"Mr. Trump slumped in his chair. 'Oh, my God,' he said. 'This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.'"
For me, that sums up everything we need to know. Guilty people know what they've done wrong. They become afraid when they think the jig is up. Trump's reaction is that of a guilty man, period.
However, all through Trump's presidency, he has learned that POTUSes can get away with all kinds of immoral and unethical stuff. The Founding Fathers wrote presidential limitations into the Constitution like the Supreme Court spoke about pornography: we aren't going to specifically define what presidential transgressions are because obviously people will know it when they see it, and they'll just impeach.
They didn't have a modern engineer in the bunch of authors, or they would have known Murphy's Law: what can go wrong, will go wrong. Leave a hole in a wall, some slimy, wriggling thing will find it and crawl through it; the bigger the hole, the bigger the thing. And, we got a beaut.
1
The New York Times/liberal narrative that Trump somehow obstructed justice but for his employees who saved him is nonsense. Donald Trump could have fired Robert Mueller at any time - he didn’t need Don McGahn or anyone else to do it. He could have let McGahn resign and fired Mueller. He didn’t. Another failed liberal theory.
12
@AVR
If he had, he'd have been instantly impeached - or an even wider and deeper investigation would have been started.
46
I dont care whom Trump fires. I care about his lying.
38
This isn’t a New York Times “narrative”, it is a short summary of part of the Mueller report. And that is essentially quoting Trump’s White House staff and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
94
First nine articles of this paper dedicated to disparaging the President.
NYT used to be an honorable shop, certainly no longer, it has traded solid reporting of the news to a political arm of the Democratic Party.
11
@Mike DeMaio.
The truth hurts. Trump disparges himself and the reporting of same is validated by Mueller's report over and over. It's disturbing how many Americans will continue blindly support a corrupt and proven liar that has no respect for the law he has sworn to uphold and protect.
115
@fdc, the truth may hurt, but fake news is a killer of society......
4
The nyt is not news it's ideas from the far left. I still read it because I like to hear everyone's view but I wish the times was as open to listen to others.
2
To summarize:
1. The Trump campaign didn’t collude with Russia and therefore Trump beat Crooked fair and square. Now a verifiable proven fact.
2. The “attempted obstruction” (not a legal concept) into the investigation into item 1 above, didn’t occur until May 2017 when Comey was fired, which the President has every authority to do.
Game Over!
4
Hmmm. But all those meetings, lies about meeting, jail time for his staff. That’s what? A coincidence? Unrelated? Game definitely at half time. More fun to come.
27
@Alan
Answer: Unrelated.
Next.
1
Sorry game on. The truth will set us free from Trump. He is an existential loser.
25
Findings of the Mueller Report:
1) No Collusion
2) No instances of Obstruction, but there were potential attempts at it that resulted in No Obstruction.
Spin this any way you want, many of your (D) readers will gobble it up because they are desperate to hate on Trump. But the Mueller report is a massive blow to the narrative you've been spinning the past two years and MSM will be held to account in the minds of rational readers.
33
@david
So, the President of the US attempting to obstruct justice is NBD? Just how low can you set that bar?
175
You are right but if you were rational you will add some real concerns / remarks about the current tenant of the WH!!
29
@david
Point 2 seems to be the exact opposite of what the report actually said.
The wording of the report says numerous factors - from the wildly inconsistent stories of Trump and his administration to arguments about fine points of the law - "prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred.” The report says that the investigators could not rule out obstruction.
144
And in the media, a culture of intellectual dishonesty and spin spin spin.
They swore there was a Russian conspiracy. Now it’s “look at his other stuff”!
On to the next attempt to fan outrage in order to promote their agenda and their page views and revenue
Think for yourselves, dear reeder
16
@Joe Yoh
DHS, FBI say election systems in all 50 states were targeted in 2016: Joint Intelligence Bulletin issued in March says Russian hacking efforts were wide-ranging.
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/04/dhs-fbi-say-election-systems-in-50-states-were-targeted-in-2016/
And remember Kemp, who removed over a million voters so he could "win". There's a lot of evidence everywhere that large voting majorities in many R-authority-dominated states led to minorities in state legislatures. Also, judges who put party before country.
29
Nope. I detested him long before Russia even came up.
33
Hopefully they remove this propaganda above. Russia reached 126 million people running a campaign to assist Trump. It’s documented they even setup rallies and promoted divisive race hatred and anti immigrant hatred. Trumps campaign shared their polling information with Russia and often had contact with them on multiple levels.
They didn’t find a contract with Russia but the report clearly says he should be impeached. We can also see his actions with dictators.
If you continue this propaganda who ever you are I consider you the problem. You seem quite focused on destroying this country.
If you can’t handle the report as is. Just substitute Hillary or Obama in it.
Last but not least. Read the report.
33
Noticed how many Christian evangelicals Unindicted Co-conspirator has working for him? People don't understand the relationship with truth that is taught and reinforced in the community Huckabee Sanders and Pence come from. Fundamentalist evangelicals spend their lives believing 10 contradictory things before breakfast. They're raised to be strictly utilitarian. The ends justify the means. It's not a lie if it's what they want to be true, and they're conditioned be firmly believe that there is no distinction between what they want and the actual truth.
40
Trump and some of his enablers want to claim full exoneration by the Mueller report. Not only that, they now demand apologies from Democrats and the media. It’s laughable but I guess you have to go big or go home.
I prefer they just go home. And, given the standard of government service they’re willing to accept, they also owe apologies to Bill and Hillary Clinton for relentless persecution over relative trivialities. Lying about a consensual affair is peanuts. Trump committed felony election fraud to hide affairs with a Playboy model and a porn star. And Benghazi ‘investigations’ were a total witch hunt, totally bogus from the start. Hillary’s email sever was another triviality compared to multiple senior members of Trump’s White House doing government business on private accounts, and Trump flagrantly using an unsecured phone.
Given the hypocrisy on the right, I expect we’ll have to await the full public repudiation of Trumpism before a new generation of Republicans might show some integrity. Even then I’m not hopeful, but I did have a good laugh yesterday.
51
Republicans stand beside it all, letting it all happen so long as they can make some money. Greed is hollowing this country out. Rich, white men have done and are doing more damage than any impoverished immigrant trying to find a bad job, yet the rich have managed to continue to divert attention toward demonizing the poor. Trump is nothing if not the ultimate symbol of a generation's unlimited greed and narcissism. And the GOP is right there with him.
94
@Flaco If we do not get the vast amounts of money out of American politics, and limit terms, we are done as a country. We are watching it disintegrate before our eyes. There is simply to virulent a strain of corruption at the very core of American politics, that permeates throughout the electoral system, for the center to hold for too much linger. Trump is the canary in the coal mine. And half the country is deaf.
24
Now that Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been exposed as an unrepentant malevolent; might she have the common sense to pack up her remaining in-the-heat-of-moment lies and rush back to Arkansas.
80
One of the most telling things about the Mueller Report is how clearly it vindicates the media against Trump's endlessly false charges that America's journalists (that is, all but Fox News's) are purveyors of "fakes news."
What the Mueller Report starkly reveals is that it is Trump, himself (and his lying allies), who disseminates fake news. In their reporting, journalists of The New York Times and other eminently responsible, eminently professional news sources have succeeded brilliantly and honorably in navigating Trump's fairyland -- often having to correct Trump's lies in second- and third-day leads (as well as in opinion pieces that dissect Trump's nature as a Pathological liar).
Kudus, then, for The New York Times and other honorable media.
And curses for the dishonorable president.
Of course, it would be wonderful if Trump's base would make note of the truths presented herein. But alas, Blind Followers never do.
Like their paranoid leader, Trump's die-hard followers are wholly invested in make-believe and conspiracy theories.
64
I fully understand why Trump was very concerned about the Mueller investigation. If our intelligence community's leaders appointed by Obama could fabricate a reason to spy on Trump and his campaign, leading to the investigation then what would stop them from fabricating evidence that Trump conspired with Russia?
4
Seriously?
24
@jaco
Please help me understand why the intelligence community's leaders appointed by Obama went to the trouble of fabricating a reason to spy on Trump and his campaign, but never mentioned a word in 2016 about the legally approved surveillance? At the same time this very same intelligence community was leaking like a sieve regarding Hillary's emails?
13
@jaco - The Russians meddled in our election. Trump welcomed their meddling. Trump and every one of his cronies proceeded to lie about it.
That is not acceptable behavior.
33
The longer this plays out the better for Trump.
Because at the end of the day he won - no collusion, no obstruction.
Millions was spent to find it but none was found.
So the libs can argue the degree to which Trump won this round but at the end of the day he won. That’s also why the tax returns are such a good issue. Libs can beg for it all they want (and have for years now) but at the end of the day, Trump can just reject them, and make them look weak.
31
@Jay Lincoln
“Trump can just reject them, and make them look weak”
Actually, the obstruction section describes a man whose aides frequently ignored his demands. Pretty much the definition of weak.
290
@Jay Lincoln "...if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. . The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
America lost. Period.
227
@Jay Lincoln
not quite. no 'conspiracy', i'll give you that.
but, there was obstruction. it's written in black and white in the report, if you use your elementary school reading comprehension skills. there are several accounts of attempts to obstruct, but he failed because, thankfully, there were still a few in the WH with a bit of a conscience still intact. attempting is still obstructing.
bottom line: is he wasn't president, he'd be meeting the same fate or worse as his cohorts, manafort and cohen.
there's dirty politics that most politicians fall under, then there's this administration that has made watergate look like a day at disneyland.
234
The first part of the report exonerates Trump of the main charge: collusion. The 2nd part of the report was written by Democrats to provide fodder for Congressional Democrats in their campaign to destroy Trump before the 2020 election. It was not in their job description to offer speculation on crimes that might have occurred. Either you have the evidence or you don't.
The fact is that Trump had a duty to end the investigation because it arose out of political corruption in the Department of Justice. If he had fired Mueller, he would not have been obstructing justice, he would have been IMPOSING it. It's his responsibility to ensure the DoJ is free of political taint. The investigation was a Democrat conspiracy to hamstring a Republican president in his first term in office. What Rep. Nunes is now fittingly calling "the Mueller Dossier" is nothing more than a complicit, contrived, long-term political attack on the president.
4
@Dougal E
Set aside the issue of collusion and look at the rest of what is exposed in the report: Your President is utterly venal and corrupt. Is that really who you want leading your country?
16
We all were able to see that Donald Trump was a habitual liar who lied to the American voters innumerable times before the 2016 election. Nevertheless he was elected. There was ample evidence of Trump's corrupt behavior in his business dealings before the 2016 election. Nevertheless he won the election. He may not have been caught colluding with the Russian government to affect the outcome of the 2016 election, but that was not for want of trying. The evidence presented in the unredacted portion of the Mueller report shows just how unfit for the office of POTUS Trump really is. Most of the damning information was already public knowledge. Yet, more than a third of Americans still think he is doing a good job as POTUS. Trump may be an ignorant dishonest paranoid narcissist who is unfit for any office requiring high moral standards, nevertheless this very flawed creature is considered by many to be acceptable. What does this say about American Democracy?
1287
@RLW
"What does this say about American Democracy?"
It is finished if trump is not kicked out of office.
114
Quite clearly it says that, thanks to gerrymandering and the electoral college, we don’t have one.
196
@RLW
When candidate Obama promised to withdraw all troops from Iraq and Afghanistan did he do it or did he lie?. When candidate Obama promised to end NSA spying on all citizens did he do it or did he lie?. He lied because he actually restarted both wars and new ones in Syria, Libya, Yemen using the 2001 war resolution he supposedly opposed. He lied because he actually strengthened the Patriot Act allowing for all NSA activities. This probably won't make it past the Obama fans.
5
It is reassuring to see how contrary to the president’s claims of them being the enemy of the people, the mainstream news organizations actually provided a reasonable outline of Mr. Mueller’s work - sort of like the coloring book version, with only black outlines and none of the colors filled in.
Now that many of the outline forms are filled in, I think we can all agree the overall palette is intensely unpleasant hues, no masterwork in progress here, only a President as scam artist and conniver extraordinaire.
It is staggering to see how much of this president’s time is spent imagining ways to bend the truth and his staff to his will.
However, if past history with the impeachment process is any indicator, it swallows up so much of the nation’s time and energy, literally stalling progress on every front, and I am not sure as Ms. Pelosi has aptly said Mr. Trump is worth it.
I am torn however, inasmuch as there clearly will be much time and energy spent by the president spinning alternate realities to the one presented, so either way, our government’s capabilities and focus will be sapped.
Sad? Yes, we are looking pretty sad right now.
27
@JH Donald Trump is not worth it, he is not even worth our spit but we the people of America, and America, are worth it!
9
Right. The culture of dishonesty rests squarely with Obama directing a coup against a duly elected President. Hillary paid for the fake dossier and the FBI NEVER inspected the DNC server. Give up the whining and crying.
5
Well spoken, tovarich.
10
The Dunning Kruger effect.
8
@Jon Galt
The Steele Dossier on Trump and Russia came about as a result of a conservative Republican group running a GOP website that was looking for opposition research on Clinton but also to get a jump on what negative information might be revealed about Trump.
However, several foreign intel agencies, not just the former British intel agent on Russia, Christopher Steele, had already approached U.S. intel agencies and the Obama admin with disturbing and verifiable information that Russia/Putin were working with Trump Inc. This was prior to the Steele Dossier.
The Steele Dossier came later and was not the factor in U.S. intel investigating Trump/Russia. Only months later did the Clinton campaign reach out to get the opposition research contained in the Steele Dossier that instead of connecting and damaging Clinton to nefarious actions, connected and damaged Trump to that and more.
8
The Mueller Report did find sufficient evidence to warrant indictment of President Trump for obstruction of justice. The only reason they did not do so is because, according to the Department of Justice, a sitting president cannot be put on trial and therefore President Trump would not have the opportunity to defend himself during the trial. In other words, there is enough evidence right now for a trial but the D of J will not allow that. It is therefore up to the House to impeach and the Senate to conduct the trial.
47
Now Pelosi and company want to sit down and talk to Barr about his role in this nonsensical waste of time... Folks let this resonate in your recesses as to what government spends time doing in the midst of the impending RECESSION which will be ascribed to the business cycle and not the FED, banks, treasury and last as well least to those erroneously voted in as your leaders.
Anyone thinking about dealing with any of them from a lens of elimination (let the reader so define the vernacular ) - you have my full support.
2
Can someone please explain to me how a man that lives and breaths lies, misdeeds, and dishonesty, is looked upon by the evangelicals as "the most Godly President ever to exist"(Michelle Bachman, et al), and follow him to the ends of the earth?
How do Republicans on the Hill look at themselves in the mirror, without standing up to help their country get this scourge out of office, so we can wash down the walls and floors of our Democracy, and try to limp forward?
I truly cannot wrap my head around this.
2316
@Betsy. Follow the money. If they don’t toe the line they will be primaried by someone even more right wing than they are whose election will be paid for mostly by corporate money — and they want to keep their seats.
130
We just spent a week in England and were asked this same question by some of our acquaintances there.
128
@Betsy
Limp forward? Madam, the Mueller report TESTIFIES to the fact that our democracy is in fine shape. Mr. Trump was democratically elected. He is hired help, nothing more.
11
What Trump now doesn't fear is any sort of punishment for collusion and obstruction - which he is most definitely going to escape. We have to trust Mueller. There simply was no way forward on collusion - no proof, and on obstruction - it's congress's job.
What worries him most is that now, all the illegal activities going on before he was president, and while he was president, have been exposed.
His only options then are two: To convince the U.S. justice system that it is destructive to the country to have had a criminal in office, and for the nation to save face we must forgive him everything - or two: he never leaves office.
Michael Cohen alluded to this in his public testimony, and Trump suggested this (again) at a talk last eve, as reported in these pages.
The man can't afford to leave office because he's subject to criminal prosecution.
This is what we need to worry about now: how far will he go. And what forces will he rally to his side.
Banana republic, indeed.
47
@iceowl Even more severely important, then, is what are we and those who have any power at all going to do about it!
2
@Shenonymous I read someone suggested today the "cleanest" exit for Trump is that he resign and just as Ford did for Nixon - Pence absolves him of all crimes.
But really - can we imagine that *UGE ego resigning?
Nope. He thinks he can manipulate the Constitution to allow him to be appointed (not elected) "President for Life."
Because he's not the brightest bulb in any box - we lose nothing by presuming that the road he attempts to take is possibly the least sensible.
2
What else should we have expected from Donald Trump as President? It’s exactly how he’s behaved throughout his life. Draft dodger. Serial husband. And as owner and CEO of the Trump Organization, he’s never taken responsibility for failures and dirty deals because there’s always been someone else to blame. You can’t teach this old dog any new tricks.
32
Sarah Sanders, a self-proclaimed practicing Christian on lying about FBI agents: "I'm sorry I am not a robot like the Democratic Party".
I wasn't for impeachment but maybe we need to deep clean this horrible administration.
53
People who assert that Trump has been treated unfairly since his election truly impress me, Clearly Trump speaks well and projects confidence. He evidently expresses attitudes which resonate with his audiences. He also lies, contradicts himself, repeats nonsense, insults and demeans people who have done him no wrong, acts impulsively, holds any laws which constrain him in contempt, and does not even try to be a competent President. Yet, people repeat his nonsense and assertions that all facts which contradict him are fake. They are are steadfastly loyal to Trump. Their faith that he will reciprocate despite all the evidence to the contrary is impressive.
1
This article is a disgrace. If you were persecuted from the day you announced your candidacy, knowing you did not do that to which you were accused, you would lash out also. Add to that the persecution of peripheral characters around you for short times and in innocuous positions, the anger would rage. I would be furious. It would not be normal to take it in stride. This article is just more of the anti-Trump swill the NYT reports. You get more and more dishonest and have no ethical authority for your paper anymore.
Leading a life of crime does not inspire confidence.
5
Not only should we vote against Trump but also every Republican who has helped enable his behavior.
15
The new Republican mantras:
1. "The ends justify the means."
2. "I didn't get caught (yet). Therefore, I am innocent."
3. "It's my way or the highway. Unless the Supreme Court (which I'm trying to pack with sycophants) overrules me, then I can be a dictator."
27
I wish the staffers who showed some courage in private would have done the same in public. They are abetting a (thankfully intellectually challenged and incompetent) tyrant wannabe.
11
Dear Sane Americans,
Let's think tactically.
Impeachment is not the practical answer at this point in time, and with a sufficient number of Republican Senators who have chosen to be willful apologists for the TV clown in the White House.
The right answer is utter defeat for Mr. Trump in the 2020 elections. That is the only practical remedy to this farce (and hopeful temporary blip in the American Experiment) that is both feasible and permissible under the Constitution.
Volunteer. Donate to campaigns. And VOTE!
17
"Dear Sane Americans,"
Don't insult people you don't know.
"The right answer is utter defeat for Mr. Trump in the 2020 elections."
You are going to need to be more specific than that, because only one Democrat candidate can run against Trump. According to recent reports, Biden is going to announce. Is he the savior?
2
@JSG
If you are a sane American and a Republican, you will work to primary Mr. Trump and save your party.
7
Amazing. Even when Trump did not act illegally, he always behaved as if everything he did was illegal and he was culpable. It didn't matter for what -- everything Trump ever wanted to do with power was illegal. Or treasonous, doing the United States actual diplomatic, economic or military harm. He knew that. He never acted as if anything he did was free from proper legal challenge.
This is the posture of the gangster. A scared, weak gangster who knows the law is closing in and he can't do anything about it. I am alarmed that such a person has access to nuclear weapons and commands the American armed forces. We are no more than one subpoena away from a temper tantrum that could end with thousands dead and the reputation of the United States in tatters.
The sooner Trump is removed from the levers of power, the safer we shall be. We will then have to contend with a Christianist in power, a man who would use American freedom to end it in favor of a religious state like Iran but not as liberal, but one crisis at a time.
10
The Democrats and the media have nothing. Obstructing an attempted coup by the media and the Democrats is what has been documented. The Democrats will be losing in 2020.
The “coup” is Donald Trump’s presidency, which has been illegitimate from day 1 due to his manifest unfitness for the office he assumed.
16
@Kip
It appears you agree you will be losing in 2020--so if whining makes you feel better--so be it.
And Trump is a blatantly criminal sociopath, which you choose to ignore. But thinking Americans won’t.
5
Investigate, interrogate, subpoena, begin impeachment hearings, Congress. It is time to get all of the facts. No one is above the law. So let me understand this, if I direct someone to blow up a building and they don't do it, I am not guilty of a crime?
Rub off his teflon and let the impeachment hearings begin.
8
@Patsy
Did you fail the civics class? This nonsense will go nowhere in the Senate. BTW--did you notice the market closed at 26,559. Lowest unemployment numbers in 50 years and you want the Democrats back so they can give us a recession.
Who gives us recessions? I think a Republican was in office when we had the last really big one. The Obama administration managed to clean it up and hand it to Trump who will most certainly send us back down the toilet once all the economic safeguards get stripped away and Wall Street melts down again. Oh and how’s that balanced budget going?
20
@Jonathan
Jonathan, how quick you forget.
Remember, George W. Bush, Republican, produced that killer-recession, one that brought the world economy to its knees, only to have his successor, that Democrat Barack Obama, initiate legislation that helped get our economy back on its feet. George W.'s eight year term resulted in a negative 500,000 jobs created, while Barack Obama's eight years produced 13 million jobs-and that's non governmental jobs at that.
7
If only Jimmy Breslin were alive to report this and make a novel of it. "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight," a great read, pales by comparison to Trump & Co.
4
`The dishonesty extends to his followers and even the sanitisation of the report done by some in the media. This is what the report says:
"On June 9, 2016, for example, a Russian lawyer met with senior Trump Campaign officials Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and campaign chairman Paul Manafort to deliver what the email proposing the meeting had described as "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary." The materials were offered to Trump Jr. as "part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump." The written communications setting up the meeting showed that the Campaign anticipated receiving information from Russia that could assist candidate Trump's electoral prospects, but the Russian lawyer ' s presentation did not provide such information.
Maybe because Natalia Veselnitskaya did not end up giving the info made it technically not a conspiracy. Could someone explain why the behaviour of the Americans at the meeting did not constitute "collusion?"
9
After witnessing the election process of Donald Trump and the antics rallied against his opponent, I prayed for America as a country. His flaws could be readily seen before he took office. It should be obvious to all that their is confusion and despair raging in this administration. I believe in the system as a whole but many aspects of it must change.
The will of the people did not reflect a win for him but the entity called the electoral college did. Something needs to change in that process if the will of the people voting is not reflected. There should be no reason for voters to line up and vote if a separate entity is going to make a choice for us. The tactics being used by this administration are being observed by the entire world. America has become a laughing stock on the world stage because of his ineptness of procedures, policies and governmental knowledge.
We had years of monetary woes under the Bush administration. Obama tried to a great extent to correct the financial woes of this country. His policies are partly responsible for the current economic upward swing that we are witnessing today. However, America cannot just worry about the spending of dollars and call that a successful a administration.
Our cultural climate is not being stimulated in a positive way. The adults in the country should be concerned about the future of our youths and how we are leading them in the right direction with a system that works the same way for all the people in this country.
2
Donald Trump's lawyers (the ones who worked for his criminal empire) never took notes because dishonesty & criminality were normative for him. "Real lawyers" such as the ones on his White House staff took notes. They prevented him from committing acts that would have required Mueller to indict him for obstruction. The evidence compiled by Mueller nevertheless is more than enough for impeachment.
6
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” - H. L. Mencken
---
The bigger problem is that about one third of Americans are perfectly fine with this -- and in fact celebrate it.
Wake up, my fellow citizens. We are witnessing the end of the American experiment.
15
Which part of NO in no collusion no obstruction no nothing don't the democrat Mob understand?
Malignant hatred and a shameful attempted coup to overthrow an elected president is as corrupt and as un-American as it gets.
In the quest for the truth I hope my liberal friends will join the president and the DOJ in exposing the criminals who opened this witch-hunt with false Fisa warrants and nothing more than libel and slander.
Remember NOT one of the 500 witnesses, 2800 subpoenas or thousands of bogus fake news slanders showed that Bigfoot, the tooth fairy or collusion ever existed.
1
No matter what the report said, Trump was going to declare victory. He does that when his businesses fail and when he loses lawsuits and when he gets humiliated in negotiations on the world stage and even when he cheats at golf. He loses constantly and proclaims himself the winner. So, Trump supporters’ endzone dancing, even after a report that makes clear what an unfit, moronic, incompetent buffoon Donald Trump is, is predictable, boring and pretty sad, really.
12
President Honest Don was investigated by an army of Hillary-loving Trump haters with unlimited time, unlimited personnel, unlimited budget and unlimited scope. They found zero evidence of any wrongdoing. Zero. None. Total innocence! They proved the witch-hunt was based on illegal spying and lies by the Obama regime. No Democrat could survive a similar witch-hunt
Has anyone else noticed that Trump followers would have absolutely nothing to say if he didn’t give them the little catchphrases to mindlessly regurgitate?
11
Donald Trump repeatedly lied, insulted and mocked people, women and his rivals, urged his base to commit crimes during campaign rallies. There are video records of all this in archives. Yet, people voted for him and he is the president. So, his behavior and immorality are approved by those who voted for him. He is us and reflects our values, excluding those who voted against him.
5
Even many of the people who voted for him believed they were voting for the lesser of two evils. They were not all enthusiastic.
2
the president said. “... I don’t know any Russians. There was no collusion.” This is despite of course, having how many contacts identified by the report? Most of us still haven't fallen for his con job... He has GOT to be voted out of office next year, please America, think.
6
That sounds more like a description of the Mueller team.
1
Take this as good news.
Trump is perfectly candid in just one regard: he's an instinctive, compulsive liar. He wears it on his sleeve.
From here on the electorate is split, and not Red/Blue, Republican/Democrat, Left/Right. It's between people who tolerate and support a liar and those who do not. The American character itself is divided now at the kitchen table, in the pews and confessionals, on the job, in the individual consciences. There are those who are above doing wrong and those who want to get away with it, and best of all, they all state their positions as plainly as Trump.
This presents the GOP with that choice: a party of willful mendacity or one that merits the trust of its own voters. They're choosing Trump. Meaning they're choosing no future. Every serving member, every Trump judge, anyone with an R after their name, any Republican with so much as a bumper sticker is saying loud and clear that Trump speaks for them. Its time to do for the GOP what our forebears did for the Know Nothings.
10
The best defense for Trump at this point would be to plead insanity.
7
It's impossible to understand those that support him. I can only make a minor suggestion to the NYT: Isn't it time to reture use of the respectful 'Mr.'? One has to be deserving of respect.
6
He was unjustly accused of "collusion" what ever that means and was fighting the accusations every way possible.
He was unjustly being tried in the press and responded in kind.
This is politics 24/7.
3
@Larry Stewart
For the millionth time Trump using authority as POTUS to undermine an ordered investigation is obstruction.
Trying to get a loyalty pledge out of the head of the FBI and then canning him when he wont sign on is obstruction.
And paying your mistresses hush $$$ is illegal.
The guy is a crook. That you like him is irrelevant.
20
@Larry Stewart
An innocent person does not act the way Mr. Trump did.
12
So much of this article, like most of the reporting on the Mueller report, reads as from other sources previously documenting "The Great Divider"s perfidy and lack of character. It's all been exposed in other places, so that those of us who've read it before can only hope it comes with more authority when it comes from Mueller.
Can we now put pressure on Republican enablers of this at least moral criminal, who wish to silence this report or otherwise have us ignore their reaction, to speak out forcefully against this fraud of a president? There's only so far their "see no evil" line can go, and all good citizens need to demand action. As a Democrat, I hesitate to commend a collective call for Trump's withdrawal from the 2020 race or for his impeachment, knowing that either might revitalize his base and work against our nation's best interest in getting rid of this stain, but we have to stand up for what's right.
My party's first call should be to demand integrity from Republicans, as the party a large part of the electorate defers to. If they refuse to step up, then we're within our responsibilities as the only wise and moral citizens left to call for further investigations, if not formal charges, against Trump, his family, and aides who are guilty of cooperating with this enemy of democracy and republicanism.
6
The one thing that sticks out most in this story is the Presidnet instructing Jeff Sessions to go after Hillary Clinton. I hear so many on the right talking about going after Trump's tax returns would be "weaponizing" the IRS. Fair point. Would Trump not be "weaponizing" the Department of Justice to go after his political enemies? Is this not an abuse of power? I thought Justice was blind and should be impartial, is he not attemting to use it for his own gain? One of the things that got Nixon in the most trouble was him using his power to go after his perceived enemies.
8
during the campaign, Clinton was Trump's opponent; only in the President's mind was she actually his enemy. once in office, Trump came back to the idea of siccing the Justice Department on Clinton and her emails not really because she was his current enemy or in some way effectively attacking or threatening him, but because the President wanted to use an investigation of Clinton as a distraction for his base, to evade the heat of the stories coming out about him and his own dirty dealings. Trump wanted to make Clinton his scapegoat. he did the same with Comey, Sessions, and many others. that's his MO. he used the group scapegoat approach against Mexicans, news reporters, Californians, and Muslims. he acts like a Nazi and he could well come after you, too if he feels cornered. 25 45, he is unfit for office.
7
Maturity
Honesty
Responsibility
Dignity
Integrity
Self control
Kindness
Wisdom
Honor
Compassion
Unselfish
Fair
Patriotic
The words we should be able to describe our nation's leaders with.
The words that will never be used to describe our President or the leader of the Senate.
We as a country are morally impoverished.
25
With the Mueller Report on record and with what it has disclosed, I believe it's time Democrats and Independents change their behavior.
