Dear Ms. Dowd,
To characterize the "sanctimony" of Kenneth Starr's "445-page bodice ripper, a trite story of an office affair in all its seamy particulars" as "redolent of Nathaniel Hawthorne" outrages me and every devotee of one of our country's most profound and poetic literary enemies of puritanism and hypocrisy.
Please read or re-read Hawthorne's short stories and/or his not very long novels "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of the Seven Gables," books too often wrecked for schoolgirl and schoolboy readers forced to read them unwillingly or too quickly or at too young an age (or worse, having suspense, psychology, and poetry gutted by summarization in the likes of cliffsnotes).
This is the only time your words have moved me to anger towards you rather than towards such deserving targets of your reportorial darts as Kenneth Starr or the Grifter-in-Chief whom we probably have to endure for two more years.
4
While Maureen and the morose beltway brigade were all on caffeine jags reviewing old movie clichés to include in their next news cycle poison pen column, everyone else went to sleep as usual knowing the story that wasn’t and the duplicity that was. Now the onus clearly resides with the media and their handlers at Democrat party headquarters aka the Politburo.
Putin was holding the pom poms waving Mueller to the finish line while continuing to hide Hilary from scrutiny with help from the NY Times. Now Congressman Adam B. Schiff also comes under scrutiny as apparently he is the one about to go into hiding and is no longer a factor in this lame bid to become a candidate for President.
2
Well I guess Trump is a lot smarter then Mueller. All those ex-FBI panelists on CNN seem to have mud on their faces.
1
Among the spectacular showboats of the Ken Starr soap opera was, lest we forget, Maureen Dowd.
7
Happily, the report came out many, many months before the next presidential election. The Republicans and their president will have worn it down.
2
My thoughts are and have been for quite awhile on whether Trump can run this country. He knew nothing when he started and now knows he can mess up thousands of things and stay in the presidency. That's sad about the US. Or as Trump says - "sad".
It is evidently not against the law to ruin the country and ignore our laws if one is the president. He has torn apart so much that other presidents worked hard to improve our lives. He has just torn those things apart. He has chosen to be the president of the minority of citizens and ignored the rest of us. To me this seems reckless. So while he tears things apart we wait till it's over. The only good thing about Trump is that he may have taught Americans a lesson - Be careful who you vote for. On the other hand it is more possible that Trump will leave his mark on all of us to our detriment.
7
Now if only Mueller would raise a primary challenge for the Republican nomination, this whole story would be complete.
2
It's over all right, but what's over is American democracy--for good.
10
We need the full text of the report and accompanying docs so Congress can do their job. Mueller's job was to investigate and report. Congress must take the next steps. We know trump from his words and actions. The record is clear. He lies daily. He supports Putin over our intelligence community. He creates fake emergencies to stoke his base. Hate crimes are on the rise due to his leadership. He denies climate change. He appoints insiders to regulatory positions within the government. Nepotism. Others may have more exhaustive lists. But this is what comes to mind. Oh and let's not forget imprisoning immigrant children seeking asylum.
12
How can it be possible that all those people around Trump were sent to prison, indicted, etc. for crimes that Trump didn't know about? You think he didn't know what Manafort was doing? Or Roger Stone, or any of the others? They all did that bad stuff behind his back? Don't think so.
17
My sense all along is that any criminality on the part of the President, his family, and cronies, would largely be wrought by their own ineptitude. If no crimes have been committed, it's because so much of America's corruption has long since been made legal.
5
So much of everything in Trump World comes down to his base that has been snookered to only believing what Dear Leader tells them. Even if the report found Trump had a KGB ID card and love letters from Putin, his base wouldn't believe it - unless Trump confessed. And he will never confess to ANYTHING. Bottom line: the only way he will leave office is by defeating him in 2020. And there are some who say he won't leave even then. We are in a sticky wicket.
9
Ah the Mueller report. A media frenzy. More angst over our "president". If there are no high crimes committed before our very eyes almost every single day, then the cow jumped over the moon and the dish ran away with the spoon. Over 60% of the electorate know #1- Trump is unqualified for the job and #2- he is misusing his authority both under the US Constitution, and is only interested in how much money he can make given the opportunity he has been mistakenly given. He is 0/0 in helping our nation to take a positive step forward into the future, or even working on the problems facing us today. He hops on that mega-expensive plane every weekend to go play golf and fiddle with his I-phone. The Frontline special (PBS) on Mueller and the last two years is yet another reminder that even at the White House, his staff doesn't know how to deal with his emotion-driven tirades and dangerous decisions, never consulting with anyone else first.
The media needs this report more than I and many like-minded other people do. Doesn't he need to be placed under arrest and led to jail like- as of January 2017? "Russia, if you're listening, tell me what(ever) you want me to do, and I'll be happy to oblige". No collusion, just a ton of delusion, illusion, confusion,
and an angry frustrated working class, which should be organizing
together, exercising their right to get a working government. It will never be perfect, but we need to keep trying. The alternative?
Open your eyes and see...
10
The country is horribly divided. Might it be due to the likes of Chris Matthews saying, "How could Mueller just let the President off the hook?" Rachel Maddow was emotional, when she tried to explain there would be no indictments of the President. Dana Bash on CNN looked like she would start crying, when she was on Wolf Blitzer's show.
How is it, only liberals, on national television, know the President is guilty? Mueller had 2 years, unlimited resources, a dozen high level Clinton-friendly attorneys and they could not produce an indictment of the President, his family or his campaign for "collusion" or obstruction. None of those indicted or convicted of crimes had anything to do with collusion.
And pray tell, when the report is released, if the whole scheme was based on Clinton funded opo-research of Trump and the FBI knew it was a hoax, how will the Democrats explain it? I'm waiting.
Take a breath and ponder. Every story about the workings of the Trump White House, paints a picture of an asylum, populated by psychotic madmen. How could they collude with Russia and leave no trace?
My theory is, Obama, Hillary and the FBI colluded to beat Trump. Trump won. So they start an investigation, positive DJT would can it. The secret would be safe and Trump would be impeached.
I ask, how does a psychotic, degenerate madman keep winning?
2
You had a perfectly good excuse (power outage at home) to get out of the office and away from the collective insanity.
But you didn't pounce.
I'm sure you wish you had that to do over again.
Cover up. How about a truly independent investigation.
1
No matter what the report says, Trump will now ramp up the usual Mussolini smirk and swagger shtick to Herculean proportions. We'll be treated to new Nuremberg-style torchlight rallies in red state gymnasiums for weeks on end. The innocent, virginal victim will pout and primp and preen and play that invisible accordion until the cows come home -- or they start vomiting, one of the two.
Meanwhile, the earth's climate is still changing. North Korea is still nuking, and Britain is still Brexiting. And America will still be headed by an odious, greedy nincompoop on steroids.
23
When M. Dowd is nominated for the Hall of Fame, this will be one of the columns that will ensure her entry. Laugh-out- loud funny, piercingly historical and fully human, she remains an "ace" journalist.
2
Democrats in Congress are NOT "aflame with investigative zeal", they are doing their job. Why didn't you do yours?
11
No matter how horrific the crimes are, as long as a republican is the person committing the crimes, it will be ignored.
If a Democrat checks time incorrectly....republicans shed oceans of crocodile tears and falsely whine about 'dignity and honor".
6
In a chilling but not surprising appearance on Trump TV, Corey Lewandowski, full of smug but premature glee, said now is the time to "go after" Mueller, Comey, Mccabe, Stzrok, etc. for "crimes against the President!"
What a nice little National Socialist he would have made!
9
@trblmkr Lewandowski is correct. I would add Clinton and Obama to the list.
It doesn't compute that Mueller did not insist on a personal face to face interview with Trump. The Clintons were. Why not Trump?
5
@Darchitect Hillary was cleared before the investigation. She had her attorney present. They were all given immunity.
You are correct to ask, why not Trump?
2
US tax payers paid for this and we have the right to know what is in the report. Mr. Barr is not Trump's personal AG, he is the AG for the United States.
5
So, think of the Muller Report this way, contemplate the sound of wind blowing through the empty shell of a locust clinging to the bark of a tree.
Trump is not and was not involved in any criminal or illegal activity with the Russians or anybody - before, during or after the campaign. That's a documented fact. A two year intense investigation conducted by biased Washington lawyers, aided by biasedWashington bureaucrats and the leftist media, have reached that conclusion. Too many people who are anti-Trump for any reason will never buy that, and will continue their whining and sniveling over an election from more than two years ago that their candidate lost because she never was, and never will be, the politician that Donald Trump is. Trump will continue to succeed as president - probably more so now that the truth is out and the charade is exposed - and those overdosed kool-aid drinking, un-enlightened Dems will continue whining into the sunset. Look for government in Washington to start working again.
2
So much hot air emanating from Washington, both the Blue and Red variety, surely the climate will suffer all the more than it already has.
All should harken back to the oft repeated assertion of Sergeant Friday of Dragnet fame: “The fact ma’am, noting but the facts.”
1
George Washington didn't sleep in Washington, D.C., or the federal district as it was known as it did not begin to be laid out and built until just before his death in 1799.
The first president to sleep in a White House was the unfortunate John Adams, who slept in the one the British burned down during the War of 1812.
Washington, as we know it and with all the meaning we layer on it, is not a place George Washington every experienced. It's not his fault it became what it is.
2
Any federal indictments that Mueller brings have the potential to be pardoned by Trump. And then if these particular indictments are moved forward on a state level there is the possibility and probability that double jeopardy claims will tie up everything for years. Trump, who is corrupt and has no shame or sense of honor will execute his pardons without looking back and his slavish Republican backers will applaud. Mueller has sent out tons of materials to various states where Trump's portions won't apply. This is the smart thing to do.
1
Lol. Great column. All the Dems have left is the Southern District. Let’s see what the Southern District can turn up. They have been labeled the “sovereign “ district because they are suppose to be non partisan. Trump has always surrounded himself with operators who do his dirty work under the cover of darkness. Somehow, no matter how questionable the results, the innuendos, the dirty dealing, and his lies, he walks away clean.
Will this happen again? Stay tuned.
2
Doesn't the fact the report was released on a Friday mean no reason to sit around with baited breath waiting for it? If anything was in there of substance Mueller would have released it on a Tuesday. Should have gone home and taken care of your house.
1
I take it as a good sign that Barr has not sent a “nothing to see here” letter to Congress today. But perhaps I’m grasping at straws.
1
In all honesty I had hopes that Mueller had videos, tapes, emails and eyewitnesses of the entire Trump family and his Republican supporters stealing, obstructing and colluding.
Somewhere there's proof of these gangsters laughing at the moronic base that adores them. They all belong in jail.
3
Trump won the election because Putin tipped the playing field in his favour. Deep in debt to Russian oligarchs, Trump is easily being manipulated to further Russian interests.
Mueller's report will answer the question: did Trump collude with Putin, or was he simply his useful idiot?
Until 2020, America is stuck with a POTUS who won illegitimately and cannot provide leadership. Trump's damage to American standing and influence has been swift and severe. It won't be short term or easily reversed.
9
In all this sordid affair, including Mueller's report, a bright light shines on the wit of Maureen Dowd. Her irony is more revealing than the verbiage pro and against.
The Mueller report belongs to the American people. With the exception of sensitive, classified information that might be in it, all of the report should be made available for anyone to read.
Ideally, those whose job it is to run our country should expect and welcome public scrutiny. Good governance demands standards that are above reproach, and it is exactly the opposite of this that we are now experiencing with the Trump administration.
Earlier this evening, I was rereading a novel by Nabokov. He's excellent at using adverbs and adjectives. Sometimes he'll blast a list of attributes about a person, place or thing, but end it by telling the reader what's not included.
Suddenly a reader realizes they are no longer reading. They are thinking, wondering and freeing themselves to accept new ideas, and become more involved. One fills the gap with their own imagination.
We can only hope Mueller's investigation open's a few more windows, doors and minds.
330
@Texan - You state such a simple yet important result of reading, that suddenly you, the reader, are no longer reading but have started thinking, open to accepting new ideas.
At age 87 one good thing to do is go through one's library - real books - and identify or re-identify the books that had that effect, that even changed one's life.
Thanks for the thought.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
49
@Larry Lundgren
Thanks for the compliment. I can tell from your comments, you're quite scholarly.
4
@texan No. beside the point. We don’t need any more imaginary conjecture. Facts are what matter now. Leave creative interpretations to fiction.
3
The new Census wants to know far too many details of my private life, from how many bedrooms I have to the cash value of my yearly investments dividends. Scary!! So it’s tit for tat that We the People have full disclosure of Mueller’s report on a public servant, even if he is a self-serving moron who refuses to release his tax returns. Or have we entered into a totalitarian regime?
3
My favorite example of right-wing hypocrisy was Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) who voted to remove Bill Clinton from office, knowing perfectly well that he had a side piece (fellow Republican Senator Paul Laxalt's daughter) with whom he had a side kid, who is now running for political office under the name of Laxalt. After decades of posing as a pillar of moral rectitude, Domenici's beans were spilled by one of those "enemies of the people" who dug up the story.
2
Today the A.P. ran the story, "Mueller revealed his Trump-Russia story in plain view", saying that the indictments and convictions by the Mueller investigators tells a compelling story of what kinds of people were on the Trump team and what the Mueller team did. That's very damning by itself but of course 45's supporters and GOP pols don't care. As nothing else is like to seriously impede Trump, I sure hope dogged reporters find what there is to find about his connections to Russian money.
2
Remember what congress got Clinton for back in the Monica days. Lying.
He lied to the commission investigating him and Monica.
Imagine a liar in the White House!
3
Our play is in a brief intermission this weekend, so quickly run to the bathroom, get more M&Ms, then settle back into your seat. Lights down, open curtains. Shhhhhhhhh!
1
No doubt there will be more melodrama consequent to Mueller’s report than even imbued Ms Dowd’s current piece. The key will be Barr’s translation and interpretation of the essential facts he’s willing to share. He protected known Iran Contra criminals and his former boss, GHW Bush by facilitating liberal pardons in the late 80’s.
There might be a major coverup. After all, that’s why Trump replaced Sessions with Barr. But the Dems will fight for maximum transparency. Adam Schiff is legally entitled to all info relevant to national security. House committees have subpoena power, and the last Congress was given 880,000 pages of documents during the ongoing Mueller investigation.
The Trump campaign was a small operation with a surprisingly large cast of criminal characters, mostly those unwilling to tell the truth regarding Russian connections. Mueller has finished indicting swamp creatures, but may have left sealed indictments to protect his work while various offices continue the pursuit. After all, Flynn and Gates are still cooperating ahead of final sentencing.
The key to Russian collusion, if it exists, is probably the silence of Roger Stone and Paul Manafort. Both appear willing to go to jail rather than cooperate and tell the truth about their contacts with Konstantin Kilimnik, the GRU, WikiLeaks, and Assange. We know Manafort gave private polling data to Kilimnik, but not exactly why. Trump collusion may hang on a Stone wall and Manafortified silence.
2
The DOJ does not allow indictment of a sitting POTUS or release of information damning the unindicted. Mueller, good Republican, seems to have broadened the prohibition to the POTUS's family. I have no clue why anyone expects anything from this report.
He has cleaned up a few things with the indictments he has already brought, though.
1
Nothing upsets Foggy Bottom more than professional career civil servants doing their jobs well. Disrupts the "Dark Net" narrative and the contrast with an incompetent Congress shirking their duties is highlighted.
Mueller is the grownup in the room and has been for the last two years. Elected officials, despite their protests to the contrary, wish he'd dragged it out just a bit longer.
Because now they have to do their job and most are not up to the task, having never done it in the past.
7
Amazing we needed a Mueller report to begin with. Trump's actions, his personal and business dealings, his relationship with Putin openly on display and the number of shady, indicted characters around him should have been enough to indict him not impeachment. But he cheated and became the President, a perfect Office to protect himself. But if I was unable to pay the mortgage because of a health emergency or because I got fired, I would be evicted by the Sheriff without mercy. Talk of double standards!
6
The process of Robert Mueller's report is the report. Nefarious dealings with the enemy and Trump's malicious targeting of lifelong public service institutions and their employees will not cease. Mueller's report may reveal more of the same, but Trump and the Republican Party have pushed our nation and our republic down the rabbit hole of despair and darkness for our children and theirs. Keeping us all safe, as a nation, is not in the Republican DNA. This United States dam held with Mueller in charge for two years. He has been the brake. The next two years, not so much. The Democrats are far too poor and naive. Schumer still believes that McConnell is a patriot, and the Supreme Court is a lost, dispirited institution. Mueller is not Garbo, but he has tried his best, and I am very grateful for his service.
4
I consider myself a student of human nature. As so many others have already written— better than I can— I don’t need anything from Mr. Mueller’s report that I don’t already know about Trump’s unfitness for office.
My guess is that we’ll just learn more about what we already know, and the vast majority in our “gangster” Republican Party will continue their unquestioning support of their “Don.”
What then? Well, back to human nature. Criminals who get away with crimes aren’t typically humbled or chastened— they’re emboldened. Trump and his cronies/ family will gauge survival of Mueller as license. If even possible, they’ll push limits further. Too far even for political gangsters. And their undoing will eventually come. Key to that, however, will always be Democrats winning elections. Please vote!
15
@Tim
So two years and nothing of substance but no problem you know what you need to know? So do the voters who have been watching this whole mess and guess what, they are voting in 2020 right along side of you. Think they will just 'oh well' the whole thing same way you did?
I always thought linking Trump directly to "colluding" with operatives of the Russian government was a near impossibility. The efforts to push that line by many in the media and leading Democrats could actually backfire when no smoking gun materialized. In essence exonerating Trump in the eyes of many.
A far better line will as the old adage holds... "follow the money" and the many shady dealings of the Trump organization. There one will likely find a treasure trove of criminality on an international scale.
8
We're all in a fog waiting on twitchy cat feet to see what Mueller time has wrought. Is it collusion? Obstruction? Conspiracy? The coven has already been hunted, caught, tried, and convicted. But, has the Witch-in-Chief escaped once again leaving us holding the bag? Let's hope the antiseptic light of truth will soon burn away the fog of spin, dishonesty, and dissembling.
6
I want to thank Mr. Mueller because without uttering a word at a press conference, or a leak to a newspaper, or a tweet, he exposed what now we have in our country. Who would have thought Lindsey Graham (2 years ago) would shame his friendship with John McCain? Who would have thought the President of the United States would lament "the good people" of a white supremacy group? Who would have thought that "lock her up" for emails also applies to the Kushners who also broke the rules. Yup, Mr. Mueller has shown us women who have been used, paid off, and hidden, evangelicals who have sold their souls, and a political party who now knowingly kiss the ring of a real estate salesman who knows that the "art of the deal" is really racism and pandering to the right clients.
17
Just a question - why shouldn't Democrats and Independents want the truth? Billion dollar loans from Deutche Bank? Million-dollar condos for Vlad in Moscow?
12
Trump picked Barr for a reason ,I really don't except him to release most of the report to the public , only parts that do no damage to Trump
6
@BILL VICINO, same reason they picked Bret kavanugh for SC. Just forward the republican agenda. We have no idea who their masters of universe are. Certainly not limited to America, goes beyond to Europe. Something larger going on. Like they will never question the Iraq war. At least Tony Blair has the decency to say he was sorry for his part in it but to this day America has not apologized for its countless misdeeds. No hope, guys, no hope.
2
I voted against Trump and believe he’s a horrible president. But if you’ve investigated the guy for 2 years and have no impeachable offenses, it may be time to pipe down and focus on beating him in the next election. He’s clearly dirty but either you have the goods on him or you don’t. Whatever happened or didn’t happen with Russia at most only influenced the election because the Democrats had a horrible candidate with minimal political skill who also ran a bad campaign. Please don’t make the same mistake twice. Focus on being centrist enough to pick votes from people who voted for Trump last time.
8
@Moderate
Spot on ! What you have written is actually exactly what the Dems need to.
Forget the the vengeance based investigations, stop drifting towards outright socialism and supporting candidates that want to outdo one another in the free education/healthcare/guaranteed income arena. Lay off the division resulting identify politics and offer and alternative to what have now. Stopping trying to change the rules (abolishing the EC) and show up and win.
Nobody respects a person or party that can win without changing the rules.
1
@Moderate Hillary was a centrist and lost.
1
Because she has next to zero political talent.
Mueller has provided maximum grist for talking heads, and political pundits arguing with and over one other about the import of the investigation (s).
Keeping " the only disciplined, airtight operation in the undisciplined, leaky Trump era" sailing through to the end has lent drama - who needed MORE drama with Trump? - that you guys are going to miss.
Soon we will be back to what we have had in full view for two years -- a venal, narcissistic blowhard whose modus operandi is cheating and stealing and lying, with a large dash of nepotism.
Does the (probable) fact that there isn't evidence proving that he communicated specific plans for undermining the elections with Putin's comrades make him less sleazy? Less of a liar? Less dangerous?
1
I like how Mueller's Iraq-WMDs Congressional testimony has just fallen down some rabbit hole. Ah well, failing upward in service of empire is The American Way, it seems.
1
Manafort didn't talk because he had nothing to say. No crime was committed so he had nothing to say. It's that simple
1
@Marika
A jury of his peers thought differently and convicted Manafort on crimes leading to nearly 8 years of prison. When Manafort talked, he lied.
4
How strange! How wonderful!
The canary appears to have stopped singing from the Mar-a-Lago bunker.
Thank heavens.
4
It's an absolute miracle that Mr. Mueller was able to finish his investigation.
What a cliff hanger.
Every day it seemed, Trump was threatening to fire Mueller. Every day Democrats and the real media - which are the same thing - came to the rescue and saved democrazy for another day.
But, it was close.
It will take another miracle to wrench Mueller's report from the cold, dead hands of AG Barr.
But, the real miracle will be concluding all of the Congressional and SDNY investigations before the planet is destroyed in 11 years if the GND isn't enacted this weekend.
5
First the Primary,
then the Election,
then the Mueller Report,
then The Secrets that Bad Old Mueller is Hiding.
Yes, let's have a 4th round of discovering how wrong America's Most Bigoted Class are about Trump.
8
There would have been no need for Robert Mueller if Hillary had been elected if columnists like Dowd had not harped over and over about irrelevant emails. Now we wade through the mess and see if our democracy survives.
8
This column on the very serious subject of the Mueller report—
Veers from showbiz to the trendy to what’s becoming trendy to, of course, politics.
But what about sober reality?
1
Brava, Maureen! One of your best columns. You didn't mention Hillary even once.
4
Like the refugees in the movie Casablanca, we wait and wait and wait. Trump and his family should be very concerned that 'it is not over till the fat lady or in this case the formerly fat man House judiciary committee chairman Jerry Nadler sings'.
@MIMA thank you.
Mr. Mueller's findings will confirm what literate folk already know, the very White House caters to a singular party of bad hair.
I did not know Mueller was USMC vet. Good to know. No wonder he's on the good side.
Semper Fi, Bob.
