F'dup Chapters in American History(The Trump Years) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 29

[Dr Lee]

Now the Dems need to get the full report to find out if this is an accurate representation of the report

 

[DeadPresident]

Way too many semantic loopholes jumped through in that statement.

“Russian government” is far too specific considering we know how many foreign agents and other questionable individuals have been in the periphery of Trump and his family.

Somebody just needs to get access to the full report and leak it.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

This was Barr's audition to be Attorney General (2018):

We knew that President Trump’s pick for attorney general had offered commentary that was suspiciously critical of the Justice Department’s treatment of Trump. We didn’t know nearly how far it went.

News broke Wednesday night that William Barr had written an unsolicited 20-page memo to DOJ arguing that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s obstruction of justice investigation was not just unwarranted but “grossly irresponsible,” “fatally misconceived” and carried “potentially disastrous implications.”

The former attorney general, who held that job in the George H.W. Bush administration, reportedly disclosed the memo to Trump after Trump nominated him for his old job, noting that it was likely to come up in his confirmation hearing.

The things Barr says in the memo are very much in line with other quotes that have surfaced. Barr has been a proponent of executive authority and said Trump did nothing wrong in firing FBI Director James B. Comey — perhaps the central event in the obstruction probe. He has also said there is more basis to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton on Uranium One than there was to investigate the Trump campaign for possible collusion with Russia. He told reporters the Justice Department was “abdicating its responsibility” by not pursuing the Clintons more. He criticized Mueller’s team for its political contributions to Democrats.

All of these things are in line with what Trump himself has said — and suggest Barr would perhaps take a softer line when it comes to Mueller’s probe.

But the new memo takes things to a whole new level. The quotes described above were offered to reporters who inquired about various matters. Some of them are problematic if you’re concerned about the future of Mueller’s probe, but to this point he had never explicitly suggested Mueller’s probe was illegitimate. He just minimized it relative to the Clintons and seemed to prejudge one specific event. The Comey firing, after all, is now just one of many potentially significant events in the obstruction probe.

The memo was extremely detailed and — perhaps most importantly — unsolicited. Here was a man who went to the trouble of rhetorically dismantling one entire half of Mueller’s probe, of his own volition. And the language used is not muted. “Grossly irresponsible,” “fatally misconceived,” and “potentially disastrous implications” are the words of someone who feels strongly that this is a miscarriage of justice. They are the words of a zealot who would seem to do whatever was in his power to hamstring that portion of Mueller’s probe. After all Barr, in his own estimation, would be preventing a disaster for American government. Barr isn’t just saying Trump is innocent; he’s saying the entire underpinning of the investigation is wrong and perhaps illegal.

Expect this memo to be a central focus of Barr’s confirmation hearings — including questions about potential recusal. In his memo, Barr acknowledges that he’s “in the dark about many facts” of the investigation because he is not privy to them. He may simply argue that he’ll approach the Mueller probe with an open mind once he learns those facts.

But this memo makes it abundantly clear what his preconceived notions are, and they are that at least half of Mueller’s probe is something of a cancer within American government.

 

[terry78]

whatevs

 

[Dr Lee]

from what i've seen... there's too many questions brought up by the summery.

One being the claim by Barr that there's no evidence of collusion by the trump team or people close to it.... Trump Jr and Roger Stone have both admitted to being party to collusion.

 

[MaceB]

A dark day in American history.

 

[Boy Scout]

So basically, nothing’s changed. Trump and his buddies might have colluded, but they also might not have. The results are basically inconclusive. Which...honestly kinda makes me feel like this whole thing was a waste of time, but of course I know that it wasn’t.

Like others have said, I hope the full report is made public. It’s possible that I’m biased, but I feel that there’s been way too much smoke for there to have not been a fire.

And no matter what, Trump is still a horrible person and president.

 

[BrollySupersj]

So basically, nothing’s changed. Trump and his buddies might have colluded, but they also might not have. The results are basically inconclusive. Which...honestly kinda makes me feel like this whole thing was a waste of time, but of course I know that it wasn’t.

Like others have said, I hope the full report is made public. It’s possible that I’m biased, but I feel that there’s been way too much smoke for there to have not been a fire.

And no matter what, Trump is still a horrible person and president.

Yeah this is how I'm feeling. I don't think it's completely over though.

 

[mclay18]

Yeah, watching the Trumpanistas take a victory lap over this is sickening.

 

[Boy Scout]

Yeah this is how I'm feeling. I don't think it's completely over though.

I don’t either. I don’t want to see the Democrats beat a dead horse, because it is possible, however slim, that Trump is innocent of this particular crime and is just shady and stupid. But I have a feeling there’s more to be found out, so if they can get access to the full report (or his tax returns) and investigate things further without turning the public against them come 2020, I’m all for it.

 

[Dr Lee]

 

[BrollySupersj]

Yeah, watching the Trumpanistas take a victory lap over this is sickening.

It will no doubt embolden them for a while. But there is more to do.

 

[DeadPresident]

Didn’t even take 48 hours for it to make it to a request for testimony from the AG...