What is coming out of this White House needs to be called out for what's it's become. No longer, maybe even ever, are we witnessing a traditional, time honored performance of duty one should expect.
Instead we are being subjected to President Trump acting like a 'Mob Boss' with the 'Mob' clearly members of Trump's administration, Trump's 'Base', and The Republican Party.
With the daily, steady drip, drip, drip of lies, spins, and exaggerations coming from this White House and particularly President Donald Trump, there has been a red line drawn and we must now honor where we stand. And it is in direct opposition to what we are being subjected to from this administration, something more like what was coming out of 1930's Europe than traditional expressions of what a democracy looks and acts like.
7
And a portrait of the Republican Party and its culture of hollowness. Never, with few exceptions, uttering a peep while all this was going on. Apparently the only concern of these silent, elected officials is getting re-elected and party unity. Can you imagine how these ''patriots" with their flag pins on would have reacted if Clinton won the election and immediately met with the Russians in The Oval Office. And amidst all the other exposed contacts with our longtime hostile adversary...nary a word was spoken. I guess they get a "patriotism pass." Looking forward to the next election of course the Republicans will be grabbing the flag as they always do. Talk about cynicism inducing!
5
The Democrats wanted to win the House so that they could oversee, counter, and repudiate President Trump. Now is the time to do so.
Subpoena Mueller, and Barr, and Rogers, and Kushner, and Trump Jr. and Hicks, and anyone else from whom both truth and lies can be gleaned. The Democrats claimed that they wanted transparency and oversight, and power. If they don't have the intellectual, emotional, and political fortitude to do what they said last fall, then they should have been more careful what they wished for.
4
I totally sympathize with the Republican Party. They are like those parents whose only beloved child (the *base*) has been kidnapped by some-ONE and his gang. Now they are paying ransom everyday in the hope of keeping the loved one alive. Their entire (moral) wealth has been ransomed so now they will just do anything for survival. Surely never file a police complaint against the kidnapper.
Seriously, which parent wouldn’t do exactly all of the above?
3
It has been quite clear for years that Trump is a chronic liar and that he has a slippery grasp of reality and anything resembling enduring truth. Now I am wondering whether his endless whining and threatening about the Mueller investigation was solely due to his narcissism or whether he was trying hard to cover actions and evidence up. Probably a little of both and a lot of smoke and mirrors. The core fact remains, this man is NOT Presidential material, indeed he is a destructive, core-less chaos storm that is doing harm to our public institutions and to liberal democracy around the world. We have serious issues that need a clear-thinking aspirational leader. Sadly we have not got that leader. Quite the opposite.
8
Just reading through the comments here and its really sad. We are absolutely a nation divided. A weakened caricature of what we once were (but also a direct mirror of what we once were as well). In two short years, we've allowed a two bit huckster to wreak havoc on the tenets of our constitution and the very foundations that made this a strong, if not corrupt, nation. It'll take a miracle to bring any sense of normalcy back to the political arena as all norms have been stretched irreparably out of shape. Fear is a powerful tool and its being used often to whip the trump base into a frenzy of support for his nauseating brand of leadership. Hate to even fathom what lies ahead but I'm pretty sure its nothing good.
8
Oh, and this just in, his loyal lackey Mick Mulvaney
just dismantle the Consumer Protection Bureau.
That's what they do when no one is looking.
So all the corporations can just continue to rob the people in plain daylight.
13
Portrait, a depiction such as a landscape of a setting already well known. No exception needed here to prove the rule that rot starts at the top.
Most disturbing, despite Fox-Russia, or more likely Russia-Fox complicity and incitement, is the lemming-like buy-in to this rot by so many fellow Americans. And in addition to the insult is the on-going injury of diversion of vast resources away from these same Americans. If they seek return of their vision of the American dream they need to get rid of the rot.
Remember all the books that came out on the inside of Trump Whitehouse, and Trump called them lies and fake, well it's looks like they were very true and I'll bet things were much worse than anyone wants to admit.
4
Now trump is braying about how the Mueller report is “fabricated” and untrue. If this is so, can we assume that the part of the report that indicated that there was no collusion with the Russians was fabricated and untrue?
5
Last time we had a liar in office, congress started the impeachment process. What a difference 20 years makes....
Oval Office? More like Trump's padded self-destruct cell. This morning's outburst proves once again he's unfit.
What did we expect would happen after America took a huge Trump.
1
Is trump the prime mover, or is he just the shiny hood ornament of populist white supremacy?
If he left tomorrow, the GOP would remain forever changed. No more dog whistles, no more Wille Horton ads. The Republican Id is unleashed. If trump were impeached his replacement would never say a single word that would irritate the most obscene white supremacists in the nation; he would support Putin against NATO and the West; he would support right-wing dictators.
2
SHS could easily slip the noose by using a semantic argument. "Countless" could mean too many to count, or zero. Since it is likely nobody actually called, what she said is actually true. One cannot supportive count phone calls to zero. Later she told Fox that it "was not untrue." That complicates things, since a statement grounded in nothing implies falsehood, although not necessarily. It could accidentally be true, like the one real barn in fake barn county. But another route is to acknowledge that a double negative merely multiples zero times zero. Which actually is the underlying truth of Sander's words in general. She ought to just preface everything she says with "anything I say might be true, and that is as good as it gets around this White House." Although that would be true, and completely out of character. Keep it up then Sarah! You never were born to not make fake fake history.
Judging by the rather high number of pro-Trump comments to this article, I wonder how many are products of the Russian troll farm?
Although I doubt that the Congressional Republicans will have the slightest interest in investigating a foreign adversary who influenced the election in order to support their party's agenda.
1
@CW
I'm pretty sure Russians are hiding under your bed.
2
From the article: "At one juncture after another, Mr. Trump made his troubles worse, giving in to anger and grievance and lashing out in ways that turned advisers into witnesses against him."
In other words Trump "acted out", true to form, like the mentally challenged emotional Toddler he has always been even before he took that now infamous escalator ride.
From the article: "Mr. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, mistakenly assumed that getting rid of Mr. Flynn would derail the investigation then being led by James B. Comey ....."
Yeah, I think I saw that movie .... it was called "Dumb and Dumber" wasn't it ? ;-D
How can ANYONE believe that it is better to allow this POTUS
to *continue to trash the U.S. Environment for his Corporate
Cronies, and to "peel back" health regulations for all human beings for two more years because (to Quote Nancy Pelosi)
this POTUS is just "not worth it" to impeach ? Wait until 2020
when we have deep water drilling off of both coasts and even *more Public Lands ripped up for Coal Mining, Fracking, and extraction of precious minerals.
Excuse me, Ms. Pelosi, but POTUS power in the hands of the Certifiably Mentally Challenged cannot BE more dangerous.
Do you think Democrats are abrogating their responsibilities NOW ? How do you recommend we "fix" things
once they are trashed BEYOND repair ?
Is saving what remains of the environment *NOT yet trashed by TrumpCo "worth it", or should we give him a couple more years ?
3
Honestly, as a lawyer, I don't know what Mueller and his team of lawyers were thinking. 18 U.S.C. § 1503 defines "obstruction of justice" to be an act that "corruptly or by threats or force, or by any threatening letter or communication, influences, obstructs, or impedes, or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede, the due administration of justice."
It doesn't matter that Trump was "unsuccessful" in trying to obstruct justice. The fact that he tried to obstruct justice is enough.
7
legally, it may be enough. but as far as I am concerned, it is too much. we have enough troubles in America and need a leader concerned with moving us forward and tackling real problems, not a weasle fixated on the troubles he has caused himself.
2
Trump is crazy like a fox; but what if that fox is crazy; and what if that fox is really a rat? Add it up and Trump is a crazy rat. 642 more days of this- it will be a success if large parts of the world are not irradiated. We have seen the meanness of Trump and glimpsed the crazy rat- god help us all.
1
The Democrats have a chance to embrace sanity and step back from unhinged, insane madness. Will they take it? I doubt it
1
There are lies and then, there are lies. The magnitude and stupidity , not to mention a pattern of real criminality is overwhelming in the current administration- starting with the Oval Office occupant.
If you asked some one to kill someone and they didn’t do it- you’re still guilty of a certain type of crime. That’s pure intent. Why is trump above the law? Lock him up. But first, get him out.
4
Dear God. By that graphic I thought all those people died. What's wrong with you?
The Mueller Report exists. It wasn't prevented ie. obstructed. It exists in nature. Because of no underlying crime, the words in it aren't as important as the fact that it exists.
It is, in itself, exoneration.
Justice was served. What was obstructed?
It over now.
Submit. We can be teammates again.
Also, you know who never says Russia hacked the election? A hacker.
4
what is that sound I hear? Oh yes, it is the sound of our Republic dying a slow death as we watch and argue about how to cure her.
3
Impeachment is lazy and does not ask American voters to do our job. The report is asking us to be stand-up guys and gals, read it and so do not leave your election duty to the comedians, SNL can only do so much. Americans must vote. And props to McGahn for not accepting a request from White House asking you to do a saturday night massacre
3
Let's see, all normal people knew that Trump was a compulsive lair (6 per day during the campaign, now at 22 lies per day). All evidence showed he was fond of stiffing contractors for no reason - just to steal their money. Lying to clients, regulatory agencies etc - all documented. We know he uses prostitutes, and enjoys cheating at golf, bragging about his sexual assaults and insulting anyone who disagrees with him. He is proven to try to get people to lie for him and cover up his crimes. His "foundation" was described by a judge as having a "shocking amount of illegality"
All this was apparent BEFORE he was in office. So, why would anyone think it would be different AFTER he took office? He is the problem and he is enabled by corrupt republicans and voters who like his lying and cheating.
If he does not get voted out in 2020, America will deserve the un-civilized criminal empire that ensues.
10
Poor Abraham Lincoln! Great as he was he could not have fathomed how his Party or his successor would be criminal or accessory to criminals. Even Nixon might be turning in his grave wishing he was born two decades earlier.
3
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
― Winston S. Churchill
11
"Culture of dishonesty"??? How about a pack of pathological liars? It would be a more honest description.
7
I guess it's safe to say that the Republican's have set a low Barr for justice that may never be seen again.
7
I hope the Federal Prosecutor's in New York are going to go after Javanka, and Uday and Qusay Trump.
8
Trump. his kids, and his cronies sound like a bunch of kids playing a game of cops and robbers, thinking that they are ever so smart and winning.
2
I think the cadre of excellent reporters and journalist for the New York Times deserve a group Pulitzer Prize for their two year reporting on the Trump Whitehouse and the Mueller investigation; for two year we heard pretty much on a daily basis call the New York Times fake news, but based on what I'm seeing in the Mueller report, the New York Times had it right and did a wonderful job of detailing the facts or this corrupt President.
11
Rambling article about a sociopath and otherwise nothing new here other than further evidence that Democrats and Liberals are obsessed with Trump.
A vengeful heart consumes itself.
It’s a sad thing to witness in fellow countrymen.
2
I know everyone who hates Trump (and I certainly can't stand him) drools over articles like this by NY Times and elsewhere, but I do wonder who has a monopoly on its converse, a 'culture of honesty.' Certainly the NY Times' coverage of Trump in the last election cycle was negatively biased (and hence had degrees of dishonesty), as it pretty much admitted after the election was a done deal, and as its coverage was and still is with Bernie Sanders in comparison to its fawning pieces on Kamala Harris this time around. So my point is that those organizations that cast stones about dishonesty and its surrounding culture should make sure that they themselves go out of their way to be paradigms of its opposite - something I have fretted this publication lacks more and more since it got rid of its public editor.
6
Shakespeare and the Greeks wrote the stories of great figures
who fall due to their flaws......
No way does trump approach greatness except for the magnitude of his flaws....and the pathetic pettiness of them....It's a forgone conclusion that he will fall.... he is the author of his future disgrace......but the tragedy has been ours to bear.
but vote....just in case.............
10
All I have to say when reading these articles about the Mueller report is GO NEW YORK TIMES and GO PRESS! This report proves you were right all along. This is what democracy looks like - A Free Press!!!!
14
Culture of Dishonesty? The media needs to look in the mirror regarding "dishonesty" and their "selective reporting". I don't recall the NYTimes reporting on the following:
"Rob Goldstone, the man who sent the email to Donald Trump Jr. that proclaimed "Russia and its government's support" for the Trump campaign, now says he had no idea what he was talking about."
"Goldstone also says he made up some of the most important details in the message."
"Goldstone now says he was actually referencing Veselnitskaya in the email. Goldstone said "crown prosecutors" in the United Kingdom, where he grew up, were akin to federal prosecutors in the U.S., so he used that term"
"he says that his reference to Russia's support of Trump was more general: "I had no idea what I was talking about."
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/25/651240209/rob-goldstone-on-his-infamous-russia-email-i-had-no-idea-what-i-was-talking-abou
How many NYTimes readers were aware of Goldstone's above testimony that destroys the Trump-Russia collusion theory?
2
This is too insubstantial a straw for even Trump to grasp, so why would NYT republish it? NPR is enough for this reed. Proves nothing except the lawyer’s faulty memory or judgement or both.
Americans had better be writing all this stuff down as the country moves toward an election year. If this vulgar and corrupt individual is elected again, America is in very serious trouble. For all your wealth and weapons, you will be a spent and impotent shell of your former greatness. Oh, you’ll have John Bolton to rough up foreigners who get out of line but nobody will be listening. Other countries will fill the void and eventually you’ll be on your own. What a shame.
6
Trump ran on not being a "politician." He destroyed Ted Cruz partly on calling him "Lying Ted", saying you can't trust him because he lies so often. The birther lie. The crime statistics of El Paso-Lies. His fathers small "million" dollar loan-Lies. The six new plants that US Steel was opening. Lies. The no contact with russia stream of lies. I have stopped all potential hotel deals in Russia. Lies. I know nothing about the porn star payoffs. Lies. The attempted Helsinki meeting lies about whether Putin was involved with hacking election. Lies. This is just off the top of my head. Their are thousands of examples of Trump lies. Thousands. And Trump defenders are using the
"well, all politician lie" defense. I thought his appeal was that he wasn't a politician.
9
There is no excuse for Congress NOT to act to get rid of Trump
Either the US Congress is ...with all that Trump represents which is one hundred percent deceit;
The choice is clear ; who in Congress is willing to stand up for
justice and who is willing to side with this amoral President.
Start asking members of Congress and let their names be
printed in this newspaper...For Trump or Against Trump...???
2
Let the first President that hasn't lied cast the first stone.
1
We can at least say that President Pathological has expanded the NYT's standards of acceptable vocabulary. We never would have read "that word" as Nixon was going down.
4
"Other advisers feared Mr. Trump was not telling the truth to the public."- Really? We're talking about Donald Trump; who has lied since his first interview hoping to get his party's nomination and who has been proved to lie consistently ever since, essentially every time he opens his mouth. Are his "advisers" such morons as Trump???
And BTW, there is the small matter of actually running the country while all this nonsense is going on!!
Vote these idiots OUT in 2020!!
8
Has anyone heard from Lindsey Graham?
7
Or Jeffy?
3
"The White House that emerges from more than 400 pages of Mr. Mueller’s report is a hotbed of conflict infused by a culture of dishonesty ..."
No doubt the president is about as dishonest as a person can be, maybe even as dishonest as Hillary Clinton. Clearly, when it comes to the question of honesty, the choice in 2016 was between Frick and Frack. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Frick%20and%20Frack
Pinocchio Don is no more dishonest than the run-of-the-mill among his staunch detractors in the Democrat Party and its media water carriers. Furthermore, the abuse of the authority of federal police-power agencies like the IRS and the FBI being used to attack one's political opponents and influence a federal presidential election, as was perpetrated by Obama-administration officials, constitutes a far more dangerous attack on the principles of human freedom than anything a foreign power like Russia could possibly do.
The 2016 choice--Trump or Hillary--is perhaps the strongest possible endorsement for the voluntaryist position that the always violent state should be abolished and replaced with--ta, ta, ta [trummpets blare]--NOTHNG! Or, rather replaced by true self-government. This latest contretemps between Pubs and Dubs over the Moeller report further strengthens the voluntaryist principle of no forcible government.
Drain the Swamp! Down with the State--deep and shallow! Let real freedom ring out across the land.
2
"Democrat Party"? Please. That's in line with the unreality of everything else you said here.
4
Anarchy has proven to be harmful to women, children, the disabled, the peaceful, minorities, and the environment. This is known.
1
"Portrait of the White House and Its Culture of Dishonesty"
Rock meet house...NYT
Nothing to see here folks, just non-prosecutable incompetence, idiocy, and lying. Move on.
1
“I’ve had a lot of great lawyers...like Roy Cohn”
That quote says all you need to know about the morals of Donald Trump.
14
.
The investigation about possible Russian collusion was an attempt to impeach President Trump. Blaming Trump for the collusion with the Russians was nonsense, as all his policies (strengthening east NATO flank, etc), and his stand against Russia prove it. The idea was ridiculous from the beginning but still so much time, effort, and money went into it. It was just a political machination with the goal to bring at least some dirt on the President, so it will stick, and diminish his chances to win 2020. It is clear that he is an outsider and the establishment used to making money on trade, wars and etc. wants him out. They are in favor of maintaining a status quo even if in a long term it harms our country and leads to its decline. From day one the President initiated a real change trying to improve our situation on international arena with a regard to trade or funding for the NATO. The truth is that many countries benefited greatly from our chaotic trade policies and they played it to their advantage. For last thirty years American jobs had migrated to somewhere else and everybody here had been lamenting about out standard of life declining. Trump is not a politician and he did many missteps during the investigation process. It is a shame that he was being constantly distracted from his important work on changing unfair trade practices, dealing with the immigration crises and more. I am aware of his weaknesses, but I am impressed by his toughness and his resilience.
Your basic premise is false, so all that follows is as well. The special counsel investigation and the preexisting one that it supplanted, due to the suspicious firing of Comey, WAS NOT about “collision” by Trump or his admin. It was about getting to the bottom of the attack upon our election process. There was plenty of probable cause and continued justification for it: it’s an existential issue for our democratic republic; it was clearly taking place— and still is; it has netted many indictments of Russian nationals; and, once it began, issues of who may have conspired with the perpetrators was REQUIRED BY LAW even if, in the end the existence of a conspiracy to help with the original crime could not be established well enough for an indictment of the president.
During any discussion of the trade war with China Trump will proudly point to all the revenue he has raid because of his tarrif program. He implies that this revenue is coming from China, Mexico, ect. Of course all the money is coming out of the pockets of American citizens. Critics will say "see how dumb Trump is he doesn't know how tariffs work". He knows exactly how it works. He just knows he can't brag about how he raised so much revenue from higher taxes on Americans so continues to try to deceive the American people that it's coming from China or Mexico. Trivial things, important things, Trump's first instinct is to lie and even after he is caught to repeat the lie, over and over.
7
One thing that hasn’t been highlighted and called out clearly in the analysis is that while there is no conspiracy between Trump campaign and Russians, collusion did happen with numerous suspicious contacts between campaign officials from sharing polling data sharing to meetings to uncover campaign dirt to coordinating with WikiLeaks. While these acts don’t meet the criminal conspiracy threshold, it is still collusion.
While the obstruction of justice angle is highlighted extensively in the analysis, an important aspect that is lost in the analysis is the Russian interference in 2016 elections. The report highlights unequivocally that Russians did interfere in 2016 elections to Trump’s advantage. Hope Mr. Trump and his cheerleaders acknowledge this once for all
9
This article is just added to the collection of books, " Fire And Fury by Micheal Wolff ", " Facts And Fears by James R. Clapper ", " Fear by Bob Woodward " to depict the dishonesty, lies and chaos of this White House.
Mr. Trump attempts obsessively to derail or stop the investigation into Russia interference in our 2016 election is much more than our eves can see. " The investigation into Trump organization and family business " is the red line that Mr. Trump mentioned/drew at one time. If the investigation continues, it is inevitable spill over to the discovery of all his financial dealings. Is this how Mr. Manafort sent to prison because of financial crimes on top of lying to federal agents ?
There are at least 16 investigations into Trump's financial dealings and Trump organization. Trump foundation was shut down because of illegal use of charity funds and Trump's family members are barred from being member of any charity organization in the State of New York.
Deusche Bank is reportedly lend Mr. Trump $ 2 billions for the past decades. It is the only bank that makes loan to Mr. Trump and the bank was fined over $500,000.00 millions by European Financial institution and US government for Russian money laundering.
It is the fear of discovery of his financial dealings with
Russia or any other entities that drives Mr. Trump to stop the investigation at all cost.
11
@SK Typo error it should be over $ 500.00 millions.
It is a disservice to all Americans to describe the WH as having a culture of dishonesty. Please name it with clarity And integrity-a culture of lies, deceit and immortality. When Trump and his minions lie to the public it cannot be excused or sanitized with pretty words and euphemisms. Please respect your readers as Trump et al clearly do not .
8
@Maureen: Agree. Culture of Disdain, Contempt, Greed, and Self-Importance.
1
From the beginning of his campaign Trump has not acted as an innocent person would.
9
After some casually indifferent (instead of "objective") study I have come to the conclusion that Trump is one of those public entities who when people say things about him are actually revealing far more about themselves.
1
My own language suffers the occasional lapse into foul and naughty words, but I never expected to read that once-ultimate bad word printed/published by the NYT. Never read it during Nixon's coming-apart finale. Another new frontier for Trump.
4
Why is that the Dems are the only ones expected to clean up this mess? The other party should be getting hammered on inaction.
A registered Republican prosecutor writes a report outlining rampant criminality by the President and President’s administration and I haven’t heard any talking head even express the slightest expectation that the Republican elected officials will do anything about it. Says a lot.
5
The already famous Mueller report shows, IMHO three different things:
1) There was not truly 'Russian' collusion. The role of Russians in U.S. (and Brexit) votes was minimal in comparison with Cambridge Analytica / Aggregate IQ. + the unprecedented abuse of millions of personal data being transferred by Facebook, a U.S. Corporation.
2) Put once more in evidence the dishonesty of Mr Trump and his irresponsibility being bypassed systematically by his own staff, something never seen before in a U.S. President.
3) Put in evidence a rather clumsy maneuver by Democrats trying to match that 'Benghazi report' causing damage to Hillary Clinton with this Mueller's enquiry trying to cause damage to Mr Trump.
2
In my view, the report was released just one day before the acknowledgement of the killing of Jesus in which he suffered greatly. It was likely an effort to portray Trump as a victim just as Jesus was. That tells me so much about Trump and Barr, a Catholic. It is the ultimate deception of America. They are leading us to the biblical nightmare.
1
"On the edge?"
Trump and his White House left the edge many months (years?) ago. Hurtling in mid-air, downward.
4
The one element of the Mueller report is crystal clear, the Russians interfered with our election tipping in favor of their candidate Donald Trump. This disclosure should render the Trump/Pence victory illegitimate and both should be removed from office. Pelosi should be elevated to President.
5
Gripped by fear and paranoia Trump was desperate to frustrate the Mueller investigation. He instructed a number of people around him to carry out his orders. But these people chose to be on the right side of history and refused to follow through. Thanks to Donald McGahn’s good sense Trump can now brag about “no obstruction.” No doubt they won't be happy if he goes scot-free.
Unfortunately Trump is not known to be grateful and appreciate decency. He might soon turn the tables no those who had shed light on the lies he told and his thuggish behaviour in the Mueller report.
2
What is clear? Our Constitution has not keep up to time. Yes, if new laws and language were quickly and efficiently put in place preventing future US President's and members of our Congress from manipulating the very laws put in place to protect its citizens, that once made the USA a beacon of light around the world to the less fortunate, we would have a chance to stay on the moral road, building a better society.
Is it the end of hope that our founding document written long ago, to counter greed, cruelty, intorrerance and corruption, that so many people suffered and died for is too far gone? Its basic decency destroyed, cleverly manipulated to even recognize its origins of justice for all? It looks pretty grim right now.
1
Congress, please remember that many professionals did their patriotic duty to start, investigate, and get Mueller's full report to your doorstep. Based on the obstruction details, despite all attempts to quash it, it's a miracle it made it to you. Some of these patriots were even in Trump's inner circle (McGahn comes to mind). Just like all the associated investigations and indictments and sentences that resulted, and those still being pursued, you are being handed the baton, with a road map written by the very capable Mr. Mueller, and with Mueller's crystal clear intent. Barr did everything to spin 180 degrees, but the real, disturbing facts are now before you (and soon the redacted version WILL be provided to you). Don't drop the baton, and don't let Trump get away, yet again, with this massive corruption! Investigate and refer for prosecution, follow ALL the leads, follow all the money. Mueller had a narrow mandate, and he is telling you this is just the beginning. Don't let down this country, or the rule of law. Our democracy depends on you.
7
This article is just added to the collection of books, " Fire And Fury by Micheal Wolff ", " Facts And Fears by James R. Clapper ", " Fear by Bob Woodward " to depict the dishonesty, lies and chaos of this White House.
Mr. Trump attempts obsessively to derail or stop the investigation into Russia interference in our 2016 election is much more than our eves can see. " The investigation into Trump organization and family business " is the red line that Mr. Trump mentioned/drew at one time. If the investigation continues, it is inevitable spill over to the discovery of all his financial dealings. Is this how Mr. Manafort sent to prison because of financial crimes on top of lying to federal agents ?
There are at least 16 investigations into Trump's financial dealings and Trump organization. Trump foundation was shut down because of illegal use of charity funds and Trump's family members are barred from being member of any charity organization in the State of New York.
Deusche Bank is reportedly lend Mr. Trump $ 2 billions for the past decades. It is the only bank that makes loan to Mr. Trump and the bank was fined over $500,000.00 millions by European Financial institution and US government for Russian money laundering.
It is the fear of discovery of his financial dealings with
Russia or any other entities that drives Mr. Trump to stop the investigation at all cost.
1
I have never felt this disgusted by any US leader in my 40 years as an American voter.
3
The most interesting aspect of the Mueller Report (and the NY Times analysis) is that it documents the president's decision-making process and the general dysfunctionality of the Trump White House.
The personnel turnover is worrisome enough, but Trump's personality, paranoia, priorities, and pet-peeves corroborate the fact that the president is totally unprepared to be president.
The only solution is to document this "living history" and that all concerned US citizens take every election very seriously.
4
The distressing reality is that many of his supporters aspire to being like him: rich and morally bankrupt. That's why this report won't change anything.
4
@Roy
That is like a White trying to assert a Black’s motivations in voting Democratic despite decades of receiving nothing in return.
The same is true of Jews.
But I don’t purport to understand another person.
It is hubris that leads you to do so.
1
Adam Schiff has clear evidence of Trump's collusion with Russia to rig the '16 election.
Why is he being ignored by the media?
3
@Tuco
Were we not discussing lies?
The pertinent questions are, America: What will be done about this? Will this just be forgotten in our world of 24hr/7day endless news cycle? The clock is ticking, as always.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
1
This article is just added to the collection of books, " Fire And Fury by Micheal Wolff ", " Facts And Fears by James R. Clapper ", " Fear by Bob Woodward " to depict the dishonesty, lies and chaos of this White House.
Mr. Trump attempts obsessively to derail or stop the investigation into Russia interference in our 2016 election is much more than our eves can see. " The investigation into Trump organization and family business " is the red line that Mr. Trump mentioned/drew at one time. If the investigation continues, it is inevitable spill over to the discovery of all his financial dealings. Is this how Mr. Manafort sent to prison because of financial crimes on top of lying to federal agents ?
There are at least 16 investigations into Trump's financial dealings and Trump organization. Trump foundation was shut down because of illegal use of charity funds and Trump's family members are barred from being member of any charity organization in the State of New York.
Deusche Bank is reportedly lend Mr. Trump $ 2 billions for the past decades. It is the only bank that makes loan to Mr. Trump and the bank was fined over $500,000.00 millions by European Financial institution and US government for Russian money laundering.
It is the fear of discovery of his financial dealings with
Russia or any other entities that drives Mr. Trump to stop the investigation at all cost.
1
My favorite part of this story is that Trump likes lawyers who take no notes. Take a few minutes to ponder that.
6
I should feel great relief that the truth is out. But I'm sick for our country.
3
What does it say about our democracy that very nearly half of the voters preferred a seriously disturbed lazy failed dishonest businessman and sexual predator over a woman who was a tireless worker who had been re elected to the senate who forgave her husbands several infidelities? Not that Hillary would have been wrong in sending Bill packing but Bill was undeniably bright and entertaining.
Hillary was Putin's nightmare while Trump is Putin's puppy who licks his masters hand and 40% of the voters are at least OK with that. Trump wants tax cuts for the wealthy paid for by supermassive black hole deficits and 40% are fine with that even though they were furiously against it yesterday.
It seems that for many of us there is a fluidity of standards sloshing around in our minds not that I would recommend that things be set in stone but rather that some of us are adrift on an ocean that has no shore.
2
Barr claims he’s right: Trump didn’t commit obstruction. Mueller claims he’s right: Only Congress can decide if Trump committed obstruction.
BARR: “The Special Counsel’s decision to describe the facts of his obstruction investigation without reaching any legal conclusions
leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.”
March 24, 2019: Barr’s letter.
MUELLER REPORT: “With respect to whether the President can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution,
we concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.
The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the President’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law.”
Apr 18, 2019: Mueller’s Report.
2
I think the one thing the Mueller report makes clear is that Donald McGahn and Jeff Sessions have scruples, or at least a healthy dose of respect for the Rule of Law and that our President does not.
4
I think it's time that John Kelly, James Mattis and H.R. McMaster who were career military commanders and worked for this liar in the Whitehouse, stand up and speak the truth about Trump's unfitness, disgraceful conduct and incompetence.