3
This investigation seems clean enough so far. Fast forward 25 years from now, when radicalized American cells, frustrated with ongoing divisive, fractured factions in the country, decide to usurp power and overthrow the ever weakening presidency by planting viruses to take out the power grid, disrupt media coverage, and amidst the orchestrated chaos, plant propaganda stories on the remnants of a fragmented social media in a Nazi like propaganda blitz. It could be out of the playbook from Venezuela with the absolute control over everything, like the Maduro blame game. Russian influence has arrived, and it might be replaced by more eager, more determined, and more insidious domestic opportunists with a political ax to grind. No doubt, your column has inspired readers to tune up that generator in the garage, and read up on fuel cell technology. Everyone is prepared this time, but if this only festers and gets more divisive, it could have longer term tendencies to mutate into a bigger monster of betrayal.
@Zeek
So you think Russia interference just started in 2016? Maybe lesson to be learned, for all the little girls especially, is that you can dream about growing up to become the First Lady some day, or you can dream about growing up to become the President yourself, but what you cannot do in America is ever hope to dream to grow up someday to become BOTH. Learn that lesson and maybe your party will win some elections in the future.
I love the three paragraphs that skip from William Goldman, Tom Petty, Streetcar Named Desire & Mean Girls.
O’Dowd snazzily & unsentimentally captures the chaotic & crazy nature of The Portly Golfer’s Presidency.
I’m almost pleased my ertswhile fellow countryman & Tom Payne fanboy Christopher Hitchens never lived to see such an incurious & inept occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
2
Do you know who we need to flip right now? Mark Judge. We need to hit Trump where he's truly weak, his accomplishments. We need the market to 'flip' to show the true nature of the economic growth during the Trump Presidency. We need Tom Terrific to flip on Kraft and call him out for the flesh peddling accomplice that he is on a regular basis. We need Trump's foursomes to flip and document what an absolute fraud Trump is in every way including on the links. So forget about the courtroom and out him in the living room.
1
The Report says "not enough evidence". It doesn't say "not a crook" or "didn't cheat". No more reports Needed. A time when parents are skewered rightly for University cheating and
this President suffers no consequences? Just dodged a ..............
Irrespective of what the Mueller Report may contain ... I believe it.
1
Maureen:
Nothing, NOTHING, no issue is more important than a house that has no electricity and is smoking. I feel sorry for you and all the media that is so wrapped up in something, at the expense of your personal lives that in the long run will not mean a thing. No job is worth that. Get real.
It is getting very wearisome.
Trump is not going anywhere anytime soon.
You and the media will be able to continue for another 6 years in this frenzied lifestyle.
2
Each day we see Mr. Trump's crimes and lies -- he displays them so he can weaponize it -- a true criminal and autocratic mind. I saw a woman at a Rep Steve King (no less) meeting stand up and say that she never thought she wanted a dictator, but that Trump was her man. Do these people read anything or care or have they been enjoying their ignorance and fears (about everything other) so much that they think a dictator will actually continue to support them, rather than send them off to the "camps" -- why would Donald Trump, an elitist want anything to do with them -- what a sad, pathetic display they are for their country and fellow Americans.
5
The Republicans are so happy that Trump was not indicted by Mueller but then again DOJ procedures prevent that. Right???
This reminds me that the Trojans were very happy when they received the giant Trojan Horse from the Greeks.
So happy that they drank themselves to Oblivion and then the Greeks burnt down their city of Troy and killed and enslaved them.
I will be happy too when that rotten edifice that they call The Republican Party is burnt down too. As for enslavement, the Republicans are forever tied to the neck of The Dotard Draft Dodger.
Hey, Republicans watch out for those Sucker Punches from the Southern District, the NYC Manhattan District Attorney and that marvelous, gifted Black Woman who is the NYS Attorney General.
Revenge is a dish served Cold and I will taste it quite slowly and quite well.
Trump won’t do either.
So much for Good Taste which he never possessed.
4
I hope there were no deals made to protect the kids...Donnie and Jared.
Are there sealed indictments?
1
And the truth will set us free.
Mock the "Russiagaters". Mock them ruthlessly, and never, ever let them forget the horrible thing that they did. Never stop making fun of them and reminding them how stupid and crazy they acted during this humiliating period of American history. And never stop using it as a weapon against them. They were wrong, so they should not be leading the way on what passes for America’s political left today. Skepticism was the only appropriate response to Russiagate in a post-Iraq invasion world, and those on the left who made that appropriate response should be treated with infinitely more respect and deference than those who did not.
2
Could sum up this piece in three words:
"Nothing to report"
2
@Pono
"Nothing to report" except multiple indictments and convictions of Trump's campaign manager, advisors, and other close associates.
It is astounding to me that so many people, in the public and in Congress, can say this was all a waste of time and money while there is already plenty of evidence that Trump lied about business dealings in Russia and so many of his close associates have already been credibly charged. Does anyone really believe that only the people around Trump were guilty, but he was squeaky clean? If so, I have a tower in Moscow to sell you.
4
@Dee S
I hope you aren’t running for office if you have business in Russia. That’s illegal you know...
You’re better off taking 600k for private speeches to Goldman Sachs.
1
Well, this is beginning to feel like a Mobius strip, anxiety without end. Has anyone else considered that Trump's get-out-of-jail-free card is declaring the suspension of further elections? As long as he's president, he won't be indicted. He is certainly beginning to consider the White House as his own. See below:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-hotel-trump-store-white-house-ethics_n_5c95b983e4b057f7330b04e2?ncid=APPLENEWS00001
Think we’ll get much from a couple of old pals,
Mueller and Barr, whose wives attend bible study together? Jesus May know, but lord can I get it now or must I hesitate.
1
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, most of us will spend our days with our families, and will check in on the news about the report tonight or tomorrow morning.
Not to say that it's not important, but what matters to most people is what is right in front of them--is their arthritis flaring up, is their kid being picked on, is their boss being mean today, can they afford to take the family out to a movie this afternoon, should they leave their husbands because he's a jerk, etc.?
It is these kinds of matters, not the Mueller Report, or Trump, that will be affecting peoples lives.......outside of Washington D.C.
2
I strongly believe in our Constitution and the Rule of Law. I also believe that DJT and his corrupt cohort are as guilty as sin; they've all either spoken out or acted out right in view of we the people.
Thank you, Mr. Mueller, for being a man we can all admire. There are so few of them around these days, particularly in D.C.
And please, Democrats, don't be silly and/or stupid. The country wants answers, answers to issues that affect them on a daily basis. Leave all the pie-in-the-sky ideas to post winning election. We must win and take back our country from the criminals.
3
Calling Mueller Trump’s “Javert” is wildly inaccurate and insulting.
But at least this part of Dowd’s column is true:
“Starr was a star leaker and showboat, and journalists and the public were quickly able to get their hands on the document on which the fate of the Republic was hanging. It was something of a shock to learn that the supposedly dignified independent counsel — who was once on a shortlist for the Supreme Court — had delivered a 445-page bodice ripper, a trite story of an office affair in all its seamy particulars, told with such sanctimony that it was redolent of Nathaniel Hawthorne.”
Except for the reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nate deserves better. Any decent, intelligent person who has been needlessly associated in anyone's mind with Kenneth Starr has been viciously slandered.
1
What most people here appear to be confused about is the SDNY.
The Southern District of NY is NOT part of the NY State system.
It is federal, subordinate to AG Barr.
I guess it is only fitting that we have Maureen Dowd, a "reality show" political columnist reporting on Donald Trump, our "reality show" President.
Where are the likes of Walter Lippmann, Edward R. Murrow, Theodore H. White and William Safire when we need them most? Nowhere to be found.
I fear what we're witnessing in the NYT these days is the journalistic equivalent of Gresham's Law, where bad journalism drives good journalism from the field.
It's not like none among us could see this sorry state of affairs coming. Cf. Neil Postman's 1985 work, Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
3
"Not even Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, knew what was happening..."
Surprised?
1
Still waiting to see if Teflon Don walks.
1
Surely, President Trump will be emboldened by the probable faint criticism contained in the Mueller report, especially when compared with the clear corruption of Hillary and her fraudulent foundation.
Accordingly, Democrats will turn on Mueller accusing him suppressing damning evidence,etc.
In other words, lots and "sound and fury signifying nothing".
1
Coincidental Mueller ends his probe about one month after Barr becomes AG?
2
I love Maureen Dowd. I seriously laughed out loud at her comment "Bobby Boy Scout". Thanks for creating humour around very serious issues. Just fabulous.
Without the Mueller report or any further investigations this is what we know about trump:
- He has been married three times and has had extramarital affairs.
- He paid a porn star to keep her quiet about their sexual dalliances and lied about it.
- He defrauded students at trump university.
- After criticizing Obama for a golf outing he has taken 19 golf junkets costing US taxpayers $72 million.
- He has had covert meetings with Putin and refused to have them made of record.
- He has substantially reduced the US standing in the world by his attacks on our allies while singing the praises of dictators and our enemies.
- He supports MBS the Saudi monarch who had Khashoggi brutally murdered.
- He has not demanded Russia-Putin return Crimea to the Ukraine.
- He promised affordable healthcare to all and then supported the repeal of the ACA with no health plan of his own thereby taking the health care away from 30 million Americans.
- He promised major infrastructure rebuilding projects and we got nada.
- He and his family have major conflicts of interest running their family businesses while in office.
- He promised us copies of his tax returns, crickets.
- He falsely accused Obama of tapping his phones.
- He lied about Obama's birth certificate.
And this is just a short list. We know all of this as fact not speculation or conjecture. We don't need any investigation to prove this. So why is this travesty of a man in office.
8
@Steve
Yeah, well, none of that changes the fact that Hillary Promised Trump would have a chance to lead. Remember that nice little speech she gave? So if she wasn't telling the truth, why you care if Trump did?
The real Garbo here is Maureen, who always seems to crave more attention and response than the people she writes about. Just saying.
2
Beware of rising expectations!
Mueller's report, regardless of obvious/implied crimes, will be ineffectual with the GOP base. It will easily be upstaged, shouted down as usual by the ranting, lying, Blow-Hard in Chief-trying to rile "crazies." Is there "revolution in the air?"
"Politicians in Washington have been having illicit sex and lying about it since George Washington slept here."
Yes, they have Ms. Dowd. However, Clinton is the only one I know of who commited perjury while doing it. The Supreme Court of Arkansas took his law license away for 5 years as a result.
I am no Republican. I have never voted for a Republican for president in my life since my first vote for George McGovern.
But, I am a lawyer with a degree from Harvard (1975). I know that the "rule of law" which Trump threatens cannot hold if witnesses can lie under oath without consequences.
5
Nothing cries for "justice" louder than the disappointed whining from commenters who are seeing their favorite collusion conspiracy theory crumble into dust, even as they now ramp up a new conspiracy theory that somehow asserts a "coverup" as the "real" issue. Must be hard to accept that Hillary was a terrible candidate who lost the election to another terrible candidate. Maybe it's time to phony up a new "dossier" to distract attention from this deplorable outcome?
3
@Fred Rick: Hillary Clinton would have made a great president. The problem is the American voter, who in majority is terribly uninformed and prefers likeability over competence. It’s quite obvious from Trump’s behavior that Putin has something on Trump and that Trump is a Russian asset, or “useful idiot”. Trump should never have been accepted on the Republican ticket in the first place.
1
Is it too much for this citizen and voter to ask that the report detail what the Russians did in what state and through what medium to impact our 2016 presidential election and recommendations on what we should do about it? Trump is still an abomination of a president who has at the very least failed to prioritize protecting us from their onslaught of hacking, propaganda and REAL fake news.
Collusion or not - the fact that our government, media and WE the people have lost sight of this is appalling.
1
I used to keep a print subscription to the New York Times just to read Maureen Dowd's column each week. You are blessed with a gift for writing. As time has gone by, however, your judgments are more shrill, snarky, and critical. Or perhaps it is I who have changed. I read every column you write and I never saw one so snarky and critical of Donald J. Trump. He has hoodwinked you as much as he has hoodwinked the rest of the country. It is a disappointment. Robert Mueller is the real thing. He is the consummate professional and I bet his personal values are above reproach as well. I hope that his work, the report that captures his findings, and the responses from both sides of the political aisle lead us back to protecting democracy and treating one another with respect.
3
It’s fascinating that even though page 13 Section B of the Intelligence Community Assesment of 2017 from the office of the Director of the NSA clearly states it has no “proof” that the Russians hacked the DNC and even though the two-year in-depth Mueller Investigation produced no evidence, none, of collusion, many posters insist that both the hacking by Russia and collusion with Putin took place. On what grounds, one wonders, aside from personal animus for an admittedly unpleasant and even bizarre President.
2
By any measure, and I mean any including, but not limited to foreign policy, leadership, character, ethics, intellect and decency, Donald Trump is, has been, and will continue to be a disgrace.
That I think Trump is up to his bouffant in money laundering and other questionable business practices with the Russians, activities that in the private sector would lead to years in orange jumpsuits and flip flops, yes! That there will be any proof of election collusion with the Russians in Mueller's Report....Nyet. But, I've said that since this whole "The Russians Did It" blame game began right after Hillary Clinton managed to do the unthinkable and lose the Turkey Shoot otherwise known as the 2016 Presidential Election to you know who.
Maybe we'll find out who hacked the DNC and Podesta servers for all the emails that ended up at Wikileaks? I still haven't heard any of the actual contents of those documents questioned for accuracy.
Oh, speaking of The Russians, emails and HRC, ....never mind, I know, old news.
It's said a nation get the leadership it deserves, including the power brokers of the Republican and Democratic parties in Congress, but usually not all at once.!
1
Begs the question only a House committee can ask, "What did the President know and when did he know...about the actions of those indicted.
In the November, 2018 Election, the national voting public, or at least part of it, sent Democrats to the House to legislate --not to investigate. Once again the Republic will suffer, time and taxpayer money will be wasted, and the U.S.A. will fall further behind the rest of the nations of the world.
2
We are all prisoners of our theoretical preconceptions..
He wasn’t even inaugurated and people were marching in the streets.
Don’t flatter him..he is not that smart.
Nor are many of the new members of Congress.
They want Trump gone and then they have zero realistic plans.
Sad how how our prejudices can fog reality.
Unlike Trump and his Republican sycophants, which are screaming 'witch hunt', we Democrats actually want the facts to come out before making judgements. That's because we love Democracy more than we hate Trump. I know you find this hard t believe, but one of the things we take great comfort in is that no matter how bad a president is (GW Bush, Trump) knowing that we have institutions that will hold them accountable gives us hope. Hope that we won't destroy the planet, tank the economy, provide affordable medical care, safe schools, and protect the rights of woman and minorities.
Now let's see everything that's in the Mueller Report!
1
Perhaps Trump is silent this weekend as he ponders his resignation. One can dream can't one?
Nixon, in all of his underhanded creepiness, seems positively quaint compared to Trump. No president has ever approached the level of dishonesty and corruption that Trump brings to the table. Maybe this report will hasten his downfall, but I seriously doubt it. There is apparently no bridge too far with this bunch. And nobody honorable or patriotic would sign on with this administration. Anyone who does is completely complicit and would be wise to lawyer up.
1
A minute late and penny short article - actually quite boring. Reality is that nothing happened, that the USA was caught playing with itself for the past two years and now has to start all over again.
2
If the Mueller report falls flat, I am not sure I am ready for the deluge of Trump family gloat-tweets and Fox News chest thumping.
2
What decent judge is for the conservative party in power since decades ? A judge for the party of corruption in politics.
The President says he is not guilty! He means,I believe ,that he is not conscious of or capable of feeling guilt as he has said that he has never felt it necessary to ask for God's forgiveness .He claims belief in God!
Take the President at his word. Whatever the report reveals, the President will not feel guilt or responsibility. Gads, what a quagmire!
The last time anything that happened about the US government (or to be) and not have anything leaked was the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Mueller achieved what the Founding Fathers were able to do at the founding of our current government. Kudos Mr Mueller,
As we fixate on Kim, Mueller Report, Golan Heights, and Pompeo saying God sent Jews Trump to save them (OMG) we ignore that there are investigations in SDNY, NY State Attorney General, and other divisions of the DOJ (so many investigations). It will be interesting to see the recommendations about why people were not charged even though there maybe reasons why but not enough proof to convict.
If my last name is Trump I would not be sleeping easily
Only a fool would conclude that there are no meaningful intersects with the Russians whether or not they are characterized as collusion. Frankly I think that their willingness to engage with the Russians in any capacity is at least as worrisome, though apparently not provable and indictable. What we have witnessed is a gang of unsavory characters, to include the President, finding no bar too low to crawl under.
What is uplifting is the integrity of Mueller. No leaks. No grandstanding. His work, and that of his team that he assembled, represents the power of committed people who care more about the job at hand than trying to cultivate their personal interests. I deeply respect and appreciate his execution of this thankless task with such competence and grace.
1
For the president, the dilemma remains. The whole thing was a put up job by Democrats, liberals, the FBI, Attorneys General, and any news source other than Fox and the National Tattler.
But, as with his taxes, an innocent man has nothing to hide! With or without additional criminal charges, does the Muller report show the president and the "organization" to be honest, ethical and decent victims of a vast conspiracy that preys on helpless billionaires? My bet would be, no.
..now it appears that there is no reasonable prospect that anything Mueller does or says could result in Trump's removal and replacement by Pence.
Trump famously said "I could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any votes" . That has now been replaced by "Trump could be caught on videotape handing top American military secrets to Russia and still not have any Republican votes for impeachment".
Whatever evidence and proof of criminal acts that Mueller could come up with, it is certain that such evidence and proof could not be as a powerful indication of wrongdoing as the evidence in the public record that Bret Kavanaugh was lying in the senate hearings relating to his confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice. Once Ford’s account included three people she said were there AND his calendar had them all at Tim Gaudette’s house on July 1, 1982, AND Ford’s description of the interior of Gaudette’s house in Rockville, MD exactly matches that of the actual house, which still exists: the only way that Kavanaugh was not lying is either: Ford somehow obtained access to his 1982 diary/calendar, or Ford has a time machine or Ford stalked Kavanaugh in 1982 and planned to do this, if and when he was nominated to the Supreme Court...."
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4216597
Not even any idea the size of Mueller’s briefcase the report was in when he delivered it? Or just too ashamed to tell? Could it be it’s not Mueller’s tight lips but instead ears that pretend to go deaf hearing what they don’t want to hear? This is a good time for there to be the March Madness that really matters bouncing a ball.
"Democrats yearned to have Mueller scream 'Collusion!' … With his usual bravado about his base, Trump ..."
Ms. Dowd, please come join us in the real world. The weather's fine and the folk are honest, realistic, skeptical. The Democrats are not hysterically screaming anything. We know the DOJ has a policy of not indicting presidents. Mr. Trump has never demonstrated bravado or bravery. He has bullied and lied, and fed his base the rage, resentment, demonization, and fear that they adore him for.
2
I am reminded of the beginning of my medical training. Well before the days of routine OB ultrasound revealing a soon-to-be-born child, the big question you were always asked at the time of delivery was simple: is it a boy or a girl?
Now we have a similar question: Is Trump exonerated or pilloried?
I fear we are most likely to have a different result.
Rarely a child is born who, at the time of delivery, has so-called anomalous genitalia in which the sex of the child is unclear. This may be from hormonal errors in the mother or child or for other less clear reasons. Explaining this to new parents is beyond difficult.
From Robert Mueller we may get an equally mixed result in which Mr. Trump's actions or those acting in his name interacted with others in a knowledge of Russian activities but not in coordination with them. His fabled report and the whirlwind around it will be Rashomon revisited. Mr. Trump could fairly be said to be guilty but not responsible.
Let the spin begin...
The silence was deafening. But the supposedly heavy Mueller report landed like a cat - softly! Now I hope the Justice Department delivers justice! Hope the Attorney General delivers the report in totem and not a redacted version. And I hope the House does not give a redacted version of the redacted version. After all, we citizens deserve the truth. After all, it was our tax dollars which paid for the investigation!
Stop obsessing over "collusion" that's a false direction to look that's why Trump keeps yelling about it. Let's for now only talk about all of the crimes that have been committed so far and what it will mean for Trump enterprises.
I would like to think Mr. Mueller is on his way to Hawaii for lazing on the beach, and enjoying ice tea with a long strip of pineapple in it. It seems well deserved. He obviously formed and excellent team to support him. The fact they all kept their mouths shut, and are letting the report speak for itself, tells me they did a thorough job.
1
Various media outlets are touting the success of the Mueller investigation—claiming that the 37 indictments it produced means the process was justified. Not so fast. I submit that if you were to randomly select 200 people from among the top .5% of the wealthiest Americans, and then you sent the FBI to scrutinize everything they’ve ever said, done, texted, emailed or filed over the last twenty or so years, you would uncover tax fraud and criminalized “lying,” of one form or another, on a scale that closely parallels the rate of successful prosecutions brought by Mueller. So what is the real import of Mueller? We now know that neither the President nor his associates colluded with Russia to try to influence the 2016 election. Regardless of whether you support Trump, that revelation ought to be welcomed as good news.
3
wait, what? garbo was a military man?
In light of the fact that the Republicans investigated themselves and the report is now being cleansed by Republicans, it should occur to all of us that if the Republicans fail to release the entire Mueller report to the public, they will henceforth be known as an administration absent any credibility going into the future.
1
Mueller is the Dems' best opportunity. No one will ever believe that a Democratic investigation is anything but a partisan fishing expedition.
Well written. From what I see, the Dems can't help themselves and they will overstep and meet the same fate as the Repubs after the Clinton impeachment.
2
The best comment on these times is from a tweeter (whose name I apologize for not writing down) when he wrote:
"The Mueller report will be real trouble for trump if it includes any of the things we have seen him do and any the things we've heard him say."
How do you exonerate a man who insults the office he holds with his graft, his lies and his vengeful bullying?
2
I think the Democrats, who now sound shrill and moralistic, have overplayed their hand. They held too much hope that the Mueller Report would brand Trump as a colluder and collaborator who should be impeached. Now they are scrambling. Their overreach may give the vile Trump another term.
2
Have you seen a photo of Robert Mueller behind the wheel of an SUV before this one? I sure haven't.
Get used to it, though. Robert Mueller, the straight-laced-guy-who-only-wears-white-shirts is about to be portrayed as a stumbling buffoon, for having committed the cardinal sin of not finding "smoking gun" evidence that Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the 2016 election from Hillary Clinton. From the goodest of the good guys, Mueller will soon become the baddest of the bad guys -- sort of a Jim Comey in reverse. The new "good guy" will be the US Attorney in charge of the SDNY office. If he doesn't perform, he'll go the way of Robert Mueller, replaced by the New York state attorney general, who will have the power to charge Trump with state-law crimes that can't be pardoned by any President.
"As William Goldman once said of Hollywood, “Nobody knows anything.” "
Listening forever to cable TV talking heads recounting the many ways that they know nothing is not going to work. Ratings will fall. Ennui will rise. The nation will (further) drown in meaninglessness. A vacuum cries out to be filled.
How about this to fill the gap? March Madness for Political Junkies. Everybody write down their best guess as to the ultimate outcome of the Trump federal investigation circus, seal it into an envelope and deposit it into a big maximum security box. When the answer is finally known, the box is opened and a winner determined by a jury consisting of Bob Woodward, David Brooks and Doris Kearns Goodwin. The prize will be a candlelight dinner with Stormy Daniels at a quiet restaurant of the winner's choosing.
