).

My 2 cents (actually more than 2 cents this time):

Trump’s efforts to obstruction were not only his concern then and now, but have been a major concern about what Mueller found, or would find, and clearly have been Trump’s efforts to prevent that. So, what has Trump been afraid of and worried about?

My hunch, monetary ties to Russia, and elsewhere and yes, exposure from the so-called “pee-pee tapes” and thus Putin’s control over him.  

That is 100% clear in my mind as I read Trump’s efforts to obstruct as outlined in Mueller and redacted out.

Now that again proves why Trump is still worried sick and trying every way possible to block former aides from testifying before Congress…

This is my further assumption and it may seem far-fetched, or perhaps not to some, but it is based a lot of years of experience:

Let’s say for the sake of argument that Putin indeed has something really bad on Trump, say on audio or video tape.

Further say its big money deals or explicitly sexual (or even something really gross). Were Putin to release it for any reason, what would follow?

Выпустите все файлы Трампа

(“Release all the Trump files”)

1. Trump is tossed from office.

2. Putin loses his tie and inside track over Trump. 

3. A Democrat takes office, one strongly anti-Putin and Russia. He or she brings the country along and in sync against Putin.

4. Putin loses his grip on any arms deals, monetary deals, lifting of any sanctions, and such.

Thus, he must keep pressure on Trump to keep him in line and in office until Putin decides to toss him overboard.

Sound plausible – sure does to me, knowing what I know about Putin and his history and Russian operatives over all.

This is the world of Vladimir Putin – he is an expert at this sort of control game, always with him in command and always on his terms not the person he has leverage over. 

All this is merely another Chapter in Putin’s playbook – a lot remains. 

Thanks for stopping by.