These career Military men have no allegiance or duty to protect Donald Trump, but they do have a duty to this country and the constitution; enough of the coverup or shying away from the facts, it's time come forward lay out the truth to the American people.
6
According to the report, the following people lied: Flynn, Sanders, and Trump, for starters. Then Trump urged the following people to lie: McGahn, Sessions, and Rogers, among others. Seems that the headline is accurate.
1
We have a President that is out of Control. Why does he go om for months whenever in front of a micophone and yell "No Colusion" The Democrats Can Not make there decision to start impeachment proceedings political. Nor should they worry about 2020. There are many things in the mueller report that would not have been tolerated in any other administration. reguardless what a message needs to be sent to some future administration. Otherwise we have lowered the bar and have said this is ok. Just Imagine if this report was about Obama think the Republicans would not act?
3
Trump was wrong when he said "this was the worse thing to happen to him". Wrong because the worst thing to happen to him is soon to arrive.
2
For Trump their is no truth. There are only “sides of the story”. Those sides of the story for Trump can change moment by moment based upon the circumstances, who he’s talking to, what’s convenient, what will get him out of trouble, and what sounds good now. This is not simply a matter of “putting a shine on something”, as Obama said about Trump’s lying. This is pathology. For someone like Trump, there isn’t really even an objective reality to point to. There’s simply what feels good to him and what feels bad, who is for him and who is against him. He arranges his notion of truth and fact around his perception of what intuitively seems right at the moment. For Trump, his “winning” is the Machiavellian arrangement; it justifies all the lying. What need has he shown so far for “truth”. It’s for losers. And sane people.
Anyone who reads this report as a vindication or exoneration of Trump can only do so by setting the bar of Presidential behavior so low that almost any corrupt liar in an expensive suit would pass muster. Is it really the opinion of Trump’s supporters that everything short of blatant criminality is A-OK with them? Or, does that low standard only apply to Republican elected officials? Or, worse yet, do they claim “all” politicians do these things - so we shouldn’t be surprised or upset that POTUS is a proven liar, coward and lowlife who obviously attempted to thwart the Mueller investigation even if criminal obstruction remained difficult to establish? I was proud of how Obama represented this country regardless of the fact I disagreed with some of his policies. He was and is an honorable man. Trump never was and never will be honorable. The fact he has (temporarily, in my opinion) escaped justice is in no way proof that his an an innocent victim of an unfair witch hunt. It is merely a testament to his amazing luck and the refusal of key aides’ refusal to do his corrupt bidding. One suspects ( and hopes ), as slippery as Don is, his luck is going to run out eventually and his long career of business and now political chicanery is going to end unpleasantly. I’m appalled by this President and the people who support him. The Mueller report may not prove Trump is a criminal, but it certainly proves he is a complete sleaze —- something most of us understood before his election.
3
So we started an investigation into the President to determine if he committed a crime for which DOJ policy stipulates he can't be indicted... because he's the President.
Got it.
MC Escher painted things that were more rational.
3
"Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then the president’s deputy press secretary, told reporters that the White House had talked to “countless members of the F.B.I.” who supported the decision to fire the director — but she later admitted to investigators that it was not true. Her comment, she said, was “a slip of the tongue” made “in the heat of the moment” and not founded on anything."
Sarah Sanders lies about lying. The entire administration is corrupt, unethical and immoral. The fish rots from the head down. They don't deserve to be in charge of the government.
4
The title of this article could also be used to describe the entire Republican Party.
3
Dear Readers, Judging from many of the comments to this article that have come before this, I fear that many of you have failed to recognize that it was not the GOP that wanted Trump in the Oval Office; it was Russia. The GOP is as stuck with Trump as the rest of us are. I believe most of the GOP elected officials are not true believers, but most of them would understandably be reluctant to speak out against Trump because of the ill treatment that we are well familiar with by now.
7
@Eleanor Harris
Dear Eleanor,
Thank you ever so much for clearing this up for us all.
@Eleanor Harris: The GOP has enabled Trump every step of the way. The are complicit. They are responsible. There are no excuses.
3
@Eleanor Harris
Point taken. But I'm curious: will you vote for him again in 2020?
1
I not sure that there is a case that Ms. Sanders was lying when she spoke of countless FBI employees. Countless can mean: 1.So many that it is impossible to count them; 2. None, so that they cannot be counted; 3. The person making the statement cannot count.
6
Which of the two options you express do you think she led the US public to believe as she was undermining the US citizens’ faith in the FBI?
1
"Although the resulting two-year investigation ended without charges against Mr. Trump....."
Reporting it like this gives the impression that Mueller could have sought an indictment, yet OLC guidelines prohibit it. The two-year investigation did exactly what it was supposed to do - gather a mountain of information for Congress, which now must take the next step through the impeachment process.
7
I am now convinced (at risk of either stating the obvious or worse) that ultimately character is what it comes down to in terms of whether or not one sees the Trump lies and GOP sycophantics for what they are. Either someone is an intellectually honest person (meaning basically good) or not.
No one with a gram of intellectual honesty could possibly see the Mueller report as exoneration of this "president".
Questionable characters at best - ALL of them.
8
Thanks to Mueller's Report, Trump, and Barr for exposing the flaws in our system of government. It is no wonder that the US is considered as a 'flawed democracy' and ranked 25th in the World Democracy Index.
The flaws in our system have given our president and the attorney general, our chief law enforcement officer, enormous powers to rule like leaders in a dictatorship. As a result, President Trump has been ruling the country like a 'mob boss', and AG Barr has been acting like a 'mob enforcer'.
Therefore, in order to prevent further abuse of power by the president and the attorney general, the Congress must act quickly and pass laws limiting certain powers of the president and the attorney general.
5
This was a excellent article, informative, and good read from two respected journalists.
I always believed that the most important factor of the Mueller Report was to document the erratic behavior our current president. He needs to be held accountable that he has established a culture of deceit throughout his administration. He lives in his own alternative reality and whenever challenge, he resorts to distortion. There’s a phrase for it: “outright lying”.
7
I like the way Trump and his team act with such dignity, honor, respect—traditional Republican values. Any Regan-era Republican can see that bravery and shining example of American values reflected in this administration that their children can strive towards.
2
Whether you’re dem or rep, independent, green, or non-affiliated, the Mueller report is a win. Regardless of how its spun, the report, through meticulous sourcing, provides everyone a foundation of truth from which to move forward. Its nice to have facts back and to have them matter. Many thanks for the diligent work. It couldn’t have come at a better time.
23
Salute to Muller, Rosenstein and Barr. [and the team]
History will be kind to all of them.
Especially to Mr. Barr who had to act to protect this country.
Any other way, the release would have not been this peaceful.
4
@Midnight CBD - What a complete Joke - "especially Mr Barr" - he outright lied about Mueller's report an hour before it was released, claiming DOJ policy about Presidential indictment wasn't a consideration in the Special Counsel's decision making. And, in a completely out-of-line, absurd announcement tried to exonerate Trump (using Trump's own non-legalize "collusion" phrase) and paint him as a victim! I've never seen anything like that during a DOJ announcement - totally destroyed the credibility and independence of the DOJ in a matter of 15 minutes.
4
@Midnight CBD - Are you trying to be funny?
4
Huh?
1
Really if a honest man has nothing to hide, then there's very little reason to use extreme methods to stop the investigation. Most likely there are things he desperately wants to keep secret.
46
@Francesco
Oy vay!
1
The President was elected by people who reflect what they consider their highest values. They admire who Trump is, and his values are their values. And regardless of what he does, in their eyes it is not only Right, it is desirable in American Society, now and in the future.
11
What are those values exactly?
2
Sad. Very, very sad.
@The Pattern
Why, as the headlines said, dishonesty, corruption, persecuting the poor, oppression of minorities. of course!
Really, this guy is such a nightmare. What’s happened to our nation?
38
Trump’s brand of iron-fisted, top-down management style went out with car fins and transistor radios. Add corrupt intent to Trump’s barked orders and nepotism to fill top jobs and you’ve got an atmosphere that is toxic for its employees and, of course, for the nation as a whole. With everyone gone who had the courage to say no to this bully, we’re living on borrowed time now until something very scary happens that requires judgement and expertise to deal with it. Who amongst Trump’s team of handmaidens would possess those qualities, including Trump himself?
26
@Cmary
Back in those days we had Eisenhower and 91% top tax rates. We also had a large population earning living wages and getting good benefits up until Reagan et al. started deconstructing value based on workers and customers in favor of shareholders and the wealthy and powerful. Don't knock it! He did some bad stuff (killing those starving strikers) but he was a paragon of virtue compared to this bunch.
4
I like car fins and transistor radios! They should not be mentioned in the same breath as this president.
4
I have been spending a little time re-reading pieces published here the past year on collusion. While I do not defend the WH culture of dishonesty, I would remind the Times about people in glass houses throwing stones. You need to fix your culture, fast. A free press must be a credible press to fulfill its Constitutionally protected function.
10
Anyone who, like me, ran the legal department of a public corporation would not be surprised by stories like this. I can tell many worse than these. It's hard to get things done. You have to run over people and focus fixedly on your goals. Otherwise, you're toast.
Steve Jobs understood this. He said "I’m disappointed in Obama. He’s having trouble leading because he’s reluctant to offend people or [tick] them off." Steve Jobs added "Yes, that’s not a problem I ever had."
Neither has Donald Trump. He knew that James Comey and Robert Mueller would end his presidency if he didn't do something. So he fought them hard, all the while offending people and [ticking] them off. And he won.
Donald Trump has accomplished more in the first two years of his presidency than any other president I've seen. Certainly more than Barack Obama. And that's no accident. It's hard to get things done. Donald Trump knows how. Barack Obama didn't.
12
@John Smithson
BUT you forgot, conveniently, to mention but ONE of his "more than any other president" accomplishments.
2
Another Steve Jobs quote about Barack Obama: "The president is very smart, but he kept explaining to us reasons why things can't get done. It infuriates me."
2
@John Smithson Yeah yet got things done allright. Paying off his porn stars, putting his kid and son in law in positions. Calling people names who did nothng to them.. Feuding with dead people. This is your list of stellar accomplishments? Poor thing.
Barack didn't end his presidency under a cloud of suspicion and lawyers waiting to pounce.
3
Mr Weld- the conservative competitor is able to run as Trump being his major issue. The only good thing about Donald is that liberals will be much more tolerant of conservative leaders for ever and ever amen. Ah for the days of Mitt and his binders to show how greatly in touch with women he was. Ah for the days of Ronald and not Donald. What is the odd Contra scandal between friends? Mormons? Gotta love them. Salt Lake City- going there on my next vacation. You could even look on the good side of Nixon; after all he was born a peace loving Quaker (so was I actually) What went wrong there for Tricky Richard?
Anything would be better than stable geniuses. I can never look another stable person in the face again. Geniuses? Now I can't even bear to even look at a photo of Einstein. Thanks Donald. I almost get an attack of the jitters when I see a furniture shop these days. Back to Mr Weld- he has been saying that Trump is always angry. A perpetually angry liar combined with incredibly intelligent stability... what could go wrong? How about everything?
6
@Bob Guthrie
William Weld is thoroughly-pickled (way too much wild turkey) , dismissive WASP who believes he's what matters and everyone else is nothing. Harvard, Harvard Law, Governor of Massachsuetts who then jumped ship because he thought he was going to become ambassador to Mexico, but was thwarted by Jessy Helms who shelved his job interview (sounds familiar, doesn't it? The sclerotic, jawless McConnell didn't start the denying hearings stuff). Weld is going nowhere fast.
1
@Bob Guthrie
Any other faith groups you will be throwing under the bus tomorrow?
1
@Stuart
None. I didn't throw any under the bus today. I was brought up Quaker. I like us. We tend to be progressive and helped the slaves. I said I like Mormons. They have principles unlike Trump. Muslims are a faith based group.
The one faith based group I do object to is Trumpism. The problem is usually not the faith. It is people claiming to be in a faith and not following it. For example Jesus said "turn the other cheek". I believe Him. Trump says "I'd like to punch him in the face". I respect Mormons partly because they mostly dislike Trump who is obviously a Godless adulterer who bears false witness against his neighbour (e.g. Birthirism). No I do respect faith. I don't respect cults like Trumpism. Sincere apologies if I offended you but look again and see that I showed no disrespect to faith. I am a Christian myself.
1
I'll bet U.S. $1.00 that the president, in anticipation of the leak of the his Moscow tape, is studying Robert Kraft's spin on the leak of his spa video.
A hat tip to the New York Times for its coverage of the corrupt U.S. president.
12
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Russian and Republican hackers and liars and voter suppression is stealing every election that can be stolen, while R's stuff the courts with so-called conservatives. Real conservatives conserve, but this bunch just wants to "win" for their greedy financiers and selves. Cheating and lying is not a problem for them. They got fetuses, and forget about the babies and their families once they're out of the womb. They've got MBS and Putin, forget freedom of the press. They've got hatred and victim blaming, forget "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for those "others". They've got lots and lots and lots of guns to threaten us with too.
13
I forgot to include this staggering gobsmacking link! "DHS, FBI say election systems in all 50 states were targeted in 2016" https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/04/dhs-fbi-say-election-systems-in-50-states-were-targeted-in-2016/
The corruption of local authorities (Georgia and Florida Secretaries of State eliminating voters and refusing registrations by the hundreds of thousands, poor siting of polling places, few hours to register, criminalizing voter assistance, etc.) is proven, while the actual hacking by Republicans, despite copious information, has no precise "smoking gun". Just like Trump's lies and malign actions don't add up to a legally waterproof case. We can see the lies and the cheating, however, and it's hard to know that we cannot stop it.
Power corrupts: absolute power corrupts absolutely.
2
There was never any sense to the collusion charge, even with all the back door russion contacts, It seems that was just all money making deals. Trump and his clown patrol simply don't have the brain power to actually collude or coordinte with anyone, as evidenced by their complete ineptude in even running the government. After two year in office they are barely functional, so how would they have set up collusion with Putin?
But obviously Trump was doing everything he could to obstruct the investigation because such things can go all over the place and Trump knows he has a lot of illegal activity out their for the finding. He and his cronies are utterly corrupt, inept and simply unfit to lead anything, let alone our country. At this point anyone voting for trump will be voting for the failure of the USA.
11
I've seen more self-confidence and restraint in 20-year-olds who have worked for me than I see in this "president." Trump is a whining whimpering brat surrounded by enablers, many of whom, it appears, have little more courage than he has. A mail room clerk of 18 would be more suited to be president than Trump is.
26
Bottom line: Trump is the rotten egg we knew he was.
27
Sometimes clients go to prison and their lawyers don’t
Only rarely do lawyers go to prison and their clients don’t
10
They won’t indict a sitting president. This gives him motivation to coup the government or else face the fire when he leaves.
The media did a terrible job explaining what these Barr/Mueller documents are and are not, their limitations vs. their possibilities, their overall meaning, and how they show Russia is far from a "hoax." See my take here: https://realcontextnews.com/barr-summary-and-mueller-report-do-not-mean-trump-russia-is-a-hoax-far-from-it/
1
And his supporters hate Democrat’s enough to put up with this?
Sickening.
18
What is the best thing anyone can say about the Trump Presidency:
Donald Trump - Liar
Mike Pence - Liar
Mick Mulvaney - Liar
Sarah Huckabee Sanders - Liar
Stephen Miller - Liar
Kellyanne Conway - Liar
Ivanka Trump - Liar
Jared Kushner - Liar
I guess there isn't much good to say about this cesspool of Grifters and you can add the rest of the cabinet members to the list.
22
You are only telling us something that we know already
2
A lying criminal, leading a party of lying criminal, surrounded by lying criminals.
Washington would be so proud...
The only thing that saved him from worse crimes is the fact that his staff feel free to simply ignore his illegal orders and do as they please...
Lincoln would smile...
A lying weak feckless crook endangering the rule of law, national security and our Constitutional Republic.
Time to impeach
9
It's all very mafia.
7
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
36
Why bother to comment, it doesn't change anything. But I do it anyway ...
It's clear there are NO standards that apply to that man. No standards for honesty, decency, competence or respect for anyone or anything other than money, sex and himself. Perhaps the truest thing he's said in his whole miserable existence was that he could shoot somebody and it wouldn't matter a bit to this "base" (perfect word).
He speaks their language of fear, greed, religious intolerance and bigotry and they love him for it. Hard to see how this will work out for Republicans in the long run, though. Every time they turn a blind eye to it or double down on it, I admit - I cheer a little with hope that he takes them all down with him.
50
@DesertFlowerLV
There are certainly standards, but not by those who have any say in the matter, the voters who support the GOP and the Congressmen they elect.
The liberals might do something if they ever get their act together, which, as it has been previously observed, is like herding cats.
Honest peers disagree. That’s a good thing.
Well said 😊
1
I long for the time when we won’t have Trump to kick around anymore.
26
@Robin it's like shooting fish in a barrel.....
This whole Trump presidency is nothing but a lie. How can anyone in the WH believe anything anyone says? Trump is liar in chief but they all apparently lie day in and day out. Don't you wonder if Trump questions whether he's being told the truth by his henchmen and women? And as for Ms. Sanders, doesn't she know that one of the ten commandments is "Thou shalt not lie".
If she did have any credibility at all, it has been thrown aside. Reporters really should stop kowtowing to her.
26
Ahhh , which lies more , the media or the President ?
Close call
@GetReal18
Yes, but it is the lie with the most electoral votes.
@Joe Yoh,
The only media that lies id Faux News so don’t lump all media together
1
Trumps core value is vindictive retribution, so we can expect the white house to be emptied of all those who refused to lie for him or take a fall for him. And that is pretty much everyone there.
16
The United States of America has always been a lighthouse and guide for democracy for all the countries in the Western Hemisphere, if not the whole world. All our countries have chosen and voted to run its nations according to the laws, obligations and limitations of the American Constitution. This has been independently of diverging opinions about armed conflicts, race and other types of discriminations of the past in which the USA was involved. Two examples proved the real value and behavior of American institutions when an American President was impeached for having lied and denied about sexual relations with a young Government employee that affected the behavior that his position required . Another example was a President who denied having illegally spied secrets of a political nature before elections took place. He simply resigned before being tried in a Court to be found guilty.
A very serious problem arises of what is going to happen in the remaining time of Mr. Trump term- What conflicts he is going to hide or lie about. Or start without justification. And also what unexpected military actions will be decided. But most serious of all is what of his doubtful principles of all natures he will apply to the solution that can affect millions of persons, not only Americans, but entire nations and
universal human rights. Natural resources are in a very, very serious perspective considering the negligence with which they are being treated in the American territory.
5
The Nixon investigation and his resignation, and the Clinton investigation, indictment/impeachment by the House of Representatives, and refusal of the Senate to convict Clinton, took a great deal of time and energy. It can be difficult to imagine/remember how tenuous the situations felt at the time. History may show that in the end there was justice in the United States of America for the current president.
At the same time divided Congress is struggling to legislate. We have some strong State governments working on issues like the environment. We also will have an election for president, the full House of Representatives, and one third of the Senate in 2020.
Tyranny sometimes comes from being in too much of a hurry to let democratic processes work their way to a conclusion. Let those who hope for democracy see whether we in the USA can see this to its conclusion.
1
Nothing will ever convince the 41% of this country that will follow Trump off a cliff. Democrats, you need to beat him by running a solid campaign with a clear message and not eating each other alive.
25
There seems to be a new narrative out suggesting the Mueller Report absolved Trump of crimes. That Trump and his campaign were only guilty of abject stupidity on Russian interference and his White House team saved him from committing obstruction. But that isn’t the case.
The Mueller Report DID NOT absolve Trump of crimes, specifically obstruction. You only need intent to obstruct, and the report shows that in spades. The report simply reiterated the DOJ policy stating that a sitting president cannot be indicted, thus giving the ball to Congress. Because although he cannot be indicted, he can, and should be, impeached.
24
@Karen Too bad Robert Mueller didn't follow the equally important Department of Justice policy that if you don't indict someone, you don't lay out the case you have against them. He's just as bad as James Comey. A disgrace.
And don't get your hopes up about the House impeaching Donald Trump. They are never going to do it. Instead, they will investigate him over and over and over again. That's the weasel way, and Jerold Nadler and Adam Schiff are nothing but weasels.
1
"Why do you take notes." are what I will likely to remember from the Barr-redacted Mueller report years from April 18, 2019.
11
As long as Kentucky , Wyoming, north Dakota, Mississippi, etc. send 2 senators each to the senate, the same number as California and New York, which are 10-60x as populous, American democracy will be broken . It is effectively a plutocracy since 1%'ers have long recognised this loophole. Could not impeach a monkey as long as it is supported by republicans in the senate.
26
The balance of power as shared by Senators and Representatives is exactly what was intended from day one. This is Not a "loophole", this is done by design by the founding fathers..... It's called American History.
1
Can you guys at leats pretend to be objctive in your titles?
3
@Ricardo Terry - Trump lies approximately a dozen times EVERY SINGLE DAY. He hires people who lie and he continually asks people to lie for him. What other way is there to describe it?
2
America its time to take your keys away.
7
OK. IF you were not yet convinced, you are now sure that the US President and his entourage are crooks, criminals and liars. But he is protected by the political criminals of the Grand Old Immoral Mob Party. So good Americans: unite and watch out: your Supreme Court is already flipped too.
11
One of many take-aways from the Mueller Report (as opposed to the Barr Report which had very little to do with the Mueller Report) is how correct the real news media was.
Some Trump people say “There is nothing new here.” Yes, and that’s because the Times, Washington Post, Atlantic, New Yorker etc. got these things out. Thank-you to the reporters and publications - you are the heroes of this time!
22
@Maxie
The Mueller report confirms that when Trump calls something "fake news", he's the one who's lying.
1
That we are now in such an unfortunate political state can be attributed to errant ways that even predate the birth of our nation. The Sun has come up to reveal a culture of dishonesty run ramped almost anywhere you wish to look. We are not in Kansas anymore, and will not be waiting untill the next election to begin restoring our politics again, and not just Trump's transitional presidency either.
4
Most of what this story reports from the Mueller Report just confirms the news stories and leaks that have come out of this White House for the last two years. Because of this, it is no big surprise.
Interesting portions of this report include Sarah Huckabee Sanders admission of not telling the truth about talking to FBI agents’ regard of Comey. Her countless “slips of the tongue” during her tenure as Press Secretary have always been questionable, her testimony under oath just proves how adept she is at lying and exaggeration in her position as the president’s spokeswoman in public.
The redeemable qualities of Sessions, Christie and McGahn were that none of them were willing to explicitly break the law or publicly lie for Trump, despite his expectations and demands. They stood their ground. I didn’t admire Session’s conservative political positions, but I do admire his tenacity to independence from Trump as head of the DOJ.
The contrast is William Barr as AG. When you look at the report and compare the unwillingness of McGahn, Sessions and Comey to parrot Trump’s public promotion of himself to the statement made by Barr at his press conference yesterday, it is quite clear that Barr is towing the line for Trump and his reelection. It sounded like Trump told the exact words to say. He is not representing the constitution nor people of the United States.
At this point the report makes it clear, the grownups in the room are gone.
Vote in 2020.
11
I didn't see anywhere in this article or in my skimming of the Mueller report that describes how the Trump campaign reported the Russian communications to the FBI.
Deviant behavior becomes normal when repeated.
My take: Trump and his associates were so used to dealing with Russians and catering to them, they didn't see anything wrong or untoward about taking their help to win an election to the POTUS.
They are the definition of deviant.
8
It was shocking that Trump was elected. The idea that nearly the half the country could overlook the problems of such a deeply flawed man and think he was fit to lead the United States seems almost impossible to believe. But even more shocking is that an entire political party has defended and enabled this man to inflict unending damage on this country and its allies around the world. When Trump is long gone, the stain of this period will forever remain as part of the party’s legacy. It is shame from which it will never escape.
16
Trump is absolutely deeply flawed as you state, but the alternative, Hillary Clinton, made Trump look like a Saint. You need a reference point......
1
It appears that Mr. Trump attempts to break the law on almost a daily basis and Republicans are willing to sit by and let this happen. Sadly, our constitution didn't predict such a corrupt leader and such an enabling Senate. We're stuck with this nightmare until 2020 and our democracy will suffer for it.
6
Despite all we know from this report, Trump will get re elected. What does that say about us as a country?
6
@Sadie: And those who vote for him will continue to give Trump the gold, while they get the shaft.
Unfortunately, the rest of us will continue to suffer.
5
@Sadie He won't be reelected if Americans get out and vote in 2020. And remember, despite the help of Russia, and GOP-orchestrated voter suppression schemes, Trump still lost the popular vote by over 3 million. We can thank the Electoral College for Trump's "win." But, your point still stands - it's pretty appalling to think that millions of Americans believed and still believe that a man like Donald Trump is fit to hold the highest office in the land. This DOES say a lot about our country, and none of it is good.
4
As many of the comments in the thread make vividly plain, nothing in the Mueller report will change the minds of Trump supporters. They still devoutly believe that their man is (1) a great president: (2) a true patriot; (3) a genuine Christian; (4) innocent of any & all wrongdoing; and (5) a victim of the "deep state."
Here's a simple--but arduous--solution: Purge Trump supporters from your life. Don't hire them for your business; don't treat them in your medical practice; don't co-sign their loans; don't let your children play with their children; if their house catches fire, or their car turns over, call 911, and walk away. Find every single opportunity to shun them. At first, it will be hard. Trust me: it will get easier; and easier; and easier. Live and let live. From a distance. As great a distance as possible.
16
@camorrista
Wow pretty mean! What happens if they do it to you? What happens if there are more of them than you? What if the majority comes after you? I don’t think I want to live in your idea of a country. What makes you think it will get easier, and finally I do not think you know what live and let live really means. Good luck with your solution.
3
@camorrista
I've been doing this, and this is why I don't go back to visit my relatives in Wyoming and South Dakota anymore.
I won't go, I won't spend money there, and I won't invite them here.
We all need to vote and bring a friend to vote too. We have to outnumber them.
1
@camorrista - It wasn't hard at all.
1
Am I the only one that believes that Trump ordered Barr to hold a press conference before delivering the report, and that he told him what to say?
23
No, @S, you are not the only one to believe that. This article makes it crystal clear that is exactly what happened.
9
@S - I also believe this. It's a text book Trump move. Say what you like about Trump, he does have a gift for managing the media. It's the only thing he's actually good at. He's a lousy businessman and is so bad at golf that he has to cheat. But, boy, can he steal the spotlight.
3
@S
It says right in the article that he tried to direct Sessions to say "He didn’t do anything wrong except he ran the greatest campaign in American history.”
When Sessions refused to follow his instructions, he got rid of him and found somenone who would.
I am sick of this entire mess. I, like I guess, many others want this Trump mess to be over. At some point it will be. Remember when all that the press could deride was President Obama’s tan suit?
13
The NYT et al have been lying to us for two years, but somehow the headline is critical of their victim?
That Trump went bonkers while being wrongly accused is perfectly normal. It would appear that quality people around him stopped him from acting on his well justified anger denying his persecutors an excuse to hang him.
This paper along with others participated in a Mcartheyesque national fever. It published falsehoods. This paper should apologize to its readers, not lecture them.
11
The fact that he needs people around him to stop him from breaking the law is disturbing.
21
@SG - You and every other Trump voter should apologize to the entire country.
14
Mueller's exhaustive report, with collaborative evidence, shows everything the NYT, WP, BuzzFeed, et al reported the past 2 years was true. Trump's tantrums are because he is afraid of getting caught, not because he's been wrongly accused. My guess is the money trail will coalesce nicely with evidence provided thus far.
6
The liars club, and we expect our children to grow up and be honest and decent.
13
Trump and his ilk are odious people. If this report was regarding any of us we'd be hauled in front of a Federal judge.
Barr is, sadly and amazingly, a hypocrite of the highest order. Too bad he remembers nothing that a first year lawyer would know about professional ethics and personal morality.
This is truly nauseating and apoplexy inducing material.
18
It's only a matter of time.
Not "if" . . . but "when & how".
And how large a price we Americans will pay for allowing and/or enabling a deeply flawed man to be president.
13
We are not a world class country.
How could a world class country elect, support or be
run by the insanity that surroundings this president,
or how be dumb enough to elect such in the first place?
We are running very low on the ether of a few people who
refuse to have the guts to refuse his worst demands.
But that cannot last long.
And God help us looks like we could elect him again.
Knowing all we know' and should've known instinctively if
we had the genes a first world country has.
Sad. Worst than his insanity, his morals and lack of even
the lowest honesty quotient.
16
March 24, 2019: Peter Baker, "A Cloud Over Trump's Presidency is Lifted." As usual, your forecast was wrong.
3
This is depressing. I hoped all Americans were concerned enough to take the time to read the report or synopses of the report. But that doesn’t appear this will be the case. So the facts will be filtered through angry lies and tweets, obfuscation, RW straw man logic and conspiracy theories ramped up with hysteric paranoia.
Yet we all know he’s no fool - he knows exactly what he’s done. He will attempt and very likely succeed in rewriting facts. And the American people who wish for the 1950s to return will continue with this maniac leading them down their own special primrose path.
16
Im not really sure at this point if Trump even knows thruth from fiction. He's the living embodiment of decades of right wing propaganda whose goal has been to delegitimize objective truth itself.
11
Good at least some of the administration officials showed good judgement, did the right thing and didn't succumb to the pressures of the individual#1 - in turn protecting him! In the hindsight he(#1) should still thank them now Vs being thankful then had they obliged and gotten him and them in trouble now!