Here's my entry: Mueller has simply set himself up as a decoy to draw all the inevitable political fire and fury. He will issue a short report focused narrowly on Russian interference with the election. He will find that interference occurred, Trump and his minions were happy to see it but too disorganized to effectively cooperate in its execution. No actionable collusion.
Meanwhile, all the heavy stuff uncovered by the investigation will have been quietly farmed out to the Justice Department field offices. Indictments will start to dribble in. The high point will be the Manhattan office filing a RICO suit to have the Trump organization declared a criminal conspiracy.
95
@woofer
Here’s my entry:
DOJ inspector general Horowitz will submit findings of his ongoing investigation into possible abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by the DOJ and FBI in their investigation of president Trump and associates of his 2016 campaign. The seditious actions perpetrated within James Comey’s FBI against president Trump by Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page will be exposed. McCabe will be indicted as a result. James Comey will be further disgraced and Democrats will be left wiping rotten egg off their collective faces.
1
@woofer
I don't want to have dinner with Stormy Daniels, with or without candlelight.
1
Brilliant analysis.
That is exactly what will happen.
Americans are nothing if not goal focused!
"The Last Boy Scout"
Without any fanfare or much anticipated additional indictments, the life-long Republican, Robert Mueller, delivered his final investigative report to Trump's "hand picked" Attorney General; William Barr.
An AG who submitted a 19 page "resume" to the White House, where he was quite critical of the entire Mueller Investigation.
Yes, Mueller did uncover and indict an impressive array of peripheral characters, close to Trump's campaign and even closer to Russian ties.
It appeared significant at least, that Jarrod Kushner and Don Jr. were very likely candidates for a Mueller examination, yet there was none !
Mueller steered clear of Trump and his immediate family, when there was clear "probable cause" to bring them in for questioning -
He did not . . . . WHY ?
Will there be actual evidence shown in the report of Russia's involvement with tilting the scales in Trump's favor during the 2016 Election ?
Yes, it may be premature to predict what actually will be revealed in Mueller's report . . .
However, I feel like he's the "Last Republican Boy Scout" !
Will there be actual
2
"The Last Boy Scout"
Without any fanfare or much anticipated additional indictments, the life-long Republican, Robert Mueller, delivered his final investigative report to Trump's "hand picked" Attorney General; William Barr.
An AG who submitted a 19 page "resume" to the White House, where he was quite critical of the entire Mueller Investigation.
Yes, Mueller did uncover and indict an impressive array of peripheral characters, close to Trump's campaign and even closer to Russian ties.
It appeared significant at least, that Jarrod Kushner and Don Jr. were very likely candidates for a Mueller examination, yet there was none !
Mueller steered clear of Trump and his immediate family, when there was clear "probable cause" to bring them in for questioning -
He did not . . . . WHY ?
Will there be actual evidence shown in the report of Russia's involvement with tilting the scales in Trump's favor during the 2016 Election ?
Yes, it may be premature to predict what actually will be revealed in Mueller's report . . .
However, I feel like he's the "Last Republican Boy Scout" !
23
The final conclusion of the Mueller report for no further indictments is a turning page emotionally for much the American public. While legal challenges remain for Mr. Trump, many Americans consider this to be the denouement of this long and sordid chapter in American politics. For Republicans, who will claim victory, it came at a cost, with a President that is amoral and disparages their own party icons. For the Democrats, continued shrillness could lead to losses in the Senate, House, and the reelection of Mr. Trump, as the US public wants to move on.
2
"Mueller may be winding down, but the Democrats are just getting wound up". The basis for the Mueller investigation was that a crime that went to the heart of the presidency was committed, and so there was a basis to investigate whether or not Trump was involved in that.
However the new investigations that Democrats are getting "wound up" about are not about matters over which there is a basis to believe crimes were committed, but they are simply out to investigate any and all matters because they want to find some wrongdoing on the part of Trump, and thus grounds to impeach him.
Now up to this point there were only three impeachment proceeding ever undertaken, and in all of those cases there was a strong basis to suspect a crime was committed. However by taking this new and unprecedented step of setting out to investigate every possible aspect of a person's life based on the hope that they will be able to find some crime they are forever going to change the face of government.
And this is because it will become standard procedure to those in government to investigate every aspect of the life of any elected person in order to find a basis under which to impeach them so that they can oust that person from office. And this will by no means be limited to the president. It will extend to judges, governors and expulsion proceedings against both senators and members of congress.
1
Given Mueller's mantra - loose lips sink ... - does anyone wonder how many of the bloviating talking heads and quoted politicians from both parties have actually had a peek at the report?
The right seems to think the left should refocus on who they will run in 2024, and the left seems to have moved on to others who may fit Trump et.al. for prison garb.
Everyone please take a deep breath, even though that is not Washington's idea of fun, and wait for the report to come out - if it ever does. And should it find its way to some locked bottom drawer, maybe we will have another Pentagon Papers moment.
Until then, I am going back to March Madness - both men and women.
14
The absence of any new indictments does not imply the absence of evidence to support them. It may simply mean that Mr. Mueller did not believe it was in his power to do what he believes only congress can do-- that is to impeach the president for treason. It will be in the interest of Tяцmp and his minions to hide as much of the Mueller report as they can get away with. The rest of us will demand full disclosure. At some point all eyes will be on Mr. Mueller himself when he, sooner or later, is sworn in to testify before one of the congressional committees-- most likely chaired by a democrat. Those who are party to a review of the report now will be unable to demonstrate the discipline shown by the Mueller team. They will leak this or that which is favorable to Tяцmp while those who are clamoring for access will demand it. No way is this long awaited assessment going to escape a bruising battle over who gets to see it and when. Ultimately, it will be an historic document studied in Government 101 high school and college courses. Of what we already know, we can surmise that it will be a story about whether Tяцmp committed treason.
3
The absence of recommended indictments does not, in my opinion, point to either innocence or absence of evidence. I await the public access to the Report and privately hold the hope that Mueller and his team withheld indictments that may be construed as political weapons. I believe they want the political venue, Congress, take action, be it impeachment or censure. I also believe that the Mueller team did not want to incite rancor with indictments of the Presidnt’s family but will leave that to the AG without recommendation but with evidentiary documentation and testimony.
But only Mueller, his team, Rosenstein, and Barr know the facts and strategy. For the rest of us, pondering is all we have right now.
3
The debutants in the House are being force to accept the the fact that there was no collusion. The truth is difficult to accept when you've spun a tale of lies and innuendo for 2 yrs. Let's not forget that New York and other states have investigated Trump for decades and nothing has materialized. I'm sure there is a safe zone out there for the Democrats to converge on and commiserate their latest failure.
4
Nothing but an uncensored report is acceptable. We should remind people of the Pentagon Papers.
4
Why don't we all wait to rush to judgement until after we know the report's contents?
3
@Mary
We may not know what's in the report, but we've watched decades worth of manipulative, sleazy and criminal acts, so we know Trump.
1
The Mueller report is not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning to a legal drama that will play out for the next 10 years in criminal and civil courts. At its conclusion, the tRump name will be forever disgraced.
14
@William Park It's already disgraced.
2
"Let people see it."
I think we should follow the words spoken this Wednesday by our dear leader, President Trump, and the report should be made public.
In the interim, thank you for a magnificent job, Mr. Mueller.
Your dedicated and professional public service makes me proud to be an American.
8
I think everyone is missing something here. "No new indictments" does NOT mean Trump will not be indicted, nor does it mean he will be. What it means is that Mueller has supplied a report, that contains evidence for which many close Trump former fixers and allies HAVE been indicted and in some cases, charged and found guilty. Mueller is playing very strictly by the rules, and is leaving it up to Barr, his former boss, what of the report, if anything, to send to Congress. Barr is not legally obligated to send them the full report; a summary is legally sufficient. Which does not mean someone won't ultimately leak the full report. Congress, led by the House, will demand, as they already have in a unanimous nonbinding resolution, to see the full report. Somehow, likely through a leak, they will get it, but only after the SDNY investigation becomes front page news; remember that Mueller's team has shared information with the SDNY team, for a reason (maybe 2 billion of them?). When that happens, only then will there be more hearings and investigations. This will take time, likely about 18 months. Mueller can read a calendar, too.
7
I think some acknowledgement should be made of Rod Rosenstein, who had the wisdom to appoint Robert Mueller as the special counsel. When Mr. Rosenstein’s letter was used by the White House as the reason to fire James Comey as the FBI director, I initially thought he was a tool in the Trump administration’s effort to quash any investigation into Russia’s sabotage of the election. But then he selected Mr. Mueller — perhaps the one person in America best able to conduct the probe with such forthright professionalism — and guarded his independence. Both men were thrust into a situation where ethics and duty to country would be tested. I feel they met the test, and I thank them.
22
@Alan
Yes not much is said about his quick and quick witted move which insured that there was an independent investigation under a capable man above all suspicion.
3
Well done, Mr Mueller, it's commendable to walk a tight rope, not make any mistake, maintain the focus, ignore the noise against a long timeline and huge political pressure! Indeed nicely done, now the ball's in the AG's court...
6
In France judges have to retire at 65. Max What kind of judge is still working at 75 years old . Imagine the legitimacy of working at 75 or 74 . When did the guy become a magistrate ? How old was he ? What was the practice of the law then ? What was the world him around then ? What is it like today ?
"All we really knew was that this was a pivotal moment, not only for Trump but also for his Javert."
So Trump is now equated with Jean Valjean?
Not worthy.
9
@Michael Doane
Dowd plays fast and loose with her references.
Trump is certainly not the heroic French strongman jailed for stealing a loaf of bread and Robert Mueller is not Valjean's daemon, the relentlessly misguided police officer, Javert.
Nor is he Washington's Garbo--an actress who famously shunned the spotlight--but instead a lawyer discharging his duties very professionally.
Dowd's insistence on introducing sloppy cultural references skews her frame of reference and distorts her analysis beyond redemption.
3
How dated can references be before fixations become bundles of cliches? The issues fronting the country are too raw and daunting for a revival of Hedda Hopper or Louella Parsons.
4
In a time when America is all but devoid of heroes, I salute Robert Mueller—a man of iron integrity, a singular devotion to justice and an exemplar in a country with almost none. While the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania A e., exercised, recklessly and relentlessly, the right of free speech, Mr. Mueller demonstrated what loving justice and serving the American people looks like.
Thank you, Mr. Mueller
10
Trump is the king of getting away with terrible stuff, like OJ once was. He is the king of lies and lawsuits, like Lance Armstrong once was. He is the king of abusing the little people, in not quite the same way as the King of Pop appears to have once been. It may take a generation, but in the end the truth comes out.
The only way to fight this man and his "base" is with truth and facts and more truth and facts. That's what Mr. Mueller, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many others have been steadily doing. I believe Trump's corruption will collapse under its own weight. But once he's gone, his base will remain. Then what?
20
If what we know so far is all that Mueller ever had, his investigation should indeed have ended many months ago. It seems as though the man bluffed his way to a dead end, accomplishing little more than busting Manafort for tax evasion, indicting a few two-dimensional Russian characters that will never be seen or heard from again, and getting his own name maximum exposure. National hero? Consummate professional? How about just another petty paper-pusher, retaliating for his buddy's firing, asking all the wrong questions and ignoring the fact that American elections have always been and will always be stolen by the ruling class.
4
Commenter Bos is exactly right:
' ... the country yearns for centrists and pragmatists, not Tea Party's left wing counterpart ... "
The Democratic Party has an opportunity to take back power here. But that's not going to happen if voters perceive the choice to be between Trump and a far-left-of-center Democratic candidate; they'll pick Trump if that is the choice.
4
When AOC is viewed as the poster child for the Democrats, the outcome is a certain failure. Trump stands a decent chance of getting 4 more years!
I don't think anything will come from this report. The US has been ruined by the GOP permanently.
26
Mueller Time comes to an end. First Act. Second Act, SDNY Time has started and will grow strong. Wait for indictments and convictions. Slammer Time is Coming! Last laughs are always the best!
6
@Nicholas This is much too clever. If you have something to share, please do it in a language we understand.
In my all-or-nothing judgment, this was, as far as Trump is concerned, a long run for a short jump. Not what I was hoping for.
I feel like I journeyed far to see Evil Knievel jump the Grand Canyon, and all I saw was a clump of failed wreckage at the bottom of the ledge where Evil had launched.
Disappointed, embarrassed, and guilty am I feeling for making this fool's errand.
We Dems lost the Grand Prize, but as Scarlett reminded us, Tomorrow is another day so “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more."
We have not yet begun to fight.
2
So far, Putin has played Trump brilliantly: Use democracy to destroy democracy. But it's still early in the game...
7
@Val Landi
If Hillary had won, Putin would have just have worked to undermine her and the GOP would have blocked anything she tried to do. Putin thought Hillary would win and he just wanted to diminish her presidency with the troll farms and click bait memes. When Trump won, he did think he could easily get the sanctions dropped because Trump had always been easy for the Russian mafia to use. He has been somewhat frustrated by how things have turned out. But hay, when Trump wins in 2020 and he probably will, Russia will get its financial rewards.
It still seems impossible to believe that chopping a journalist up on an desk in an embassy office does not stop the American President from sending his daughter and her husband over to have lunch with the man who ordered the murder.
There are no sins too awful to ignore because Semi-illiterate evangelical bible scholars think that it is awesome to have Trump leading the parade to the end times.
1
"Mueller may be winding down, but the Democrats are just getting wound up."
The question is whether the public will be wound up along with them.
The public was wound up for the Mueller investigation. The media sold it and sold it, and the public bought it all. It was a media cash cow.
Has the public now heard enough, or do they want Congress repeats Mueller, New York repeats Mueller, everyone else repeats Mueller?
We'll see soon enough if this sells, or if voters shift their attention to other concerns. Will it be Russiagate, or health care?
3
The Fact that Trump didn't talk to Mueller-- a fight Mueller didn't want---sums to Much Ado About Nothing. Crucial Move needed. Trump haphazard President--coloring way outside the margins. Fixers use Presidential Template so all his mess cleaned up. No need to inspire Greatness--way too much trouble?
Thank you for summing up the over reaction in one column. The report is out but no one but Barr has been able to see it. I do not know if it clears the President because I do not know what is in the report. This column is premature.
Well done Mr Mueller! Dignity, dedication a true American!
2
I like his cap. Sea Ranch is one of my favorite place. A long way from DC though.
What an anti-climax! Maybe Speaker Pelosi knew what she was saying when she nixed the idea of impeachment.
But I do have a new found respect for Ms Pelosi. The Dems clamoring for Mueller headline miss the point. They have the House now. Following the example of the Republican House in the Obama will miss the opportunity to further their gain in 2020. After the Tea Party swerved Congress giving rise to Trump, the country yearns for centrists and pragmatists, not Tea Party's left wing counterpart
2
The Mueller report is notably flawed because Trump was never interviewed in person. How could that be? Is it because Mueller is a fellow Republican? This glaring shortcoming suggests that the truth may never be known-and without the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth-can our Constitution and democratic system be properly corrected and upheld. 'Tis a pity to have wasted so much time and money on an investigation so fatally flawed.
5
Mueller Garbo?
Try Clark Kent
4
Bah, let's just wait and see what the report has in it. I think we will soon see it, one way or another, and then we can argue about what it actually found, not about your or my conjectures. I don't know about you, but I'm really tired of conjectures and their denials regarding Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
7
So There will be no indictment of the President. His supporters take this as a vindication of their man that there is no evidence of collusion or obstruction of justice. It of course means no such thing. It only means that it was decided that there was not sufficient evidence to establish such crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, a much higher standard than we use every day in forming strong opinions. It was the standard James Comey used in describing the standard used to not charge Hillary Clinton. That has not stopped Trump and his partisans from screaming, even this week "Lock her up." Obviously they believe there was substantial evidence of nefarious deeds. Well, there has been much evidence of such by Trump and his minions. Let us see what other evidence there might be, even if it does not rise to "beyond a reasonable doubt."
10
Taking a leaf from Putin, the president hates oversight and attacks anyone who pursues it as part of his or her constitutional responsibilities. He repeatedly attacked Robert Mueller. Many media pundits and others have burned energy trying to get a handle on the investigation. They’ve been spinning their wheels like someone stuck in a mud hole trying to get some traction. Great expectations have grown like weeds in Washington. And now, the anticlimax. Nothing like Clinton’s romp with a young woman. This is more prosaic and possibly laced with prosecutorial tendrils.
For me, the question is whether anyone in the Trump campaign and current entourage was feeding information to the Kremlin and working for Putin to disrupt our election. Difficult to prove and if there is information in the Mueller report pointing in this direction it most likely will not be made public to protect persons and methods of investigation. It can’t be used openly because it would reveal our government’s knowledge of foreign agents and events that may have undermined our 2016 election regardless of what the president and his aides said or did. The Democrats can demand the release of the entire report and supporting documents, but they know that this will not be possible for national security reasons. So, they are doing a bit of grandstanding; they had better be careful not to appear too self-righteous.
2
Did anyone really think that Trump and Putin met up in some secrete place to make a deal concerning the election? Trump didn't need Putin. He had Hilary. He also had an elitist mentality of both political parties. Now articles are writing about how democrats can talk to middle America. They don't write about how to serve middle America, only how to talk to them. Trump has had the Mueller cloud over him for almost all of his presidency. And yet the economy improved, jobs were created, unemployment the lowest in over half century and for some the lowest ever. Four years ago, ISIS controlled huge areas in Syria and Iraq. Today that control became zero. We are working with the government and Taliban in Afghanistan to end the fighting and bring our military home. North Korea isn't launching missiles and blowing up nuclear bombs. Mueller is finished and recommends no further prosecution. Now the Democrats have to undermine the presidency on their own. . . So far most of what they are doing is promising free this, free that. You name it, we'll give it to you free. But there really isn't anything free. In the meantime, a lot of people will be watching what Trump accomplishes and decide If they want to keep the power or turn it back to the same old way in 2020.
6
Democrats must continue to use Trump's words against him (like when they won on the shutdown over the wall by reminding the public Trump said Mexico would pay for it), and ask why Trump accepts the findings of a "witch hunt" by 18 angry Democrats and a conflicted special prosecutor.
Trump said the 2016 election was rigged. I will never understand why Democrats did not use that statement to declare him an illegitimate president.
Democrats need to ask why Trump believes the findings of an investigation he said was rigged exonerates him.
And if, as Trump said, the investigation was rigged, then the only solution is for Congress to take up the case to get to the truth.
8
The fact that Robert Mueller was able to conduct the investigation he needed to and that he was the one leading it means that this country is in safe hands. Certainly it's veered off course of late and there's a large swath of citizenry deeply suspicious of moving forward but we are still a nation with a working constitution and laws.
Those who support Trump have a variety of reasons; we have been sinking into a swamp for a while. Just because the messenger is a vile being doesn't mean the message is wrong. Every few generations there is a massive shakeup. In the sixties it was from the left, now it's from the right.
It's called democracy.
7
In this era of the leak, the tweet, the careless whisper, the unnamed source, the national enquirer, the short attention span, multitasking, showboating and grandstanding, it is both incredible and gratifying that we have a man of dignity and integrity like Mr Mueller at the helm. The question this weekend, to me, is less about what is in the report, than what makes it so hard to replicate his meticulous attention to procedure and decorum more broadly in American public life.
7
Given Mueller's reputation for probity, I hope that all sides will accept his findings and not turn this into even more of a circus than it already is.
11
Trump may offer Mueller a senior position in his administration. He is an example of how to efficiently run an investigation.
1
Regardless of the outcome, Mueller has upheld his oath of office with the same professionalism, performance and dignity he has exhibited throughout the entire length of his illustrious career in public service, including a distinguished record in the military. No
one has done more to defend our democracy against those with absolutely no respect for the rule of law or the truth.
In more normal times, he would have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Perhaps he will receive that honor from whomever succeeds the miscreant who now holds
and has desecrated that office. The sooner the better.
Vote.
16
Frankly the US is quite lucky under the circumstances in the Trump approach to Russia. We have not yet awakened to a report that 'Seward's Icebox' , that Alaskan 'frontier' , has been given to Russia as a token of cementing good relations. If he did it would be POTUS diplomacy letting all know he surely knows a good bear when he sees one.
As to the machinations of Trump diplomacy to Russia astute readers of the Mueller investigation could already have been briefed a bit by reading Le Carre novels and focusing on of its subjects.....the moles. Both willingly and unwillingly.
4
@RR, I like your spirit. With all the antics we’ve had to endure from both sides of the aisle these last two years, best we at least learn how to laugh at the clowns chasing each other around the circus ring stuffed into their tiny little cars.
Calling all Hester Prynnes. This is not an emergency. It may be a red letter day for Mr. Meuller, in that he has not necessarily done "...worse than nothing". Whatever the report reveals, the distillation of the events of the campaign, in so far as Russians are concerned, amounts to various personal preferences as regards whom their country would have to deal with after the election, and how they communicated these to various people. That is decidedly not meddling in the campaign. The crux of the matter is whether or not the Trump campaign used it to further the business interests of the family. If the report reveals evidence of this, then perhaps courts should have to decide if that is in violation of the law. It might be as well to recall what George Bernard Shaw said of baseball in characterizing it, "...Over rather earlier than cricket."
1
Trump and Kushner are now free to direct foreign policy that would enrich their families now and if re-elected in 2020 Trump and his family will have a blank check to fill up their personal financial holding . The GOP will look the other way no matter what TRump does ,the Attorney General and the 5 to 4 Scotus believe the president is king unless he is a democrat. The only safety net our country may have is the New York legal entities investigating TRump and his companies since if they prove he is corrupt it will be a factor in the 2020 election.
20
The report, as much as we know so far seems less dramatic than some had hoped it would be, but given what we learned about Mr. Mueller, why the surprise?
The drama created by media hype was greatly responsible for the frenzy.
We have no idea as of this moment what the report contains. I think Robert Mueller did his job as he was directed to do it.
If there are impeachable acts, it is up to the legislature to act. We citizens also have a role to play and it is a powerful one. Democrats have some great candidates lining up to challenge Donald Trump in 2020. There is much work to be done. I plan to focus on the future.
13
@MG, don’t give up hope. Considering Brian Williams’ ability to turn whatever bit of daily trivia comes his way into “bombshell” breaking news, it ain’t over in that department until we hear his final solo.
1
@MG
This is exactly what Mueller has done his whole life - he's sent into disgusting outhouses and tries his very best to make them smell like Park Avenue powder rooms.
I'm am a solid Democrat and I never want to see a sitting President indicted. It would be shameful to America and unseemly, and I am not being facetious. Impeachment, on the other hand, is a dignified process. If Trump's crimes are egregious enough, let him be impeached, and, if called for, indicted after he leaves office. Better yet, he could resign. At that point, he could also be pardoned by the next president. Indicting his family members at this point would throw the White House into chaos.
If his transgressions have been determined to be too minor for impeachment, let the American people make their judgement about him in 2020.
Thank you to Mr. Mueller and his staff for acting with decorum and integrity.
25
@Madeline Conant,
“I'm am a solid Democrat and I never want to see a sitting President indicted.”
Does that include tRump shooting someone in Times Square? Law and justice does not exist just to prevent chaos in the government offices. That job belongs to the citizens of this country- to be intelligent enough to choose ethical leaders. Something we dismally failed at in 2016.