That implies the report has circulated and there are democrats who know what it contains and that there are discrepancies.

 

[Boy Scout]

Spoke too soon, I guess.

What a **** show.

 

[DeadPresident]

Barr participating in an elaborate cover up?

**** I can’t wait to see this whole fiasco remade by Hollywood like 5 years from now.

 

[Schlosser85]

Any idea what discrepancies Nadler is talking about?

 

[Teelie]

So basically, nothing’s changed. Trump and his buddies might have colluded, but they also might not have. The results are basically inconclusive. Which...honestly kinda makes me feel like this whole thing was a waste of time, but of course I know that it wasn’t.

Like others have said, I hope the full report is made public. It’s possible that I’m biased, but I feel that there’s been way too much smoke for there to have not been a fire.

And no matter what, Trump is still a horrible person and president.

It wasn't a waste of time. It found clear evidence of criminal conduct among several Trump officials although we don't know what/how much Trump and his family were involved with it nor do we know if there was collusion.

Barr and the Trump administration are going to do everything possible to dodge the unanswered questions and keep shouting "no collusion" despite the report clearly not stating it.

 

[DeadPresident]

Any idea what discrepancies Nadler is talking about?

Considering the speed that this has come out with it has to be the general gist and not minute detail since there hasn’t really been sufficient time to sift through detail.

I assume there’s something to indicate there was indeed “conspiring or coordinating” with Russian agents of some kind or another, and by extension the Russian government. Barr has probably just glossed over those, or worse deliberately ignored/downplayed them.

 

[Boy Scout]

It wasn't a waste of time. It found clear evidence of criminal conduct among several Trump officials although we don't know what/how much Trump and his family were involved with it nor do we know if there was collusion.

I know it wasn’t. I acknowledged that it wasn’t.

Barr and the Trump administration are going to do everything possible to dodge the unanswered questions and keep shouting "no collusion" despite the report clearly not stating it.

Naturally. All I can hope for is that they (or at least Trump) are taken to task for their bull****.

 

[wobbly]

Curious as to why Mueller evidently didnt make a judgement call on obstruction.

But while it's anticlimactic and disappointing (to put it mildly) I can't say I'm hugely surprised Mueller couldn't find a necessary smoking gun for collusion. Thing is they didn't really need to coordinate directly with Russia. Putin wanted Trump to win, sent his mob on a mission to help, and in return Trump gives him a wide sanction light berth.

Did they need to enter a series of cloak & dagger meetings or communications to have that established as an unspoken arrangement? I guess given how friggin dumb Trump and his ilk behave so often we had reason to hope there would have been something to expose it all, but if there is Mueller couldn't find it. At least it seems not to any level that could be prosecuted at any rate.

Ah well, this end of the investigation of Trump might be done, but 'follow the money' as they say. Even the seemingly untouchable crooks can get screwed by that, and he ain't off the hook there.

 

[Legendver2]

My balls are so blue now...

On a serious note. There seems to be more than just smoke for there not to be a fire. I mean Trump is acting guilty af for a reason. Stone and Manafort being indicted is already more than smoke. This just seems kinda hard to believe. I mean it's one thing to say the media is spinning things to look like Trump colluded. But a majority of this guilty sounding soundbite stuff coming out is from Trump's own mouth. And the media did not indict Stone and Manafort.

 

[Legendver2]

Curious as to why Mueller evidently didnt make a judgement call on obstruction.

But while it's anticlimactic and disappointing (to put it mildly) I can't say I'm hugely surprised Mueller couldn't find a necessary smoking gun for collusion. Thing is they didn't really need to coordinate directly with Russia. Putin wanted Trump to win, sent his mob on a mission to help, and in return Trump gives him a wide sanction light berth.

Did they need to enter a series of cloak & dagger meetings or communications to have that established as an unspoken arrangement? I guess given how friggin dumb Trump and his ilk behave so often we had reason to hope there would have been something to expose it all, but if there is Mueller couldn't find it. At least it seems not to any level that could be prosecuted at any rate.

Ah well, this end of the investigation of Trump might be done, but 'follow the money' as they say. Even the seemingly untouchable crooks can get screwed by that, and he ain't off the hook there.

So what's all the deal with the Trump tower meetings now? Was that totally clean? This whole thing is boggling my mind.

 

[MaceB]

So what's all the deal with the Trump tower meetings now? Was that totally clean? This whole thing is boggling my mind.

My question is who changed the Republican Party platform?

 

[Manasrepublic]

The next few years just got a LOT tougher for all of us

Kick his rotund ass out to the curb in 2020. Thats the only way to make sure there is a chance of course correcting this country.

The Dems don’t know how to fight though. They’re the nerdy school kid who gets beat up on and they have no idea how to defend and attack and win

 

[Teelie]

I wasn't expecting a smoking gun in the Mueller Report. I was hoping for something more than we so far have been given but it wasn't like there was going to be blatantly damning evidence in the conclusion. Had there been irrefutable proof we would have seen it by now.