3
In case his supporters have not figured it out yet, or are too busy browning their noses, this just adds to what normal people already know: Trump is the most corrupt "president" in American history. If he is not voted out America will deserve the disastrous, un-civilized ultra-right-wing society that follows.
17
Someone pointed out yesterday, if we weren't already familiar with Donald Trump, the Mueller Report report would be one of the most damning documents in U.S. history. But since this criminally corrupt charlatan has been in the public arena for years, the only real question left is not IF he's going to prison, but WHEN?
16
That’s not the problem. The problem are his cult like followers, right wing propaganda and republican congressional traitors.
1
I never thought I would see a corrupt government like this in the USA. This stuff happens in “Banana” countries and it’s disturbing to see how many people are so blind.
17
@WT, it has always been like this. Assassination of President Kennedy and the lies and obfuscation from CIA and FBI to Warren Commission. Same thing when Congress tried to investigate under the House Select Committee on Assassinations. LBJ and the Gulf of Tonkin lies. Nixon and Watergate. Reagan, Bush, Sr and Iran-Contra. Clinton and the illegal money from China, via John Huang, as alleged quid pro quo for killing Barbara Jordan's immigration reform and for laying groundwork to admit China into WTO. Bush, Jr. and the WMD lies. Obama continuing Iraq and Afghanistan his entire 8 years, ending his presidency with shameful distinction of longest wartime president in US history (not to mention expanding neo-con, intervention-first regime change nonsense to Libya, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine, Honduras, etc) It is like Billy Joel's song, "We Didn't Start the Fire." Trump did not start the fire, even if he continues to fan its flames.
1
Thx to Mueller, trump is officially a documented liar.
Seeing trump’s lies documented firsthand in an official DOJ investigation report is chilling.
Sitting president who lies indiscriminately, about anything/everything, has to be most dangerous American alive to our national security. Trump has lost all credibility.
Instead of “making America great”, trump has increased our vulnerability.
Unwinnable trade wars
Alienating allies, trashing treaties
Aligning with our worst enemies’ leaders
Denial of climate change
Civil division
More pollution
Pres staff of yes men
If/when we are hit with a real crisis (God forbid), we’re stuck with a pres who ignores advice from experts; has little respect for, no experience with military; acts in anger, little or no control; lacks credibility essential to our armed forces, allied leaders, and to Americans.
These presidential deficiencies alone put USA in serious danger. Other world leaders, especially those of our enemies, are fully aware of how vulnerable America has become under trump.
Tall tales, constant lies emanating from WH; tweets attacking anyone/anything criticizing trump; firing people via tweet; cozying up to Putin, Kim, etc; calling asylum seekers rapists/murderers; saying neo-Nazis (one of which killed a counter protester) were fine people; adultery; payoffs to his sex partners - these have become the “norm” for this pres. Repetition numbs us to his erratic behavior, but never forget that trump’s behavior is abnormal.
514
yes, well thankfully
1. Clinton wasn't a liar
2. JFK wasn't a liar
3. Lyndon Johnson was a liar
4. Obama wasn't a liar
… do you want me to continue or would you prefer to continue the list? Don't sit so high on the horse prior to your ensuring you have shades on your windows.
9
@S L Hart
Yep. And consider this: DJT knows what's coming in 2020, and has already spoken often, publicly, about invalidating the election with prescripted lies like "massive voter fraud".
Now, Mueller says "I can't lay a glove on this guy" because he's POTUS, but (and this is a HUGE but)...
*Trump can and most assuredly face the legal system for his crimes after leaving office.*
Trumpian solution? Simple. Not leaving office.
By going big on invalidating the 2020 Presidential election, he can "temporarily" suspend the Constitution, then "in these uncertain times" could recruit the Base, the GOP half of Congress, Law Enforcement, the Courts, (all of whom are already Ok with any illegal thing he does, as long as they continue to hold the reins of power) to literally start the Second American Civil War.
Remember- that was Steve's Bannon's vision, dream and greatest hope (before the washed-up game show host-turned President reprised his TV role and said "You're Fired").
When you say "dangerous times", I believe that it's MUCH worse than we've fully imagined.
48
@S L Hart
Less than two years - as long people who recognize the danger of this man vote! We know that Trump will lie, cheat, try to suppress the vote in certain districts and might even get Putin’s help him - and Republicans will go right along with him.
We have to vote!
47
I look at the report as not just a damning picture of the White House under Trump. It's also a view of the rot, corruption, dishonesty and bad faith that permeates the Republican Party and conservatives in general. Their willingness to excuse and even defend Trump's conduct makes them accomplices in the degradation of not only our system of government but also our international alliances, our standing in the world, the environment and on and on. Their only concern--their only one--is their continued hold on power and this episode proves they will do whatever they have to to keep it. Conservatives' behavior over the last 20 or 30 years has been abhorrent and it's now culminated in their continued support of Donald Trump's lawlessness. Given what's at stake, I feel strongly that American conservatives are now the biggest threat facing our planet.
As we move ahead, Robert Mueller's report needs to remain in the spotlight. It should motivate us all to push back against the Republican Party again and again until they are completely defeated and marginalized, not just removed from power. We don't have a choice.
15
@Lionel Hutz - I've been saying essentially the same thing. After Trump is gone, we'll still have the GOP. The members of this party has complete and utter contempt for the rule of law. Republicans now engage in voter suppression schemes as a matter of course, and they have installed judges at the state level to ensure that fraudulent election results are upheld in court.
Heed these words of David Frum:
"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." This has already occurred. If we care about our democracy and our planet, we must stop electing Republicans.
1
every sordid detail was predestined. one never expects honesty and public sacrifice with one with this person's behavioral characteristics. sober politicians and pundits made their assessment of his unsuitability for our highest elected office. the incredible hatred that the gop has against those that don't march lock step with their policies has led us to this type of individual as the president. hope the 2020 election brings positive change in the resident of our white house.
4
Trump skirted military service during the Vietnam War. As one who served, I know that he wouldn’t have lasted four weeks in basic training. Today, he is failing to defend and support the Constitution of the United States Of America. Too bad there isn’t a basic training for the presidency, because he would’ve been out in four weeks, not four awful years.
10
There has never been a bigger baby in the White House than Donald J. Trump. Not only has he been whining about being “treated unfairly” since his campaign to the present, he literally ordered Jeff Sessions to give a speech saying he (Trump) was being treated unfairly.
I wondered during the campaign how Trump retained support by exhibiting the maturity of an eight year old, and I wonder still.
11
The next USA election will tell you whether or not people care about values and integrity in government or just vote for personality rather than values and policies. I suspect the public will be influenced by tweets and insults as there's lots of people with the same type of personality as the current President and won't care about a culture of dishonesty in the White House. Lots of people, especially the younger generation, have been bought up by the internet and it's Wild West / tribal say or do anything culture, so they'll just think the culture of dishonesty is 'normal'.
6
I disagree. It’s the younger ones that are far more cognizant. The Russians used racial bias and anti-immigration attacks to divide the country. This is typically aimed at the older generation.
Limbaugh is correct--the essence of the Mueller report is "Donald Trump attempted to obstruct our coup". The Democrats have lost in their attempted coup and will lose in 2020. Keep America Great--Trump 2020.
2
That anyone could believe the narrative you’re trying to peddle (citing Rush Limbaugh no less) is an indictment of our educational system. Tragic.
3
@Jonathan You believe a drug addict?
1
@Kip
When commenters resort to name calling as Kip and Christopher have done it is indicative that they have no salient point to make.
So after more than two years of practicing slavish access journalism, acting as stenographers for White House spin, but most of all to the point getting the story consistently and repeatedly wrong, now Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman suddenly decide to start doing their job.
And the saddest and most cynical bit is that we all know as soon as Trump gets even a minute bounce, Baker and Haberman will forget they ever wrote this piece and will return to carrying water for Trump.
I hope we never read :
"And we thought Donald Trump was bad" when commenting on
a future President of the US.
6
Reading the NYT, WP, or listening to CBS,CNN, or MSNBC, one would never suspect that the Muellar report showed no collusion and did not pursue obstruction of an investigation into a non-crime. The media is just proving its bias, and probably leading to Trumps re-election.
2
Read David Brooks column today. You’ll understand this better.
1
In the end it all comes down to this: to paraphrase Adam Schiff, “you may be okay with this but I’m not”. It seems as though 40% of Americans are fine with a deeply corrupt President as long as he pretends to be their President. You may be okay with this, I’m not, but if you can’t see it I can’t help you.
11
If Speaker Pelosi lack the courage to impeach Trump she should resign and allow AOC to lead House Democrats.
3
The Miller report is seamless. His decision to not charge the president is a cry for due process. Impeachment is a political process and if Miller had said that the president was guilty, he would be putting his finger on the scale and denying the president due process. Due process is bigger than this presidency and Bob Miller was brilliant. Thus, that doesn’t mean that the president is exonerated, it means that he should be tried now through an impeachment proceeding or by the courts when he leaves office.
199
@Plinio Gherardi a gentle correction: it's "Mueller" not "Miller."
12
@Plinio Gherardi
For the record, the correct title is The Mueller Report, not 'Miller'.
5
The decision on whether or not to impeach should never be based on politics or through the lens of a future election, it must be based on merit. Congress now has that constitutional duty after the release of the damaging information contained in the Mueller report. Even if the Senate does not convict, Trump will forever be stained in history as a President who was impeached and deservedly so. And no doubt, that tag is what he fears most. It's not inconceivable to think he resigns first rather than be tarnished with that label.
145
@Cuddlecat
What crime would you allege that Trump should be impeached for?
1
@Cuddlecat
I don’t agree. The election is coming up. It’s up to US to get this horrible person and his criminal family out of OUR WHITE HOUSE.
11
@Cuddlecat: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
-Oath of Office, Legislative Branch: Members of Congress
14
I want to commend the NYT on at last coming out and saying the president is, in fact, a liar.
8
Perhaps one of the most troubling facts revealed in the Mueller Report is that Sarah Sanders lied to the media from the White House press dais. Telling reporters, in a press briefing on May 10, 2017, that “we’ve heard from countless members of the FBI” that they did not support James Comey was a bald faced lie—not to mention evidence of where at least some fake news originates. Ms. Sanders was smart enough to not lie to the Mueller team (thereby keeping her out of prison), although telling them her lie was a “slip of the tongue” was another lie, this one submerged within her admission of guilt. In any event, the larger question here is whether or not Ms. Sanders can ever again be trusted to tell the truth. I think not.
13
Nancy needs to hire a granite carver and then have the artist carve a list of every single horrifying act that Republicans have found to be acceptable behavior in a president, his cabinet members and his staff. Have it erected in front of the capital building. We can start with this first:
1. It is very acceptable that the American president be able to lie regularly to the American people about any subject the president see's fit to discuss. It is also fine if the taxpayer paid staff is directed to lie to the American people on his behalf. This should be considered not a problem.
It will be a tall monument for sure but at least we'll be able to refer to it in case our Democracy manages to bounce back long enough to elect a Democrat. Then if Lindsay Graham has any problems with her we can march him out to the Republican commandments and remind him what he thinks is fine and dandy.
6
Mueller’s two-year, multi-million dollar investigation couldn’t locate ‘Russian collusion’, so now ‘the resistance’ has switched the narrative to ‘obstruction of justice’ (which Mueller also failed to definitively verify).
They’ll run with that dry bone for the next year and a half (to no avail)...which will likely result in Trump’s 2020 re-election.
Good job, Dems!
4
Trump has made it clear that he will work overtime to invalidate the 2020 election by claiming voter fraud, stacked deck, etc.
The Meuller Report spells out that post-POTUS DJT can end up in jail for a long time, having no more immunity to indictment.
If Trump was fiddling with the idea of invalidating 2020 before, he's probably madly scrambling to do so now.
Of course the Base and the GOP Congress know no bounds when greenlighting one of their own to commit all manner of crimes, sedition, breaking the Immolument Clause, profiting directly from the presidency, engaging Russia to help cheat Americans out of a free and fair election.
Who cares? As long as "we" are in power.
This is exactly how dictators get launched.
This is exactly how the Constituion gets "temporarily" suspended.
If Trump can recruit Generals from every branch of the military, American Law Enforcement , the DOJ and the Courts, our goose might be cooked.
Quote from a man on the street in Syria:
"You think that war can't happen, then next thing you know your city is in flames"
5
Trumps failures are giving Americans like me a new sense of perspective of other discredited presidents like Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton.
We need to develop a new measure of wrongdoing for presidents to give relative credit for those that actually accomplish something for the country.
If we eliminate all the false claims of competence by Trump we are left with a thin resume topped off with an obstruction of justice frustrated by honest employees who didn’t themselves want to go to jail.
5
By focusing on Trump's supposed criminality, Democrats lost sight of the real story: a consistently unethical, immoral, sloppy, lying, profligate, incompetent Presidency, which, when all is said and done, is far worse than illegality, it is irredeemable.
Any good person is capable of committing a single illegal act, paying the price and then starting again. What is far worse is someone who is supremely comfortable living on the edge of criminality - in an amoral universe, without compassion, decency or shared values. That, and not any issue of law, is what makes Donald Trump a danger to our world and unfit for any public office.
6
The Times needs to stop telling us what to think about the news. Not all of your readers think that Trump is a liar, or bad for the country. Some of us think the media created the Russia issue, to attack Trump for political reasons. So far, the media seems to be losing on this issue, on the facts. How about simply reporting the news for once?
4
At least we know now that the media didn’t create this story. The Russians, the Trump campaign and Wikileaks did. That’s why the report is 448 pages of factual investigation. Your brain should tell you what to think based on those facts. The Times is just reporting the facts.
With all this drama and disfunction going on in the White House lets not loose site that a lot of the blame can be directed at the U.S. Congress especially the U.S. Senate. They have willfully given up their constitutional oath to be an independent equal branch of government. It would not be to far from truth to say that the GOP Senators know deep down that the President is a deceitful lying vindictive con man who is unfit to hold the highest office in our country. They close their eyes and plug their ears as the destruction of our democracy slowly continues in order to get some cherished political perks.
4
What do we call it, if it is not criminal? What would republicans call Don jr’s meetings or papadopolous’ agreements or all of their knowledge of stolen documents? It sets an ugly precedent.
I think that it is amusing that republicans defend these traitors.
4
I urge everyone to read the book "It Can't Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis.
Trump is only the Caligula figurehead, the alpha male grifter reality TV star representing the 41% of the American people who eagerly admire a man who confessed to being a serial adulterer and womanizer, tax evader, bankruptcy king.
They eagerly support a man who has gutted the EPA, clean air/water regulations, public lands, national parks, consumer protection agencies, Wall Street regulations, security clearance rules, emoluments clause regulations, and on and on.
They eagerly support a man who has stacked the Supreme Court and federal judiciary with people who want women to be gestation slaves.
Trump is 110% impeachable right now, and it's Pelosi's duty to bring it on.
2
Hate to admit it, Trump is actually right about something. "You're telling me Bobby and Jack didn't talk about investigations."
1
The US is the most powerful country in this earth. How did we end up with this guy? Lucky for the world that the guy do not touch on the nuclear button yet.
3
The sad part is this guy made and cheated his way to wealth and prestige in America, and then garnered the support of enough disaffected voters to gain access to the most powerful position in the world, thus demonstrating that crime does pay. He needs to be charged, tried, sentenced and locked up, and his ill gotten wealth and position taken from him and his family where appropriate. He’s a scalawag an capitalistic carpetbagger.
7
We have to look forward. We have to. All of us, and soon. Because surely we can agree that no matter where our leadership comes from -left, right, or center - this nation deserves better than an impetuous, tantrum-triggered toddler- megalomaniac at the helm! What madness. We can't argue with crazy; there is no reasoning this through, because reason isn't in charge.
We move on. We mobilize. We raise our standards and we vote smarter next time.
4
This is a losing political battle because culture of dishonesty and obstruction and foreign influence pervades virtually all political administrations of both parties. President Clinton (who I voted for in 1992) famously took illegal campaign dollars from the Chinese, via John Huang, and Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno, then refused FBI Director Louis Freeh's recommendation to appoint a special counsel to investigate (unlike Jeff Sessions and Rod Rosenstein, who at least were willing to appoint Mueller).
Democrats were not yelling about Janet Reno acting as Clinton's "personal attorney" or "publicist" during this time as they are now about Barr. There was not hysteria from Democrats about Chinese foreign influence in elections or questions about why did Clinton kill the immigration reform from his own fellow Democrat (African-American Barbara Jordan) at the request of Chinese and then work to admit China into WTO? Allegedly, according to Boston Globe and other reporting, as quid pro quo for the illegal Chinese money.
Republicans have their similar fair share of corruption and foreign influence, be it Iran-Contra (convenient coincidence that Barr was Bush, Sr.'s AG who orchestrated the pardon of all Iran-Contra criminals), Bush Jr's rush to war with Iraq and WMD lies, etc.
Best thing for Democrats would be to turn the page from failed collusion narrative & begin to work across the aisle to build good faith. How about infrastructure? Immigration compromise?
4
Yesterday I tried to read the Mueller report as if I’d just returned from a three-year trip to the Amazon, way off the grid, and was unaware of any of the excellent reporting done by Baker, Haberman, et al.
This is the most astonishing of political corruption in our lifetimes.
Today, I feel strongly that the partisan deniers are the most astonishing band of malefactors - enablers, abettors, power addicts, and fellow travelers who perhaps in time will be seen as traitors.
Finally, as great at NYT has been, it seems wrong to keep using “Democrats” as shorthand for “Congress” in articles about the requisite next steps - the high crimes and misdemeanors of the Trump/Pence campaign and the Trump presidency are way beyond party politics and the remedy must be patriotic not partisan.
6
How can anyone in Congress, knowing all this and probably more, with any sense of ethics and intention of protecting the integrity of this nation and its Constitution, continue to support the presidency of Donald Trump? Those persons referred to in this article who have served or continue to serve in this Trump's administrative staff, if they are truly serving this country and the citizens of this country, should come forward and tell the truth about what they know regarding the president and the “goings-on” during Trump's term in office to date, with the understanding that if and when this information is presented in a court of law, they will be considered accomplices in any wrong-doing he and his toadies have been involved in, including collusion with a hostile nation and obstruction of justice if they have not assisted the cause of justice.
How can citizens of this nation believe the rantings of a president who has been proven to be a thoroughly dishonest liar and continues to support leaders of nations whose governments are antithetical to our system of democracy? How can they continue to listen to journalists lurking on the lunatic fringe and refuse to think critically?
This nation must restructure its government, primarily by adding limits to the administrative branch now that we see what can happen if we don’t. We should start with requiring that anyone who runs for the office of president to have served the country via military service or having held public office.
3
The real winner in all of this is Russia. As the Mueller Report stated, their purpose of interfering in the election was to sow discord in the U.S. presidential election. And that they have indeed done with their massive online campaign to elect what is probably the most dishonest, self-serving and incompetent president that we have seen in modern times. The country has been thrown into disarray with one side pitted against the other. Mr. Putin is smiling all the way to the bank - along with his pal Donald Trump.
2
What cannot be buried is the genesis of the investigation that started with a fake dossier bought and paid for by the Clinton Campaign. How does that not reek of corruption? While nobody believes Trump is infallible, what person wouldn't squirm when the head of the FBI as well as leftist politicians posing as Democrats, are trying to destroy you? Did Mueller back down and lie for Barr? Did the FISA Court know the the dossier was written by a foreign spy? How is that not collusion to destroy a duly elected President of the United States?
These and many other questions need to be answered. If this whole investigation is what Strzok's referred to as an "insurance policy", people need to be held accountable.
2
You need to read the whole truth not the partial. You are taking the information out of context. Find a less biased report and try again.
I have to say I think the Mueller Report landed with a big thud. Lies? We have known for years. Trump trying his darkest to thwart transparency and investigation? Goes with the man.
Total disregard for the rule of law and ethics or morals? Check.
The GOP and Trump are high five giddy today because Trump did not get indicted. So what if he did 10 things which were obstruction of justice? He didn't get slapped with an indictment so go away. We have our man and we're sticking with him!
We are still in our camps, divided as ever. No resolution. No final moment. It's all propaganda - thank you AG Barr.
A Trump supporter on TV this morning: He's a despicable human being but he has done a lot of good for the country. I would ask what? Tax cuts and judges maybe but combined with baby cages I'm not convinced.
It remains: Trump is running with his narrative and dominating. The hoax is strong, the GOP rules the Senate, Trump is in the Oval with even less restraints on his whims and the Democrats are left like many of us wondering what to do now about this mess.
2
What does it mean to be a winner? Trump defines anyone without lots of money and a big house as a loser. Trump says that if you can shoot someone on 5th avenue and get away with it you are a winner. Now he goes even farther and says if you get off from taking help from Russians for a campaign because of a technicality you are a winner. but John McCain was a loser because he was shot down over enemy territory and faced down his captors. What will we now teach our children, that if you are born rich, avoid the draft and gain the White House because you had help from Russians that you are a winner? Al Capone avoided prosecution because he was feared and had the backing of the mob is this now our standard for a winner?
If this is where we are headed in our ethical conduct something that has been respected so deeply by most of us as the presidency now means absolutely nothing and our society is lost in the swamp from which Trump laughably said he would save us. This is not sour grapes merely the observations of a person who sees our once proud nation slip away from everything it said it once believed in.
3
I want to give Chairman Nadler and others the chance to show their mettle and devotion to the Constitution and the rule of law. But I fear too many Democrats in Congress are asking to let this cup pass from them, to let the voters save them from doing their duties to hold the Executive accountable.
Our Constitution was not made for a race of angels; the very provision for division of power among. three separate branches of government, along with the power of impeachment and removal from office, shows it. But the Constitution does depend upon at least a remnant of officials somewhere who remain devoted to duty, honor, and country.
History is written by the victors, and we do not know how this will turn out. But I hope that it can and will be said that there were those left who were willing to "let justice be done, though the heavens fall."
3
It’s not the democrats job. It’s congress as a whole.
The republicans are traitors!
1
There is a difference between what one could call the "sinister intellectual superiority" of the overseas actors who leveraged this Administration into power, and the poignant portrait of that same Administration struggling with the power they know was bequeathed to them by this "task of disruption"--indeed this Administration's mission was to continue that disruption, which they have assiduously accomplished. Job done.
That they have accomplished this through an unending cycle of deceit has been well documented by this, and other, newspapers. Well done.
What needs to be kept in mind is that the circumstances that allowed all this to happen exist somewhat independently of all these actors--we are, it seems, in the midst of a great social transformation, of which these political effects are just that, effects. Some have been able to identify the weaknesses of the post-war international order that have been laid bear by this transformation and have successfully leveraged them, to our great misfortune.
Trump's departure from office, it needs to be said, will not fundamentally alter the transformation already underway--the same thing could happen again.
What is the nature of this transformation and what can be done? Those are the questions.
Note: Quotations above from Karl Polyani, The Great Transformation (1944) p. 30.
Trump may avoid prosecution for his actions before and during taking office as he has avoided facing the consequences of his multiple bankruptcies and shady business dealings, but the shadow of the Mueller Report will follow him no matter how many times he calls himself a winner.
1
"... the shadow of the Mueller Report will follow him no matter how many times he calls himself a winner."
Trump doesn't need you to tell him that:
'The President returned to the consequences of the appointment [of Mueller] and said, “Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won’t be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”' (Vol. 2, Page 78)
1
One big takeaway from this really excellent summary is that there were a number of people close to Trump who basically refused to do as he asked. Would it be nice if there were more, especially in Congress? Yes it would, but I will take what I can get. Our democracy is under siege but surprisingly there were those who stuck around long enough to thwart Trump's obstructionist wishes. I hope they stick around long enough to thwart Trump's attempts to prevent the release of his tax returns.
2
I agree with the authors about the picture of Mr. Trump and his conduct while in office. I do not see any of it rising to the level of criminal or impeachable behavior; but I do hope that anyone considering voting for him in 2020 take a long look at his reactions before deciding that this is the person they want in charge of the country.
1
I think in foreign affairs this puts the USA in a very vulnerable position. Countries with integrity will hesitate to make deals with the US preferring to wait until after the next elections while those with agendas which lack integrity will see making a “deal with the trump’ will be much easier for them even when such deals are at the expense of the USA, USA allies and the general good of the world.
If trump had integrity and ethics, specifically professional ethics, he would resign.
3
When President Trump commented it was the end of his presidency, what was he thinking Muller would find? All along, Trump has acted as if he's guilty of something. If not collusion, then what?
5
One can only wonder just how egregious the actions he feared would be exposed are for him to display such dramatic language.
2
The current flurry of investigative activity is not “presidential harassment” but rather a poignant testament to the abject negligence and reckless disregard of the GOP dominated congress in executing its overseeing responsibilities over the last two years. The Mueller report is an in-depth account of such a terrible travesty of governing incompetence bordering on malfeasance of such massive depth and breadth, it boggles the mind.
5
This excellent Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman article distills the intellectual focus of the White House under the Presidency of Mr. Trump. This reveals as much as anything I have read that this White House is hugely disorganized and incapable of addressing the challenges of our times.
There is no system for identifying social, economic, and international issues and prioritizing these issues so that the resources of this powerful country can be brought to bear on these problems.
Simply think about the issues of income inequality, healthcare, global warming, and its implications for the future of the U.S. and the global economy, and the dependence of our urban communities on aging and increasingly congested and dangerous highways to supply our households with food and economic necessities . Clearly, this White House has long ago lost its authority to lead and after reading this timeline, it would be difficult to imagine that it ever held the authority.
4
Yup, he's dishonest. Nope, he's not guilty of collusion or obstruction. They remain separate issues despite his critics' best efforts to conflate the two.
No amount of reporting is going to create charges were none were recommended.
2
You’re spreading propaganda.
Read the report and get back to us.
1
Can anyone name any other Western nation where any leader exposed as Trump has been in this report, would still be the head of government? In that, America is truly exceptional.
4
Mr. Comey should seek an attorney to sue Sarah Huckabee Sanders for slander per se. Making up stuff to demean someone regarding their profession rarely goes over well with a jury even if it comes from the President's Propaganda Minister.
Trump also had an attorney who recorded him, and that recording is likely the key piece of evidence in the Southern District of NY case regarding an unindicted co-conspirator in a campaign finance felony that carries a one to five year sentence.
4
Most Americans follow this like you would an amateur magician, trying to see when the tricks is. The report is far too long and complex so we depend on our elected congresspeople to do the hard slog and decide what to do. We are entering the 2nd inning, tied, but with our big hitters due up next.
It’s not that complex. It’s written like a book in fact.
Go read it. It’s part of being a responsible citizen.
1
This article reflects the terrific reporting by Haberman and Baker. However, I have yet to read an article which analyzes why the President's well documented attempts to obstruct justice and the investigation are not crimes. Also, why didn't Mueller pursue an interview with the President? He never served a subpoena on the President and according to Mueller's report, Mueller clearly believed that the President would be subject to a subpoena.
3
Surely Senate Republicans must see by now that Trump has no chance in 2020 and that the damage to the Republican Party is profound.
Senate Republicans—the world is watching. Get your members together in caucus and then inform Trump that you have the votes to remove him.
It’s only going to get worse for you and the GOP.
3
The fundamental issue is not this deeply corrupt president - our country has survived corruption and incompetence before (though never at this level) - the problem is the Republican Party and the pseudo-christian evangelicals who enable and support Trump. How anyone one can simply watch the Trump saga unfold and do nothing, let alone support and praise Trump, is beyond comprehension and decency.
Evangelicals and Republicans will not shine brightly in the history books.
4
The Mueller report is a biopsy.
The results show a spreading malignancy.
Aggressive treatment and/or excision comes next.
4
"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." it feels like this country is at a boiling point. we are no longer a three branch government. we have no independent actors. everything is partisan and decisions are first filtered through party beliefs. our representatives are fueled by power. they are voted for by people with equal lust for exerting some element of separation and authority over another group. we have a President who openly lies, machinates, and obstructs. we have a party who unquestionably defends. we have built a system where this is acceptable because power and wealth trumps any attempt at seeking truth and justice. it's easier to target a low income citizen with drugs because that person has no power, no influence. we let the Tiger Woods' of the world pass by and herald them. we have deluded ourselves into thinking this is justice because people like Alex Acosta don't prosecute power. and then he gets rewarded with a higher more powerful position. we have half the country voting this behavior is okay. we have our attorney general saying it's okay for president to behave this way because he was upset. we have liars like Sarah Sanders doubling down because accountability is vacant. honesty, ethics and morals do not matter. only power, greed, and making absolutely certain at whatever sacrifice that another person or group is on the bottom rung. this is who we are now. this is our identity as a nation and maybe it always has been. what a tragedy.
4
It's a amazing that someone can have such a terrible charachter and not break the law. This peek into the inner sanctum is totally inapproriate DURING the presidency.
These two journalists are particularly good examples of how our media has risen to the level a governing body, without receiving a single vote from the electorate. The undue amount of influence that their interpretations (in non-opinion articles!) have had over the past three years explains how the (arguably) more ethical half our country could stray so far from the empirical truth, leading to a new level of polarization in the country.
1
To the Trumpian wing of the GOP: What doth it profit the Party, if it gains its political agenda but suffers the loss of its own soul?
2
It is a lot like the anonymous insider of Trump White House recounted. No one has any respect for Trump, and just ignored his requests. They were fired for it, but it was often months later. Republicans are happy with this clown, because Pence is getting the job done. The Koch influence is palpable in the cabinet appointments. Pence is directing the efforts toward superimposing the evangelical model (our own Sharia) over the country. And Ryan and McConnell got their big corporate tax break out, but failed to kill Medicaid funding. Trump fulminates on the border, and continues to engage in unethical behavior, firing those who refuse his requests to engage in illegal activity. No other administration has been so lawless, facing court challenges on basic constitutional questions. No president including Nixon deserves impeachment more. There's plenty of overreaching, abuse of power, and downright lawlessness to support it. But Republicans in the Senate continue to face a dilemma, as their donors seem to be fine with all this.