11
@Madeline Conant
No one is above the law. Past presidents have been indicted for minor crimes, like traffic violations. If Trump is guilty of any crimes the law needs to be satisfied. Anything less would be shameful to America and unseemly to the rule of law.
5
@JA...What now? tRump shot someone in Times Square? There needs to be an investigation right now. But, who? The House is just about maxed out with pending investigations. The Senate....well, forget that. The SDNY is all booked up until glaciers return. The FIB is buried under FISC warrants. The Metro cops can't keep the subways running, let alone fight crime...Drats, it does look like tRump can shoot someone in Times Square and no one would notice.
God, we're just as bad as the Brits with their Brexit. We're more than two years into the Trump administration and instead of actually working coherently to defeat him at the polls in 2020 we're chasing our tails over this Mueller investigation which will absolutely never lead to prosecution of Trump himself nor to a change of heart by any of his supporters. I'm not arguing that Mueller shouldn't have done his work. It has exposed the deep cynicism and corruption of people attracted to our government in Washington. But I am arguing that it's been wildly overhyped in the political media, certainly including the NYT, completely overlooking the salient fact that the aforesaid deep cynicism and corruption is antecedent to the Trump era. The only contribution uniquely Trump's is his administration's chorus line of characters from Petticoat Junction.
23
I would like to finally hear Trump say that "the Russians interfered with the last election, and are trying to tamper with democracies in much of the world.
Any other US President would emphatically say that, and more.
37
@Jean...Obama said just that. Remember, Jean? He also said he didn't want to call attention to the interference - which his Intel Chiefs informed him of as early as 2012 - because he didn't want to appear to be favoring the Most Qualified Candidate to ever run, who was a sure thing according to all the polls, in the election. If only the other Obama had been Prez....We'll never know.
2
If someone like Donald Trump can't be impeached, the constitutional provision is meaningless. That can be said of the Third Amendment, but congressional oversight is structural. We can't ignore that without deconstructing the republic.
8
Donald is off to his Florida playhouse to have someone draw a stick figure chart of what is in the Mueller Report for him.
34 indictments and a president who lives in a head that “likes Chairman Kim” and who whines about John McCain’s funeral. Can’t wait to hose the slime from this rancid administration off America in the election.
69
Who is Garbo?
1
@As-I-Seeit
Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress, star of the 30's, was famous for saying, "I want to be left alone."
13
@Ambient Kestrel
I think the exact quote is "I want to be alone," not "I want to be left alone."
minor point
1
@Ambient Kestrel...Apparently not all that famously.
1
I understand the investigation has resulted in more money flowing into government coffers from fines and confiscations of illegal proceeds of crime than that which was expended on the special investigation. Whatever else transpires, at least the American taxpayer can take some comfort in that.
12
As with Cohen's recent testimony to the House, although this report may well not directly present new inditements, I strongly suspect instead that it will most probably hand off follow-up areas of criminal/civil investigation at the Federal and State levels of the Trump cabal that were not central to Mueller's Russian mandate.
12
"Mueller may be winding down, but the Democrats are just getting wound up."
Got that right.
Several weeks ago, the House Dems sent out courtesy letters requesting information from various Trump minions: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/us/politics/trump-house-document-request.html?module=inline
These folks should now expect and subpoena and subpoena duces tecum.
The knives are drawn.
11
All too funny to read the comments re what was obvious to most Americans. The entire investigation had zero basis to begin w/and it has landed in the spot where it started. Two years later, after millions of dollars spent and hours after hours of Democratics chasing after the red light of a CNN OR MSNBC camera, we get the equivalent of what it’s like to own a share of GE. Good luck w/Southern District of NY theme song and the likes of Adam Schiff & Eric Swallow. The Republican Nat’l Committee couldn’t have asked for a better partner.
14
@MTM
Yeah, what could be more hilarious than autocrats messing with our nation.
If you recall, the purpose of the original FBI investigation was to determine how (not if) the election was influenced by the Russians, and who was responsible. Trump, of course, said it never happened and then apparently fired Comey when he began to get close to the answer, triggering the naming of a special counsel. During his investigation, Mueller indicted 37 Russian security operatives, who were helped by WikiLeaks. He also indicted and obtained guilty pleas from several people involved in the Trump organization and/or campaign. The investigation has not "landed in the place where it started," ask Manafort, et. al. if they agree. And if there was "zero" basis for it all, why all the antics on the part of Trump to interfere at every turn.
36
Well, that and 36 indictments, and convictions of about a fair chunk of Trump’s senior staff.
2
@MTM Well, if you knew the investigation had no merit, why didn't you tell them so before it got under way?
2
The public is tired of the Democrats shenanigans. If they continue down this rabbit hole, they will lose in 2020.
14
@M
What shenanigans? Mueller is a Republican, right?
2
And you speak for the public since when?
2
Trump is relieved and suddenly perfectly OK with the report being released to the public.
That is the behavior of a guilty man who knows he got away with something.
22
45 has clearly obstructed justice and this investigation, but perhaps not to a criminal "proof"? The lies and involvement of his son, Maniford, etc, including the numerous indictments and convictions, certainly are clear connections to Russia. It seems to me authoritarian that a president is above the law and can escape indictment. Apparently lying and bullying may win the day. What a sad indictment on our society. My hope is that Southern NY and the other investigations will show the corruption of this family, and call them to account.
8
Irrespective of what's in the report, the winners are:
1. CNN, MSNBC, Fox News that have spent the last 2 years attracting eyeballs/$ via commentators whose purpose was to rile our a priori biases. Even PBS spun anti-Trump, albeit with tone rather than unembarrassed demagoguery.
2. In theory, Trump Inc. Despite ethical principles that should have doomed him, he and his family WILL end up with sweet deals in Russia and Saudi Arabia when all this is done. If he wasn't really a billionaire before, he will be soon enough.
And losers:
Everyone else.
Large swaths of wealth have been redistributed up and our children will bear ever-greater deficits (under the great lie that tax cuts would pay for themselves). A system in which the rich always win is the true threat to America - and the angry 40% voted for it, despondent that the party system couldn't offer 2 selfless leaders in 2016. Our allies have lost faith in us and are turning to China to lead. Our presidency - once distinguished, is now clownish.
MAGA, once a dog whistle for racism, will instead be a crass advertising slogan, a fever that - if it doesn't break - will change our destiny to a divided, second-rate power. Republicans and Democrats need to offer credible, ethical, less selfish creatures than they did in 2016. PLEASE!
8
The most frightening Mueller revelations will surely reveal a long history of Russian money keeping Trump afloat.
While this suggests motive for a conspiracy or at least pandering to Putin...or worse...being compromised and thus an asset - it may not assign initiative to the trump campaign. They were probably reactive, accommodating Russian intrusions against Hillary.
It is likely they started out trolling her, terrified of her tough policy toward Russian expansionism and attacks on European democracies. Trump became a surprise gift.
Nonetheless, Trump's financial deceits & cover up may emerge as worse than 'collusion'-- he had to serve Russian interests or get humiliated.
12
@Sara, we all talk about Russia like they were still Stalin’s USSR. Russia’s money is no different than any other foreign banks’ money. The fact that Chinese banks own much of most American big city’s real estate somehow is irrelevant? Not to mention holding the paper on most of our national debt? A big real estate developer is hardly going to go look for project financing in Albania.
1
The phrase against indicting a "sitting president" bothers me. What if he is sitting in the White House during executive time watching Fox News on TV? Or entertaining a foreign leader (dictator or democrat) in a gold armchair with no note-taker, or standing at a medallion-decorated podium and opining about his own presidency? Or playing golf, again, at a club which he owns and presumably profits from? Or texting messages on Twitter when he ought to be listening to a daily intelligence briefing? Sitting pretty, I guess!
6
My eyes glaze over at the endless parsing of Trump’s corruption. And now we’re in for more of it. The election is 20 months away. Can’t we unite and oust him then simply because he’s a terrible president?
18
I'm not sure why Maureen Dowd can't help throwing shade on the Democrats, even when she knows that this plays into Trump supporters' narrative that Democrats are on a witch hunt.
It is clear that Trump was going to spin anything short of an outright indictment as evidence of his innocence. After all, that's what he's done his entire life. It would be foolish for Democrats to set up expectations for the report that might not be met, and indeed, the Democrats I have heard have made it very clear that they were taking a wait and see attitude.
But for some reason, Dowd chooses to portray them as giddy fools, fantasizing over a report that does all their work for them.
Besides, the real key to Trump's - and the Republicans - vulnerability lies in his tax returns. Republicans spent years investigating both Bill and Hilary's financial documents and business deals.
Perhaps Maureen should try her hand at screenplay/script writing, where she can make her characters as fanciful as she pleases without any obligation of sticking to reality.
9
Mueller farmed out stuff to other DOJ outposts
Trump and his fluffers should not begin their
end zone dances quite yet.
the redactions in the Cohen case make clear
Don Junior is in their headlights.
3
Let’s review.
Mueller has picked off a few unskilled, reckless trump sycophants. And touted indictments of 25 Russians who know they’ll never see the inside of an American courtroom.
As far as we know, no one doing damage to America—not Jared or Ivanka or Jr. or Miller or Rudy—faces anything. Nor does trump.
If there are no sealed indictments. If Senate republicans are wedded to trump no matter the evidence. If the most corrupt admininstration in American history walks—what was the point?
5
Since when countless and tiresome pop culture references amount to an opinion column?
And what makes Mueller Washington's Garbo? The fact that he didn't leak like a sieve like that self-promoter Ken Starr? Mueller is very public. He is giving us a whole report and has sent to court pretty much everyone in Individual 1's inner circle.
Let's hope Barr does not become Washington's Garbo now.
5
Big difference. Starr was a private invstigator and so he could freely spill the beans and even write a bestselling book. In theis case the law demands that even a Trump is innocent until proven guilty and therefore nothing can go public before that’s established.
3
What a saga about a mafia encumbered in government, seemingly free (for now) to abuse it's power. What could go wrong with a country and it's suffering democracy, when you have a brutus ignoramus, and dedicated liar, at the helm, and fully supported by the McConnell's of this world when stripped from all decency?
9
He's unfit to lead this country. He's dangerous. Look at what happened yesterday with N. Korea and his tweet about lifting sanctions.
It seems so odd and disheartening and frightening that a man who is so dangerously unfit to serve and protect us (us, not his family and himself and Mar-A-Lago buddies) will, most likely use this Mueller Report as a springboard to 2020.
My questions are these: Why weren't Jared and Don, Jr. and Ivanka interviewed by Mueller? Between the Trump Tower meeting with Russians and the Trump Tower Moscow project......why did Mueller not interview these people? Why did they get a pass? And, why did Mueller not do anything about questioning Deutsche Bank?
Waiting is hard. Waiting for nothing is even harder.
I want my country back from these criminals. I fear for our country. I fear the Democrats will wander into Crazy Town and Trump will be re-elected and the statute of limitations will run out on SDNY investigations and all of these criminals will float away, free as birds, while our country struggles to recover from all of their illegal acts.
I'm truly ready to buy a little home in the woods with no internet, no tv and say goodbye to the idea of America.
18
And then there's what the rest of the country spent their Friday doing.
2
With Mr Mueller now having concluded his investigation with no further indictments being handed down we can be reassured of the following: Don Jr can continue to hunt animals on the verge of extinction, Jared Kushner can continue to provide nuclear secrets to the butcher MBS in exchange for providing financing for his properties, Ivanka can continue to make cheap clothing with slave labor and the Commander in Chief can continue to attack a corpse on Twitter unimpeded. God Bless America.
25
Hmmm. I must say that the most obvious Russian ruse in American history is still in play. How ironic that Mueller charged the delinquents and not Putin's puppet. I guess we will be stuck with the Liar-in-Chief for 6 more years. Good work, Bob.
NOT!
4
“With his usual bravado about his base, Trump told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo that “people will not stand for it” if the report was damning.”
For Trump, truth is whatever is advantageous to him, regardless of whether it comports with the facts. Combine that with this:
”I actually think that the people on the right are tougher, but they don’t play it tougher. Okay? I can tell you I have the support of the police, the support of the military, the support of the Bikers for Trump – I have the tough people, but they don’t play it tough — until they go to a certain point, and then it would be very bad, very bad.”
Interpretation: A minority of American voters put me in office, but they’re “my people”, they love me, and if you try to remove me, they will take action, and it won’t be nice, that I can tell you.
We wait with ominous foreboding to see what happens.
9
This man seems to have near pathological amounts of integrity. Two years' work will surely yield up more than we feel right now. Findings which are condemnatory, if not illegal, may go down right wing throats ever-so-slightly more easily because of Robert Swan Mueller's approach. In handing off financial crime, I believe he calculated what he was doing. And presidents cannot pardon state convictions. I think we'll find Mueller thought this through.
Contrast his approach with that of Ken Starr.
Maureen—if Mueller is our political Garbo, Starr is our Joan Crawford.
5
Ms. Dowd criticizes Mueller’s secrecy after having criticized Comey’s lack of secrecy. Kind of a double standard to say the least.
7
Mueller released an extremely detailed (naming names, detailing methods) of multiple Rusian military hackers in the week before individual-1's visit to Helsinki to grovel before and lick Putin's boots before the entire world.
The nitwit is a traitor, and has severely damaged the reputation and honor of America.
Mueller's report needs to be published in full, even though the numerous convictions of many people working directly indidual-1 are now or soon to be in jail is already in the public domain, and has already conclusively established obstruction of justice, also that at the very least he knew of the collaboration with Rusians by those convicted.
3
We all know that no matter what was in the report, that republicans in the Senate were not going to vote to convict.
However some of them now are coming out and openly questioning the mental capacity of the President. They have gotten their tax theft, and self preservation mode is kicking in. We all knew that was going to happen as well.
What we don't know is how the President, his family, and some of his backers are going to fare when the Democrats are swept to victory in a massive landslide next year, and the President no longer has the protections of the oval office. The same can be said at the state level where the statute of limitations may kick in for some things, but not all.
The only major question left (excluding the above) is how peacefully the changeover of power will be next year ?
We shall see.
9
@FunkyIrishman...If there is a changeover of power in 2020 it probably won't be peaceful at all. I can't imagine a bloodless coup, although snowflakes would not seem to present a formidable assault on the barricades. Maybe I'm underestimating the force capacity of tolerance and civility.
@FunkyIrishman
You just might want to win the election prior to planing “the changeover”!
The report reveals what occurred before a grand jury and cannot be disclosed by an attorney for the government. Just read Rule 6(e), FedRCrimP.
4
The Democrats would be wise to move forward, find a candidate that is acceptable to the whole country (not difficult) and retake the White House. But that is not going to happen, is it? That is far too pragmatic. And there is the heart of the problem. The Democrats are going to overreach and once again lose the White House. They are in the process of making an easy task an impossible task.
Trump is quite possibly one of the easiest incumbent Presidents to beat in history, if not the easiest, easier than H.W.Bush or Carter by a long shot You can smell defeat already.
14
Irrational pessimism. Nancy Pelosi has thus far guided the Party to stick to facts and steer away from early overreaching. Despite a Democratic Congress, Nixon only resigned when, faced with facts of criminal wrongdoing, the Republicans turned on him. The wide group of qualified candidates with a multitude of ideas to address real problems speaks to a positive decision regarding a Democratic candidate for an election which is twenty months away.
2
One way or another, Trump commands our attention ... certainly that of the press. The absolute obsession over the Mueller investigation and report is incredible ... as if our life as a nation depends on its findings. It is very disturbing to have the likes of Trump as our president. But it seems we do everything possible not to take responsibility for having elected him. Maybe we’re embarrassed by our system, including what we’ve let it come to. If the Mueller report (NOT the man, Mr Mueller) gives “us” a displaced way out, it may not help us ... in fact, it may do the opposite.
5
I was in Los Angeles last week and my son and I decided to visit the Reagan Library in Simi Valley at the top of a set of hills with sweeping 360 degrees views. Majestic and modern. We were there for 4 hours. Though never a supporter of Reagan the library visit was uplifting and interesting . I was immediately struck by the bubble of our history it contains. It refreshed my own memory. Reagan's policies may have started the US on a downward spiral but he always maintained the dignity of the office, celebrated our history and traditions and held as sacrosanct our relationship with our allies. Parts of the "torn down" Berlin wall are there. As are Air force One and his limo, The Gipper, as well as a breath taking replica of the Oval Office complete with all of it's original furnishings and 18 foot high ceiling. One need only spend a few hours there to appreciate how far we have fallen under Trump.
12
Sadly, the Mueller report -- as with the Starr report -- is only likely to confirm opinions and not change them.
Those who believe Trump is guilty of serious crimes will continue to believe he is guilty of serious crimes.
Those who believe Trump is innocent and blameless will continue to hold that belief.
The Starr investigation lasted for more than four years. We can all breathe a sigh of relief that the Mueller investigation took half as long -- and, unlike the Starr investigations, was conducted with probity and a lack of partisanship.
The only person who appears to have emerged unblemished is Robert Mueller, whose conduct revealed him as the only role model in this sorry chapter of America's political history.
11
@justamoment...Don't worry. Bob Mueller will be run through the meat grinder of Washington soon enough. The gaggle of Demo candidates need fresh meat, and Mueller will be on the menu as soon as he's sworn in the first House inquisition. Oops, I meant to say investigation.
Dear Ms Dowd, Your coverage of Trump is spot on, but you forgot to mention Brexit. As Jared said (paraphrasing) Trump and Brexit are cut from the same cloth. And as such, if Brits get a do-over referendum, couldn’t we please get a do-over of the 2016 presidential election before 2020? Or, if no do-overs, maybe the 12 angry hold-out Brexiteers could be given a plot of land somewhere, with Trump as their King? Golan heights?
4
@RC, the masters of universe are the same people directing brexit, Trump, Hungary, Israel...beware.
Knowing something and proving it are two very different things. Paul Manafort was the key to how the Russians interfered in the 2016 election, and he didn't talk. Mr. Mueller was scrupulous in his investigation, but his hands were tied, once Manafort did nothing but obfuscate the issues. We could very clearly see the dots, but there was no way to connect them. Was justice served? As far as it could be....I just wanted the truth, and Mr. Mueller wrung as much truth as was possible out of those who were part of Trump's campaign, but there is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We have a fuzzy picture that cannot be brought into focus of how Russia helped put Trump in power. That does not make me sleep easier in my bed. I am worried more than ever about the 2020 election.
15
After that headline and handful of other pop culture references I was hopeful for an explanation of the Garbo reference. I assume it ties back to Greta's reclusiveness but that was generations ago and some might need some catching up. Is that a new hip term? Inform me.
2
She “wanted to be alone”.
@Darrell Nope, and you've got it right: He wants to be left alone & isn't interested in gabbing senselessly for the press.
It would be interesting for Ms. Dowd to write about the origins of the "collusion" story - rooted in the darkness of the Steele Report, by way of the FISA courts and the law firm engaged by the Clinton campaign.
Too dark?
8
What is interested is that the Steele report was commissioned by Republicans. Yes, remember when the GOP was a viable thing?
9
Trump benefits from all of this country’s norms—e.g. a president can’t get indicted while in office—while proceeding to destroy them all. Is this the price of our civility: more Trump? More chaos, unchecked?
15
@Cmary
Islamic terrorists and people crossing illegally into this country do the same thing-take advantage of this country's norms.
I submit there is no more dangerous—or costly—man who has or will come to the US than our current president.
@applegirl57
As do the chosen few who happened to be born here.
If the report is released without arm twisting, it says little to surprise us. It probably will help Trump in 2020. If the report is not released except in snippets and in Trump’s version of it, then the report is damning. In that case, it’ll come out too late to affect 2020 directly, but the 55% who know the score will know the score regardless.
That’s about it.
7
Unfortunately, the Mueller report appears to have given Trump something more to crow about and will strengthen his position with his bonehead base of supporters. Maybe, just maybe, Mueller handed off issues to SDNY that will help to get the job done. Hope springs eternal.
16
Manafort sits prison now for what may well be the rest of his life. Almost 8 years with the Fed and who knows what the State of New York will charge him with but his life is for the most part over. It would be interesting to get inside his head and see how much of that life was worth the risk and the shame he brought on his family and their well being not that sits and waits for his life to end.
Trump on the other I’m sure believes the world is going to stop in its tracks when he gets to thAt point and that’s a tad more bothersome. I really think he could care less what happens after he’s gone and that includes his family. He seems to now run the world via his Twitter account in between executive time and trips to Mar a Lago. I don’t doubt there will be snags in bringing him to justice but you have to admit it’s going to be fascinating to watch a man on the hunt who doesn’t care about anything but himself. That sounds almost cliche’-ish but if there is a more narcissistic , maladjusted and poorly educated individual please point that person out to me. It would be nice to capture it and study it a bit more closely.
7
Strikes me that regardless of what the report says Trump can’t claim vindication.
For months he attacked the Mueller team and the entire process as a partisan witch hunt.
How, then, can he now assert that the report is a virtuous product that fully endorses his innocence?
It is a Nathan R Jessup moment: but can America handle the truth?
6
@David Berman, MD 1. Because he always gets whatever he wants to, as far as his base is concerned. 2. His behavior is that of a guilty man who suddenly realizes he's gotten away with something.
3
Will there be anything left of the country or should we all just start singing "Bye bye Miss American Pie?."
Too bad! To think we let a most egregious individual bring the country, this otherwise brave country, to its knees.
Sports teams go through rebuilding periods. Will this be the first time our entire country will go through a rebuilding process, if we are to survive as a leader of the free world?
7
Right you are, Ms. Dowd.
There are times when I want to be alone, too. Especially alone from the thousands of pages of fury signifying whatever one wants it to be, firmly stuck in the eyes of the beholders, but loosed in their ever open mouths.
3
I can't help but see possible parallels with the college admissions scandal. Maybe, just maybe, Trump is the innocent dope whose "parents" worked the system to get him into college (the Presidency). He calls it a hoax because he was not totally in on the conspiracy (and can't believe he didn't win on his own merits).
But that being said, he is still a morally bankrupt vulgarian who has no business being in office, and will, I'm sure, be defeated in the upcoming election (please, everybody), at which point he will be indicted and convicted on every other illegal and sleazy endeavour he has undertaken in his swampy life. And his swamp-dwelling kids, as well.
Good riddance!
7
Why the need to be snarky toward Mueller? Of all the legions of insufferable politicians, pundits, and talking-heads out there he seems to be the only adult in the American room.
14
I think Bob just opened a box called Pandora.
SDNY apparel would make for very fashionable gear.(Country Wide)
I have a hunch that some pomade wearing loafers,
have enough sense to know that they are in the pine barrens,
without a compass.
Also heart stopping legal bills EVERY month.
4
If there is nothing prejudicial in the Mueller report, it will be made public forthwith. If there is something damning in the report, it will be redacted until forced into the open by the Supreme Court sometime after 2020.
So we can readily draw our own conclusions by simple observation of how much of the report we see and when we see it.
7
Roger Stone has to be tried....or he will cave in and allocute to crimes. Champaign is still in the refrigerator for that event.
The TrumpOrg will be dismantled with an indictment by the Southern District of New York. Champaign is still in the refrigerator for that event.
One day I will be a free man fishing the flats in Islamorada and trump will be declaring his innocence behind bars as Mar-a-Lago is being sold to the highest bidder.
13
Can't even stand looking at this mans face anymore,,,,,
He better hope he has something substantial in his little report.
1
Robbers who holdup convenience stores and gas stations and leave with a few dollars and a six-pack but then accidentally failed to pickup their driver licenses from the counter are always caught. The Trumps and their accomplices, who have been fighting lawsuits for stiffing their contractors for years, who met with Russian agents not just in Trump Tower (where they met to get stolen dirt on Hillary) but also in the White House, who fired that “nut case” James Comey to get rid of “that Russia thing,” who tried to get others to fire the special counsel, who paid off women to keep sordid details from voters, who gave who misled prospective buyers/investors of their apartments, who lied on loan applications, etc., seem to have eluded Mueller. I guess they remembered to retrieve their driver licenses before leaving the scenes.
9
Where is any reporting about indictments "in-absentia"? I read it was possible indictments can process under seal (I have no idea) - but I read in this paper a few months ago that Mueller could be producing such indictments. Also, Jeffrey Toobin stated something similar on CNN.
2
What a nothing column but I suppose it met the deadline.
9
Remember when Toto pulled back the curtain? Sorry Trump, the flying monkeys can’t save you. And Kansas, well leaning left.
6
Yes the Democrats are getting wound up, and for good reason. Trump and his cronies are crooks.
5
C’mon — You should take due credit for Clinton’s impeachment imbroglio.
4
Will this report be an accelerant/ propellant to the dumpster fire known as Trump collusion presidency? A segway to house investigators and the race to chase down misdeeds.
Whatever the result, the American people have a right to know their President is not a cheat, a liar, grifter, grafter or fraudster.
Why is it that people in the NYC tristate area already know? Because this Page Six President has been table fodder for + 30 years.
6
Trump has used Mueller as chum for his base.
2
@Jeff Atkinson, trump was successful in not meeting mueller face to face since his lawyers were scared big mouth would say things that would implicate himself. So the lawyers coached him to write written responses instead. Rudy Giuliani perhaps got Trump off the hook by not showing him to mueller.
1
Ms Doud: No doubt, if he were alive today, GHWB would pen you a note congratulating you on your fine use of characters from literature and film. Very entertaining.
5
Maureen, just tell us that this entire sordid affair came about in small part because you spent years denigrating Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, paving the way for Trump's election, a man whom you refused to condemn, despite his myriad crimes and scams.
Be honest.
23
Regardless of what is in his report, I will always be grateful for Robert Mueller's example--especially in his silence--during these years of Trump's presidency characterized by a defecation upon all that many of us once loved about our country. Robert Mueller is a foil in Trump's tyranny of disgrace, and Mueller's honor and integrity, even in the face of Trump's obnoxious provocations, remind me of what truly great leaders can be.
Like everyone else, I eagerly await the release of more information from the report. I also have some lingering questions:
What about the mysterious foreign company that is fighting Mueller's subpoena? The Supreme Court just heard a case regarding the company this week.
That being so, how could Mueller's report be released? Has this part of the investigation been handed back to the Justice Department? Was Mueller allowed to finish the course of the investigation or has the investigation been cut short?
I don't want to sound conspiratorial; I'd just really like to know the answer to these questions.
3
In the first hours after Mueller's report has finally been sent to the Attorney General, there is the predictable parsing about what can be,or should be revealed to the public, how much discretion the Attorney General has on this (is he more of a Trumpist or an objective legal truth teller?), what might constitute collusion, whether it should be possible to indict Trump now while he is still President lest he run out the clock, Mueller's limited mandate and so on. It is ironic and enraging how the niceties of the law (and we don't want to change them) may help protect someone who is so contemptuous of the basics of the law of the land. How can there still be patience with this? Hopefully SDNY and Congressional Committees will get moving and get prompt results, determine the full truth and act accordingly.
353
@patrick boyhan
Indeed. Since we're writing captions for the header pic, mine's along the lines of "I've done my duty. Now it's up to you all to do yours. I'll be at the lake. You want an interview? This was it."
@patrick boyhan Guilty please!
2
@patrick boyhan: Keep on waiting for Godot.
1
We'll know what's in the report one way or another. If Barr doesn't release it, or releases only part of it, that won't be the end. It will be leaked. This is too important not to be. Like the Pentagon Papers, Watergate, the information that the NSA was intercepting Americans' electronic communications, WikiLeaks and others, information of this importance finds its way to the surface. It will become public at some point.
3
Before the next round of political theater unveils, let us take one moment's reflection to appreciate a professional whose dedication, integrity, and mastery of his craft commends the very idea of public service.
No matter where these findings now lead, we should all be grateful that during this investigation, Mr. Mueller was at helm.
828
@Gui
Agreed. Thank you, Mr. Mueller!
16
@Gui: Until I understand why Mr. Mueller did not interview nor indict Don, Jr., Ivanka or Jared, I am withholding judgment.
No leaks. Yes, that's great. I do respect him. But I really need to know why no interviewing of these key people.
67
@Gui
Indeed - in this era of the leak, the tweet, the careless whisper, the unnamed source, the national enquirer, the short attention span, multitasking, showboating and grandstanding, it is both incredible and gratifying that we have a man of dignity and integrity like Mr Mueller at the helm. The question this weekend, to me, is less about what is in the report, than what makes it so hard to replicate his meticulous attention to procedure and decorum more broadly in American public life.
22
I’m guessing Maureen’s reference to Garbo is intended to underline Mueller’s ability to keep out of the limelight. A contrast, Maureen says, with Ken Starr, a publicity hound in her view. But what they have in common, she seems to suggest, is accomplishing nothing with their final reports.
Not so much. If the Mueller report is released, it probably is innocuous and will aid in Trump’s re-election. If it is censored, suspicions will continue, not to Trump’s advantage, and the truth will out in Court proceedings only after 2020.
So, really it’s not what’s in the report that will matter, so much as how its release is handled. And that is consequential.
7
@John✔️❎✔️Brews - all well and good, sir, but you're overlooking possible independent action by the SDNY and other New York State courts; emphasis on the word, "State".
2
The Mueller report will, most likely, have some large bombs in it, but the GOP controls the Senate, and McConnel will make sure Orange Caligula stays put.
Here's the way I see it: Mueller stayed within the bounds of his mandate. During his investigation, he found other criminal activity that the trumps committed before, during and after the campaign that warrant further investigation. Since that activity was outside his mandate of investigating Russian influence, he gave it to the SDNY Fed AG office, which in turn is working with the State and City AG's to further investigate apparent criminal activity that Mueller uncovered but could not pursue.
don Jr. and the Kushners were not Indicted by Mueller because a trump pardon could protect them from Jail Time. If (and I believe "when") the State and City of New York Indict trump and his spawn, a presidential pardon will not protect them and we, as a nation, will finally have our Justice and see trump and his offspring go to Jail for a long time.
That is why Mueller did not Indict the trump offspring.
15
@yogi29073
I think you are quite right in the basics though I am not so certain any of them will actually see jail time. But the sooner we vote Trump out the sooner he and various other scoundrels and grifters become potentially prosecutable (which, as you say, means "not pardonable by Donald Trump").
3
Damn!! It appears that the Dems won’t be able to use the Mueller report to get Donnie out. They’re gonna have to agree on an acceptable candidate and vote in large numbers to do it. The dozens of factions within the party might have to - GASP!!! - compromise!! How inconvenient!! How uncool!! It’s just so, so, so... 20th century!!
6
@stevevelo
We don't need the Mueller report to vote Trump out of office. We didn't need it for the 2018 elections and, as you say in your post, we agreed on acceptable candidates and voted in large numbers. And we ended up with the House and many wins in state governments, just e.g., Kansas (Kansas!) now has a democratic governor, so does Wisconsin, so does North Carolina. So, GASP!!!, what's your point?
6
@dlb I think his point is if Democrats follow their darling pied-pipers like AOC they will be marching straight off a political cliff. The Dems that flipped the House are overwhelmingly moderate. Not that hard to GRASP!!!
2
@dlb well, my point is that the Dems need to do the same thing in 2020 that they did in 2018, but that they failed to do in 2016.
1
If Robert Mueller served himself up as candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination against Donald Trump, who would Republicans vote for?
4
trump. They're not going to turn off the money spigot.
2
Whenever I want to waste time (and brain cells), I waltz over to a few select anti-liberal websites to read what "real Americans" have to say. Most believe that we liberals have been anxiously awaiting the findings of Robert Mueller's investigations. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, no investigation was ever necessary. We can judge for ourselves Trump's corruption and incompetence. It doesn't take a law degree or an army of investigators. In the end, when nothing damaging comes from Mueller's findings, the fearsome right-wing propaganda empire (FOX, Limbaugh, etc.) will simply use the report as a weapon against anyone running against Trump in the next election.
10
I don't know any more today about what Mueller found than I did yesterday. I said earlier that Mueller could indict Trump (If he had the courage) without an interview but he couldn't clear him WITHOUT an interview. As far as those people Mueller did indict, the Russians will never come before the bar of justice and the ones that pleaded guilty or were convicted are all small potatoes that any small town District Attorney could have prosecuted. It's strange that Mueller praised Flynn for his cooperation. For What? Did he rat out Manafort or Stone? That all seems senseless at this point. I am withholding judgment pending other ongoing investigations and what is in the report if we ever find out. I am also reserving the right to conclude that Robert Mueller may just be a "Gutless Wonder."
2
"This is a riddle wrapped up in an enigma or something.. as an aptly political conspiracy flick, famously put it.. Peeling onion "skin head-ed" layers of a transparency the report will and without looking reveals, most of us have been convulsing over "reality" the doofus visits us daily. Hyper coupled with a sadness at our los our country ensnared by guttural atmospherics, "disasters" proclaimed by the guy who indeed ought to and to my mind will eventually be fitted in his jumpsuit matched to the color of his hair. Nice piece ms dowd.
1
Regardless of the content of the Mueller the report, the fact remains that we are living with a mentally unstable man in the Oval Office, a man who is the head of a corrupt administration. I will not feel optimistic about my country until he is out of office.
15
@Joseph Thomas
By then it may be too late.
I won’t be able to SLEEP until Trump is out of office. The agony of this non-report is that it offers no relief from the slow-burning agony of the Trump presidency. I fell like I’m a prisoner of war.
A simple gratitude!
Thank you Robert Mueller III!
378
@Tom Osterman
Why is that? He failed to criminally charge Trump. Justice has been swerved.
1
@TomOsterman Trump may be many things but he is not stupid, much to the consternation of those who deeply hate him. He is a cunning, calculating successful businessman who well-understands the art of the deal - and will play his opponents like a fiddle... like he has so far.
1
Maureen, Thank-you for your entertaining synopsis. So many media pundits are either glum or gleeful. My wife and I remarked that so much of what has been said since Friday Happy Hour as been mere speculation and not reliable conclusions arrived at from a reading of the report. More coffee, more cherry cheese Danish, more basketball, and more wait, wait, and wait. But one worrisome feature from yesterday was noted on MSNBC by a retired FBI agent. When 45 said he would not accept Mueller's report because he was not elected, those are code words for the Sovereign Movement. They are the armed men and women who occupied a National Park Lodge in the Pacific Northwest. They will recognize the authority of an elected sheriff but not the hired deputies or even the police. Remember, Michael Cohen believed even if 45 loses the 2020 election he will not voluntarily leave. I fear the storm over Washington D.C. portends to become a cyclonic bomb of law and order meets liars and deniers. Its not going to be pretty.
5
No new indictments may be forthcoming, but a number of sealed indictments are likely to be unsealed at the start of the next presidential term, depending upon that election outcome.
Even if that is not the case, the crimes revealed and prosecuted during the curse of this investigation have served to illuminate critical legal and national security weaknesses that urgently need addressing. As a result, many nameless and dedicated public servants are working tirelessly to repair the damage and shore up our nation's bedrock institutions.
Robert Mueller may not have provided the flashy show that many hoped to see today, but I believe his work will have a profound antiseptic impact on our country in ways yet to be seen.
10
Many of us have never depended on The Mueller Report to prove Donald Trump is immoral, a traitor, or mentally ill.
Regardless of the Mueller report, Donald Trump grinning like a Chessie cat with Paul Ryan, when they almost took healthcare means away from 30 million people, when he danced the jig with the Saudis, the people that dismembered and murdered a journalist while his fiancé awaited, when Trump met with the top Russian privately for two hours behind closed doors, when he has numerous times declared love for a North Korean who tortures, including a young American until death, when he sides with a woman who has decimated public education for millions of US children throughout our country, when he appoints people who turn our natural resources into ruin, having his family members without security clearance make decisions for us, that’s all I need to make up my mind Donald Trump is not fit to be my
I don’t need reams of paper, testimony from people across the world I never heard of whose names I can’t pronounce to make me think Donald Trump is not worthy of White House residence or this country’s leadership.
But the number one factor perhaps for me to illustrate Trump’s irresponsibility and inept accountability, is the way he’s treated an American of service, a man of of lifelong dedication to country, in sickness and in health. Trump’s disdain for John McCain and his disrespect has been insane. That he won’t stop shows us he is a very, very warped man.
1334
@Phil Not representative of who? He was easily reelected by the people of AZ, who he represented btw, 5 times, serving 30 years. I would argue Lindsay Graham is a lousy senator and not representative of me...but them I'm not his constituent.
156
@MIMA and don't neglect recalling that Trump stated publicly that Republican incumbents shouldn't be investigated for criminal activity during their campaigns because it might hurt their re-election chances. Trump is a mob boss.
137
@Phil Voters of AZ disagree. Regardless, Orange Menace's comments about his funeral are not those of a normal person, let alone President.
87
Americans are yearning for closure, for proof one way or the other of Trump's innocence or guilt, but the Mueller Report was never going to deliver that. This drama is far too Machiavellian to be revealed with any concrete clarity. The ending of Mueller's investigation and his report is simply one more milestone in a long journey that may have no clear destination.
Mr. Mueller did his job expertly, and stayed true to his charge, and within the bounds of law. He refused to play into the hands of anyone who wanted to twist his work to their purpose. He can now retire from the stage, knowing his part is over. Now it's up to the rest of the actors to play their parts, while the rest of America continues to wait in suspense for an ending that may never come.
Meanwhile, the "show's" backers in Moscow have gotten their money's worth, and are looking forward to the residuals and planning more sequels.
383
@Kingfish52 Americans are not yearning for closure. At least not this one, or most of the people I know. What some people are yearning for is for government officials from Trump down to act like adults. To think like adults. There will be no closure - this is a nation that worships money. The parade will go on and on.
8
@Nnaiden
And 2020 so they can continue their interference in our elections and way of life with no interference from this make believe leader in the white house !
1
@Kingfish52
“Meanwhile, the "show's" backers in Moscow have gotten their money's worth, and are looking forward to the residuals and planning more sequels.”
Just a sincere question. Many posters insist, as you do, that the “Russians” are behind the hacking of DNC emails and thaTrump is in collusion with Putin.
On what evidence do you persist in saying there was, and is, Russian involvement when the Intelligence Community Assesment of 2017 Section B page 13 from the office of the Director of the NSA says clearly that it has “no proof” of Russian hacking and the Mueller investigation, which is now finished, has not produced even one pixel of evidence of collusion?
On what evidence do you base your conclusion?
Intelligence Community Assesment Page13 Section B
2
What if Mueller tells us what we already know, that the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to help Trump win the election while keeping Trump himself plausibly out of the loop like Reagan was during the Iran Contra Affair and that Trump obstructed justice several times which Trump will construe as fighting back against the "deep state"? There have already been so many previews of this movie in the press and among the punditocracy, the Trump team will label it as a giant "nothing burger'. Nothing will happen and democracy will be reduced to a grueling crawl as it slouches toward 2020.
8
Sadly, we have reached the point where Trump was correct in saying he could shoot someone on the street and nothing would happen to him--His base in baked in---nothing in the report, nothing he says, nothing he does matters anymore. The moral compass of this country just swings erratically from North to East to West. Every damining detail in the report, the kinds of details that would get any other President impeached, will not matter---the only thing that matters now is 2020---I pray our institutions can hold it together until then.
413
@Amanda Jones 2020 doesn't matter in the least. Our election was and will be kompromised (purposely misspelled.) Putin is laughing. It is too easy. And now he is emboldened.
When a bully is sidestepped he has a ticket to ride. Trump will probably be POTUS for life. If Putin wishes it.
2
TrumPutin 2020. Meet the end of our democracy.
3
No one it seems wants to admit this: most of us are in despair today— you mean, Donny Jr. gets away without a scratch? What about Corsi and so many others? Nada. I need a couple of days to grieve, then get ready for the 2020 presidential election and VOTE and move the MOBSTER from the WH.
21
"Washington is Hollywood for ugly people."
7
"Bobby Boy Scout"? Really, there is nothing cute about Meuller's task or his report. Have some respect for someone who is trying to defend our country. Robert Mueller is that person, andtogive him a Trump-like nickname is both a disservice to Mueller, his leak-proof team, and to your readers. Stop trying to be a Bro, Mo.
21
A most impressive 37 witches and warlocks were found and indicted, all intimately involved with one imbecile who doesn’t understand witches from warlocks and cannot find ethical people with whom to work.
8
Damn, that pic sure looks like Robert DiNero.
6
That was my first thought.
Why on earth did you have to snark about Clinton? Let it go already.
22
Because Mo has more in common with Trump, who apparently can’t get over John McCain.
9
@RJR
Always playing a medley of her hit.
7
If the report is not made public, it will end up in a brown bag delivered to the Washington Post and the NY Times.
496
@Robert Pryor
I certainly hope so. And if they can put his tax returns in there too, it would be even better.
Whoever performs this public service would be safe, because no jury would vote to convict them.
84
@Robert Pryor
Hope you are correct.
I'll take that.
49
@Robert Pryor
Well, Muller has been subpoenaed by House committees. We should find out more that way.
28
One thing we can rejoice about - "bodice ripper ... seamy particulars ... sanctimony ... redolent of Nathaniel Hawthorne" - the fountain of words is like a trip Versailles.
2
In Australia, a garbo is a garbage (trash) collector. Exactly what is needed to clean up the shambles that is the Trump administration!
10
My 30-something kids have stated for the past 2.5 years that we (they) are doomed. Given the damage trump has done and the very low bar that has been set to run for the highest office in the land, the criminal cabals are now empowered for decades to come.
Regardless of what is in that report, we know one thing: Robert Mueller is a consummate professional with a work ethic above reproach. Many people alive today have grown up never seeing or being able to recognize such a person! He has earned our collective respect and his legacy (even though he never asked for one) is one of great honor. His conduct and integrity during the past two years is the example we need to drive home for future generations. I cannot imagine the burden he has carried for these two years, but thank you for your service Mr. Mueller!
48
I cannot stand the media's and public's misreading and reporting of the Trump polls re his support. They always said Trump is has a 40+% support. But that is not really true. Every poll breaks down such support as "Strong Support" and "Somewhat support".
He is always around 25% strong and 15% "somewhat." How can anyone believe "somewhat" support should be lumped in to get the total of 40%? The "somewhat" could be peeled away by a bad economy, a brink of war action by the President, etc.
Stop reporting 40% and start understanding his base is 25%.
21
@Bruce Kirschenbaum
Each member of his base averages out to about 10% of a decent person. Not idly are they categorized as "base".
Understand that.
4
What I would like to know is what Mueller personally feels about our political situation following his investigation. From what I know so far, I am totally embarrassed about having Trump as our president and having the likes of Jared and Ivanka, airheads both, in positions of influence. What I could really use is a person like Mueller, a true patriot and man if unquestioned integrity, to tell me what our situation actually is in unambiguous terms.
16
Best quote from 'Robert Mueller's Day Off'; "The question isn’t what are we going to do. The question is what aren’t we going to do."
3
For me the Mueller report will just be a bit of icing on the cake. Nothing in the report will change my mind about Trump. Even without the report, Trump's behavior has discredited him from being in the office of the Presidency.
36
Funny: I felt the same way about Bill Clinton (although I believe to this day his impeachment was unwarranted).
Clinton on his worst day was better than Trump on his best.
5
@ERT You are forever obsessive when it comes to Clinton. When do you think you'll get to THIS century? It's now that's the problem !
Let's hope that this report will finally allow a peaceful transition of power. Since November 8, 2016, far too many Americans have practiced Resistance in defiance of the results of the election using "collusion" as an excuse for not accepting the fact that Donald J. Trump is President of the United States of America.
The investigation is done and we should all accept the fact that our president is not guilty of collusion.
Let us now all work together to Make America Great Again!
3
@T Kane
There is a lot more about Trump than whether or not he colluded with the Russians that should disqualify him from being President. Just look at how he still lashes out at McCain, who has been gone for several months, or his inability to speak out against white supremacists. His personal behavior degrades America on a daily basis.
I understand why someone would have voted for him over Clinton in 2016. I do not understand how anyone can still support him today.
3
I resist Trump because he is a tyrant at heart. And he will not make America great. He will only enable his rich buddies to loot whatever they haven’t stolen yet.
2
Tell President Trump to act decently and Presidential and stop tweeting and represent all of the people of the United States. Then, maybe, he will be seen as a person who cares for something beyond himself. Then, maybe, he will learn to care for someone who has less than him, who is of a different background, who is from another country, who is an actual Christian, or believes differently than he does. In other words, a caring human being.
1
So presumably lots of folks other than Mueller worked on this report.....
.....and they are no longer held by the threat of being fired by Mueller.
I predict that if there if William Barr doesn't do the right thing by the report, there will invariably be leaks. Maybe not today. Maybe not the day after. But eventually.
One has to believe that among Mueller's people, some of them are truly patriots.
5
The facts have been staring at all of us since the Mr. Trump became darling of the tabloid press 40 years ago.
The 2015/2016 campaign showed us quite clearly a shallow, uneducated, habitual liar surrounded by dubious characters, including his family.
The Mueller report substantiated known facts, and in the process uncovered law breaking and unconstitutional actions of many individuals that should have known better.
It is all quite sad.
18
The only "verdict" that will matter will be decided on November 3, 2020. The rest is commentary.
8
@USNA73, Bob Mueller, William Barr are all Republicans first, Americans later? who knows? They might too be in the "big picture" painted to them, which is to maintain republican control?
3
I sure hope Mueller has served up one whopper of a burger, with the whole works. Let Trump gorge on that.
1
A man wakes up in the morning and discovers he has just been elected President of the United States.
What does he do with this great prize?
He rails against his opponent and threatens to put her in jail.
He slanders his predecessor.
He insults war heroes and FBI and CIA agents.
He recruits third-raters and outright criminals for high positions in the government.
He enriches himself and his family by sleazy and unethical means.
He cheats on his wife with a porn star.
He neglects the country’s medical care system, schools, highways, bridges, water and air, but promises and fails to build a wall.
He deliberately sets about increasing racial and religious tensions in the country and quickly succeeds in doing so.
He insults and alienates our allies and friends, while vastly increasing the power of dictators and our enemies.
He devotes himself to the further empowerment of his supporters and friends but gives nothing but occasional lip service to addressing the country’s gaping need for a fairer shake for poor and low income people.
He lies, lies, lies and lies again.
There are no unsolved mysteries here that require further investigation or any need for more evidence to impeach him and convict him of high crimes and misdemeanors.