The anecdote about Trump parading Sessions' letter while overseas and then denying it ever left the White House perfectly encapsulates the degree of pervasive if petty lies this president can't save himself from committing. It's a simple and provable fact, like countless others that are of little consequence except as examples of how duplicitous he is by nature.
Now that the details of the report are seeing the light, he has no recourse except to be grateful that the justice system does indeed have standards, and fortunately for him, his transgressions fell just shy of criminal indictments.
Voters should have a different standard in 2020, and congress should think long and hard before dismissing impeachment outright given the their constitutional duties to balance executive power, which given our presidents' inclinations, cannot be left unchecked - even for a second.
2
The irony of all this, of course, is that Trump didn't collude as the Russians tried to sow discord and mistrust in the American system of government, but the Democrats and media are *still* doing the Russians' bidding and playing right into their hands.
2
I never thought I would see another White House and president so averse to the truth after President Clinton left office, but Trump and his gang make Clinton look downright honest. This guy is as crooked as a dog's back leg.
18
Dog bites man story. Private Trump same as Public Trump. Boorish, hucksterish, loud, profane, impulsive, crass. Everything progressives hate about him. Everything his voters like about him. Nothing new in 400 plus pages. Please get back to reporting news.
3
*Some* voters like about him. Deplorables, mostly.
2
@Beantownah
Yes! But not all progressives hate him. I, for one, can tolerate a lot if it's authentic. (And this is why Hillary lost; not her chromosones.) Our country, in particular, needs authenticity.
@Carla Bumba,
So explain to us what’s authentic about Trump other than his his immorality being authentic?
If you run your life in a non stop web of lies, hate, vindictiveness and paranoia, then at some point you will reach an inflection point and it will consume you.
Even if you are the President of the USA.
17
@Allan B
Yes, the internal rot consumes people.
And it shows....
1
He has recreated the Trump Organization: incompetence, corruption, malevolence, nepotism, chaos.
9
The real stick in the mud now is McConnell! ... a spineless and feckless coward who refuses to come to terms with reality ... that trump is a tragically unprepared and dangerously unprincipled ‘fake’ president who is an unabashed leech and an unrepentant liar.
All you have to do to see where McConnell's priorities lie is glance at the statistics about the state he has helped govern since the mid-1980s. By any measure, Kentucky is a mess*. It is poor, unhealthy, under-employed, non-competitive, poorly educated, addicted, and despairing. While Mitch has been off playing tactician, his state has continued to sink. McConnell is a heartless, cold, ruthless man who is out for himself. Maybe the chickens are finally coming home to roost.
* Kentucky:
/ #46 in Educational attainment..
/ #46 in Poverty.
/ #43 in Employment.
/ #43 in Medicare quality.
But #5 in receipt of federal subsidies & #1 in obstructionist politicians.
37
@John Townsend
If you've ever lived in Kentucky (I have) don't underestimate the powerful combination of ignorance, white ego, provincialism, fear, and gullibility.
Mitch cooks that together like a great chef.
1
As appalling, atrocious, and repugnant as DJT's behavior is it really should come as a surprise to no one. He has spent his entire adult life in an indecent, shameless, amoral and dishonest pursuit of treasure and tail, while seeking publicity and adulation for his exploits. Yes this is an awful state of affairs for U.S., but it is not surprising.
17
That doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Just votes.
If he can’t be voted out, then, he can do as he wishes, especially as long as it is more important for most white people to reduce or stop the immigration of nonwhite people than it is for him to not be a criminal!
It’s more important to stop browner people from coming to these shores, if somebody has to be a criminal to do it, then, so be it!!!
4
This is as big an indictment of Pence as it is Trump. Pence presents himself as a holier than thou Christian yet kowtows to one of our most dishonest, cheating, back-stabbing, low-life presidents in history. There is not an honest bone in either of their bodies. I don't know how Mueller couldn't rule on obstruction when Trump fired everyone who was investigating him, except Mueller. He tried to derail him in other ways. What an embarrassment!
14
The man spends all his time playing golf and trying to cover up his past and current crimes. What more could we ever want from a President of the United. States.
6
I thought the POTS had to be honest and be truthfull .. how do you guys explain Trump still in office ? ..
This is entertaining, the NYT pretending it's a "centrist" reporting news organization, of course by its own account...... I wish this level of effort was placed on investigating Obama, and how he colluded with Russians, since this intelligence was there under his leadership(article miss-represents that Trump somehow sat on this info?). So Obama new about all this Russian election interference and did nothing, why?
Let's stop creating parallel universes of reality.
6
@Cromwell
I am not about to search for sources for you, but Obama INVITED Trump to participate in briefings so that he could be as informed as possible going into the Presidency. Trump was: 1) too arrogant, 2) too jealous and distrustful of Obama and/ or 3) too fearful of revealing his ignorance to bother. Take your pick. And there have been sufficient reports of his way of handling information from the agencies who collect and make sense of it: He doesn't read and can't be made to listen. He apparently tells staff what they should tell him. Allegations against Obama> From whom?
2
Why did Obama do nothing? McConnell told him that he would be accused of politicizing the issue. Obama assumed that it didn't matter because Hillary was a sure win. He was wrong. He should have raised the alarm despite McConnell's threat.
3
Answer: Republicans is why.
Trump is just a plain ordinary crook and habitual liar.
BUT he will always have his racist, Fox listeners, that adore him.
The only way to get this cancer out of office is the VOTE.
And the Democrats better get their act together, pick a person to stand against him and then ATTACK Trump and the Republicans with vigor.
10
"Where is my Roy Cohn?" Yeah, Roy Cohn, the guy whose first high profile client was censured by the US Senate and died in disgrace.
History will have to decide whether Barr has sunk to Cohn's level and, if so, what does that say about his current client?
8
Those three sentences: "This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I'm fucked," are likely the only true words Trump has uttered. Wait until the full, unredacted, report is revealed (and it will be, I'm sure). We can only hope that it will be soon.
20
@Felicia Bragg
A full reading of his statement shows he meant that his presidency and agenda would be seriously impacted by a protracted investigation --- not that he was guilty.
In fact, the president was right. He was wrong, however, in that he managed to do some pretty big things while under investigation.
1
I don't blame Donald Trump for hustling, grifting, and conning anymore than I blame the shady used car dealer or the guy selling a Rolex watch for $20.
They're sleazy, sure, but we're not ten year olds who can't read about Donald's history of criminal behavior and dirty deals.
Did millions of people (not the cult, the more moderates) not do even the most casual reading or would that interrupt some phone play thing?
10
If POTUS had ordered his staff to actually eliminate someone, and his staff did not follow through, he would be immediately impeached by Congress regardless of how frustrated or emotional he was. This would not be an excuse for not acting. Bald faced orders to obstruct justice are also impeachable offenses even if his staff did not comply. I originally gave Trump the benefit of the doubt, although I did not vote for him and never respected him. Enough is enough. He believed the American people are simply too stupid to understand what is in the SP report. That we would accept the AG’s attempt to mislead. That smart representatives of the press would not be able to factually boil down the content in plain English. Regardless of his base, who support him no matter how terrible he behaves, the rest of the American electorate needs to now call upon their representatives in Congress on both sides of the aisle to impeach and remove this man. We have a VP as provided by the Constitution to succeed him. Let’s exercise what the founding fathers provided in the way of a safeguard to counter the possibility of a completely dangerous POTUS....dangerous to democracy itself and the founding principles of our nation. Move judiciously and deliberately, but move they must. If he had the sense that Nixon possessed, he’d resign with what dignity he can muster. Let the nation try to heal and rebuild.
12
McGahn, Sessions, Lewandoski... Admirable?
Nah.
They could be members of Lt. Calley's platoon who closed their eyes and didn't pull the trigger, or fired high.
Maybe later, maybe now, they still argue to themselves that they were not guilty of war crimes, but of course they were.
6
Donald Trump (Then): surrounded by advisors who were incorruptible and saved him from his criminal impulses; all fired/"resigned".
Donald Trump (Now): surrounded by sycophants willing to do his corrupt bidding; cover for his lies; provide him plausible deniability.
It's only going to get worse from here.
Special thanks to the GOP who have persistently instilled distrust of government in their constituents to the point where Trump's supporters see this thug-White House as business-as-usual. Shame on all of them. But really, shame on US citizens for not insisting on better. We make Putin's job easy for him.
14
Maggie Haberman makes no attempt to be fair when she reports on the White House and President Trump. Her negative writing fuels the fire of the inevitable hysterical ranting of outraged Dems. These anti-Trump screeds are so predictable, so boring and so childish.
5
Well, you could always just read the report yourself. It is tough to do so and not come away with a very grim view of our president.
1
Fair? The concept of fairness as applied to the duties of the elected President of the United States would indicate that the occupant of the oval office should be fairly and primarily concerned with running the country and representing the United States of America, the interests of its citizens, and pursuit of policies which favor our safety and growth as a nation. A simple reading of the main points of the Mueller report indicate with great clarity that Trump’s primary purpose is to save his own skin. How’s that for fair?
1
@John Murray
Why no mention of Peter Baker? He is named first in the byline.
Having read this piece, how could any decent American—any decent human being—not fear for the future of the republic?
12
For two years the media hysteria, led by the NYT, was about collusion/treason. Now the hysteria is over Trump's overwrought reaction to being accused of collusion/treason despite there being actually zero evidence of such criminality. Imagine that - an innocent guy lashing out over a two year witch hunt orchestrated by his political enemies (including the media). And now we're being told by Democrats and our enlightened media superiors that the lashing out was the REAL crime. Laughable.
4
Exactly. He was supposed to sit there while being viciously assaulted, harassed, insulted and maligned without any response or feeling any emotion. The media and Democrats showed their true colors during the Kavanaugh hearings which revealed their belief that any measure, any character assassination, no matter how outrageous or bizarre, no matter if evidence exists or doesn't exist at all, can be justified in the pursuit of raw political power. I had slight hope that the definitive finding that absolutely no collusion, by any definition, ever occurred, would at least cool passions if not persuade people who have lived for two years with the delusion that it had, but liberals and the media now appear to be be so lost in bitterness, anger and form of mental breakdown that they would rather destroy all semblance of comity and sling mud from now to eternity. I predict they will be even more bitter, angry and utterly insane by the end of 2020.
1
Unfortunately for you, that “lashing out” is indeed the real crime. Just as a thought experiment, what if Tump had actually had someone shot on that proverbial day on 5th Avenue in the act of lashing out? Ok, so he didn’t do anything near as bad as that, but what is the dividing line between innocent versus criminal lashing out? Or does it matter to you? After all, you’re apparently Trump’s base, who he himself declared would not abandoned him even if he “shot someone at high noon on 5th Ave.”
And with every article you print on this topic, Donald Trump is headed for re-election.
Why you ask? Look at the number of articles you publish on a strong alternative.
5
I always thought the possibility of active collusion by the Trump campaign was unlikely, simply because it was so chaotic and disorganized (although the Trump Tower meeting gave me pause). Remember, one of Hillary's advantages was supposed to be that she was running a professional, well-organized campaign. In broad strokes, the special counsel's report tells us what we already knew - the person in office is unfit to be president. I do not think impeachment is the answer as it will be blocked in the Senate. Ballot box, 2020, is the answer.
6
The same news media outlets that misled the public on collusion are now misleading the public on the Muller Report obstruction of justice charges. They insinuate that issues such as the debate over whether a president can be subpoenaed prevented investigators from pursuing obstruction charges.
However, the report plainly states, “if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President’s actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
The Special Counsel Office considered evidence about the president’s actions and intent but did not determine the president committed obstruction. This is why the attorney general decided not to pursue obstruction of justice charges. What jury would convict on evidence that does not show the defendant committed a crime?
7
The one that will have more evidence than we have seen. It's there. It's going show-up.
1
@William Case
Special Counsel Mueller did not recommend obstruction charges because his findings were "inconclusive".
The notion that he failed to do so because of his belief that he couldn't indict a sitting president is simply a false one.
You misrepresent Mueller's report. He said that only the fact the the President cannot be indicted prevented Mueller from concluding Trump committed a crime. He said even so, he would collect evidence "while memories were fresh and documents were available" so that Trump could either be impeached, which Mueller said was its prerogative, if not its duty, and to criminally prosecute Trump after he leaves office.
There are so many conclusions that could be drawn from this excellent piece of reporting but a few stand out.
Throughout all of the last two years, the president has been fixated only on himself. Everything seems to be focused on how actions by others impact him...not their impact on others and not how they impact the country at large. He seems incapable of empathizing how others will feel or think when asked to lie for his benefit and his benefit alone. Their thoughts and feelings are secondary at best or inconsequential at worst. No empathy. No sympathy. No management skills at all. (He doesn't even seem capable of asking whether or not his directives have been implemented.)
The other observation is that all of this is a reaffirmation of Jeb Bush's prediction that Trump would be a "chaos president." The executive wing turnover is stratospheric and with good reason. Who, in their right mind, would want to enter a job knowing that lying is expected, that you might need an excellent lawyer of at least $1,000 an hour waiting in the wings and future job opportunities likely will be scarce?
It could be said that with Donald Trump, what you see is what you get. That is inaccurate. What we don't see is even worse. Thanks for pulling the curtain back, Mr. Mueller.
6
Donald Trump Jr. is not currently under indictment for criminal conspiracy only because Wikileaks is technically not a Russian espionage operation, only a cutout for same. Frankly, if Robert Mueller had the same partisan zeal as Kenneth Starr, half of the Trump campaign would be under indictment, starting with the candidate and his family.
8
"... a hotbed of conflict infused by a culture of dishonesty — defined by a president who lies to the public and his own staff, then tries to get his aides to lie for him"
This is the most disappointing aspect of this presidency.. After a lifetime of teaching young people to honor noble behavior and to find the ideals in the human condition, along comes this shadow- bereft of morals, principles, decency and conscience, to win the hearts and minds of 40% of our citizens with language and money. Not the world I had hoped for for my children- but if we need to understand goodness by its opposite, the opportunity is here.
3
I, along with millions of others, wonder why so many people who hold themselves up as 'Godly' can support this man considering what he is, what he does, and how he acts and talks, and all I can think of is that because he supports Isreal's ability to do anything they want, supports the 'right to life' concept, and keeping 'others' out of this country, it is all these supporters require of a leader, and they will ignore everything else about him. Perhaps once they feel it in their pocketbook they will finally realize he is not the savior they thought him to be. I guess it is just going to take another two years for that to happen.
7
I’ve just been clicking at random on various entries of the Mueller report; every single entry I’ve clicked on displays either something unseemly, something sketchy, some attempt to obfuscate or do something downright criminal. How the Republicans are able to say “let’s move on” is just mind-boggling ...a pure display of their lust for power rather than their love of country.
12
At this point in the conversation/debate, conclusions must be made by both congress and the public. Mueller made two conclusions, first he did not have conclusive evidence of collusion with Russia and second, he could not indict a sitting president that therefore could not pursue the obstruction of justice.
Speaker Pelosi has resisted moving forward on impeachment. Correctly so, it must be clear and unobstructed violations by the President.
It is clear that Trump has violated three impeachable offences that must be addressed by the Speaker.
He supported Russian influence in his election though did not take a coordinated cooperative position.
He attempted with forethought to interrupt the investigation of his involvement in the investigation. The fact that he failed due to the restraints of his inner circle, does not make him any less guilty of obstruction.
Last but not least, Trumps blatant use of his position to favor his economic interests is unreal.
Congress is not going to be able to breach the deadlock for legislation before the next election. Consequently, the Speakers position to avoid impeachment is invalid. The iron is hot, it is time to drop the other boot!
1
Clinton was impeached, but finished out his term. The 2000 election was won by George Bush by an electoral college technicality (remember the chads?). but Al Gore won the popular vote. If the Democrats are worried that Impeachment will negatively affect the outcome of the 2020 election for the Democrats, I don't think so.
I am worried that if the Democrats do not take this moment with the majority in the House and begin impeachment proceedings (which is exactly what Mueller is suggesting because he is unable to indict a sitting president for obstruction of justice), the country could possibly utter the biggest collective "OOPS" in history on November 3, 2020. Do we want to go through another four years of this insanity again?
4
I don't know enough about the evidence to come to specific conclusions about whether Mueller and crew were too hesitant to find Trump plainly guilty of obstruction, or conspiracy, or treason for that matter. It seems strong arguments can be made for all.
But what I deeply question is for Mueller and Crew to allow AG Barr to get so far out ahead of the politics of this report by grossly mischaracterizing The Report.
Mueller should have immediately commented on the inaccuracy of Barr's description of the Report's findings.
This is made abundantly clear by his investigators objecting and they themselves groping for some way to offset Barr's lies and prevarications. But Mueller himself should have immediately done this. I thought the guy was a patriot?
Whether soldier or government worker, there comes a time when you yourself have to disobey orders and rules to protect our nation and its Constitution: Think Daniel Ellsberg, or may other whistle blowers who have risked all to save this country.
Mueller didn't even have to whistle blow. All he had to do was *immediately* correct the lies, spinning, prevarications and obfuscations of Barr. He didn't, and because he didn't, he didn't meet his responsibility and call to duty.
3
I am laughing out loud the religious groups are strong supporters of the GOP. This speaks volumes about your religions. Your leaders need to speak out daily every time they hear a lie from Trump and his party. Then they need to say it is immoral . Very sad that they don’t have the guts to do this. Since Trump has been in day 1 he has had over 8,000 lies and i am tired of it. Bring back President Obama he told the truth and cared to save the climate.
5
@D.j.j.k.
Two SCOTUS placements and a record amount of lower court placements. The idea that religious people don't have a political agenda is silly. They do, and Trump delivers.
Excellent article. Thank you, NYT reporters, for keeping us informed.
5
The late Senator Goldwater reportedly said that "Nixon was the most dishonest individual that I ever met in my life. He lied to his wife, his family, his friends, his colleagues in the Congress, lifetime members of his own political party, the American people, and the world."
But then Mr. Goldwater never had trump for a president.
3
From this point forward... any and all who remain Trump supporters can be honestly considered equal in trustworthiness and honesty... and as un-American as the 'pied-piper' they follow. Please be wary in any dealings you may have with them.
2
@G.B.Grubb
I can assure you Americans are not going to accept lecturing from democrats, who overwhelmingly supported the grifter Clintons.
People vote based on the agenda they want to see implemented. Morality takes a back seat. Just asked all the women who voted for Hillary.
1
From the Independent Counsel Report filed by Kenneth Starr:
Starr elleged that Clinton had "attempted to influence the testimony of a grand jury witness who had direct knowledge of facts that would reveal the falsity of his deposition testimony; attempted to obstruct justice by facilitating a witness' plan to refuse to comply with a subpoena; attempted to obstruct justice by encouraging a witness to file an affidavit that the president knew would be false ... ; lied to potential grand jury witnesses, knowing that then they would repeat those lies before the grand jury; and engaged in a pattern on conduct that was inconsistent with his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws."
That was more then enough for the Republicans to justify their impeachment of Clinton. Trump has committed those same acts...tenfold. The Democrats need to do what their congressional oaths demand of them. If the Republicans want to side with Trump's criminality, and they will, then they need to be identified to the public as being just as criminal, seditious and threatening to our nation as Trump is.
Enough already of allowing this criminal con man and his Republican and conservative sycophants to debase and corrupt OUR republic.
4
Just think - all this is back in the good old days when Trump was surrounded by people who were scrupulous and knowledgeable enough to refuse to follow orders that were illegal, immoral, or reckless. Who is left in that White House and administration who will do this now? Miller, Mulvaney, Barr?
Trump's strategy now is to keep everyone as 'acting' so that they have limited leeway to refuse because they are always auditioning for their own job. What Mueller shows us is that Trump, left to his own instincts, will break laws with impunity. Now there are fewer people than ever to hold him back.
He needs to be impeached before, unfettered by restraining influences, he does real harm.
2
If the choice now, faced with Mueller’s exposé of abhorrent conduct in office, is whether to impeach Trump or not, instinctively I’m bound to opt for the latter. The seismic effect could be catastrophically divisive, even violent, if removed by other means than an election, and, even then, not likely to be orderly. Can this be a risk worth taking? However, if Trump is allowed to complete his term, he must be contained. Democrats, even some rational Republicans must be wondering how to allow a demonstrable deplorable to continue to run their country without being challenged on his contemptible and contemptuous conduct. The answer for many is that he can’t, and he must be impeached. He cannot govern for the majority of Americans who despise him. 2020 is a long way off when one considers the daily tempests thus far. Mueller’s report will act like a warm sea fuelling the typhoon in days to come. Based on that reality, I reluctantly conclude that the only just cause can be early removal before he destroys America’s social and physical beauty.
Trump’s decrepit spectre has invoked dormant or suppressed prejudices in America on which his supporters dine. But, what has he constructively accomplished? The intrinsic answer is nothing other than a cronyistic tax cut that impoverishes the most vulnerable. He is a force of destruction. The sooner the cancer is excised, the sooner the recovery begins.
No administration has been under the magnifying glass like this one. And for all the lies and frankly, treason by the last administration that we know of (many and much) this article is hypocritically great platform for the REAL problem with today’s Left- they care NOTHING for getting anything done other than somehow undermining our President and our Country in the process. The new House of Representatives is doing nothing about the economy, the environment, the infrastructure, immigration, healthcare- ZERO. Just lots and lots of Trump Derangement Syndrome and making sure that anyone, from any walk of life, who espouses conservatism has a target on their backs. But we are the silent majority, and we WILL push back. This is Why Trump Won, and why he will win again, while you all go on and on and on about your absolute denial of a legitimate election and the rights and freedoms of those you disagree with. Sickening state of affairs, but there it is. I would say Grow Up but I know that is not going to happen.
4
@KathyG, I agree with you that infrastructure, the environment, the economy, immigration and healthcare are really important, and that every minute on this is a minute we are not dealing with the real problems facing Americans. Having said that, let's look at some facts. The Republicans have stacked the Cabinet with corrput, incompetent officials. The EPA and the Interior dept are ruling mercury can be used even though it poisons people. They are selling our land to oil companies and opening the coast for more drilling. Finally, they deny climate change and won't lift a finger to help preserve the only home we have.
Republicans have attacked and undermined the Affordable Care Act. They did nothing about infrastructure and passed a tax bill that guarantees trillion dollar deficits--in fact, this is their only accomplishment after ruling Congress and the Executive for two years. Republicans refused to pass immigration reform and many Republican ruled states refuse to implement E-Verify.
And finally, House Democrats rule only one half of one branch of the government - Republicans rule the Senate and the Executive. Please look at the facts before making your decision.
Trump and the Republicans are not going to pass any legislation that helps regular American people. Can we agree that these issues you raised are important - critical-- to our welfare? And can we look at, fairly, where the obstruction of action on these issues has been?
@KathyG
"The new House of Representatives is doing nothing about the economy, the environment, the infrastructure, immigration, healthcare- ZERO. "
Yeah, they only passed 103 bills in the last 3 months many of which deal with your aforementioned subjects.
@Cuddlecat And it will take even more to undo the destruction Trump has wrought on our environment, world standing, allies, stance in the world, and on and on.
The President of the United States ordering the Justice Department to prosecute his political opponent is outrageous and impeachable standing alone.
All the other lies and obstruction attempts are horrific. It is difficult to see how this County will ever recover its basic integrity.
2
I don't care about the Mueller report because it merely confirms my low personal opinion of Trump, which I was willing to excuse when I voted for him because of his criticism of foreign wars and his opposition to illegal immigration. For me, the really important event of this week is Trump's veto of the resolution opposing American military involvement in Yemen. If Trump is not going to oppose foreign wars. that leaves only the immigration issue as a reason for me to vote for his re-election and that might not be enough since I disagree with him on so many other issues.
4
What’s in incredibly sad and chilling is that so many so called Americans will continue to support him regardless of what he does.
Vote.
5
Truly unconscionable that AG Barr explicitly lied in his press conference yesterday before releasing the report. When asked if the Mueller team’s decision not to charge obstruction of justice was based on the Justice Department policy against indicting a sitting President, Barr flatly said “no.” That is in direct conflict with the report’s description of Mueller’s rationale for not pursuing obstruction charges! You can’t make this stuff up, it would be too over the top to believe...
2
The entire nation is at risk with Trump et al. What continues to trouble so many is that many or most of the Republicans support Trump even though they know of the criminal intent propagated by those close to Trump in the WhiteHouse.
Be assured, those that supported Trump then and now will pay a heavy price as history writes Trump is the absolute worse "president"this country has even endured.
As a former Army Officer, I am ashamed of this man, his family..for what he stands for (almost nothing in character) and hope the days go by quickly until Trump leaves office..(and the sealed indictment is opened..)
3
Frankly I am tired of reading about his aides being "alarmed". Why didn't anyone do anything. Here we are wondering what's next, how long can the insanity go on and on. Why won't one of those alarmed people come out and say *something* to end this torture.
1
So we are now to believe that the man who cheated in every facet of his personal and professional life somehow conducted his campaign within the bounds of the law despite numerous lies about contacts with the Russians. What were all those meetings about??? This is simply beyond belief.
They couldn't "prove" collusion because the evidence was destroyed when the Trump organization used aps like "Confide" and "What's Ap" that destroyed or encrypted the messages. We all know that collusion DID happen. Let's be real.
1
The report clearly shows - this man is the paragon of virtue. He is revealed to be even-keeled and thoughtful. As is consistent with his being the 'most biblical president,' he is demonstrably kind, and honorable. He treats all of his colleagues with integrity and fairness. He seeks no retribution for trespasses small or large. There is not a scintilla of sleaze, corruption, or dishonesty in him, nor in his sphere. He is self-evidently very literate, deeply intelligent, and strategic. He communicates with such aplomb that it would put Abraham Lincoln to shame. His leadership skills are such that even Eisenhower, or Roosevelt would have to admit his superiority. He has the physique of Schwarzenegger, the brain of Einstein, and the humility of Mother Teresa, with the financial touch of Warren Buffett. And on this Good Friday, even his 'tweets' from his "day of penance and fasting" at Mar A Lago reflect his deep sense of the overwhelming mercy of God and the redemption of all people.
This is a great synopsis by the NYT. Thank you. It feels like we’re living in a movie.
I’m looking forward to getting back to a sane country when this horror is over.
3
As a lawyer for near 40 years, I can say ALL, yes every single great lawyer I knew ALWAYS took notes and so I did as well.
I took great pride in my notations and the summaries I composed to aid in discovery and creating strategy.
Actually the mere fact that Trump's history with "great" lawyers like Cohn and Cohen who never took notes simply supports the criminal and covert nature of their meetings.
After all is said and done, the truth will out because the American people must have it. The majority will insist and our Democracy will be vindicated. With what we have learned we will press on for justice and concern ourselves with the most important aspects of governance like the health, safety, and welfare of our people and the global state of turmoil and environmental destruction.
2020 will wrap this up and Trump will be prosecuted if he remains in the USA; because he just might seek asylum in Russia, Saudi Arabia, but probably not North Korea.
It won't be happy ending but it will be an ending so we can pull it back together and start over.
Our image as the bastion of justice and a beacon of freedom to the world must be restored. It shall be.
1
OK, so as a country what do we do now.
First , let’s all agree government is too corrupt, both parties. We don’t have a free press.
I believe the only way out of this is let the military take over temporarily, their are powerful bad actors in powerful positions in and out of government.
Corruption is the #1 national security threat to the United States , and yes , the media is playing a big roll in this.
Forget impeachment we are pass that now
Kick out Trump and his entire administration , let the military keep the basic government running.
Congress is nothing more than a part time job anyway.
mandatory voting,everyone votes
Get rid of the electoral college it’s antiquated.
Term limits
It’s a start,
So why try to obstruct justice unless you have something to hide? It might be arrogance or paranoia that drove Trump but there may be other reasons that Mueller did not find.
1
You go as you start. This administration has not met a lie it didn’t like. And they have Trump in the lead. Follow me, I been doing this all my life. And it’s easy -peasy. There are lies for all occasions. Russia, healthcare, marital affairs, taxes, you name it I got it. Why tell the truth when a lie gets you through any occasion. It’s like not paying taxes. Why should I pay when a lie can get me out of them? I’m such a great citizen. I let you pay your share and mine.
1
MUELLER REPORT: "On July 27, 2016, candidate Trump made public statements that included the following:
‘Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.’
Within approximately five hours of Trump’s statement, GRU [Russian] officers targeted for the first time Clinton’s personal office.
After candidate Trump’s remarks, [Russian] Unit 26165 created and sent malicious links targeting 15 email accounts including an email account belonging to Clinton aide.”
Apr 18, 2019: Mueller’s Report. Here’s proof of Trump’s collusion with Russian hackers.
7
So let me get this right about the president and American law. Trump instructed many White House staff to disobey the law but they resisted and that’s what has saved trump from criminal prosecution. So one can go around asking people to commit an indictable offense and as long as people refuse then you’re safe. I find that interpretation of law to be perverted.
13
You're not the only one by a long shot.
2
@James
No. Trump could have fired Mueller on his own. He didn’t and listened to his subordinates, including his lawyers. That’s what lawyers are for - to provide counsel.
You are kidding, right? He ordered them to lie and perform illegal acts. And please name one person he has actually had the guts to fire while looking them in the face.