The final verdict of history has already has already been rendered upon him by a great majority of the American people, who will always think of him as a villain and a scam-artist, regardless of what Mueller has found or not found.
283
@A. Stanton
Amazingly well-said. You got it all. I will be copying your comment and sending it to my network of concerned, dismayed,
Informed, now-forlorn citizens. Hopefully those on here and elsewhere who are urging patience, counting on the SDNY, Federal District in DC and the Congressional Committees will be proven right.
But frankly, I for one, am losing hope.
Rapidly. Luckily Spring is almost here and this drained, exhausted voter will tend to the garden soon.
5
@A. Stanton 40% of this country just does not care, most even cheer his actions. What does that say about the character of the USA?
5
@A. Stanton
I loathe him! My mind is made up! Don’t confuse me with the facts! Did I say that I Loathe him?
2
Much like the cable news chatter about the Mueller report, this column left me feeling the same way. A bunch of loose paragraphs chronicling old tales with nothing new or of substance.
6
Say what you will Ms. Dowd but Bobby Mueller for the past two years never budged or swayed away from his duties in spite of repeated crazy outbursts from the commander in chief.
What a gentleman what a a class act , Ken Starr take some lessons from Bobby .
Now we all wait for the congress to uncover the truth .
While trump is showing his mental decline was said to make his base stronger being more lunatic which is around 40 percent , not a number to win Presidency with his jealousy toward a dead but respectable Senator.
Now is the time to unseat the liar in chief with someone who would act Presidential rather than a laughing old man trump.
After it is all over we could watch another horror movie with Jordan Peele as the director .
Mayor Pete Buttigieg gear up your base Sir !
7
My fervent hope is the Mueller Report lays out in meticulous, factual and undeniable details how Russia worked to undermine American democracy. All Americans must then demand that Trump and ALL of Congress, with a totally bipartisan “Manhattan Project” intensity, lay out an equally meticulous and detailed set of ACTIONS to assure all future elections are protected from foreign interference. Anything less must be unacceptable. 2020 elections can focus on Trump’s fitness for office and the Democrat’s visions for our nation going forward, but action on the findings of Robert Mueller cannot wait till then.
31
We could play a little Le Carre just for fun -- what if the Russia Collusion theatre was a deliberate smokescreen to take attention off the real collusion with a certain Mideast country that has powerful friends in NY?
18
In the end, no one in America will win but Trump. For me Mueller credability is broken by CNN coverage of Stone's arrest at 5 AM and Mueller biased staff. This weekend Barr will announce all findings from Mueller report and I'm 100% sure - no implications.
Best hope for Democrats - not fully discosed dossier.
6
Correct, they should have arrested the Stoner at 1 a.m., what took them so long?
@Rebecca Well gee, Rebecca, if they've lost you, they might as well go out of business. Why would anyone believe them after that?
We, the People need to see this report. We have been waiting for two years and no matter which side you are on, we deserve to know the truth. First we paid for this report with our taxes. Second, between the pack of lies of this administration, the corruption in the White House and the divisiveness in and out of Washington DC have engulfed this country since day 1. It has to stop. We are tired. We need transparency. We need to get up, persist, resist and vote the man who has taken our breath away since November 2016 out of office.
25
@Sophiew7530
"It has to stop. We are tired." Oh so tired. I was fired up enough to go to the Women's March in DC the day after his pathetic inauguration. Now I just want to stay in bed. With two years to go I'll probably be under the bed. If he wins a second term I'll probably be in another country. But your last line was the best including "taken our breath away since November 2016..." Or as FDR put it "a day that will live in infamy." See you in Maine this summer where I will retreat, turn off my laptop and breathe in your fresh air and ignore Trump for a couple of months.
1
For those of us who would love to see Trump wailing as he is marched off in leg irons, isn't gonna happen as we all know the office provides a thick protective bubble. And for those deaf, dumb and blind Trump toadies it is likely they'll be served up daily doses of "Witch hunt", no collusion, Democratic lies, blah, blah." Mueller's report will have nuggets, enough of them to likely paint a not so complementary picture of this dastardly incompetent wretched man who will spend the next two years lumbering around the country railing and blathering as he still does about the crowds, his epic victory and nothing will matter because, as speaker Pelosi has already opined, impeachment would be a waste of time, money and legislative effort. So what will the Mueller report provide? Simply that we are a place where unwavering attention and adherence to democratic principles, justice and steadfast objective processes yoked to the law - unlike the countries Trump seems to admire and extoll - is the light that shines brightly even in the darkest of times. Trump will rant and rave regardless of the outcome but Mueller's decorum and conduct should be admired and applauded as testimonial to how things should work in a democracy unlike what we are unfortunately privy to when Trump saunters to the bully pulpit.
19
@Horseshoe Crab
"...dastardly incompetent wretched man who will spend the next two years lumbering around the country railing and blathering..."
Actually, by my calendar, it will be 583 days until the next election, but who's counting? Afterwards, it's my understanding that he plans to put together a touring cabaret act composed of the Republican "leadership" as a chorus line of giant, animated, dancing colostomy bags, aesthetically modeled after Spongebob, fronted by their spiritual leader Trump L'oeil. Can't beat that with a stick.
2
It appears as though Trump has committed the perfect crime.
187
@scott k.
A perfect crime is a crime, none-the-less. I think you mean that he committed a crime and did not get caught....for technical reasons?
23
@Allen82. SDNY will be busy
What Is Collusion? Is It Even a Crime? - POLITICO Magazine
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/07/12/what-is-collusion-215366
Jul 12, 2017 - Collusion is not a federal crime (except in the unique case of antitrust law), so we should all just stop using “collusion” as a short-hand for ...
4
@scott k. Putin’s choice was elected. The investigation has kept Trump from easing sanctions or developing Trump Moscow, so only big benefit to Putin has been the nonstop chaos of allies.
4
Who would have ever thought that Russia would ever prefer a Republican President over a Democrat? Really?
I look forward to learning more from the Mueller Report and hopefully the lack of further indictments makes it easier to release it in full.
Did Donald collude with Russians or did Putin do it on his own? What is certain is that Russia did interfere in our elections and had some level of success. Look, we have been secretly helping rig elections around the world for decades. It’s not a particularly great track record.
The real question isn’t so much did Trump and company work with Russia to elect Trump, but why would Russia so much more prefer President Trump over President Clinton? And here the answer is clear.
Trump is selling out America and the GOP is aiding and abetting the heist of all time. The winners include Putin but there are others, all of them autocrats. The loser is democracy including our own. That is the shameful result from all of this.
Mueller delivered his report like a pro. That chapter of this crisis is concluded. The worst is yet to come.
82
I'd like the courtesy of being allowed to read the report in its entirety. Does anyone really believe there are matters of national security included that would preclude full disclosure? Or the reputations of so-called "innocent" actors must be protected? Release the entire report even if it means hauling Mueller and Barr before the appropriate House committee.
Otherwise, this becomes another investigation shrouded with skepticism like the Warren Commission.
25
I understand exaggeration in the service of humor, but as a Democrat I am a little alarmed at being repeatedly depicted in the press as one who has already made up her mind re the results of the Mueller investigation. Do I think it would be surprising if Mueller's report didn't show that Trump had been found to have broken the law, with or without trying? Frankly yes. But I am keeping an open mind, thank you very much. And I don't take Trump's remarks about his supporters "not standing for it," lightly, either. I do not believe for one second that he wouldn't stir up violence and mayhem if he thought it would suit him to do so, and to hell with the country he claims to love so much. This will be an extraordinary test of our government and laws. Sorry, Maureen. I guess I ran out of things to find funny about any of this a long time ago.
79
Victor Hugo, Tennessee Williams, and even Carl Sandburg's pussycat might be quite relevant here. I'll defer to Ms. Dowd on all literary metaphors.
For me though - and perhaps a few rash Americans - it's all Paddy Chayefsky: "We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it anymore."
But Americans, from my point of view, seem to have adapted quite nicely to this creepy synthesis of Reinhardt Heinrich and Carlo Ponzi. And life now - in the land of the free and the brave - is all about adaptation. Just ask Anna Freud.
13
Sounds like Dowd spent some of that time googling pop-culture memes she could drop when the column inevitably missed word count. I half expected to see her March Madness brackets filling the white space.
Fortunately, I don't remember the Ken Starr report. I'm too young for that. However, I think everyone has overlooked an important point in the Mueller anticlimax.
We now know Mueller is no longer issuing any new indictments in relation to the Russia investigation. This obviously leaves lingering doubt over the Trump question.
What we don't know is how many indictments in the Russian investigation are sealed. Just because there are no new indictments relating to the Russian investigation doesn't mean there aren't more indictments out there we simply don't know about.
The logic makes a cruel bit of sense. Why would you publicly announce an indictment within the Trump family when you know the President is going to seek retaliatory action against law enforcement? You wouldn't.
This reality should also give Democrats pause as they clamor for the public release of Mueller's report. Maybe Barr is correct in withholding certain information. Maybe the public shouldn't know which suspects are under sealed indictment. Not while Trump still controls the presidency.
8
This is not a time for the Trump Team to be spiking the ball in the end zone! During this lengthy investigation we have learned many things and have seen a cadre of Trump abetters plead guilty or go to jail. Mr.Mueller has done an in depth counter intelligence investigation.We will soon learn his conclusions.Beyond that there is a Democratic House elected by the people who have questions and the power of the subpoena.The Legislative Branch is a co-equal branch of government.Their questions must be answered-their collective judgment will become critical for a final chapter to be written.
13
My bet is that the report or at least what we hear about it will feel like a big nothing burger; that Trump will indeed proclaim victory; that it will become a story of both outrage and humor at his 2020 rallies where he will play both the victor and the victim.
Mueller is required to explain only why he did not indict those he investigated. What more we get is an open question. Likely, IMHO, he did not find any direct line between Russia and Trump which could be labeled as "collusion," but rather lots of suspicious little smoking pots all of which do not add up to enough to indict. Trump fans will see all of it as a meaningless "witch hunt." The rest of us will have our suspicions and a good amount of fury at our own impotence. Trump will have the last laugh and it will be right in our faces at least until January of 2021.
7
Rich people never pay the price for their crimes. Mueller wasted all our time for 2 years on an investigation a junior agent should have been assigned. If he had nothing he should have concluded and left the trails to the FBI. This is another spectacle in a country where spectacle is more loved than reality.
3
@Mogwai
Since when did Mueller wasted all of "our" time for two years? The country had no clue what was going on in the office of the special counsel, which seemed to be the only office in the US of A that didn't leak.
You call the Mueller investigation another "spectacle"?
The only spectacle of a cheap reality show is playing in the White House since Jan. 2017, but with a caveat that that house leaked the most and still does.
22
This should be the start of the counter investigations that see the "abuse of power" by Obama administration officials, DOJ, FBI, CIA, NSA, FISA, all taken up by the Barr DOJ. The men and women that participated in this criminal act, should face the full extent of our laws. Comey committed a crime when he revealed the memos. He needs to be prosecuted. Brennan and Clapper with their vociferous enunciations of Trump guilt must be investigated as to their role in their criminal role in this entire investigation. "they protested too much". Barr should immediately launch the investigations if they have not already struck. Government officials who abused their positions of power must go to jail.
7
@g.a. browne
Government officials who abused their positions of power must go to jail.
Trump
Since the extensive, record-breaking dirty laundry list of Trump campaign, employees, and administration criminals has been indicted already - while the report was in process - and Mueller said there are no new indictments, why is the report release a big deal?
2
Wasn’t Mr. Muelle’s mission primarily to report about Russian involvement in our 2016 presidential election? I’m more focused on what specifically did Vladimir Putin and his henchmen do to sew so much discord in our electoral process.
6
Why didn’t he pull the plug earlier? Good question. I’d like to know how much we spent on this.
1
@JJ the investigation actually made $ because of the fines paid by Manafort, et. al.
5
@JJ
Rest assured the money was well spent.
In fact, Manafort’s forfeiture of his properties as partial penalty for his crimes puts us ahead of the game financialy.
5
This column is a fine indictment of hypocrisy, particularly the descriptions of the Clinton mess.
But as Peter Baker put it in his accompanying essay, in the era of"create your own reality," there might be 100 realities before it's all done.
Could the Mueller report be like a hall of mirrors, reflecting back what we have been panting for two years?
Like many Democrats, I'm astounded that with all the stuff we do know--let alone other data points in the report that Senator Blumenthal remarked it set his hair on fire--landed with such an anticlimactic thud on Barr's desk: no more indictments.
But I think we have much to learn about the finer points of law by one of the few Republicans in Washington to actually follow it, Robert Mueller.
This was a tale of his rectitude abutting up against the hot mess, ugly vendettas, and constant threats from a president who has no bottom on personal attacks and abuses of power.
Clearly can't impeach Donald Trump for obnoxiousness. So, let the full report be presented.
After all, we paid for it--in taxpayer dollars also and anguish over where this country will end up.
12
@ChristineMcM
You can Impeach the President for any reason at all. You just need the votes!
The unrelenting lying and infantile outbursts by Trump has succeeded in raising the bar for impeachment until virtually nothing will be deemed serious enough. Any one of dozens of Trump provocations would have been deemed sufficient for articles of impeachment by Republicans had they been committed by a Democrat. Obstruction of justice by firing Comey is one of the best examples.
To use Trump’s on analogy, he has shot scores of people on Fifth Avenue and the GOP says nothing to see here folks.
30
This is posturing. If there were really something new and exciting in the report, we would know it. NYT, WaPo, etc. are trying to attract attention to something that has never had real substance. It's all politics.
4
Please, could somebody explain the "blue shirt" reference in "he would not even deviate to wear a blue shirt when he ran the F.B.I., seeing that as compromising his integrity"?
1
It is a choice like any other where you place your house on the back-burner; a potential fire hazard to your neighbors, informing the electrician that you have a more pressing priority and are stuck elsewhere, waiting for a political document. There may be no safe shelter on your return and you end up at a hotel. 'The whole city was short-circuiting' is a metaphor, and children in the State Capitol were not sent home from school.
Off you go to a memorable party, sharing a time in history with colleagues to eat, drink and be merry, watch basketball, avid for more entertainment. Granted you are not the first who has trouble prioritizing, and reminiscent of an acquaintance on receiving an official notice informing him that in his role of landlord, a building he owned had to be renovated, he decided it was time to restore his kitchen cabinets at home. It ended badly, as to be expected.
The Madness of the March Hare may be contagious, but The Honorable Mueller is immune to such distractions, and has been responsibly occupied in uncovering facts and figures not at happy hour, but on the path to truth and justice.
If you wish to describe the special counsel as America's Boy Scouts who honors discretion in such a tangle of lies and deceit, the Nation could use more of these distinguished figures.
The Democrats and other responsible Americans, have no wish to scream, while our ice-cream emperor shows signs of having a melt-down over the release of this long awaited report.
4
"It was not thought that Trump would be indicted, because Justice Department rules say a president can’t be indicted. So, the question was: Would Mueller imply that the only thing that saved Trump from an obstruction charge was the fact that he was sitting in the Oval Office?
So if Mueller believed this from the beginning, what was this expensive and time consuming exercise about.
1. I will prove he is guilty.
2. But because he is President I won't be able to touch him, because he is above the law.
3. Hopefully people will recognize the subtly of this logic and vote him out of office.
4. Meanwhile we will just have to tolerate a corrupt man for the full 4 years.
What as muddle.
The final conclusion. If you're a world class crook don't flee the country become President.
7
Mueller:
“Veni, vidi, vici”
Just watch.
1
There has to be a different black and white movie character you can select for an important snark column, Maureen.
How about the gullibility of the American voting public? Not just in 2015-16 but NOW. Russian agents exploited it, who's the main director these days, a foreign Orson Welles type?
5
Savvy analysts long ago understood that Robert Mueller was not about to uncover anything actionable against Trump. The Manhattan DA’s office is likely to disappoint as well. Even if they uncover unsavory—or even illegal—business and accounting practices, it will be Trump’s tax lawyers and accountants, just like his political henchmen, who will take the fall.
William Barr should not release the full report to the general public, but rather, a condensed summary of its most salient points. This investigation was always about politics. Allowing Democrats access to the full report will only exacerbate the partisan toxic cloud hanging over Congress and the nation. The electorate will decide in 2020—the American way.
Maureen Dowd’s description of her wait for the interminable Mueller report merely confirms what many of us have long suspected—she is a leech who contributes nothing substantive to national health and robustness but is amply compensated for taking cheap shots at all and sundry. Media pundits yearn for fresh meat. The general public is already sated.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is never sanctimonious. He would, however, probably describe Ms. Dowd as one of that “mob of scribbling women.”
At least Ms. Dowd exhibits good taste in basketball. Zion Williamson is an American phenomenon worth celebrating. R. J. Barrett, who hails from Mississauga, Canada—as does Bianca Andreescu—is not too shabby either. You are looking at number one and two in the NBA draft.
I think this one of the darkest times in American history. This country actually elected a genuine imbecile. And opportunist, who otherwise could've been the retired machinist at the end of the cul de sac if he hadn't have been born into wealth.
I don't know what the Mueller Report will reveal, but I'd like to see the Judiciary Committees investigate things like the big Trump hotel that's setting in the middle of D.C. and who's paying to stay there, who's renting floors of office space and why. The Kushner family's recent 1.1 Billion Dollar windfall by a company based in Qatar? I think it best to begin focusing on the money trails to include Mara Lago's patrons/visitors et al. Deutsche Bank. No one should be allowed to profit by way of Government Service, especially the President and his family. I think there should be some forthcoming legislation preventing this from ever happening again.
The corruption these past two years has been so blatantly palpable, that we've practically become complicit. I'm afraid if we're unable to reconcile all of this then there's no practically at all.
I don't mean to diminish the significance of the Mueller investigation, it's very much required under the circumstances, but we must ensure there's no more .inc in any future presidencies. Let's go with what we know to start.
22
I think we will be left parsing phrases, adverbs, and adjectives. And we will parse them to conform to our prejudices and world views.
Those skilled in building evidence and supporting claims will paint pictures that more clearly focus on what we want to see.
We already know what we know in this sad story. We see and hear it. From the beginning one call to action exists: Vote!
Democrats: please do not let our country down--produce a winning team that moves us back to a stable, virtuous government.
7
We have become so addicted to screaming opinion shows and blaring headlines and Facebook memes that we don't seem able to receive a careful measured report, conducted with integrity, with any gratitude or even relief. A big part of the press's reporting has to do with its own feelings of anxiety. Rachel Maddow had to interrupt her fishing vacation for heaven's sake.(Full disclosure--I am a huge Rachel fan.)
We don't know what's in the report beside the fact that there are no further indictments coming from Mueller. That does not mean we will not find out what happened or didn't happen in the 2016 election.
So we are disappointed that there does not seem to be a smoking gun that will ensure that the whole Trump family is taken out in cuffs. (I admit that this my fond fantasy.) And that may happen now or it may happen later or it may not happen at all.
What I want more than anything is to know what the Russians did, how they did it, and what the House and Senate are going to do about it.
Sure. I want to know the bad stuff the whole renegade lot of them have done. But more than that I want to see the people with power preserve our democracy and ensure the peaceful transfer of power.
I know all these things are tied up together. I don't know what will happen, but I feel deep confidence that Mr. Mueller, who by all accounts, is a man of integrity and ability has unravelled those threads.
7
Mr. Mueller and team,
Thank you for your service to our country.
I hope you can take a vacation at the destination of your choice. You deserve it.
14
@Sue
Perhaps an invitation to Mar-a-Lago will be forthcoming.
6
I would simply like to say thank you to Mr. Mueller, his family, and his distinguished, professional staff. Whatever the report says, I have great faith that the thought, care, time, and professional expertise poured into its conclusions will be trusted and respected by all Americans and will go far to restore some small amount of international respect to our battered country. And so...thank you, Mr. Mueller.
27
I have the utmost respect for Robert Mueller and his team. They conducted themselves in a dignified and professional fashion. They are a credit to the legal community and I thank them for their diligence and hard work.
50
As much as the media loves the investigation and now the Report, what the American people want is good government and viable plans to extricate us from the injustices and environmental challenges we face. Trump is great entertainment and hard to ignore but a distraction and Democrats would be wise not to rely on winning a media battle with Trump to win the White House in 2020.
19
I trust Mueller and would like to read his report.
There should be exceptions to Justice Dept. laws for certain extraordinary and highly unusual circumstances.
This investigation would certainly qualify.
100% transparency is critical for our national well-being and soul.
46
Let's all remember the POTUS's oft-repeated words of wisdom: "we'll just have to wait and see" where this leads.
3
From Ms. Dowd's chronicling of her hours leading up to the release of this report it sounds like she expected to write about more dramatic developments. But that's OK, because now she was able to devote her column to making one very important point. This is that in a country led by a president with no ethics and whose only skill seems to be attacking people, and with a congress that isn't much better, we still have at least one important person with 101% integrity.
If Mr. Mueller is Garbo, it's because that's what his service to our country requires. In an atmosphere in which leaking has become compulsive, over these many months Mr. Mueller and his crew produced exactly zero leaks. Yet, that was a small part of his much larger accomplishment of excelling at conducting this investigation.
And a little irony at the end is that if President Trump walks, sort of, it will be because—well, because the investigation showed no reason why he should not. Of course, with its many indictments the investigation dramatically showed that the President surrounded himself with a gang of crooks that made the mafia look like gas station bandits. And if the President does walk it will only be because he was strangely oblivious to all this criminal behavior.
The President will likely, of course, now tweet his innocence from the rooftops. But thanks to Mr. Mueller anyone who cares now knows who the real Donald Trump. And maybe that's Mr. Mueller's legacy.
745
@Jerry Schulz the guy is 74 years old ? he would have been forced to retire in Fran ce since at least 10 year. He would be fishing, skying, gardening. Not running after the most vil kind of political sharks. The guy is too old to even be accountable.
2
@Jerry Schulz
" ... thanks to Mr. Mueller anyone who cares now knows who the real Donald Trump [is]."
I have unalloyed respect and admiration for Mueller, but the real DJT has been out there grifting his way to notoriety for nearly a half-century. No special counsel was needed; anyone willing to read could learn exactly what kind of person Dear Leader was (and is).
155
@JPH,
We are not in Paree but ici, in The US of A. where regardless of age, this distinguished statesman, Mr. Mueller, is hoping to enjoy some days of leisure, knowing that he has attempted in his role of special counsel to uncover what smells like a nest of vipers.
87
I appreciate the integrity with which this report was handled by Mr. Mueller's office. People write and speak in such malignant tones these days. What matters is the report, and the terms used inside. Donald Trump seems to me a man suffering from profound mental ilness--and his illness must be addressed.
32
@canoe there is no mystery about DT, but how can Millions of people idolize him? They can't see? They don't care? They see his glaring character faults and ineptness as positives? I'll never understand it.
9
Robert Mueller probably won’t write a book, however, that is what I’d really like to read. That plus more about his dream team on this investigation.
Young leaders, please watch and learn from Mueller. We will be cleaning up the Trump mess for decades.
1044
@kat perkins
You are quite right and I hope eventually we learn much more. But yes, Mueller is a great role model, he has done the right thing and I suspect as the years pass, we will slowly learn how much he did to lay the groundwork for the long, long process of recovering from this cataclysmic presidency.
52
@kat perkins If he had been doing his job he could have sniffed out that this is what most Americans knew from the beginning, a political hit job. Don’t be surprised if Mr Integrity hits the Dems over the head w/their own ‘evidence’ and he’ll be your next James Comey (we loved him before we haired him).
1
@kat perkins...You can follow the Dream Team on the internet. Two of them were fired. One of them has a reputation of skirting the edge of the law. There's more. Do a little work
4
"Clinton came out more popular, until #MeToo caught up with him."
Just can't help getting in your digs at the Clintons, can you, Ms. Dowd? You seem to have an obsession with taking them down in much the same way that Mr. Trump has an obsession with dissing John McCain. Leave off, already. The damage that Donald Trump has done (and continues to do) to this country is vastly greater than any harm you feel may have been done by Bill and Hillary Clinton.
270
@Jimbo Neither Democrats or Republicans should be exempted from the truth. Ms.Dowd, was providing a a supporting fact for this story. Does stating a fact about Bill Clinton's actions have to be a dig, if it is the truth?
Anyone that holds a political office has a responsibility to uphold that office in a manner that is respectful of that office and when someone violates that mandate, I want to know about it no matter the party. Let's not measure calling out wrong doing based on political affiliation.
8
@Vickie
How about measuring out wrongdoing by damage caused to our country?
Trump is way out in front.
3
@Vickie
As an isolated statement, I couldn't agree with you more, Vickie.
But in the context of years of cheap shots:
If you took away "cheap shots at the Clintons", there would be little basis for Maureen to keep writing columns.
2
Kenneth Starr's report was "a 445-page bodice ripper, a trite story of an office affair in all its seamy particulars, told with such sanctimony that it was redolent of Nathaniel Hawthorne." This is the funniest line I have EVER read from Maureen Dowd and is why i love her. It summarizes Ken Starr's effort well. Perhaps that was the start of the Republicans' ethical demise. Thank you for adding ] humor to an otherwise humorless day. Starr not becoming a Supreme Court judge is at least something to celebrate.
43
@joe
True, we do indeed need some humor. But one of the guys who helped write that bodice ripper now sits on the Supreme Court. Apparently he knew a lot about bodice ripping... and that is not so funny.
21
@loiejane
Right. I forgot about that.
@joe It's all fun and games until the country gets hurt.
1
Without regard to what this report says, quite simply Donald Trump Jr, Paul Manafort, and I forget who else, met during the campaign, in Trump Tower, with people they knew to be Russians for the express purpose of determining if there was some kind of dirt available from the Russians that would damage Hillary Clinton.
I’m no Webster, Funk, or even Wagnall, but is this not the definition of “collusion”? And it’s an established fact. “No collusion” indeed!
40
@Steven B beyond me why this doesn’t evidence a conspiracy.
1
" Save me Joe Louis" was the plaintive repeated cry of a black man as he was marched to the electric chair in order to be executed for a crime that he did not commit in the Jim Crow South. And the Brown Bomber could not and did not save him.
Despite the fact that there is no mention of any Special Counsel in any Article of the American Constitution and the very limited focus and uniqueness of the Russian hacking and meddling investigation the American people have been hoping and praying " Save us Bob Mueller".
Bob Mueller is no Joe Louis. Neither man is our savior.
In our divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states they are all our elected and selected hired help. Thus our savior is the face reflected in our mirrors.
17
Won't be surprised if/when Wikileaks releases it in full.
9
Nothing short of trump in prison along with Pence and Miller and Kushner et al will satisfy this voter.
If the Mueller report doesn’t show trumps criminality it isn’t worth the tax payer dollars spent by congress to produce the report.
Impeach , indict , remove trump from his perch and tell the military to stand down on trumps orders for street hysteria with automatic rifles in white racists hands.
Our military can protect us against this coup and dictator.
Say what is really happening here.
Mueller was a weapon decommissioned by trump in his rants.
We have a criminal running America.
Mueller speak truth to power. Help your country survive.
Barr do not go to the dark side with trump. You seem a decent man.
21
My only consoling thought, as I sit with a pit in my stomach wishing there'd been Scarlett Letter bombshell, is thank goodness this wrapped up this many months before the next election. In the intervening months, I pray the 6th circuit brings justice by indicting Don. Jr., Jared and Ivanka and then, Trump Sr. when he loses in 2020. Surely there is enough evidence already uncovered that I may laugh last and best.
102
These past few years, I have come to loathe baseball hats, especially red baseball hats, which, in my mind, are the modern day equivalent of white pointy hoods and the malignant culture that goes with it.
This photo of Mr. Mueller in a baseball hat has restored my sensibility in all-American headgear.
22
Everyone appears to be jumping to wild conclusions way, way too quickly. With the information currently available I can see solid, yet totally contradictory conclusions reached by either end of the political spectrum, and neither side will know which of those conclusions are true until a copy of this report is available for all of us to read, should we choose to do so.
The only thing Republicans were going to be truly satisfied with today would have been a quote from Mueller's report mouthing Donald's exact diatribes of the past two years. Democrats would have only found a smile on their faces were there to be video of Trump being led out of the White House in handcuffs, teary eyed and begging for mercy. Let's face it, it was not in the cards for either side to be content.
Perhaps Mueller's best effort found there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Trump. It won't matter, the majority of the country will still know that he's a worthless ninny who landed in office by fluke. Or maybe after the gamesmanship with Manafort, Mueller just reached the conclusion that a cat and mouse game of potential pardons by Trump made further indictments lack value and purpose. In reaching such a conclusion, letting the SDNY carry the ball going forward would seem a far better use of taxpayer's dollars.
Frankly, we don't really know much more about these issues than we did yesterday. But one thing seems sure, we'll know soon enough.
14
Waiting on tenter-hooks is what we -- who have financed the Mueller Investigation for 2 years with our taxes -- have been doing. Cable and the "Fake Media" (DJT) went bonkers at happy hour yesterday when Mueller's report was delivered to the A.G, William Barr (who was Mueller's boss under G.H.W. Bush). As the world turns. We await hearing more news this weekend. The folks at Mar-a-Lago this weekend (Rudy Giuliani and the Trump brotherhood of the traveling lawyers) are dancing a victory dance as they aren't facing further indictments in the Russian Connection investigation. So many of the president's men have already been indicted and sentenced, and many are awaiting sentences. We are waiting for sentences too, the verbal kind, words about whether or not the president's actions during his 2016 presidential campaign will be more fruit of the poison tree. The report is done. "Nonsense?" Patience.
3
Trump, probably got away with murder. Three things I can predict... there will be violence during 2020 elections, America has lost its reputation and standing in the international community for ever and in 15 years China and India will be the super powers.
29
@HCJ
So true, and so sad. 😢
Unfortunately cheating, lying, being mean and offensive, and clueless are not bases for impeachment. They are bases for not reelecting this man-child.
I can only hope that enough Americans feel that way and will come out and vote in epochal numbers that even Trump and Trumpsters cannot overlook.
33
@chickenlover, Late John McCain's younger daughter Bridget is flabbergasted at Trump's obsession with McCain, she calls Trump such a "child".
2
@chickenlover Trump wasn't elected the first time. He was installed by Putin. Is that not obvious?
What utter and complete nonsense! Unless it is clear-cut, which it isn't, absolutely nothing is going to happen to Trump no matter how much Democrats investigate. Even if it is clear-cut, Republican judges will not convict. Trump is above the law; that's what I'm seeing.
6
@Anthony Adverse
So far (and I hope there’s more to come), Mueller has given Donald a pass and a license to shoot someone dead on Fifth Avenue with impunity. 😞
1
Whatever one might say about Barr - and I could say plenty - I think Trump seriously miscalculated. Mueller, Rosentstein, Comey, McCabe among so many others are people who have worked together in various capacities over a lifetime. And they have been debased in the verbiage and vindictive, petty and ultimately shallow behavior that is the madness of Trump. None of them will easily forget it, though I believe that in tandem, they intend to get some things done.
420-0 in the House. That's a serious salvo of what's about hit.
15
Perhaps, unlike virtually every Democrat and media scribbler, Mr. Mueller has concluded that polite conversation in a receiving line does not constitute collusion. What a waste this whole thing has been; just imagine how productive the same amount of investigative resources could have been had the focus been on corruption in the NY construction business..."ghost workers" on the 2nd Avenue line for a start.
4
@JPE not a waste. it lead to the exposure and conviction of the Criminals and miscreants that DT surrounded himself with. His fake foundation was shut down, he defrauded people with Trump U., he violates the no emoluments clause, and Mueller has handed off the criminal investigations to SDNY to finish him with tax fraud, RICO indictments. He better hope he wins in 2020 because that's his only out.
3
Clinton was not impeached for having an affair, but for lying about it under oath. Martha Stewart went to jail for the same offense.
21
@Groovygeek and as Ms. Dowd noted, politicians had been having affairs and lying about them forever including Republican (and notable hypocrite) Newt Gingrich. The point is that Clinton’s lies were not “material” to his presidency, whether “under oath” or not. If lying about an extramarital affair really matters to Republicans, they have chosen strangely in their leader Trump.
5
@Groovygeek
Martha wasn't under oath: she lied to federal investigators during meetings with them, not in court.
Strange tilt, to see Mr. Mueller as Javert.
Mr. Mueller's previous investigations included Gotti, Noriega, and the Lockerbie bombing. Now it was Russian interference and presidential conspiracy. All of the indictments and jail terms, the evidence accumulated and the crimes referred to others to prosecute were the result of top professionals doing their jobs while being attacked by Trump and his abetters every single day.
There can be no safe of Trump secrets like the tabloid publisher kept sacrosanct, no hidden tax returns under perpetual and imaginary audit.
At last count, Trump had made more than 9,000 lies since becoming president.
Truth must out, and facts must come to light.
15
Nothing will happen to Trump.
The system isn't broken , its fixed.
6
Maybe Trump's Justice Dept. will do what Obama did to the Torture Report, bury it in a pipe for the next several years.
Now, if only Mueller would continue his investigation into the real 2016 election fraud: The rigging of the Democratic Primary between the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign, and explain how all the money raised by donors for down-ballot races somehow ended up in the Brooklyn headquarters of the Clinton campaign. I'll suggest not criminally pursuing ex-DNC Chair Debbie Wassermann-Schultz, she already resigned in disgrace and her reputation is shattered. No need to pile on.
3
@FXQ Hey everyone...look over there! It's Hillary!!
Regardless of what the report will actually say - Trump and his supporters will claim it vindicates him. But there's the double-bind issue where Trump has consistently characterized and challenged the Mueller investigation as a 'witch hunt' or a 'kangaroo court'.
What are we to make of the findings of a witch hunt or a kangaroo court that exonerates the accused?
The underwater test applies...if she dies she's exonerated - if not she's most definitely possessed. Here's the dilemma - Trump survives.
3
The W.H. knew what was coming, Matthew Whitaker was briefed by Mueller, this he passed on to someone in the Trump circle, don't be so naive. When it comes to Trump and family, this will be a big fat nothing. Hopefully Mueller passed on enough to the NY southern district, who can pursue without restrictions.
18
Don Donald is dirty, real dirty, there is no doubt about that. He will get his due when the power of the Presidency is no longer his. That, thank god, is a given. Will it be in 2021? I hope so, His family and acquaintances are also dirty. Many of them have already gone down. More will tumble. Don Donald's business empire will crumble. He will become an untouchable. NY will shun him. He will likely flea to the sunshine state. There will be no Trump Towers. His mental state, presently questionable, will deteriorate. Mrs. will probably move on. His kids will struggle. Bankruptcy courts will be busy again.
I have faith that Mr. Mueller's "novel" is written in such a way to make my predictions come true. The shoe is not going to drop this weekend. A slow and painful process will begin though for the Don and his clan. The man has nearly single handedly brought the greatest country of the times to its knees in the eyes of the world in his quest to make it his. Thank god we are stronger than that and will survive this disease called Trump. Thank you Mr. Mueller. I know you have not let us down.
14
Whatever his report reveals, much of which we know already, Robert Mueller has rendered an immeasurable service to this country. He and his team have studiously avoided the limelight and have never dignified Trump’s and the Republicans’ name-calling and Twitter insults with a response. I have no doubt they have dealt honestly and impartially with the people and facts their investigation has encompassed.
However, after two years of dealing with some of the sleaziest, most unscrupulous people this country has ever coughed up - i.e. Manafort, Cohen, Papodopoulos, Stone etc.etc., as well as Putin thugs like Klimnik, and GRU operatives, I think Robert Mueller deserves a very long vacation. Who could blame if he now said, like Garbo, - “I want to be alone.”
10
Winding down the rat hole with documented evidence is better than tilting at windmills using rumor and innuendo. Trump now faces facts in evidence and Barr (The Trump acolyte) can only stonewall so long as his paper thin barricade holds up -- (unless he wants to be impeached). Barr is too image cool, -- confident to have his house of cards tumble down and dirty his reputation. Technically, Mueller will be testifying before Congress and there is zero laws to prevent his appearance. It is just like the war of 1812 when the White House was evacuated and Trump will be on the run. GOP on the run.
The top question on my list: did Mueller get Trump's tax returns?
36
@stu freeman, hmmmm they haven't mentioned Allen Weisselberg yet, perhaps that is an angle for SDNY. Again Trump and his family can always put the blame on their lawyer CFO accountant and say they are the ones who did the misdeeds and that Trump family did not know about the illegality of these actions. Trump can easily feign ignorance because his own father used to follow the same advise from Allen Weisselberg...
5
If Mueller exonerates Trump of criminal misconduct as has been leaked and if the Democrats continue to examine the same matters Trump will be guaranteed re-election in 2020. This would really be a Democratic witch hunt validating Trump’s incessant claim. It will be time to beat Trump on the issues and policies that matter to most Americans. And if Democrats cannot win support for their vision for America then Trump will have earned another term.
2
@Milton Lewis
I agree with you that it's important for the Democrats to present their own positive plan for the country. However, consider this (perhaps imperfect) analogy:
If a man is burning down your house, you don't want the fire chief who says "Hey, I've got some great ideas about how we can redo your kitchen." You want the fire chief who says he'll stop the man whose burning down your house.
5
trump is always baffled by honest, decent, good people. He doesn't even believe that they truly exist, because he judges the world by himself. That is why Robert Mueller will always be a mystery to him.
14
"Garbo" is so profoundly wrong to describe Mueller that it makes me wonder what planet MD lives on.
Legitimate professional prosecutors don't proclaim in front of microphones during an investigation.
This is beyond obvious, but it must be said for those yearning for a show.
18
@David Henry
In today's world, somebody who can keep his mouth shut is a rare and beautiful thing.
17
Mr Mueller is good man and his findings should be respected. The democrats at the beginning were screaming for this report and his protections. No one stopped him from doing his work and now his report has been issued.
This Russian collusion has been an all in card played by the left and it seems to have missed the mark. They will never stop with this angle and it will cost them 2020. Its time for everyone to move on and live for the day. Deal with today's issues to make America better. So much wasted energy the past 2 years.
4
@JR I wonder how anyone not directly connected to Mueller's team knows what is in the report, let alone, makes a conclusion about it's merits.
27
@JR 'Collusion' has never been the sole point of this investigation, Donald Triump tweeting "No collusion! NO collusion!" notwithstanding.
The lack of respect shown for the voters is enormous.
5
@JR
JR, whatever Mr. Mueller's report says about the complicity of the president and his family, we do know that the Russians interfered with our election, and are continuing to do so. And we do know that the president has done nothing---zero, nada, zilch---to protect us from Putin in 2020. This is important.
33
If we are to restore aspects of our democracy and revitalize others, we can’t rely on a report or one person. The threats to democracy and the obstacles to country we can become do not take the form of one person, regardless of how high his station or how mendacious he is. Likewise, our weaknesses won’t be eliminated by one person or one report.
It’s up to all of us who care to organize and do the daily, churning work of reforming our elections and reducing economic disparities, to name two places to start. Ask not.........
15
What "the people will not stand for" is if any part of this report is kept hidden from the public.
1) The report exonerates Trump completely. Why would his administration hold any part of it back?
2) The report details criminal activity by Trump's campaign and crimes committed by people on his campaign staff. Oh wait, that already happened, they were indicted and convicted or plead guilty.
3) The report details specific evidence-backed criminal activity by Trump but does not indict him as a sitting president, and "Justice Department policy". The Congress will, as the Constitution provides, deal with the resulting situation.
In any case, the very worst thing Trump can do his keep any part of the report from the public. Trump campaigned and has governed for his "base", with little regard for what the 55-60% of the public unsatisfied with his governance thinks. It seems very likely to me that he will use this report only to further divide the nation, and attack the institutions and norms of our democracy that he has steadily eroded since he started his campaign.
It is now up to the Congress, particularly the Republicans in Congress, to decide if the evidence and actions detailed in the report rise to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors". Given their abysmal performance of their Constitutional duties to date, I hold little hope for statesmen and stateswomen to suddenly surface in the Republican Congressional ranks.
57
@Jim Brokaw It does matter what is in the report. Why? Because if you are able to read it all, you still will complain. Why? Put it this way, you already know what is in the report-nothing, just like this all started with nothing.If the story was Trump colludes with Martians you would believe it. If someone told you to jump off a bridge....you would. If you would blame those who fooled you it would be less frustrating. Remember, the media has produced story after story that fails but for some reason people double down on believing anything just because they hate him. Like I have said in the past,I was born at night, but I think you may have been born last night
1
@Pkleiny -- Just as important as what is in the report is that everyone, both pro-Trump (which I kind of get an inkling you might be...) or against Trump (as you rightly suspect I may be) has the right to see the full report, to believe first that Mr. Mueller has done an honest and thorough investigation; and second that the conclusions are well founded. Whether I believe them or not is not the test.
The test here is whether there are real, evidence backed facts either indicting Trump with evidence, or exculpating Trump by making it clear that he is, as he claims, and as you *believe*, "innocent".
'Faith-based' Trump support, or 'faith-based' Trump hating needs to be replaced with one set of evidence-backed facts that most people will agree to use as their foundation for what they "believe". That's why I want to see the whole report - so I can see what all the evidence Mr. Mueller examined includes, and decide what I "believe".
You may be right that some people will, no matter what evidence Mr. Mueller presents, some people will believe Trump "innocent" - and some people will, no matter the evidence, believe Trump is a criminal. But we need to see the all the evidence, or it is *all* faith-based speculation.
That's why the public needs to see the whole report - so those who like evidence and facts can make their choice. Those who just 'believe', as you do, will believe always, regardless of evidence and facts. Trump has proven this well already.
3
The Democrats must have been terribly disappointed when they heard Robert Mueller say there were no further indictments and no collusion within the Republican Party. I think in their heart of hearts they knew all along this would be the final finding of this nearly two year investigation but were hoping for a miracle. Miracles do happen but in this case it was not going to happen.
This will not stop the Democrats from further investigating President Trump, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and any other member of the Trump clan. They will never rest until they are convinced they are guilty of something that will end this presidency. There will be black bluebirds before they are successful in removing President Trump from office. It will just not happen. His presidency will end in 2024 after he has successfully served another term in office.
6
@MJW
No, my feeling is that stealing another election will not be so easy another time around and thirty-six percent does not a president make. Yes, barring something really damningly blatant, and oh is the bar low, your man will continue to serve himself for the rest of his term. Thence let the indictments fall like rain. So it goes.
8
@MJW, Let’s remember that there are a couple dozen sealed indictments still floating around. Oh, also SDNY is still working. And, if Mueller went by DOJ guidelines trump may not be indicted until he leaves office in January 2021.
7
@MJW "No more indictments" other than the one dozen sealed indictments already filed in a Wash D.C. court. These sealed indictments toll the statute of limitations on criminal charges. And only the judge, not Barr, not Mitch, can have them dismissed. This is not the end. Democrats, in our "heart of hearts", have the patience of a saint.
6
"Mueller may be winding down, but the Democrats are just getting wound up."
Correction: The Dems have been wound up to maximum tightness for the last two years. Many have already concluded and stated that Trump is guilty of collusion...or something...and must be impeached. Indeed, we have read countless news articles and Op-Ed pieces in the NY Times and elsewhere, to that effect--"making the case" that the President is guilty of collusion...or something.
And now the tightly wound spring of Democratic outrage will be unsprung. Lots of energy will be released, perhaps vaulting the President out of his office, or maybe just bouncing the Dems themselves into the air.
As a liberal, I hope to see Trump replaced in the next election by someone more intelligent, compassionate, and competent. Someone who cares about and works for the benefit of working people. Nevertheless, I hope to keep an open mind and take the Mueller report at face value. Just as it was wrong of Republicans to release their vitriol on Clinton's impeachment, it would be a stain on Dems to do the same without justification against Trump.
On the other hand, if the evidence is there, bring on the I-word!
24
@Unconventional Liberal
"I hope to see Trump replaced in the next election by someone more intelligent, compassionate, and competent."
Given n=the adult population of the United States, do you have any preference among the n-1 people who meet that qualification?
3
@Jay
It’s a shame that the Constitution blockers AOC from being your candidate in 2020. Perhaps there needs to be an amendment!
1
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has done a real service for the country. We owe him our deep respect and gratitude with 34 people indicted with criminal charges including 6 former associates of Trump.
Now it is time to get the Mueller Report published. The American people paid for the Mueller Report and have the right to know and understand what has happened here. What did Mueller find? What is the evidence and underlying facts that led Mueller to investigate certain questions and what did he uncover?
95
The American people pay for a lot of things we have absolutely no say in.
7
The truth is, that those in the business of the CIA, and FBI, know that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election, with social media, and did accomplish that. We know that Manafort passed polling date to Russia. We know there were meetings with Russians, and members of DT's family, and campaign. What we, the public, don't know as yet, is why this didn't meet the threshold for the law, as it relates to legal wrongdoing, beyond a reasonable doubt, and the decision, and conclusion for this. I am sure that we will know all of this, hopefully sooner, rather than later.
96
@MaryKayKlassen
What you want is something that will rid you of this Bothersome President. This report will not be that something! Next time choose a better candidate!
1
My profound gratitude to Mr. Mueller and his sterling team. Their dedication to the job at hand, respect for the rule of law and the institutions of our democracy, give me a glimmer of hope that all is not lost. Truth and justice shall prevail, and the dark passage through which our country is traveling will eventually end in the cleansing light of truth. Thank you Mr. Mueller and your Team of Loyal Citizens.
29
Good overview, but re scandals being around a long time, George Washington never slept in Washington! The capital was in New York and Philadelphia in his day!
26
Maureen, as the consummate Washingtonian who knows where all the bodies are buried because it is a city that has, as the French say, a 'willingness to live', thank you for the great send off to The Report, which we hope is as titillating as the your opening number.
Washington, as you inferred, just yawns at a '445-page bodice ripper'. (written by Ken Starr, a man whom I get the sense wrote this with an 'inhibited glee'.)
So what does this city REALLY find interesting - and pursues in a meaningful way? : those who try to upend the things that hold us together: our precious system of laws and constitutional government.
11
"The two Republicans are good friends who go back decades, a fact that startled Trump when Barr mentioned it during his confirmation hearings."
The fact that Trump was startled by this fact is case point why he is unfit. Dude can't even thoroughly vet an AG.