Reading press accounts like this news story, seeing example after example of Trump's obstructive behavior recounted in the Mueller report, along with William Barr's brazen politicization of the Justice Department and his in plain sight distortion of the Mueller report findings makes wonder if the end of America is not unfolding before our eyes. It's looking like it won't be a foreign attack or some Ebola type pestilence that destroys America, but our own hypocrisy. What makes this seem not so far-fetched a possibility is the calculation that every day, apparently sane, non-racist Trump supporters are making. It goes like this: "We know he's a despicable and immoral person, but he's good for the economy". If enough people make that calculation and put Trump back in office in two years, it can safely be concluded the American experiment has at least temporarily failed. The only thing that raises my hope level is the push against the system from that bold freshman class of outspoken Congresswomen who clearly aren't falling for the okey-doke.
7
The mutual mistrust that Trump is propagating amongst our citizens is the real threat. Fortunately it has not yet affected our day to day lives. That’s when the real unraveling would occur.
This article concisely states what we already knew, that the president is emotionally and perhaps mentally unstable. He needs counseling, and not in the legal sense. He’s off the rails while supposedly running the country. It’s a very sad commentary on our country.
7
Those people in the white house who did not do Trump's bidding were NOT patriotic but just thinking of themselves. No one in that place cares one bit about America or our Democratic institutions. No applause for these people.
6
Unfortunately, after reading all these comments; I see these people are the ones who did not vote for him.
The 40% that don't read or listen to the truths coming from anyone; only "FAKE NEWS" FOX; I fear will re-elect him.
2
The title of this article should be put on a plaque and put outside the entrance to the Oval Office so all who enter can be reminded of how low the presidency has sunk.
2
All administrations are corrupt; it’s only a matter of degree. Congress is no better, maybe worse. Supreme Court is only branch with modicum of honesty... and that may be changing.
2
trump rails against perceived adversaries in the FBI with renewed gusto ... “bad cops” he calls them. These include a host of careered FBI professionals that he mercilessly pillories daily, incredulously accusing them openly of treason. Three of them (Mueller, Comey, McCabe) were long standing reputable FBI directors, two of which he fired outright and unceremoniously. In one case he accelerated timing the dismissal deliberately and callously to deny a life time pension. This despotic president is on a determined vengeful mission to disembowel the FBI.
The testimony of the two senior FBI professionals (Strzok/Ohr) before a congressional committee serves as an exemplary model of decorum and respectfulness for the judicial process --- testify publicly, under oath, no 5th, no time limit, no limits on questions --- the exact opposite of trump’s despicable and cowardly avoidance tactics with the Mueller investigation. Hardly the expected behavior of someone who keeps asserting he has done nothing wrong. We have a mouse, not a man for a president.
2
Now it's time for Congress to due its duty and end this nightmare. Trump and his administration needs to go.
4
The Mueller Report is a horrendous catalog of dysfunctional and abuse of power. The desperate efforts of old guard Republicans who were entrained to serve the Kleptocracy, the “Resistance” inside the WH, are truly sad. Instead of trying to distance themselves, preserve their privilege and “dignity” and keep Trump from hurting himself and the country, they should either have helped him sink himself or testified against him.
We’ll see whether they turn up to testify now. They should “rat out” the incompetent scofflaw in the White House. Onward, Democrats, give them the chance! Open hearings in the House, please. Purge this corruption and restore honor to our system of government before we mean nothing.
4
I expect stories like this attempting to rationalize and excuse away the lies the New York Times told us for the last two years about “collusion” will become the norm. The biggest damage this terrible chapter in American history has resulted in is in the utter destruction of an impartial, objective free press that can be relied upon to tell the truth instead of promoting their own political bias. How can the New York Times purport to claim Maggie Haberman is a objective “reporter” when she does double duty as a paid pundit for CNN? Papers like this and others (Washington Post, CNN, etc.) have completely abandoned their primary mission to the American people - to tell the truth. Worse, they seem incapable of learning from their mistakes by insisting they somehow “got it right.” They owe the Trump campaign, the individuals who were falsely prosecuted as a result of this hoax and the American people an apology. Honestly, I don’t see how we trust them going forward and some alternative medium will have to be created to provide Americans with accurate news sources.
3
@Dr. M
The Times is still trying to make its case that Trump is "guilty" despite the fact that no charges were recommended. They are creating their own "indictments" to make up for the ones that don't exist.
2
I’d have liked to read, spelled out in capital letters, that Bob Muller found DT guilty of Obstruction of Justice! Plain and simple. Thank you.
3
I give up. Mueller says that indicting a sitting president would be too disruptive to government! That might work in normal circumstances, but the sitting president is disruptive by his nature. And incompetent. It would be less disruptive to remove him.
3
@Terence
Mueller also said this isn't the reason why he failed to indict. (Barr asked him explicitly 3 times and he responded that this was not the basis for his findings.).
People are grasping at straws on that one.
To those who advocate impeaching Trump, let me cautiuon that impeachment will leave 35 -45 million Americans feeling that their legitimate votes for Trump were overturned (i.e., stolen) by a mere few hundred members of Congress. This will create such divisions in the country as to make today's tribalism look almost quaint by comparison -- not to mention making Trump a martyr with the continued ability via tweet and rallies to even further divide the nation.
Better to vote the cretin out of office. The American people have an admirable record of respecting the democratic voting process and insisting on the peaceful transition to power.
Let's not take shortcuts that will end up creating more problems down the road. Let's organize, mobilize, and win the next election -- especially with a candidate who can win back those millions of Trump voters who previously voted for Obama twice.
2
Its sad to see how far we have fallen..
In 1974, people of all political persuasions were shocked and disgusted with a president that lied and dared to use expletives in the course of his duties.
In 2019, we have about 40% of the voting population who have no trouble with either and are perfectly OK with the idea that the president can pay off professional "sex workers". Yet they think themselves "Christian". And jeer "we won!!".
I fear to think how much further we can fall.
6
Now, will Lindsey Graham and his ilk have the guts and integrity to call Trump out on his illegal obstruction?? I won’t hold my breath, but he and McConnell know the right thing to do. We sorely miss the presence and stature of John McCain right here and now!
4
All of this must make Republicans so proud of Mr. Trump. Right?
5
Can anyone in the White House or current administration walk a straight line? What's happening in our society when half our Republic is at war with the other half. We better get it together folks or we are in deep trouble. Why this is happening, I don't know, do you?
8
It meets or exceeds the objectives of the Russian efforts to interfere via Social Media and give Trump victory. Preventing this from happening again should be the top priority in Washington.
4
@lftash
It's not rocket surgery, iftash.
Our government has been taken over at its highest levels by a criminal conspiracy. The criminals have cleverly enlisted the services (and votes) of the mentally defective, the bigoted, the faux religious, et al, to support their efforts. We may very well not get America back.
If there is a God, this would be an excellent time for him/her/it to smite the wicked, beginning with the public evisceration of Trump, McConnell, et al.
Which White House was perfect?? Maybe in dreams
2
@sym
Right, we expected him to be "perfect." Smarten up. We expected him not to be a criminal. He failed.
6
All Administrations seek by whatever means to control their appearances and messages that the public perceives. Have you ever seen anything that resembles this Administration before?
1
Of course no White House achieved perfection, but we’re not talking about that end of the scale here. Trump clearly has a warped view of the President’s power, derived, no doubt, from his spoiled upbringing. The Kennedy’s no doubt had conversations about “investigations,” I’m sure, however, they knew that the U.S. Constitution placed limits on the President’s powers, and worked within its framework to achieve their desired aims. I’m not convinced that Trump understands the fundamental fact of the those limits and why they are important. His view of power, honed by running is own private business where no one who worked for him was allowed to question his demands, is woefully ignorant of the concepts of separation of powers and limited government.
Unless, of course, he’s sharper than he seems, and knows exactly where he’s headed.
My hope is that he simply doesn’t understand the concept of limits and why they are important. Otherwise he represents a much larger threat than I, for one, had thought existed.
1
Obstruction of Nothing
Mueller vindicates Trump on collusion and plays Hamlet on obstruction.
Sheer nonsense where the Democrats wasted millions of our dollars.
6
Obstruction of justice.
2
@Jim
Limbaugh is correct--the essence of the Mueller report is "Donald Trump attempted to obstruct our coup"
I go to bed at night wondering how did this happen. Then I go to sleep. I never dream about Trump or Sarah or the skinny guy with funny glasses. But Jesus Louise those guys must dream this stuff. Gotta be an an unhealthy life. It’s like having the masthead populated with mental fatigue. They need a rest.
1
Disgraceful headline not borne out by the actual historical facts. But the attack dog writers Haberman and Baker, whose many "collusion" columns over the last 2 years have been proven totally wrong by the Mueller "no collusion" verdict, are anti-Trump sensationalism writers who have but one purpose: put a spike through President Trump and the current administration without regard to truth!
4
@Ross Stuart
You are right the report states no collusion. However what it does also state is CONSPIRACY and without a doubt there was conspiracy big time. trump is a conspiring con man who will do or say whatever it takes to sell his lies.
2
@DAC Sorry but if there is no crime there cannot be a "conspiracy"! Unless you want to make up another fantasy: a conspiracy to NOT commit a crime. Good thinking!
1
If it wasn't for Trump, The Times wouldn't have had to start publishing previously banned obscenities.
Who would have ever thought it would be an American president who would force it to change its policies.
Way to go Donald!
7
"Every country has the government it deserves" and "In a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." - Joseph de Maistre
We have established a new nadir. Many people are very happy with this and will certainly vote this level of bombast continue. They have been seduced by a grade school bully with nuclear weapons. Other countries understand our situation and wonder when it will be corrected.
Mussolini is the best example. "We become strong, I feel, when we have no friends upon whom to lean, or to look to for moral guidance." - El Duce
Vote in November 2020. There is some hope..
12
Elections have consequences: I voted for Trump not Clinton.
Yes, I knew Trump was sleazy , but the lack of integrity is mind boggling.
Jared Kushner a real estate agent is now in charge of foreign policies? Are you kidding
Both parties are so corrupt, if your ever coming back Jesus , you better hurry we are running out of time.
5
hope there are more trump voters like you-- who can mo longer accept his level of sleaze and attacks on norms.
1
We keep telling ourselves that we are a nation of laws, and that no one is above the law.
History, both recent and not to distant, tells us otherwise. And I am tired of pretending, like some stupid sap, that no, the laws always prevail.
Law is for the little people. Leona Helmsley underestimated just how much privilege she was apparently entitled to.
4
The Mueller report, even redacted, is NOT the Slam Dunk for impeachment that many naively hoped for. But Neither is it the Blessing of Exoneration that Trump is braying about.
It's a splatter of mud from the sewer drain.
It's a 400 page explication of the facts that show us a failed shell of an administration whose sole purpose for existence is to 'Serve Trump'. It portrays a man who acts more like a petty, sneering, small-time criminal Mob Boss than ANYTHING we should come to expect from someone called. 'Mr. President'.
Impeachment is meaningless...because the Republicans in the Senate will NOT Vote to REMOVE. So do not expect some weak-spined moderates to 'Find their Moral Compass' again.
Because there is NO SUCH thing as 'Losing or Finding your Moral Compass'.
You either HAVE a Moral Compass...or you do NOT.
Donald Trump was Never Born with one.
The Republicans cowering behind McConnell reach up, grabbed hold of their Moral Compasses, TORE THEM OFF... and THREW THEM AWAY. Once Thrown away...there is NO FINDING it again. And there is NO TRUSTING such a person again. They CHOSE to walk down the Dark Path.
In 2020...VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
13
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then the president’s deputy press secretary, told reporters that the White House had talked to “countless members of the F.B.I.” who supported the decision to fire the director — but she later admitted to investigators that it was not true. Her comment, she said, was “a slip of the tongue” made “in the heat of the moment” and not founded on anything.
She spills venom and lies. Congress should charge her for treason and sedition.
13
@Len
Sarah's given us a new euphemism for lying. Donald has a lot of slips of the tongue.
Networks sending reporters all over the country to measure the temperature in advance to 20/20...
In trump's strongholds not much is changed, the love Barr report, they still don't believe a word in Mueller's report, they love their cheating lying dear leader for some unknown reason they think he stands for them, abandon and disenfranchise true blood americans.
Just listening to all that makes me very down and despondent.
How easy is it for people to be fooled? How easy is it for people to fool themselves?
6
@faivel1
Donald is being persecuted like their first savior was...
Interesting headline, considering that it was the Clinton campaign all along (via their hired associates) attempting to entrap Trump with ‘Russian collusion’....and coming up empty.
3
A full third of the country thinks this sleazebag is a good President; that not being a convicted criminal is the standard for Presidential fitness. The health Care system is broken and the President and Senate want to make it even worse. Elementary schools, of all things, are unsafe from psychopaths with arsenals. Wealth disparity continues to grow. America no longer has a claim to being the Greatest Country In The World. I pray the next generation doesn't end up like the Boomers have, or it's going to be a long, painful 21st century.
4
Oh, the campaign to win the White House was pretty crooked too. The account of Michael Flynn and others trying to find Clinton's emails, as ordered to by Trump, is darn chilling.
Barbara Ledeen, a former Senate staffer and associate of Flynn "wanted to make contact with 'various foreign services' to see if any of them had cracked the server."
This story should be on the front page
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/politics/clinton-emails-trump-russia.html
7
I'll keep it simple.
Maniac, child Donald Trump has to go.
Go and leave us to repair our country.
Just go.
7
Thanks to Robert Mueller and Company, this non-fiction article by New York Times journalists, Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman resolves the conundrum. The White House was torched by nonother than The President.
I hope to see "The Art of the Heel" as a prime time production. If there is such a thing as "justice in media", a 5-part documentary will air opposite Sean Hannity during the 2020 Republican National Convention.
1
More like a cult of dishonesty. If Trump wants to be a billionaire he should start his own religion. Apparently He’ll have no shortage of followers.
6
There’s one way and one way only to get this liar out of the office: vote blue 2020. It’s up to us people!
11
Who knew that the man who started and spread the “Birther” lies against President Obama would turn out to be such a contemptible, dishonest, impulsive, self serving, manipulating, incompetent and shameful President of the United States!
8
@DCJ Who knew? Anyone who actually gave some thought to how Trump acted during the campaign and what Trump said. Even years before Trump ran for President, his sleaziness was obvious.
The NYT and reporters are liberals. They wanted Hillary. All headlines are negative toward President Trump. The feeling is a dragged down shell of a once robust journalism thriving here. It gets so old. I’ve cancelled NYT several times and I come back for Arts Food and Science. Perhaps NYT should have a Trump free front page of negative articles once a week.
2
The White House tapes will be interesting when they get released...
4
Excellent article on the damning incidents in Mueller's report. It is so clear to any reasonably sane person that 45 is unfit to be president. That there were not indictments was considerably a result of the DOJ rule forbidding this for a president (Wrong, NO One in our Nation should be above the law). The standard for the presidency should not be criminal, but decency, which 45 failed.
12
Trump is the symptom, not the cause of our national disgrace.
The GOP has lost its way as a credible political force focused on fiscal conservatism.
The Republican Party has become immersed in a sea of dark corporate money. Republicans now willingly stand behind the most ignorant, vulgar and greedy person, Donald Trump, to ever occupy the Oval Office. As long as taxes for the GOP's super-rich masters are slashed, Republicans are willing to let the poor and the weak die in the streets for lack of healthcare. They are willing to deny climate change and destroy the future of this planet. They are willing to allow Donald Trump to fill our government administration with an endless array of incompetent corporate lackeys and to make a laughing stock of our nation before the entire world.
The Republicans have abandoned Constitutional law, democracy and everything this country has stood for. They are destroying our two-party system and every American who cares about the future of the United States must vote the current Republicans out of power or we shall sink further into the amoral GOP/Trumpian abyss.
23
As a former Pastor, I can’t imagine how Evangelical Christians can support such a disgusting person as Trump! He represents the exact opposite of Christian values! I guess the Scriptures don’t matter today.
1
And yet I wake up this morning and he is still president. Wacky world we live in. Where is the rule of law? When will we hold this mobster wannna be accountable?
15
Lies? How about this one that we've been force-fed every second of every minute of every day for the last two-and-a-half years:
"Trump is a traitor and a puppet of Vladimir Putin, who colluded with Russia to undermine American democracy and influence the outcome of the 2016 election."
Start with *that* big lie, which the Democrats and the biased, liberal-lapdog media have been repeating on TV and in print ad nauseam for the last thirty months.
Once the media owns up to *that* lie, THEN we can start talking about Trump's "dishonesty."
1
You are exaggerating and should know it. Most critics of Trump object to his constant lying and calling truth fake. His behavior in the presence of Putin is bizarre and if you cannot see that, you have not been paying attention. He and the people around him ignore ethical conduct and act in contempt of our laws.
4
@Casual Observer
Exaggerating? Go turn on CNN and count the seconds until someone - most likely Maggie Haberman, the author of this very article - calls Trump a liar. It's been that way for over two years and we now know that every one of the accusations regarding Russia and collusion was false and predicated on lies.
How should an innocent man react, when the overwhelming weight of the media is brought down on him? Should he just sit back and take it?
This whole thing reeks of an inexperienced politician trying to find a way to end an unjust investigation born of hate and based on lies. The Mueller report proves Trump didn't collude. Would any of the other things have happened, if the witch hunt had never taken place?
It's like entrapment. They accused him, declared him guilty, and now say, "Look at all the things he did!" Well, he wouldn't have done any of them, if it hadn't been for the fake charges to begin with.
I'm not saying Trump is a fine, upstanding person. I am saying he got a raw deal that continues to this day. If you can't see that, maybe you're not paying attention.
This is no longer “breaking news”.
Nor an “alert”.
Ready. Set. Go. Takes on a new meaning...
Let us now move on to the “full meal deal”.
He's already been impeached. The Senate will never remove him from office so just let him stew in his own knowledge of his guilt.
2
OMG tiny little man’s behavior is totally out of control and unbelievable. He lies and of course can’t remember what he said and then contradicts himself. We are not being served by this presidential imposter. Further, his paranoia is overwhelming. Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Hopefully the truth will prevail.
5
How can one ever believe anything emanating from Sarah Sanders' mouth from now on? In accepting she fibbed on Fox News, she cannot even truthfully characterize that what she did is lying, avoided the "L" word. How can it be a "slip of the tongue" when she did it on two occasions. It was a scripted lie!!!
Here's a re-worded Mother Goose rhyme for you, Sarah, for one of those cozy family evenings:
Sarah, Sarah, taradiddle
How does your podium stand
With slips of tongue and falsities
And rows of twisted fibs all to be banned.
4
Russian interference did happen, on an ad hoc, unorganized basis - Trump asking Russia, "if you're listening Russia...", and so on. So, net net, the Russians won bigly because Trump became their useful idiot. And the Russians are still winning because Trump has degraded his office and burned huge amounts of American soft power to fuel his fraudulent presidency. And not only that, he's lowered the bar, or perhaps removed it, for ethical standards for the Republican Party by making support for him a litmus test. This further destabilizes the US two party system, and this during an era of growing secular changes to economics and international order.
That the electoral politics of all this might favor Trump in 2020 is another win for Putin.
8
And here I thought this was going to be about Obama and his "wingman" Attorney General.
1
Where are the Pence lies? He knew that Flynn had contacts & said he said he knew nothing. He's a huge liar.
9
I wonder how much individual #1 has to pay Rudy Giuliani to stand by his side.
3
@sues Rudy does it just to be on TV.
1
JUST SOME of the other matters worth looking into - for the sake of our Country:
---
The People of the State of New York...
v.
Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric F. Trump, and the Donald J. Trump Foundation
https://www.clearinghouse.net/chDocs/public/PR-NY-0006-0001.pdf
Above is the .pdf of the Verified Petition.
---
City and County of San Francisco
v.
Donald J. Trump, as President of the United States of America et al
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.307351.1.0.pdf
Above is the .pdf of the Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief.
--
District of Columbia and the State of Maryland
v.
Donald J. Trump in his official capacity as President ...
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.391534/gov.uscourts.mdd.391534.1.0_1.pdf
Complaint, Nature of Action - Against Trump in his official capacity as President of the United States, involving unprecedented constitutional violations that have injured and threaten to cause continuing injury against DC, Maryland, and their respective residents....
-----
And that's just for starters.
As much as the GOP is enjoying defending the indefensible, there is actually alot more where that came from.
Trump is a disgrace to this country, and so are his supporters in the House and Senate.
4
It is clear now that Trump's voters voted for a crook. SAD!
4
So now inveterate Trump haters like the New York Times and its readers have gone from accusing Trump of being an outright criminal to now being a “gangster,” a “cheat,” “amoral,” etc. etc. ad nauseum. I guess that’s a little progress.
3
Merely because it’s all true, so yes.
2
This off-key Trumpet will be muted in due time. He has already said too much during his childish tantrums.
Someday, hopefully all this will be forgotten and the Trumpet's prezzz i duncy will be entered into the history books:
"The period 2017-2020 nearly destroyed America as we knew it, when a dotard called the Trumpet believed himself an entitled demigod who sought to change American culture by normalizing lies, fraud, treason, inappropriate profiteering, and all manner of insults to people not like himself. This despicable Trumpet was forcibly removed from the White House by a team of his generals who placed him in a straitjacket and hauled him off to prison. We have not seen him since. America finally recovered by 2021."
Yep! America, land of the free and the home of the brave....
6
@ultimateliberal This is a nice fantasy, but never gonna happen. We don't jail white men in positions of power. Even if impeached, Pence will pardon him, "for the sake of the country." More like for the sake of the GOP.
1
How is that NYT's editors continue to allow Maggie Haberman to cover Trump given the clear bias of her tweets, work, etc. In this story dissecting the Mueller report, not one mention of the failure to confirm any collusion, i.e.
4
Indeed, especially as her mother works for a PR firm that did work for ”trump”. She is compromised. Like you, progressives shun her.
1
@Ome
Because she is one of the best reporters in the country. Even Trump likes and respects her and he calls her often for off the record talks.
1
Having the NYT lecture anyone about dishonesty is quite rich. When will the country receive an apology for the two years of hysterical reporting that we had a Manchurian Candidate in Donald Trump?
That's of course a rhetorical question.
BTW, who was President during the Russian interference in both the 2014 and 2016 elections? Please regale us with a recap of your coverage.
2
Just imagine the books that will spawn from this presidency. All the White House insiders will spill their guts trying to outdo each other with tales of our perverse president.
3
Where is Robert Bork when you need him?
Finally! A front-page headline and blurb that doesn't mince words. LIE is so easy to spell and understand. Tell it like it is!
11
The POTUS lies blatantly on a daily basis to Americans.
He has sided with Putin LIVE on TV.
His entire family has been allowed to skate around security clearances giving them access that in the past would have been immediately considered criminal.
To me the Democrats seem gutless and only add to the fact that any criminal proceedings by them will obviously take more time. The election will happen before anything the Democrats will accomplish. I completely disagree with Pelosi that "impeachment is unlikely and we'll just have the voters decide in 2020."
I wish this country was not a 2 party system fueled by cash.
13
I agree. If Trump was a Democrat and the Republicans were the majority in the House of Representatives impeachment hearing would already be taking place.
1
Trump has repeatedly made this assertion, “No collusion, no obstruction!”
He also took a solum oath at his inauguration as President of the United States.
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
President Trump has serially and wantonly made a mockery of that oath.
The failure of Congress to act expeditiously and courageously to sanction and redress this blatant and grievous pattern of misbehavior and this profound and consistent breech of the oath Trump took will amount to condoning and abetting those actions.
Such a failure would be a Constitutional crisis of far greater proportions than the one already precipitated by the President himself.
9
The Republicans operate in “feel facts”. It’s not what’s true that matters, it’s how it feels. So long as the President stops short of being punished, all of his lying is justified. He knows that he only needs to play to a particular group of gerrymandered voters in an electoral college system and keep delivering the goodies to the dark money overlords that rule Mitch McConnell and he’s protected. Then he can go on talking about a wall or whatever he needs to in order to keep his supporters frothing at the mouth. Short of maybe a perp walk, they will believe whatever deep state fantasies Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter keep telling them to believe.
8
Shakespeare comes to life. Could he have written better? I think not.
Even if not president, that man is a despicable human being; no moral compass except pointing due north - to himself.
I'd rather we keep the enemy close than impeach him. I'm sure Pence is salivating at the thought of replacing him. Unfortunately for us sane, constitution loving ones, Pence knows much more about being effective.
3
When Clinton got impeached by the GOP Congress it was for lying to them, not his inappropriate affair.
Likewise, not "collusion" but Trump's criminal level obstruction.
He used our office of the presidency to try to derail an investigation. He needs to pay for that.
9
He colluded with the russians and he obstructed the investigation. If you want to try to begin to fully grasp the deep state, speak with mcconnell or graham or any republican.
3
The Teflon don skates.
I hope the feds go after him and his grifter family after he loses the 2020 election.
2
Many Republicans may choose to tow Trump's fake narrative that the Mueller Report was political and crooked. Nothing could be farther from the truth. EVERY assertion that Trump blithers declaring it a "witch hunt", invalid, a Democratic hatchet job, etc. is a LIE.
The main concern, Russian hacking, is unquestionable and EVERY AMERICAN should be horrified by this, regardless of partisan affiliation. We MUST deal with this now!
Concern about "collusion" showed, from this mainly REPUBLICAN panel (not that that matters here, but Trump calls them Democrats), that there was no evidence FOUND linking Trump directly to Russian interference - only a huge number of "coincidences". There was not enough evidence to constitute a prosecutable crime, but it did NOT proclaim Trump innocent.
The Obstruction issue showed more-than-ample evidence that Trump indeed attempted obstruction - a crime in itself. THE RESOLUTION OF OBSTRUCTION WILL BE IN CONGRESS because the DOJ (not facts) feels that a sitting president (a debatable title) cannot be tried.
For tribal Republicans, you deny FACTS, indisputable facts. By ignoring this you endorse criminality at the highest levels of American government and nothing you can say will change that. Ignorance and denial are not excuses for letting Trump get away with high crimes. Explain THAT to your children!
2
So the question is:
Is there not one person in Washington who is patriotic enough to say that Trump is unfit for the Presidency and must be removed?
4
This is great. Now Donald is Tweeting to watch out for people who take "so-called notes". Makes one wonder all the more why he made sure to get the notes from that translator after his private meeting with Putin.
2
@Rick
I did laugh at McGahn's response that it was because "I'm a real lawyer".
1
The nature of the human animal is to lie, according to psychologists, and biologists, as it is in ones DNA. However, most people realize that other than little white lies, to protect the feelings of family, and friends, they don't participate in lying, as they were usually taught in the home not to lie, and they teach their children not to as well. There is a certain part of the male ego, however, not all males, thank God, but many who like to either exaggerate, or minimize what comes out of their mouth so they receive the most attention, from those in their circle, which is usually other males. This can be from their golf scores, fishing stories, net worth, etc. It isn't that these other males necessarily believe them, as it is rather that the nature of the human animal is not to rock the boat, and cause tension, remain in the tribe, keep it functioning, etc. When one is faced with a partner, whether in the home, work, neighborhood, etc., it becomes more difficult to reconcile one's one mental state of being honest, and forthcoming, with what they are forced to endure in the other part of their life. Here, we have a President, DT, who, since he was a young child, has acted that way, all the time, 24-7, every day, with absolutely no qualms. That is why, the year before he was nominated, and he was saying very disparaging comments about every one, I couldn't understand, why the news media didn't just cut him off, no coverage? It created a monster, and here we are!
1
If this were not the President of the US, he would be charged with obstruction. Irrespective of the OLC opinion on indicting a sitting President, Mueller set a higher standard than usual, to wit, the evidence must "establish" all the elements of the crime. Use of the word "establish" seems to mean more than enough evidence "to prove beyond a reasonable doubt" but enough to prove beyond any doubt. On that standard, if it were not enough to result in a guilty plea, Mueller would not indict Trump.
Mueller goes to pains to show circumstantial evidence of "corrupt intent" but can never quite persuade himself of its being "established." What Mueller barely discusses is if Trump was not intending to obstruct justice, then there had to be a different reason for his behavior.
The reason seems to be in part about Trump's obsession with people's perceiving him to be not legitimately elected. That obsession prevents, to this day, Trump's doing anything to secure our future elections from interference by foreign actors through social media, computer hacking, or other wrongdoing.
Such obsessive self-absorption, combined with his rampant dishonesty, is a hallmark of Trump's psychological disability. Mueller never addresses Trump's mental state, which might possibly affect his ability to form criminal intent. If after Trump's term is over, he is indicted, he may very well have available to him the defense of "not guilty by reason of insanity."
Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman wrote a beautiful piece here that reads like a novel, putting things in order and depicting a madman, who just happens to be running the country. The interactions with Sessions and McGahn are priceless and show a President whose domineering personality prevents him from listening to, much less taking, professional advice. The comment to McGahn about note taking is priceless. Trump hates to be confronted with truth in the midst of telling lies that would make him into the hero instead of the goat he is. Where this will end, I don't know. But as long as the economy is good and WW3 hasn't started, and states are doing things about the Climate Change that will one day kill us all if we do nothing, I guess we will survive President Buffoon.
1
Sorry, the end quote from McGahn is priceless!
1
I have to say, I’m stunned with admiration—or maybe just gobsmacked—at what’s emerging as the essential Trumpist defense of Trump.
Apparently Trump’s total lack of self-discipline, complete indifference to anybody else and to the country, willingness to break the law in truly stupid and obvious ways, and inability to tell the truth about so much as whether the sun is shining, are all okay...
Because they show he wasn’t really trying to collude or obstruct or anything, just childishly shouting nonsense and infantile lies all the time, and anyway his own staff refused to follow the President’s orders, so where’s the harm?