156
@PE: And I'm sure Trump has been told that Mueller and Comey really aren't good friends yet he continues to lie that they are. And lie about Mueller being upset about not getting the FBI job (just like Conway so unhappy about not getting a Trump job when Conway turned Trump down, just like and just like the lie that Trump doesn't know Conway, and lying about a dispute Mueller had at Trump's golf course many years ago and etc. etc. etc.).
He just lies. And lies. And lies. And people act as if it's normal. It's not normal. He's a pathological liar. And yet he's our president because the Republicans will not do the right thing and convict him. They would rather keep our country un-safe and in constant turmoil than leading the way against an immoral man who is unfit to be president.
Just depressingly sad.
1
Regardless of whether this report satisfies Democrats hopes for damning evidence or Trump's mantra of "no collusion," we the taxpaying public deserve to see the report in its entirety. Anything less will keep us in the endless loop of partisan speculation and counterpunching. Our Democracy requires transparency. Any attempts to withhold parts of the report will only exacerbate the incivility marking contemporary American politics. I just want this to end. Truth is liberating; let's get the truth and end the speculation.
19
Yes it's too bad that there will be no new indictments and DJjr won't be fitted for a striped suit. But look at how many indictments--and convictions!--the Mueller probe has generated. Many with "talking indictments" that provide a narrative for how collusion, or let's call it by its rightful name, conspiracy might have occurred.
Plus for all the anti-Don lament, we still don't know the content of the report. Could be damning.
Plus there is all of the House investigations that will yield more info.
And the Southern District is going strong.
And the Times seems to be averaging two investigations a week on The Trump Shady.
So don't give up hope. Get out there and vote and get others to do same. Our long national nightmare may be over.
Sooner or later.
26
Nothing the report could ever say would change the fact that Trump is still a truly awful president. He is stupid, mean and terrible at serving the country.
1135
@Anne
And that’s why folks voted for him!
2
Add cruel, vicious, and destructive.
1
@Anne
"and terrible at serving the country."
Serving the country!
Never in a million years.
In fact, it's the other way around. The country and it's citizens should serve him and his family. That's been his modus operandi all his life.
2
In Hollywood Trump is banished forever from Trumpsville and Jimmy "Mueller" Stewart saves the local Loan and Savings and thus, the world. But it's cold, hard life and Trump will thrive and we agonize with that view............
4
This entire episode is based on lies and revenge and avoiding responsibility on the part of loser Dems. Hopefully this will go down as the first nail in the coffin of Dems, rather than what Dowd implies.
7
Kevin can smirk all he wants, but our nation is very hurt.
4
Though we do not yet know the substance of Robert Mueller’s report, we know this much: that his rigid adherence to a tight-lipped no-leak policy has put to shame Ken Starr’s sorry performance of two decades ago.
In a recent memoir, Starr describes his operation as having been “squeaky-clean” with respect to leaks. In fact, it was his own indiscretions, in an interview with Steven Brill of “Brill’s Content,” that led the judge in the case, Norma Holloway Johnson, to issue a show cause order, requiring him to show why he was not in contempt of court. (Starr now darkly suggests a connection between Brill and George Soros.)
The reporter Dan Moldea, having himself received leaks from Starr's team, informed Judge Johnson in the summer of 1998 that Starr’s deputies had misrepresented the facts in asserting that no one on the Office of Independent Counsel staff had leaked information to the news media. The OIC team could make this highly suspect claim in part because late in 1997, when the heat began to rise over the leaks, its designated leaker, one Brett Kavanaugh, was shifted to the payroll of Starr’s law firm, Kirkland and Ellis, for a period of five months.
Nearly 100 affidavits from present and past staffers were submitted to the court, but for reasons never explained, Kavanaugh’s was not. Once Judge Johnson had absolved the Starr team, for lack of proof, Kavanaugh was rehired. Regrettably, Senate Democrats failed to call Moldea to testify on Kavanaugh's nomination.
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@Peter Crane
Thank you for this important piece of information. So galling to see shifty Starr, disgraced former Baylor U head who was sent packing from his faculty position there, dusting off his shoulders on media outlets such as CNN.
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Grassley probably wouldn’t let them. Senate Dems were not in charge of the witness list.
@Peter Crane
Your comment is an example of why I read the comment section. I learn a great deal.
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The Democrats waste energy and valuable airspace by perseverating the investigating. That will just annoy most Americans. Figure out someone to beat Trump.
Buttigieg.
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@Carol Colitti Levine
They already beat him once by more than 3 million votes. It is getting the 78,000 to beat him in the electoral college that is the problem.
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@Robert Pryor
If the Democrats take Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, he can still win by taking the solid red states, and Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida. 273 Electoral College votes.
This will not be easy for any Democratic candidate, and the thought of him being re-elected is nauseating.
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Dear Mo: A couple of factoids: Bill C. was saved from condemnation by two brlliant and eloquent testaments: Princeton History Prof. Sean Wilentz's testimony to Congress, on the meachy silliness of Ken Starr, and the oratorical tour de force at the Senate trial by ex-Senator Dale Bumpers -- of Arkansas.
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“Democrats yearned to have Mueller scream ‘Collusion!’ ”
No, Maureen. I am a committed Democrat. However, I am not yearning for any sort of metaphorical taring and feathering.
More important, I am a U.S. citizen supporting our Constitutional democracy.
Something happened during the 2016 election cycle. What I am yearning for is I want to know factually what happened.
If there were actions that undermined our democracy and/or election process, I want to know what all of them were so, as a voting citizen, I can determine if remedies are being developed and implemented that block or protect us from those actions in the future.
This isn’t about whether we vote Trump off his reality-show island. This is about whether we have the information we need to preserve the most fundamental parts of our democratic governance.
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@Liam Jumper Well said.
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@Blackmamba, the United States is a democratic republic (please note that both words are in lower case, not proper names of the parties). The nation is governed by an elected chief executive and legislature--elected by a broad mandate of adult citizens, not by a limited electorate open only to citizens with additional qualifications, such as property value.
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@Liam Jumper
I hear what you say but trump openly defies the rule of law. He defies centuries of convention and custom. He defies the Constitution. All the while Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans stand by silently with arms folded. This does not bode well.
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Maybe Mueller will say, in effect: "I can't indict or impeach Trump, but that doesn't mean others can't, or shouldn't. Please see sections a, b, c and d of this report."
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Of course, DJT would not be indicted. Lordy, what were people expecting. Can’t indict a sitting president, blah blah blah... This is not a time for a victory lap or hand wringing. An important investigation was completed. Details to follow. And there will be more for Trump to fear. But it was completed. DJT and Co can no longer hide for cover behind a witch hunt. They own all they have done. Some will despair. Some will support him still. It’s now about the 2020 vote. It’s all about him.
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After Trump's protests that the Mueller investigation was the biggest witch hunt in history, and warnings that things didn't look good for Mueller, is a small victory over Trump that the consequences of the report aren't even that explosive.
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Can’t wait to hear the rationalizations on the “deep state,” no matter what the findings. We are all living in the head of Chauncey Gardner.
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@K. Corbin
Chauncey at least was kind hearted and tended to his flowers.
Even more vacuous, Trump tramples the flower beds with his golf carts and the Constitution and civil society with his words and deeds.
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The general consensus is the Russians had something to do with helping Dishonest Donald defeat Hillary. She had negative publicity for a long time,much of it false, due to conspiracy theories published by Russian trolls on media like Facebook, Google, and right wing sites like Breitbart.
It seems more likely the trump election committee received foreign funds, which is illegal, and some of those responsible have already been indicted. Several of his backers have already been convicted and sentenced. I would say the next place to look is his business practices before he was elected. Those have noting to do with his election, but some like his university have been sued under the RICO statute. There is currently a RICO suit waiting in New York now, regarding claiming a lower value for property for tax purposes and a higher one for insurance, surly a case of fraud. But Muller is pursuing federal violations.
What we know about trump is he lies about anything and everything, and as the Times article just showed he did that several times to get loans from Deutschebank. Also some of the money for that came from the Bank of Cypress where Oleg Deripaska was a VP, and Wilbur Ross was on the board. It is thought that hue owes the Russians several hundred $millions, has has to be nice to them, he does not have the money he says he has.
He is a fraud and he knows it,but what will the report say about that, we do not know.
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@David Underwood
The ”consensus” was that if you sailed west far enough you would fall of the edge of the world. In spite of much evidence to the contrary the Flat Earthers are with us still!
Therefore it will not surprise or shock anyone that no mere report or any amount testimony will convince Partisans or those with an agenda that HRC lost the election because she was a poor candidate who ran an even poorer campaign! Russians need not apply!
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Trump is, again, signaling possible violence when he says that his followers "won't stand for it" if Trump isn't exonerated. This is dangerous and provocative talk--almost Jan Brewer-worthy with her "second amendment remedies". This president is completely inappropriate. Does anyone really think that Trump/Rudy haven't made it clear that they would like a preview reading of the Muller Report?
As to being the most expensive witch hunt, I bet Watergate, Iran Contra, and Benghazi were more expensive--they were certainly longer running.
Rudy has a counter report ready to unleash...and they don't even know what is in the Mueller Report. How can they parry when they don't know where Mueller's thrust will come?
We will learn it in time; I just want to know that we can defend against Russia's meddling in our upcoming election. Let's not let Putin determine who wins in 2020.
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@mother of two When you kow-tow to a bully they get emboldened. Neither Trump nor Putin have suffered in the slightest. Prepare for the worst.
Like a good movie in the making--it's not the destination that's key--it's the body count from Trump dumping bodies out his life boat to keep buoyed until Report Arrived.
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In later years, Garbo suffered from severe dental disease which weaken her bite. Mueller also seems to have a weak bite. Almost two years of investigating Russian collusion and his report is delivered with no further indictments?? Donny Jr. attended the meeting with Russians to obtain dirt on Hilary Clinton. Nothing happens to him. Trump calls on Russia to release Clinton's emails at a public rally (yes, they are really "Baskets of Deplorables") and he didn't collude with the Russians? Another Garbo fact, after she died they found hundreds of troll dolls under her furniture and her bed. The trolls in the White House aren't hiding under their beds in fear tonight (talking to you, Don, Jared, and Ivanka). They're dancing on the tabletops and Mueller is responsible for their state of euphoria and relief. When will justice be done?? How long must we wait before this National nightmare is over?? We trusted you, Bob.
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@Ulysses he passed the remaining good stuff to NY.
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@Ulysses Don't forget there's that little problem with indicting a sitting president, so Emliza of Chicago is correct, Robert S. Mueller III passed on the good stuff to New York whereby the guy in the White House cannot pardon himself or anyone else, including DJTJ or Ivanka.
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@lechrist
Thank you, both. You made me feel somewhat better about what happened today. I really won't be happy until they're all wearing prison jumpsuits. I was in the National Portrait Gallery in DC last year and I thought to myself I hope the Trumps don't steal any of our paintings next. Thank God they have no taste or our National Treasures would be hanging in Trump Towers.
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We need Peter Rodino, not L. Graham.
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The one thing we can be certain about is that even if the Mueller report were damning beyond a reasonable doubt, Trump and his Republican toadies would declare he's been exonerated. We're living in Trumpworld now, and no one should expect anything other than suspension of reason and rejection of the rules of law. It's madness all right, the madness of Carroll's Red Queen.
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Historically, there are a lot of things that a sitting president can’t do. He can’t have groped unwilling starlets, defrauded scores of students at a fake university, mocked a disabled reporter, praised neo-Nazis and continued to berate a dead war hero Senator eight months after he’s been buried.
We’re clearly not in Kansas anymore. Given the disgusting, repulsive, vile and possibly treasonous behaviors that are now acceptable in a president, it seems almost precious that we can’t send the bounder to the hoosegow.
The Mueller report may not rise to high crimes, but this administration is so suffused with sleaze, wrongdoing, lying, ineptitude, narcissistic nonsense and nepotistic excesses that any report of further wrongdoing might simply be thrown into the bottomless pit where all the other accusations have accumulated.
Unless there is clear, demonstrable and intentional wrongdoing with malice aforethought, Democrats may find that trying to discredit this despicable man will be have no more effect than any of the other crimes and near-crimes that have bounced off of his impenetrable hide.
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@gemli-Have faith. The laws of karma can still catch up to Trump. I predict more Republicans will peel off this clown train. Treason has a way of separating people from their loyalty.
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Add in that a president should not delude at least a part, a large part, of Americans that he is a leader that will bring back some sort of comfortable state of well being for those that follow him. He has made the Kardashian’s and the Real Housewives - the new paragons of what we should be - look good. Mr. Television-watcher-in-chief probably spent a lot of time in the 80’s watching Dallas and Dynasty and Falcon Crest, and is foisting that lifestyle on the nation - crass and gilded consumerism.
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Iguana like Trump’s impenetrable hide turns orange when entering the breeding season. But, dewlap and all, iguanas can turn black in a matter of minutes. Can hardly wait!
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Mr. Mueller is to be congratulated for doing such a conscientious job and for there being no leaks. I feel as though the wind has been knocked out of me, however. I am dreading the gloating and the middle of the night tweets to come. I am dreading Lindsay Graham, like a hound from Hell, pursuing Hillary Clinton's emails and our own intelligence's role in their investigation. We will be mired down in hearings and accusations for the next two years. This doesn't bode well for the Democratic candidates. They are somewhat hamstrung with this turn of events. The Republicans will be out for vengeance and blood. Trump's supporters are I am certain, reenergized by the announcement there are no recommendations for more arrests. Cohen is the scapegoat, and Manafort may get a pardon.
It is done, and it feels like November 8, 2016 all over again as I have been saying all evening. It is chilling to think that Trump may occupy the White House for eight years. I know I am old and cynical, but I am more fearful for our country than I have ever been. Our rudderless ship of state continues to careen and crash about with a clueless captain steering the ship straight for the rocks.
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Lindsay Graham can pursue Jared and Ivanka’s emails for a change of pace. Imagine the novelty of investigating somebody other than Secretary Clinton!
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@Diana
Not so fast Quickdog McGraw. I suggest it is way to early to draw anything other than just Mueller is done indicting people. I am fine with that because by tossing a softball out, he might actually have made release of the report easier for Barr to do, hopefully in its entirety. And I personally believe there is more to the report than Mueller passing on chasing down Don Jr. or Jared.
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@Diana ~
Great comment Diana. I share your feelings.
Isn't it ironic that trump brays 'witch hunt' at every turn, but the real witch hunt was the near constant media coverage of Hillary Clinton's emails.
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Such hopes have been pinned to the Mueller report, that, short of precipitating impeachment (which, let's face it, was more than a long shot), it was bound to leave many disappointed. But, even if the political fallout is less than spectacular, there's a lot to be encouraged by.
We witnessed successful indictments and prosecutions. Watching Trump sweat through the process, crying "no collusion!" gave us a good hint that he was in cahoots with a foreign adversary, even without knowing the extent. We can all admire Robert Mueller and his team, who worked diligently and professionally, never getting intimidated or taking Trump's bait. And we can all take pride that the democratic system worked. Despite Trump's best efforts to coopt the Justice Department, our legal enforcers still prevailed in completing their task. Reaching this day is its own victory.
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My theory; While Mr. Trump was careening through his campaign, his Russian contacts were probably crafty enough to help him, but also smart enough to fall a step short of a verifiable conspiracy. Any Russian influence was still dependent on the willingness of enough voters to ignore their candidate's legal and ethical shortcomings and be sufficiently distracted by an email server that was no less secure than most other government and corporate systems.
I suspect that the Mueller report might ultimately be less interesting than the inevitable exposition of tax returns, money sources, and puppeteers. Even more entertaining will be the rationalization and defense of even the most serious offenses by Mr. Trump's airtight base of supporters.
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@Bus Bozo Perhaps the most entertaining will be the headlines 11/4/20 reading -- "America gives Trump the Boot. Pete Buttigieg elected 46th POTUS."
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“America Gives Trump the Boot.” Full stop. Enough for me.
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Ideally the report will be a professional investigation explaining the indictments and the limits of the investigation. It will hopefully explain the depth of Russian interference and the means. Will there be a road map to deeper concerns by the right, the left, the republicans, the democrats and, of course, the Trump family administration? Time will tell. What happens next by state attorneys and the House of Representatives and the reaction by the administration will be fantastic political events, but a potentially dangerous political period; especially considering the president's proclivity to foment discord and division aa well as to incite violence.
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I think Mueller blinked. If Cohen was sentenced for lying to congress, then how Don Jr and Jared escaped ?
Was it a witch hunt to find scapegoats?
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I suspect it depends on the degree of evidence. Mr Mueller did not present a case to the grand jury without more than sufficient evidence to support an indictment and conviction. In the case of Trump’s innermost (family) circle he’d want to be ironclad in his evidence. I have no doubt he forwarded whatever he had to state investigators.
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@FS, Trump and his family probably told the investigators they were scammed by those who surrounded them and did not know the illegality of their behavior. Nice try.
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Perhaps, in the end, Mueller has put justice in the hands of Congress and the federal courts. Trump has been acting like a guilty little bad boy caught with his hand in America's moral and constitutional cookie jar for two years now. It would be called hiding in plain sight, were he was smart enough to hide the malevolence in his contempt for all America stands for. At the end of the day, a poorly attended state funeral won't come close to justice. Surely America's conscious and our institutions are better than that. What would Jesus do?
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Well, a fantasy dashed. But I can dream of justice, can't I?
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@Wilder Dream on. Justice was swerved.
No New Charges Will Be Recommended , thus no collusion.
Trump is clearly an Netanyahu and Saudi Puppet yet two years were spent diverting peoples attention to his being a Putin Puppet. They should have been investigating Trumps Israel and Saudi ties and reporting on his destructive policies and gutting of regulations.
Russiagate was a great way for big media to make a lot of quick cash and not lose their big Saudi and Israel donors. It was a great way to not cover subjects corporate boss’ didn’t want covered, such as Trumps actual policies because they support may of them and our continuous regime change wars.
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@steve - "no new indictments will be recommended" is not the same thing as "no collusion". As Trump has pointed out endlessly, "collusion is not a crime". The report may detail fully a conspiracy and cover-up, and yet decline to recommend any indictments for Trump as 'the sitting president' (although I think 'failing, stumbling, incoherent president' is a more accurate description). That may leave criminal indictments to the New York courts, or state prosecutions. There could be "no new indictments" and yet the report be full of damning evidence of "high crimes and misdemeanors". Possibly so egregious even Senate Republicans couldn't ignore or soft-pedal them. Well, OK, likely not that, I admit, based on the Senates perfect doormat performance the last two years... and not with 'Wingman Mitch' covering for Trump.
We haven't seen the report yet, and we had better see it, all of it, if only to end precisely the kind of useless, uninformed speculation from both pro-Trump and anti-Trump advocates that has been pervasive today. Publish the full report, and let the public decide.
3
I dread watching the Sunday morning talk shows because I fear all the Republican pundits will be gloating on every show! And, Trump will be tweeting giddily.
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I can't help but wish that instead of Washington's Garbo we could believe that Mueller is Washington's Socrates. In today's America even Boy Scouts provoke cynicism.
16
When I first heard the "news," I was in the midst of wishing our daughter - in DC - a happy birthday...over voice mail. Poor girl! Most the day has been impatiently listening for more. But alas we have to wait...and wait. Never fear, though, even if the full report is tucked away with Trump's cache of cold French fries. We have very competent - and ethical - House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, now, that is. And if they can not get the entirety of the report disclosed, I will bet you a burger and coffee that some modern day Robin Hood will leak the scoop to us village people living too close to a pretty spooky Forest. That being said, I thank Mr. Mueller. I thank that we do still have true law men. And don't worry, folks, there will be more to come the way of The Don, Don, Jr., and Jared, too. We just have to wait a little bit longer.
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@Kathy Lollock - another excellent post, but one small edit: there would never be a Trump cache of cold French fries - he would always clear his plate/takeout box!
10
@Kathy Lollock thanks Kathy.
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"Bill Clinton came out more popular, until #MeToo caught up with him."
Now is not the time to take cheap shots at Clinton.
We can only hope that something, someday soon catches up to trump!
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@Mary Ann Donahue That’s not a “cheap shot”. It’s the truth.
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@Mary Ann Donahue
"Bill Clinton came out more popular, until #MeToo caught up with him."
Ms Dowd made a true statement, not a cheap shot.
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@Sylvia
I would sooner have Bill Clinton as President for eight years than Donald Trump for eight days.
3
Turning in the widening gyre, we can only hope that things don't fall apart, and Mueller somehow prevents darkness from dropping again.
9
To Maureen's invocations of Carl Sandburg, William Goldman, Tom Petty, Marlon Brando and Rachael McAdams, I'm pleased to add the inestimable Bette Davis as Margo Channing in "All About Eve,", and the famous line she delivered, which, given present circumstances, seems relevant:
"Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night."
30
Am just here, waiting, waiting, waiting for the truth to be told so justice can be served.
The citizens of the United States cannot take this daily insanity from the White House much longer.
The Mueller Report has already been ordered from Amazon...
11
Where would we be without this columnist to reliably tell us what we already know.
"After almost two years, the special counsel finally delivers his report, but prying it loose is another thing."
10
Does Trump even have a petard to be hoisted with? If not, a little shopping may be in order.
6
Americans are waiting... That is their life . Waiting for money. Waiting for death.
4
@JPHAnd Godot.
11
It's deja vous all over again. Like Clinton we will get many unindictable salacious details and as a result Trump will emerge stronger. Like everything else that is upside down in our new reality, history repeats itself only the other way around, the first time as farce the second as tragedy.
22
@sapere aude
deja vu
3
The fat Lady isn't yet singing, but she's making her way from her dressing room to the Stage. This Opera Buffa is past intermission, and about to enter its grand Finale.
Delicious.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian
Even if it were so, I'm not confident the Trump party would do anything about it.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian: - - BRAVA for your observation ! I predict a need for a Fred Waring sized choir of 'Fat Ladies' before this travesty runs its course in the years ahead. This initial letter from A.G. Barr only reflects the core investigation concern of Mueller's mandate, foreign intrigue. But, he was also directed to ferret out any illegalities that came to light , and feed them to other national, and inter-national law enforcement agencies . There's the rub for "The Donald" and his merry band. Cordially, Don L.
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Donald, glad you appreciated it. Very appropriate, I think.
Cheers.
4
Was there collusion? Lordy please,please let it be so. But, who knows what the report will say. However, the world has seen evidence of Trump’s subservient, weird relationship with Putin that strongly suggests there was/ is collusion at work. The latest Trump gift is the legitimization of Putin’s Crimea annexation by his (Trump’s) give away of the Golan Heights to indicted Netanyahu. Russian oligarchs working with Netanyahu and Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s MBS what could go wrong.
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@Ted, Collusion is 45's word, in reality the crime is conspiracy, which with the lying and changing stories over Russian contacts is clearly an issue.
7
The insider Republican special investigation is now entirely within the realm of the executive branch and we are seemingly at the mercy of the administration, but, in an effort to assure the equality of the Executive and Legislative branches of our government, the Democrats should summon Mueller and his lead prosecutors and investigators to testify before them publicly. At present, everyone is psychologically hostage to the Executive branch and not exerting it's equal power. The public hearings would be entirely appropriate.
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