Briefly put, Steve Bannon was right, is the theory—these guys are way too incompetent to pull off anything serious, so let’s just move forward.
Amazing. It’d be fall-down funny, except that behind the scenes the looting of the country and the betrayal of the planet seem to be working just fine. I guess we should be glad it’s not worse than appallingly bad.
3
Times: 'At one point, Reince Priebus, then the White House chief of staff, said the president’s attacks on his own attorney general meant that he had “D.O.J. by the throat.”'
That's just plain false. The "by the throat" comment refers specifically to Sessions’s *resignation letter*. (Vol. 2, Pages 79-80)
Ironically, the Times's own falsehoods are easily exposed by the Times's own text-searchable copy of the report.
1
@JSG
You may quibble with the wording, but it isn't exactly wrong. Priebus and Bannon feared that the existence of the letter could be used as leverage against Sessions, hence, the "by the throat" remark.
Concealment, interference, paranoia = guilt.
3
I guess it will be a while before any US parent's highest aspiration is that his child grows up to be president. In my 81 years I have never seen anything even close to what this psychopath is doing to our country. I can only mourn for you that have missed my great luck of being born at the right time in a nation striving to do its best, even if imperfectly, for one another.
6
"... my great luck of being born at the right time in a nation striving to do its best, even if imperfectly, for one another."
If you were born in 1938, that means you could have avoided being drafted for the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
And you seem to have forgotten about the reason there was a Civil Rights Movement -- Jim Crow laws in the South. Rosa Parks protested segregated bus seating in 1955, when you would have been about 17.
How much is this investigatory business costing the taxpayer? And even more exorbitant are the damages to the prestige of the United States. We look like a shabby third-world farce because of this presidential treason and suborned treason.
1
There is an especially sad side to all of this.
One has to wonder what’s up with possibly 40% of the country.
We have a corrupt, mafia style, wannabe dictator sitting in the White House.
And far too many think this is a good thing and willing to sell out America.
4
And the Republicans are complicit in this strange and sordid chapter in American history.
3
Reading this article by Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman is a trip down memory lane with many previously unknown details fleshed out.
In light of the release of the redacted Mueller report and the decision by AG William Barr to substitute an intentionally false interpretation of Robert Mueller’s straight adherence to OLC policy as an exoneration of Donald Trump, the Baker/Haberman article takes on special importance.
One question, unexplained in the exculpation of the Barr Thursday rollout of the redacted Mueller report, is the current role of Rod Rosenstein, standing on camera with a vacant-eyed frozen smile.
Has Barr, Donald Trump’s protector and personal counsel, posing as a real Attorney General, successfully browbeaten Rosenstein into agreeing to bolster Donald Trump’s false claims or innocence and victimhood?
If Rosenstein has been turned, will Congress have the guts and integrity to call him out?
36
Maybe he is remembering what happened to McCabe, fired 24 hours before he could retire and collect his federal pension after decades of service.
2
@Anaboz
That is precisely what should worry us.
It is clear that one reason POTUS did not testify was because he would of committed perjury. This report shows how corrupted our political system has become. I hope the 2020 election will bring back some decency, order, and unification to our democratic system.
25
Congress must initiate impeachment proceedings. The legitimacy of our Republic is at stake. Failing to do so would be a complete miscarriage of duty and a dangerous precedent for history books and future generations. These are the most shocking and egregious allegations ever leveled against an American President. We are a civil society of law and order and this type of behavior can not go unpunished.
18
So much talk about “winning” with the bar being proving out criminal conduct by POTUS. Given our democracy is predicated on trusted institutions, some semblance of common purpose and a basic agreement around truth, it begs the question, even if the economy is on a tear and/or you’re beyond elated with the shift to a more conservative judiciary, at what point does it matter how we got there?
15
Impeachment.
Trump violated his oath of office, and The House of Representatives would be violating theirs if they fail to impeach Donald J Trump.
I don't know how long it should take for the House to conduct an impeachment investigation up to the point where they would ultimately vote for or against articles of impeachment.
Trump is so bad that I think it should be done ASAP. The country is imperiled every day he continues to be president.
From a political perspective the investigation could be conducted so that votes on articles of impeachment would be put off until just after the election (less than a week).
Even if Trump were defeated in the general election, he should still be impeached as punishment for his high crimes and misdemeanors even if there are insufficient votes in the Senate to convict him.
Trump cannot pardon people in cases involving impeachment, according to our Constitution, so an impeachment investigation could put that part of the Constitution into play, effectively stopping him from wholesale pardons of people who might otherwise have to offer incriminating testimony against him in an impeachment investigation.
Whatever the House of Representatives does, they must act quickly.
Our country is in peril, and they would be judged harshly if they waited until after a catastrophe to act.
8
Will the NYT "journalists" ever recognize their own dishonesty? The have for two years been pushing the Russia/Trump collusion narrative. They printed every piece of data that supported their conspiracy theory, and completely ignored all data to the contrary.
Now it is the obstruction narrative they are trying to push, but it will fail. Though technically it could be true that obstructing an investigation based on lies constitutes an illegal act, from a fairness perspective it is not possible to obstruct investigation into a crime that did not occur.
The real crime, that is a real threat to our democracy, is the crime of fabricating evidence in an attempt to subvert the outcome of an election. That is a crime and it cannot be allowed to go unpunished lest others attempt the same in the future.
4
And that concludes Sean Hannity’s “report.”
5
You need to have a lawyer (a real one) explain to you what obstruction of justice means. You can indeed obstruct justice even if a crime has not been proven to occur.
Excellent Judges, Great economy, very low unemployment, Record high stock market, record high consumer confidence, less government regulations, global stability, I can go on, and on, and on. We will take it. Just think about the alternative? No thank you.
4
@Joe Paper
Here's hoping you never get sick, lose you job or health insurance or get in an accident due to negligent manufacturing of a consumer good or have your water systems tainted or Fly with all those "less Government regulations" standing in your way to protect you.
3
Failing to think about alternatives is going to result in the end of humanity. But as long as the world as you know it checks all your boxes right here and now we’re all good right?
2
A classy republican like Mitt Romney could have given you all those things. Republicans shouldn’t have to give up honesty, integrity, decency and the rule of law to get their economic needs met.
1
All great political and military geniuses and leaders have to have first rate feet to lead their troops to victory. Painful bone spurs deserve 100% disability, or outpatient surgery to make the pain and layers of lies go away. Second rate reality television 'stars' deserve syndication with sizable revenue streams. DONALD JUDAS TRUMP should spend more time
with his children, and let Julian Assange see his.
6
Capitalism requires transparency and rule of law. Otherwise it's not capitalism it's an oligarchy or something worse. Thus those who support the administration are not capitalists and they are worst than the "socialists" they deride.
11
The media and the left (I’m one) are falling into the trap yet again.
Trump is winning, this will play out and his base and Fox will play the victim card, the fact the dems are sore losers etc etc etc and they all turn up angry and win the electoral college because ultimately everyone likes an underdog, everyone wants the support David fighting Goliath.
No collusion, no obstruction, to anyone who reads the report these are obvious lies but to the one person that matters, Barr, it’s the verdict. The left needs to move on and concentrate on the best way to get Trump out of office, and giving them campaign ammunition isn’t it
3
@Peter H
Fox to their credit did not fall for the collusion delusion. I am thankful we have some objective news media.
The shock is why Trump isn’t in jail. This is what the neoliberal, Neocons created beginning with the Iraqi invasion, elimination of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act of 1932 that allowed Wall Street bankers to loot the economy causing the 2008 Great Recession and destruction of the American middle class. The economy has been “saved” at a cost: Jobs are insecure, don’t pay fair wages or health care. The circumstances were ripe for a Trump-like corrupt charlatan. Trump’s Goldman Sachs’ economic team and his close advisers are all like him and should be dealt with legally. These aren’t tropes, but, sadly, reality. Justice must prevail.
6
All of this is probably true and the close examination of a President’s actions and his past dealings and associates, all the way back to when he or she was a teenager, will set a new and better standard for all who will occupy the Oval Office in the future. We know about Trump and I’m sure that the media and others are busy investigating the many Democrat candidates.
1
Imagine if H. Clinton had gotten help from people connected to Iran's leadership. Can't imagine Republicans would be okay with it.
8
It is sad that the happiest day of Trump’s presidency is the one when a report documenting his contempt and disregard of the norms that make America great is published
11
As a nation, we need to have this discussion. ---
Are we, the 70% comfortable letting our leadership continue with this culture built on lies and naked power displays or not. And if not, what are we going to do about it. ---
Clearly, the 30% will not willingly change and they are comfortable with this.
So, how much does it bother us (enough to do what to fix it), what would we replace it with, and how would we guarantee it cannot arise again? Voting integrity aside, until we ask and answer at least these three questions, we should not ask how to remove the liars, grifters, frauds and deceivers from office, nor should we begin to strike. Resistance is all we have so far.
Remember the failures of the Arab Spring. They did not plan out how to hold a democracy, they let dictators take control. Let's have the conversation. Once we are done, the evil in our midst won't stand a chance.
3
Clearly, we have a president who has run amuck. His administration is more worried about covering themselves rather than working for the American people. This is such a mess, there is no telling how long it would take to right the ship, or even if we can. I know this, we must try or risk our country falling into the abyss, or worse.
10
One of my major concerns is, going forward, Putin and others will now feel encourage to interfere in US elections b/c they can get away with it.
If I am to criticize the US for interfering with other countries' elections, then I have to condemn any interference in an American election likewise, both at state- and federal-level, else it would be hypocritical and without credibility.
Congress must legislate fast soon as a Dem president is in the W/H.
3
This piece highlights the slippery slope we are on. The pervasive lying and disregard for law and ethics in the Trump administration is getting rewarded by the fact that it has made fact-finding and proving a legal case impossible, and that will ensure that it will become the go-to model for administrations going forward. Being known as a habitual liar or incompetently ignorant of the law becomes a defense against misconduct or obstruction. This is incredibly dangerous. How can we insist on accountability when the Senate refuses to do so? Democrats must continue to investigate and make this administration's corruption and willingness to accept help from a hostile foreign government public as well as safeguard our next election. Nothing less that a national exorcism via the 2020 election is needed.
1
I like to see an indictment of someone close to Trump from one of the several jurisdictions to which Mueller passed off cases. Apparently, Trump will have to become even more unhinged and desperate before a few of his henchmen in the Senate will finally reach a threshold.
4
This piece highlights the slippery slope we are on. The pervasive lying and disregard for law and ethics in the Trump administration is getting rewarded by the fact that it has made fact-finding and proving a legal case impossible, and that will ensure that it will become the go-to model for administrations going forward. Being known as a habitual liar or incompetently ignorant/disregarding of the law becomes a defense against misconduct or obstruction. This is incredibly dangerous. How can we insist on accountability when the Senate refuses to do so? Democrats must continue to investigate and make this administration's corruption and willingness to accept help from a hostile foreign government public and unacceptable as well as safeguard our next election. Nothing less that a national exorcism via the 2020 election is needed.
8
So, let me get this right, Mueller says that if the President broke the law Mueller wouldn’t say so because there can’t be a trial and the President can’t clear his name…
Wow... So why did we hire Mueller?
And does anyone doubt this President’s ability to try to clear his name, with or without a trial?
@Shanin Specter Mueller contends the POTUS is not subject to indictment, that's Congress' job. But we have a Senate controlled by the miscreant GOP, who will stop at nothing to see Trump continue his dismantling of our democracy, with their helping hands.
I'm not surprised by any of this. This is what the man is and how he has operated his whole adult life.
The real problem is with those who enable this, support this, and spew out angry denials apologias for this defilement of the highest office. They either cannot see the monster they are creating, or, worse, see it and like what they see.
7
By far the most important message about the obstruction of justice issue is that the Special Counsel did not recommend prosecution on this charge because of the Justice Department policy that a siting President cannot be prosecuted. Instead he set out 10 remarkable instances of actions by the President that were attempts the to thwart the investigation and referred the matter to Congress (or perhaps a future prosecutor) whether to pursue the matter.
4
I always look forward to Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman for their fine, concise analysis of complex issues.
This piece does not disappoint. The portrait of a president, as outlined in real quotes and assessments from the Mueller Report, reveal a highly dysfunctional White House on all levels.
That Donald Trump would command and expect others to lie for him, with the reward of "pardons" is the highest corruption a leader can exhibit.
My take on the Mueller Report is that the president got off on technicalities, that were he not president, would have resulted in indictments both for coordination with a foreign adversary and obstruction of justice.
But one of the other takeaways that's not getting an awful lot of attention is this: some in this administration destroyed their emails, particularly in the examination of conspiracy to use Russian help to steal an election.
What does that say, when even under oath (see Sarah Sanders) that a culture of nonstop lies can't be overcome to produce the requisite dots prosecutors need to frame an airtight case?
1333
@ChristineMcM yes Erik Prince and Steve Brannon both conveniently had no records on their phones regarding conversations they had about the Seychelles meeting and other matters. It’s funny how those two keep popping up in various controversial situations.
121
On my gosh. No.
The “president” didn’t get off on anything. That’s not the way this works.
The way this works is for Congress to take this report - in full, unredacted - and begin the impeachment process. This is how presidents are prosecuted. It’s been explained in great detail in many forums.
You do us no favors to continue rolling the narrative that the report “got him off” - he was NOT exonerated. Sheesh.
105
The lying has got to stop. Both sides have to be held accountable for blatant lying.
13
This all confirms what I always suspected and is painfully obvious... Trump and many of this closest aides might be malicious, mean spirited, trying to hide their incompetence, and plain out not understanding how government works. But, there was no collusion. Instead of criminal masterminds working with the Russians, they seem more like bumbling idiots, incapable of shooting straight. Trump runs the the White House like he did his family business. And it shows. Where is Dick Cheney when you need him? :)
6
Once again the Times amazes me with their liberal left slant. How to you expect the president to react given that ever since the election, the democrats, the Times and WAPO continually attack him. No decorum, no "give him a chance" just stick it to him at every turn. Tell me Times reporters, where were you when the truth about Benghazi need to come out? Why didn't you dig into the ATF scandal? How about the behind the scenes deals between Obama and Russia that surfaced because of an open mike? How about the truth regarding the democrats and Hillary Clinton's emails?
4
@DEWaldron
So then, you think Trump is innocent of all charges and a deeply good and moral person? You think he is being unfairly maligned despite all the evidence in the Mueller report and his fraught relationship with the truth? Trump university and the Trump foundation were honest and above board? Trump is not enriching himself through his "presidency"? Amazing how Republicans tell us to "move on", nothing to see here and then spew venomous, unsupported, paranoid conspiracy theories about Obama and Hillary. Oh - and Hillary was investigated for Benghazi and that was all over the main stream media.
1
Project and deflect. Hold your side accountable.
2
@DEWaldron. Yes, NYT does have a liberal slant, that is not debatable. However, your logic here is faulty. Yes, the Times is eager to pounce on any Trump blunder and lie. But wait, what about the blunders and lies? Are we to look the other way while this administration tears down our alliances, ignores climate change, pushes for environmental deregulation, puts through a tax cut for the rich (pushing up the deficit for our children to deal with) and generally acts like a spoiled child who didn't win today? The Republicans need to think of a better line than "no fair," if they expect to salvage anything out of all this.
1
Let's face it. Donald Trump views this whole presidency as one big (expletive) "Game" in which his personal "Winning" is everything.
And to that end, Trump has spent his entire first two years, lying, cheating, deceiving, attacking and disparaging our nation's values and democratic institutions....(tearing this country apart).
Trump's co-conspirators, Mitch McConnell and his GOP Congress, have not only allowed, they have greatly emboldened Trump to gleefully get away with breaking all established norms and rules.
Mitch and his GOPer are completely responsible for encouraging this monster, called Trump, to lie incessantly to the American people, to repeatedly ignore the "Rule of Law" and to order his staff to obstruct justice over and over and over.
Trump's obsession with Power... winning no matter what the cost... truly makes him the most dangerous man on this planet.
29
@JM, hate much?
Trump has grown the economy faster that Obama said he could. He has brought the unemployment rate down to the lowest in 50 years!
Ignored the rule of law? How so?
By the way, there was no collusion nor any obstruction of justice.
'I'm fucked' seems a mild expletive considering Trump is a borderline case of psychosis. He is the first President to use foul language to his supporters in public. No one really cares as someone called him the "C" word today and it is taboo almost everywhere except in novels written by English writers. But, my guess is that Trump uses the "C" word routinely, considering his reputation grabbing pelvic floors and general demeanor around girls. I'm certain that the New York Times hates using the word in print, however unfortunately, routinely in print these days.
3
Call your House representatives and tell them it is time to impeach. They won't do it unless there is a public outcry.
"But - what about - ?" I know, I KNOW. I've heard all the arguments against impeachment a thousand times.
This situation is exactly what the impeachment clause is designed for. If we don't use it now, the executive is effectively above the law, with everything that means for the rest of Trump's presidency and whatever remains of our country after he leaves office.
Democrats have nothing to lose politically. They swept the House in 2018 because voters desperately want them to stand up to Trump. People voted for Democrats not because the Democrats are so great all of a sudden, but because millions of people are terrified for the future of American democracy. If the Democrats prove themselves no better than the Republicans in defending the Constitution, that's not a good look.
31
@Jane Grey exactly what high crime or misdemeanor has duly elected President Trump been found guilty of?
There was no collusion and no obstruction.
If you want to "defend the Constitution", you must first find a high crime or misdemeanor that Trump has been found guilty of.
1
@Jane Grey
Unfortunately, they know the Senate and Congressional Republicans will do nothing as usual. But....I still think they should support impeachment and make a statement that trump, according to the Mueller report, has committed many impeachable offences but, because the Republicans in Senate will not support the Constitution, rule of law, or national security and instead support a criminal president, impeachment will be unlikely.
@N Riano 'If you want to "defend the Constitution", you must first find a high crime or misdemeanor that Trump has been found guilty of.' ?! No, no no-- please go back to civics class. "Defending the Constitution" is embodied in conducting fact finding and legal analysis in a fair trial that will ultimately result in a finding of guilt or innocence. The Mueller Report goes a long way toward doing this, and it is now Congress's turn to follow up.
"He was saved from an accusation of obstruction of justice, the report makes clear, in part because aides saw danger and stopped him from following his own instincts."
I've been hearing legal analysts say for the past two years that the intent to obstruct justice is a crime as much as succeeding. What am I missing?
33
@SC
The problem you have is that there was no underlying crime to obstruct. You can blow smoke all you want but ultimately that will be the view of the majority of the American people who believe in fairness.
@SC, I'd suggest the missing link is the fact that in our 2-party system where the 2 parties' main long-term goal is to preserve the 2-party system and, by doing so, preserve their power, this issue, which should be one of justice and preserving the integrity of American democracy, is instead an issue of politics to both Republicans and Democrats.
Oh, is that why all those people are in jail?
Allowing the Russians to influence our election either actively or passively and then lie to law enforcement is a crime. That is why the report explicitly says he can be charged after leaving office. It's always a crime to lie to the FBI.
My problem is letting this criminal off the hook while in office. The mid-term elections show you don't concur with most of the "American people". The next election will hopefully follow suit. I only hope the Emperor with no clothes will leave when he is defeated. That's the problem with electing someone who is only out for himself and to sell our country to the highest bidder.
This statement is just wrong: "He was saved from an accusation of obstruction of justice, the report makes clear, in part because aides saw danger and stopped him from following his own instincts."
He wasn't saved from an accusation. Mueller identified specific acts of obstruction but did not bring a criminal case because of OLC memo. Mueller chose not to evaluate whether to bring charges and deferred to the legislature.
13
Mueller has clearly referred Trump to Congress for impeachment. The question is whether or not Congress will do it's job. With the GOP openly embracing corruption and the Democrats signaling their stereotypical unwillingness to fight, it seems that Presidents won't be held accountable to the law, when there is an (R) behind their name.
19
The country is being led by a unstable individual.
What does that say about the people who voted for him?
Trump has not changed.
The voters?
22
@Pete, Hillary was not elected, the unstable person lost the election.
@N Riano
Sadly, it is the trump voters who have not recognized that Hillary was not elected. As she is still on the minds of voters like yourself. And the President. Which further contributes to his being unstable.
And the sad thing is, nothing in the report is surprising. We’ve seen every corrupt behavior—increasingly in a second, emboldened year in office. And good journalism has unearthed as much evidence without Mueller’s findings.
16
It's not right to say the investigation "ended without charges against Trump." Mueller made it very plain that DOJ guidelines prevent him from bringing charges against Trump, which is why he served up all the evidence, specifically noted that it does NOT exonerate Trump, and invited Congress to do its duty and prosecute Trump's malfeasance.
And now we will see whether any Democratic representatives have the spine to take up Mueller's invitation. The GOP would have started impeachment two years ago, but I'm sure our leaders will choose the path of least resistance, do nothing, and have the 2020 election stolen from the, too. Jesus help us.
16
@Todd then why weren't anyone else in the administration, who are NOT protected against indictment charged with anything?
1
Dear future history students: millions of us are just as frustrated and confused as you are. If you're looking back, wondering, "how did they let that happen?" we're looking at ourselves and our Republican neighbors wondering the same thing.
31
If ever there was a case for abolishing the electoral college, this is it. The majority of voting Americans— with a margin of three million votes — did not want this clearly documented unfit person anywhere near the Oval Office but there he is, still scheming and screaming when he doesn’t get whatever benefits him. At some point he will be held accountable, but until then, we’ll be forced to watch him do all that he can to erode and dismantle our democracy while Republicans in Congress stand idly by.
31
The current administration is clearly rotten to the core, however the Republicans will continue to support Trump whatever he says or does if it means they can avoid being “primaried,” and their corporate donors continue to finance their relection campaigns. The 40 million people who voted for Trump in 2016 have not wavered in their support and are now part of a “Trump cult” which they can never leave without committing apostasy. I fail to see how this country’s downward spiral can do anything but accelerate when there is a mad man at the helm determined to ignore the Constitution and it’s checks and balances.
16
Regardless of legal ramifications, this report outlines the suspicions so many of us have had from the minute this guy came down the escalator announcing his candidacy. He is unfit for any public office much less president of the United States.
20
Two points: (1) Wikileaks, Trump and The Russians were all working independently to illegally access emails to help Trump with the election, that fact is horrendous, even if they did not coordinate or conspire together. Three criminals in my house doesn’t make it better just because they haven’t coordinated their attack. (2) The Special Counsel has unearthed a mountain of evidence of “Corruption.” Let’s all move past the “collusion” discussion, arguing about that has always benefited Trump, that’s why he’s tried to keep the subject on “collusion. We should be talking about “Corruption,” and all the instances that Trump has acted like a corrupt, uninhibited dictator and what kind of threat that poses for our nation.
18
I keep hearing in the news that an impeachment would separate our country, not be good.
So protecting a political party is better than protecting our country, our rule of law, ignoring a president that is clearly damaging our rule of law and lowering the standards, our nations' morale?
This is better than impeachment?
If the long list of "obstructions" in the Mueller Report do not make Trump accountable, it will make a statement that our Congress, our elected officials do not have to do their job, nor be ethical. Just ignore it and it will go away.
Look how far Trump has been able to play this game making us fools. Bi-partisan ethics is evident.
Congress MUST investigate the particulars of these obstructions.
How can allowing him to be just "outvoted" correct these inequities or correct the damage.
Ignoring the "accountability" factor is simply wrong for America, our democracy.
11
With an overtly corrupt, unethical republican majority in the senate and an unethical base, always emboldened by any threat of accountability, it's all strategic. Right now, ethics, norms, laws, none of it matters to the right. impeachment would ensure a second term. During Watergate, there were still enough ethical republicans that would do the right thing. Not at all the case now.
2
Can you not give this drum beating a rest? Let's just concentrate on putting forward a better candidate and Trump will be history. This is misplaced energy and very divisive. Do remember that Trump has an approval rating around 44% - nearly half the country - so you are not helping with these headlines. Report on the Democrats' candidates and how they will govern differently. Shift the electorates' focus from anger to hope. Try it.
3
This graph in the story seems to indicate Rosenstein unilaterally decided to appoint a special counsel to continue Comey's role as the lead in the Russia investigation. But why not just have the deputy FBI director continue it:
"Mr. Comey’s dismissal led the deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, to appoint Mr. Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, to take over the investigation. Fearing it would mean the end of his presidency, Mr. Trump lashed out again at Mr. Sessions."
For a losing hand, Trump has played it well, endless bluffing has worked so far.
2
The Mueller Report reveals lying
That only some seem to be buying
The rest are intent to
Remain without a clue
About a man who’s horrifying
8
I am immediately reminded of "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.....it was the season of darkness....." Charles Dickens was required reading when the educational system of the US made us proud. Again history is the best guide to go forward....Nixon is looking better every day, while Senate and House fiddle as the country burns. The report documents what was obvious, and politics as usual is the norm. Oh how the mighty [the US] have fallen.
4
"A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do."
This is the honor code of the US military academies.
President Clinton lied about an affair and was impeached.
Richard Nixon lied about domestic espionage executed under his direction. He resigned before he was impeached.
As “Commander In Chief” shouldn’t a president be held to the same standard?
Mueller’s report shows Trump’s deep lack of integrity. It illustrates not only his lies but how he compelled others to lie on his behalf.
How then can anyone who openly flouts the honor code of our military on a daily basis lead our nation’s military? Why isn’t the same code that is instilled and demanded from our generals to cadets demanded of their Commander In Chief?
One would think that the most powerful military in the world would be led from the front with honor and courage – not with disgrace and cowardice from the rear.
108
@Sal: Excellent points, sir. Now please examine his military service record from the Vietnam era.
15
@Sal
Leading from the rear is what our presidents do.
All the presidents from Truman on through Nixon lied about Vietnam because they did not want to preside over a defeat.
Every one of them knew that war was unwinnable yet they continued to throw in men and bombs while constantly lying to the American people.
(see the Pentagon Papers)
They each killed thousands of Vietnamese and Americans because they were cowardly liars afraid to face the truth.
Each one of those presidents was a war criminal.
Every American, too.
The NYT and the WaPo are being congratulated for the accuracy of their reporting over the course of the SC investigation. But it seems to me that the NYT chose to ignore its own reporting when crafting its own front page. It chose to present the version of reality promulgated by the White House, the AG and the Republican Party as if those versions were legitimate whenever those versions were made public.. Had they accepted their own reporting as accurate they would have stipulated that the White House, the AG and the Republican Party were misrepresenting the facts of this presidency. The publication of the Mueller Report, redacted or not, does not make the Times reporting accurate. To the detriment of the nation The NYT chose to ignore what it already knew when creating its narrative.
12
For those saying that the moral decrepitude of trump is not important as long as he is “getting stuff done”, with no real examples of such a claim, one has to seriously question the real motives of these trump supporters. Never in my lifetime, has a president sided with ruthless dictators, alienated our allies and mocked and insulted members of the electorate who are of the opposite party. Trump has infected our country with his own lack of a moral compass. His pathology as a human being is thrown in our faces daily, via his Twitter account. Is that all worth it to the trump voter who revels in the hateful rhetoric that he spews out because that is who all of them really are? The majority of Americans are disgusted and must vote trump out of office in 2020. Healing must begin. We are on life support now.
43
@Sharon Salzberg
Very well said! The scary thing is that so many people just don't understand the real damage he is causing and the threat to democracy - and/or they don't care . Also, some of them revel in his pathology, lapping up the bad language and tough talk and the "permission" to be as bigoted and uncouth as he is. Others understand how toxic he is but hate liberals and are willing to overlook his pathology. We are heading toward a dictatorship.
The left in this country needs to stop obsessing over this issue and get to work on winning the 2020 election. This means finding a moderate who can bring Trump voters home, just as Bill Clinton brought home the Reagan Democrats in 1992. If they continue to chase shadows on the Russia issue and then let the party be taken over by the BDS/open borders/reparations crowd, they will lose in 2020. Trump can be beaten. Get to work. Forget Russiagate!
2
@Joe - Hillary is a moderate. Democrats need a populist liberal. That is what terrifies Republican leaders the most.
1
@Joe Yes, the Democrat needs to win in 2020. Agreed. But while the current President continues in office, I worry over much more harm he could do, especially as he continues to purge administration aides and officials who are not his toadies and sycophants, removing those internal checks on his malignant impulses. Congress needs to work with vigilant diligence to fulfill its oversight obligations. His lies and indecency need to be continually exposed. He cannot be allowed to drag our country down any further.
1
I stand amazed that anyone would need a 400 plus page report to figure out that this White House is a hotbed of dysfunction and lies. Wasn’t this glaringly obvious within the first weeks of Trump’s presidency?
31
A "culture of dishonesty" is not surprising coming from a flimflam sociopath in the oval office.
However he was clearly transparent in the presentation of his aggressive style, ignorance, lack of morals, grace and honesty, yet the electoral college put him over the top while losing the popular vote by...3 million. Currently 71% (I read) of registered republicans support him.
So what does that say about republicans? About America?
Is this the beginning of the end? Rome, Greece, Egypt....England? These great civilizations didn't see it coming.
Just asking.
12
I expect better from the NYT and these two reporters. They were wrong the collusion was a myth and now they refuse to admit it but continue to do whatever they can to justify their error. Relying on obstruction of an investigation that was showed there was no crime is the height of legal burearcy.
Move on and hope they don’t investigate who started this charade and why.
4
@John Schwab I agree generally, but Mr. Trump should never have removed Mr. Comey.
@John Schwab Mueller farmed out more than a dozen investigations to various prosecutors' offices. They are all ongoing and involve criminal allegations. So, no...not moving on. It's not that the trump gang wasn't trying to conspire with the Russians. They were. But the gang who couldn't shoot straight can't even get crime right and the Russians viewed (and still do) as useful idiots. As an aside; your post is borderline illiterate.
1
Perhaps the NYT could have equally thoroughly portrayed the dishonesties of the Obama and Clinton administrations -- so that readers would have a benchmark.
Indeed the article is (as self described) "A Portrait"
By way of example; It would be especially interesting to benchmark how many Russian 'contacts' occurred involving anyone related to the Clinton campaign.
3
@Ami - As a favor to you, I will list all of Obama’s major dishonesties over 8 years:
.
There. Did I miss anything?
2
So now The Times has moved on to the "culture of dishonesty"? This is a far cry from the treason, collusion, obstruction, etc., charges is has been making for 2 years.
The evidence was not there for collusion or obstruction charges. And, no, Mueller didn't fail to recommend obstruction charges because he didn't believe a president could/should be indicted. He was asked 3 times by Barr about this, and each time he responded that this was not the basis for failing to bring charges.
We can expect the media to continue making its case against Trump. It will use cherrypicked portions of the report to do so. It will act like legal specialists making determinations of guilt.
The only evaluation of evidence that matters is Special Counsel Mueller's, and he didn't believe it was conclusive enough to bring charges.
3
@AACNY Please, actually read the report. It is not true that "the evidence was not there," just that it was insufficient to prove conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt; and that although abundant evidence of obstruction existed, it was not Mueller's place to indict a sitting President.
4
It comes down to what type of America will stand after the 2020 election. Will we stand as a country that truly stands for the rule of law or a country that stands only for rules that allow your party to do whatever they want. If you for Trump you are saying you don’t really care about anything but Trump is your President. When you cast your vote for your guy remember that time changes everything in the universe. Eventually it’s going to be the other guy in charge and that guy will do whatever he wants to do and his party won’t lift a finger to stop him. Is that the America that you really want? What goes around comes around.
6
Wow. We’ve made full circle. The day after his inauguration DJT declared the biggest inauguration ever! It’s like tell me something I didn’t know about the Donald 45 years ago. But.... half of America loves the guy.
5
For those who haven't noticed. This is what the unraveling of a Democracy and the rise of a Dictatorship looks like.
It's not by chance that Donald Trump has studied at the feet of all the dictators and strongmen around the world; whether Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Rodrigo Duterte or Mohammad bin Salman, his preference is clear and he's learned his lesson well.
This president is someone who demands personal allegiance and loyalty at the cost of honesty, and who will stop at nothing to win no matter how many bodies he has to step over to achieve it.
And now he sits in the White House.
Roy Cohn would be proud.
12
@N. Smith. Nonsense does not help. Dictatorship??? Really
Results matter. Economy is good. We voted for him to do a job. We did not vote for a saint, everyone knew that. NYT speak about results not this kind of nonesense
2
Not surprising that he sees the office of the President as means to promote his self-serving agenda. He's merely upped his decades long scam/con of scurrilous, bully-boy behavior and weaponizing the law, to weaponizing the office of the President, presidential power, veto power, pardon power, ..., and twitter.
But, it sure is good to know that some of those who worked in the WH and around him refused to sully the office. Shame none of them spoke up about it at the time. Is the no comment and/or hysterical and ludicrous defense/attacks from the many other Republicans because they did-as-he-bid and are up to their eyes in the same dirty swamp, keeping each other afloat, for now!
7
Sarah Huckabee Sanders should be fired for her lies---heat of the moment my foot. They fired Brian Williams from NBC his his misstatements and she should be held to a even higher standard. Her behavior and the enabling of the President in all of this is sickening.
17
Okay, good news for Trump
Confirmed Russia interfered in America's election.
I get along well with Putin, we like each other. Enough of that talk. Don't want to hear that nonsense anymore
We were assaulted, fix that problem. Enough procrastination.
Do your job.
2
Now that the report is out ... nothing. Congress will not act. The GOP simply doesn't care b/c they have a Republican in the WH. Put a Democrat there instead and the response would be 180 different. Hilary isn't even president and they want to impeach her.
No, it's up to us, voters, to remove this venal con man. Unfortunately, it's still 1.5 years away, but in the meantime, we all have to mobilize all those who didn't vote in 2016. We have to do all we can to get the vote out, to make sure dirty Republicans don't get away with suppressing the vote of Blacks, of brown people, of poor people, of people who live in the wrong zip code. We all want to believe that trump and this administration has been so horrible that they will be guaranteed to be thrown out. They won't.
9
@tony, you are right. We sit here today suffering Trump as president because so many voters sat out the vote, certain that Clinton would surely win. Also, the Electoral College must change. Clinton won the popular vote. The Electoral College must go the route of wringer washing machines.
...and now on a positive note.. As La Presse's, Yves Boiverts wrote this morning, Within this 'Culture of Dishonesty' many politicians said no to the president. Jeff Sessions, Don McGahn, James Comey, Corey Lewandowski, Rick Deardome. And others.
They should be honered for this. Any one of these hero's could have helped 'the cover up' but they did not. It may not all be so bad really... Please do not go 'partisan'; enough of that already.... These people did well and they may need to be chiseled into a mountain facade somewhere.
2
This article focuses on a dark and important fact, something that needs to be grasped by all Americans from every board room to every classroom: our president runs his White House and tries to run the country as a gangster, that is, with lies, innuendo, and intimidation.
Early on, James Comey sensed this was the case and warned us. Later, the junior gangster, Michael Cohen, testified to Congress that this was how Trump operated. Now one of the country's most experienced and respected prosecutors, supported by a team of experienced and respected prosecutors, has laid it out episode by episode, word by word.
56
The stunning thing to me is how the whole question of "collusion" - with all the GOP gloating, and the Democrat glowering - evades the real issue: this is a messed up administration with a leader who is obsessive and egotistical. Sure, Russia interfered, but it didn't need Trump's cooperation to do it, and will not need anyone's cooperation in the future. Trump won because: 1) Hillary was unpopular,2) the Electoral College is what it is 3) abortion is a decisive issue for many voters and the Court was at stake 4) Trump knew how to tap into cultural grievances in a way that eluded Clinton. Collusion or no collusion is not what is at issue, really.
9
@Syliva Clinton got nearly 3 million more votes than Trump, a much higher margin than that of Gore over Bush. That's not unpopularity in my book. "The electoral college is what it is"? well, you're correct in that regard.
4
@Syliva
With all due respect Sylvia, you make some interesting points, with the exception of one. If Hillary was so unpopular, what does that make Trump? She beat him by close to 3 million more votes -- she WON the popular vote! Collusion and a coordinated coup of the democratic process with a foreign power is what is at issue. Made very possible by the reasons you enumerated.
5
It would appear that because of policy/practices of the Justice Dept., conspiracy and obstruction were never on the table as charges. So what we have is a fully scripted case study of both conspiracy/obstruction by the President/Administration, and the Republican Party of the Russian interference in the 2016 election and attempted coverup. To think we are to believe that almost everyone on his staff who either went along with the lies or were awol on various requests to get rid of certain people are the “hero’s “ who saved his bacon is just more of the same conspiracy/obstruction, aiding/abetting of this abuse of power and willful ignorance. If this behavior is all ok our Democracy is in the same shape as the the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, our center burned out and structural damage to our foundation and the only billionaires around to rebuild are those who started the fire.
21
It is hard to read that Paul Manafort, while part of the Trump team, shared polling data on the key "battleground states" without concluding that he intended the data to be used by the GRU/IRA as fodder for their media campaign. I trust the Mueller report, but this seems a reach too far. What does it require to characterize behavior that coordinates actions by a Trump official and the Russian troll operation as collusion?
18
Well, lying and double-dealing. The fact is Putin knew about Trump’s secret dealings/business interests with Russia while the American people did not,----and that could have made a difference in the election.
The meeting in Helsinki found a demur, passive, beaten down Trump who said he believed Putin over our intelligence agencies. That was stunning.
It only stands to reason Putin always expected something. And what's Trump done: took away some sanctions, implied he was fine with whatever Putin did with Ukraine, and early on changed the GOP policy platform to support Russia's stance on Ukraine. Left Syria to Putin and Assad.
Very disappointing, this Trump Administration.
12
Mueller should have spoken out immediately when AG Barr misrepresented the report in his summary and subsequent statements- allowing weeks to pass before Mueller corrects the meaning and intent of the report before the Congressional committees.
Thus, the impression of Trump's innocence will be baked into the public mind - and difficult to dislodge despite all the sentences that speak of Trump's possible complicity in crimes within the report. Timing is all, and the Dems are coming late to the "clarification party."
In this Trump is abetted by a dishonorable GOP Senate. Mueller may be an honorable public servant - but what good is honor when it cannot speak in the language that all can understand? Clarity, rather than cleanliness, is next to godliness. When you have sentences in the report such as the following you know that language is being used to obscure - to keep the writer from a clear statement - as a reader I can't abide such pussyfooting sentences: “If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.” What the devil does that mean? - that the writer had no confidence in Trump's guilt or no confidence in his innocence or no confidence that they could charge him with a crime?" Mr. Mueller, perhaps the Congress can get some clarity from your words. I can't.
13
@SY
Mueller's silence has been outstanding.
"Actions speak louder than words."
2
@SY Maybe Barr tried to bake an impression of innocence into the public's mind. But let's see whether Mueller's expected testimony before the House turns that view into a soggy plop.
2
@SY
Mueller does not have to speak out because Barr has not said anything misleading or false.
The Left was only going to believe the Mueller report if it gave them the results they desired.
It didn't.
So now, the Left has no choice but to keep their circus in the headlines because they believe that will help them win in 2020.
It won't.
Please - feel free to subpoena away! Subpoena Mueller, Barr, every Republican in Congress, Reagan etc - subpoena for your false belief that the Congressional Dems are "entitled" to see the unredacted report. The show must go on!!
But hey, keep making a spectacle of yourselves.
Then Right will thank you for your part in the reelection of our President in 2020!
The type of democracy the US has is deeply flawed. The judiciary has legalized bribery by allowing private money in campaign financing. The executive concentrates too much power on the hands of a single individual. And the legislature is a convoluted map of people who respond to special interests.
11
@Juan Briceno Perfectly stated. I absolutely agree that the office of potus has too much power. The balance between the 3 branches needs to be re-balanced.
The Mueller report is pretty much a waste of paper. It’s only worth is that after two years and upwards of 25 million taxpayer dollars it finally confirmed what everyone but the most delusional foes of president Trump knew over a year ago, that there was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in their attempt to influence the 2016 election. Of course given his resources, that finding was likely obvious to Mueller a day or two after his “investigation” began. Even Peter Strzok in one of his infamous emails to Lisa Page acknowledged that there “was no there there”. The fact that it took him, shall I say dishonestly, two years to finally make the declaration is appalling. Rather than ending the relentless, baseless accusations of collusion and even treason, Mueller and his team of fellow inquisitors chose instead to remain silent and thereby facilitate real damage to Trump’s presidency and the nation at large. Even more appalling, they used the time their silence afforded them to methodically develop a list of possible “obstruction” charges. Tellingly, they didn't charge the president. Perhaps that’s because as AG Barr made clear in the brief he prepared when it became clear Mueller was developing an obstruction case, you cannot obstruct an investigation lacking a crime. More likely however, their ambivalence was a jaded effort to provide fodder to fellow Democrats like Adam Schiff and Gerald Nadler to continue their seditious behavior.
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@tim k You CAN obstruct an investigation whether there is a crime or not. And the obstruction does NOT have to succeed...attempting obstruction is criminal.
Do you find the obvious corruption & lack of morals, ethics & integrity of the Trump Admin acceptable? He DEFINITELY should not be allowed to operate that DC hotel in the old Post Office. That's a HUGE conflict of interest.
I do not accept Barr's biased digest of the Mueller Report. I look forward to hearing Mueller speak in front of Congress.
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@tim k The Mueller Report, if you at least read Section I, provides good cause to believe Trump is in the White House because of Russia. Putin's interference in the 2016 general election was massive, technical. and sophisticated.
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When Mueller started the probe 22 months ago, immediately he knew there was no evidence of collusion. Remember that Strozk said there was no there -there. In terms of the obstruction... Trump railed against an investigation that had no merit. This hurt our country in terms of leverage and getting legislation done. Dems are going to be sorry about this mess because the real investigation is coming and coming right soon.
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Analyze this all you want but the heart of the matter remains the gop and its base could care less. These people don't have any shame. Lying, cheating, behavior unbecoming the office, it only mattered if Obama attempted it.
Based on his behavior alone I firmly believe his election was never about fiscal responsibility, honoring our military vets, ensuring a HEALTHY populace or remedying economic inequality. His hardcore supporters will never admit it however the rest of us in rational land know EXACTLY what he represented to them.
Seriously, if the Dems can't make hay out of this instead of attempting to "out identify" each other I will switch parties myself.
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The article most important contribution is affirming that this presidency is "infused by a culture of dishonesty". What I find puzzling, in the Conclusion paragraph of the report's Executive Summary to Volume I (page 8), is the difficulty the prosecutors have with the President's intent. It's obvious to me, and I hope to most people, that dishonest people are guided by the worst intents.
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This article aptly illustrates Trump's absolute lack of even the most basic understanding of how checks and balances work. Trump treated Sessions as his own personal attorney ("You were supposed to protect me!") because he treats the office like his own business. His reminds one of the infamous Alphonse Capone, who was taken down not by murder charges or ordering others to commit felonies...rather, it was simple income tax evasion...which may explain why Trump is fighting so hard not to reveal his income taxes. Those who decry 'politics as usual' and long for a 'Washington outsider' should take heed. Lack of experience when taking on a new job combined with disinterest in learning its most basic concepts, coupled with a willingness to skirt the law will, sooner or later, result in dire consequences.
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The House should impeach Trump even if the Senate will not. As a nation we cannot let this example of corruption in leadership go unmemorialized in the history of this nation. Trump has earned his spot on the short list of Presidents so bad they were censured mightily for it.
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@Horatio I was thinking that too. Bill Clinton was impeached by House but not followed through by Senate. Trump needs a political slap.
Back in the first round of WikiLeaks’ publications, Department of State employees were told that merely viewing those leaked documents was illegal.
How is it that viewing a leaked document was illegal, but encouraging the theft of documents is not illegal?
If an entry-level diplomat publicly asked WikiLeaks or Russia to hack the U.S. government, and post their findings publicly, s/he would lose their security clearance, their job, and likely face time in prison. What’s the difference here?
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Was it not evident to many this President lied and conspired unlawfully his way the presidency from the inception? What is inspiring from the Mueller's report is that truth is finally unfolding ,dismissing all the ploys he engaged in, primarily attempting to conceal the truth from the public. Hopefully this may lead to his impeachment or resignation. It would not only be necessary to do so it would be a most rewarding moment and vindication for all the man and women who served honorably this country and whom he fired for no reason other than conspiring to to cover up his deceptive and inaptitude capabilities while ignoring what's best for this country. It is about time to allow justice to prevail by revoking immunity to this President the sooner the better.
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@nf
Our President will not resign. (no reason for him to do so)
There will be no impeachment.
(even if proceedings actually move forward, there will never be enough votes in the Senate to impeach - so moving forward on impeachment is just for show for the Left and will not amount to anything..but the Left is used to not doing anything so...)
The Dems/Leftist will never see the "vindication" they so desire from their bumbling and well deserved loss in 2016.
Our President will be reelected in 2020.
Thank you for your support.
@nf Unfortunately, I do not believe Trump would EVER resign. He would have to be physically removed.
So let me get this right... the Trump White House was so good at obstructing justice that there isn't convincing evidence of collusion (or conspiracy) and since there's no evidence of any crime(s), then there couldn't be obstruction of justice. What an elegant argument!
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@SJM Mr Mueller was looking for evidence that Russia attempted to interfere in the 2016 election. That was the "crime" and the Mueller Report indicates that Russia did so. In obstruction cases, the prosecution need not prove any actual obstruction -- the president's ATTEMPT to obstruct is enough and there is ample evidence that Trump did so.
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Lots of emotional responses here today. Emotion is what Mr. Trump feeds on. No wonder he is in such a good mood.
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All I can say is thank you Mr McGahn and Mr. Sessions. Can the few non-radical democrats and the few good republicans left in this country agree on that?
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Prosecutors are vicious people. They are trained to twist facts into evidence so they can put people in prison. If Mueller had anything he would've labeled Trump an unindicted co-conspirator, at the very least. He had no trouble going after over 30 people and disrupting the lives of countless more. If there was anything there, he would've pounced. The establishment can't believe that this guy won the presidency and will almost certainly be re-elected. Trump may have actress inartfully, or even unethically. But he didn't act badly enough to prove criminal conduct. That's good enough for me, and I suspect though voters to win a majority in the Electoral College in 2020.
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@MJG It's so sad that you feel this way and find presidential corruption acceptable.
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@MJG Read the report, notably page 2 of volume 2. At the root of Mueller's failure to "pounce" is his adherence to the doctrine that a sitting president cannot be indicted and his desire out of fairness to avoid making accusations that cannot be fairly adjudicated in court. The report provides abundant evidence of Mr. Trump's malfeasance and obstructionary behavior. Read the report.
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If I remember correctly, special counsel on Bill Clinton's Whitewater investigation found nothing. But Clinton was impeached on one count of perjury and obstruction of justice. It's not over til it's over.
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Not defending any party here. Does anyone truly believe that these shenanigans aren't part of any campaign?? If the Clinton campaign didn't pull the rug out from beneath Mr. Sanders , where would we be today? The U.S. has a history of interfering in many countries, we justify it by saying it is for the sake of democracy.
If you believe no politician would entertain hearing "dirt" on another, I have a unicorn waiting for you. The sad part is the Democrats have wasted two and half years on this. No agenda other than the hatred of Trump. Time to focus on things that will matter, there is an election in 19 months.
You want my vote? Convince me on your policy, not your impeachment fantasies.
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@NJburbanite Corruption ALWAYS needs to be investigated and exposed.
We have seen this movie before. Bill Clinton was the poster child in the 90's. Kenneth Starr submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of Representatives. Released to the public two days later, the Starr Report outlined a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of power, and also provided explicit details of the sexual relationship between the president and Ms. Lewinsky. The Republican House approved two articles of impeachment, charging President Clinton with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice.
The trial of President Clinton got underway in the Senate. Five weeks later the Senate voted and Bill Clinton was acquitted on both articles of impeachment. The prosecution needed a two-thirds majority to convict but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Rejecting the first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10 Republicans voted “not guilty” and on the charge of obstruction of justice the Senate was split 50-50. The impeachment trial of Bill Clinton comes to an end, with the Senate voting to acquit the president on both articles of impeachment: perjury and obstruction of justice.
As democrats we need to ensure we do not overplay our hand with The Donald. It is clear there is not a legal path given the results of the Mueller report but only a political path such as impeachment. Clearly the Republican Senate will not vote against President Trump.
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Unless the republicans rank and file begin to turn on Trump, Republicans in the senate will cover him and not convict him. Therefore, impeachment is an exercise in futility. The lemmings that will follow Trump off the cliff will continue to do so. Democrats should do a censure motion and move on to focus on defeating Trump in 2020. Hopefully, a centrist nominee will attract enough independents and moderates to win back the Midwest states that flipped in 2016. Democrats need to focus on the issues and not on Trump's racism or sexism.
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@dba
That's right. all you got...is hope.
No platform other than "Hate Trump"
No focus other than "Hate Trump"
This is why the Left will lose AGAIN in 2020! (thankfully)
Having read through many of the post here, and having spent 5 hours reading the report, I conclude that many posters have not taken the time to read the report. Their comments follow sound bites from both sides, pro and con, support for Trump and condemnation, love and hate. I understand that. What I do not understand is why the press is not reporting in an unbiased manner; rather the facts are sprinkle liberally with bias.
It used to be that personal views were confined to the OP-ED pages and the front page of papers was devoted to facts without any twisting or manipulating of the same. The same for broadcast news. There is no analysis; just hype to support a particular view or agenda. FOX and MSNBC and the 3 networks as well as CNN are all guilty of this. So is talk radio.
I believe the report to be fait. On obstruction, I don't see it. Regarding less than truthful statements from behind the scenes in the White House, yes, no doubt about it. But I doubt that those type of confrontations are unique to Trump. I feel confident that similar occurrences have occurred in the Obama and Bush and Regan and Clinton and other administrations with regularity. The difference was whether the press was on your side and hid the warts or against you and concentrated of publishing the warts. Just shameful no matter how you look at it.
Lastly, based upon the various news outlets, Nadler want for Trump what he did not want for Bill Clinton. How hypocritical.
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I work with several Trump supporters and they couldn’t care less about this report. It doesn’t bother them in the least because he is their man. Scary isn’t it?
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@Ronald Stone VERY scary!
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@Ronald Stone
I work with a number of Democrats and they could care less about governing our nation.
It doesn't bother them in the least that the only platform they have is "hate Trump"
Scary isn't it?
@DB sure you do. But that being said how typical of a Trumpster with the inability to defend Trump to come up with a weak statement like that.
Lawyers take notes for all sorts of reasons, but most particularly when they know their own client is setting them up. I’m sure Barr is doing the same right about now.
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Mueller's report will forever be the document that stains the entire Trump presidency. The report shows Donald Trump to be conducting himself more like a Mafioso that the President of the United States. Staff like Sarah Sanders told lie after lie to the American people on his behalf. But there were people like Don McGahn who knew where the line was and would not cross it. Trump has them to thank for not making things worse for him. Most alarming for me is the way the Russians were able to become active members of his campaign and being able to plant a mole in the person of Paul Manafort to funnel sensitive campaign information directly to Putin and his intelligence services. The Mueller report is exhibit number one as to why Donald J. Trump should not be re-elected. He has failed our nation and will go down as one of the more corrupt presidents America has ever had.
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I hope the House won't move to impeach. The Senate will not likely vote to remove this goof from office, and the whole proceedings would just be a distraction from the real issues in the 2020 election. Let's make sure as many people get out and vote in 2020. That's the best way to resolve the problem.
There's a reasonable chance that Trump will be re-elected if the Dems don't come together. When you read about the utter corruption and dysfunction in the Whitehouse, the impeachment option may be needed for a Trump second term.
For years I’ve fretted over Trump’s labeling of the NYT, WaPo and the cable networks as left wing “fake news”.
This paper and it’s reporters contributed (and pretty much admitted to) to a false narrative in the run up to the Iraq war which in my opinion did the public great harm.
This paper, barely able to view America through a prism of anything besides urban coastal progressivism, missed half the nation’s exasperation with globalism and increasing political correctness and thus the 2016 election despite what many polls were saying.
This paper, convinced that there was collusion and other nefarious deeds done by Trump and his advisors before during and after the election, now seems unable to process that a comprehensive report meticulously prepared by someone professionally respected across the spectrum has found the opposite of the narrative.
This paper is not supposed to be an echo chamber for those looking for confirmation of their own biases. In the battle for “truth”, I’m finding the NYT’s reporting, headlines and processing of events are becoming as just as skewed and bizarre as that of the president’s self narrative.
At one point does this middle class reader of a moderate-right background throw up his hands and conclude that the country’s paper of record is so consumed with its own cognitive dissonance that it can no longer be trusted to get the big picture correct?
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This entire administration seems to be run on Trump's knee-jerk reactions to everything which are always purely emotional rather than rational.
One time I had a boss who wanted me to rat out my boss. He promised me all kinds of things if I put inaccurate and false information on paper. After refusing to do so numerous times, he finally threatened to fire me for insubordination. I still refused and yelled if that was the path he wanted to go down, we would go down it together, in court. That conversation stopped and I returned to my office. At the end of the day my boss thanked me. I told him no one should be thanked for placing personal integrity above all else. Every morning I need to look at myself in the mirror and feel good at what I see.
I simply don't understand how so many people, for such long a time, can continue to think their backing and supporting and lying for this man is an honorable and good thing.
Maybe that's a core difference between a Democrat and a Republican - having integrity and sticking up for what's right.
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At this point, it appears there are no honest people left in the trump administration. The entire executive branch has become criminals and their enablers. Any honest person would leave immediately.
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One thing rings clear in all of this: from top to bottom, not one single person in this "administration" knows or cares what PUBLIC SERVICE means. We're just the little people who pay their salaries, so they can use our government to further enrich themselves, and protect and defend the mob boss who hired them.
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While the Mueller report gives “[A] Portrait of (a paranoid) White House and Its Culture of Dishonesty,” the insane narcissist insists he had “a good day.”
Any normal individual with a sense of ethics, honor, and decency would resign after this damaging report. Of course, as the fellow in question lives in an alternative world, he will have to be forced out, no other way.
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What a disaster. An ethical and professional investigation of Trump that stops short of calling for his indictment that gives Republicans a basis for claiming exoneration. Allowing Barr to control the narrative locked in the public perception. The country would have been better off without the Mueller report.
We needed a Democratic Ken Starr on this job. Clinton rules should apply to Republicans as well.
The fundamental problem is that the whole special counsel / collusion narrative was false from the start. Two years of legitimate things to oppose Trump on completely wasted and the country possibly permanently harmed along the way. To think that people were desperately hoping an elected US president conspired with Russia just because they are offended by him is truly sick.
The democratic party and media should take this as it is - an utterly embarrassing mess created by Clintonistas and Washington insiders and try to figure out how to win in 2020 on ideas and legislation. Otherwise it will be 4 more years of Trump. It may already be too late. Yesterday might have handed 2020 to Trump.
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Trump's White House also is a culture of abuse with a hostile work environment. Those who work/ed for Trump were willing to put up with humiliation and abasement or to witness others being mistreated. No one was forced to work there. They didn't need the money. This is how a dictator or cult leader operates where everyone must instantly respond to his demands or consider what he wants or what would please him over national security, integrity, or the public good.
On a larger scale though, this is also how Trump treats GOP legislators and the RNC. Why would anyone permit themselves to be mistreated like this? Was it worth their self respect? Their dignity or oaths of office?
Honest Abe, he isn't. The Party of Lincoln no more.
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All that saved Trump from charges of conspiracy and obstruction is that he wasn't a successful crook.
Think if him as a crook who planned to burgle your house, sought the assistance to burgle your house, and headed to your house in order to do so. But, each time he arrived at the house, the aides he's sought to enlist in his crime didn't show. That doesn't make Trump less of a crook, just one who didn't succeed--at least, in burgling your house.
Unfortunately, he now has around him men like Barr, were glad to conceal his efforts, and probably will be happy to assist him in his criminal activities.
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This article sounds like a chapter from either Michael Wolf's 'Fire and Fury' or Bob Woodward's 'Fear'. Junior staffers Hicks and Kushner with far too much authority for their limited experience or knowledge. Senior staffers trying to keep the president from self-immolating, and not implicating themselves. And then, there's Trump--the inexhaustible, amoral dumpster fire that keeps growing and spreading.
Yes, Mueller provides more details. But we haven't learned much more than about the madness of King Donald than Wolf and Woodward already told us. Unless some use of made of Mueller's report to reign him in, what was the point of it? The House Democrats MUST pursue the leads presented in the report.
Manafort gave polling data to a Russian spy to help Trump win and somehow that’s ok. Trump continually says he trust Putin more than the CIA and FBI. Trump encourages Russian to hack computers to find Hillary’s emails. If this is all ok for a president them I’m confused as to what the founding fathers envisioned for the United States.
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One can still find the video of Huckabee Sanders making her “countless members of the F.B.I.” comment (and standing by it at length). It is no slip of the tongue. It is not simply a lie told to the press; it is a deliberate attempt to confuse the American people about Comey's fiitness for the top job at the FBI.
The ability to create such low fiction seems to have been her best qualification for the job of Trump's Press Secretary.
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Sometimes the worst people "get off" because a legal case cannot be made airtight.
But the court of public opinion is not beholden to that same standard. And, the Southern District of New York has plenty of information to work. An election is coming up in less than two years; he can be removed from office or at least crippled by a full congressional Democratic majority.
It's up to the public to decide whether this person's character is one fit to represent the United States of Amercia. Personally, I believe he and his minions have disgraced thic country.
I recommend you vote a straight Democrat ticket in 2020. In the meantime vocalize your displeasure, often. Ad help mobiize a voting drive, starting now.
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If Any of these White House or campaign advisors feel used and manipulated, it isn’t without reason. Trump kept them in the dark about his dirty deeds so they could lie about things easier, as they didn’t know the truth. Telling Hope Hicks, I don’t want to know about the emails to his son related to the Trump Tower meeting, as if he didn’t already know, so he could do just as he did, and that is deny knowledge, or give plausible deniability. He knew about them meeting or he would have no reason to tell Hope Hicks, I don’t want to know about it. If he wasn’t coordinating with the Russians, why didn’t any of the 140 contacts call the FBI and why did he tell them to lie about all contacts or to ‘stay on message’, as many reported. Why isn’t his administration and the Republicans in Congress aggressively seeking to deter continued Russian interference? They know they benefited from Russian interference, along with gerrymandered voting districts and voter suppression. It’s time for this reign of terror to end. Justice must be served. The day of reckoning will come. Lord help us to Dump the Trump, the most corrupt president and administration in history.
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Deception is a way of life for Trump.
Chaos is a way of life for Trump.
Bullying is a way of life for Trump.
When you look at time lapse photos of Clinton, Bush, Obama you can see (gray hairs, wrinkles, etc.) the toll that the presidency took on them.
Trump, on the other hand looks fresh as a daisy 27 months in. How is this possible?
It's possible because he has had 70-plus years of perfecting the craft.
This article by Baker/Haberman, et al. depicts a madman gone wild.
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