Congress and Mueller each had roles to play in investigating and, if necessary, impeaching Trump. They also must lay out the investigative evidentiary findings for the public so that they can know just exactly what Trump and his minions have been up to - before the next election campaign for president. Unfortunately, Congress is burdened with having to catch up on two years where Republicans did no oversight even though it was clearly called for.
Dems HAVE to be aggressive. Impeachment may be unlikely for political reasons, accountability is still essential. There's no reason why the House cannot keep passing legislation that benefits the American people, and they must do that, as well.
72
What happened to all those bombshells the Democrat-Media Industrial Complex fed us over the past 2 years? Every one was a lie?!?!
9
Total victory for President Honest Don and America! Total defeat for the Democrats and their media lapdogs!
8
I didn't need a report to tell me Trump is a sideshow huckster and an abysmal, attacking, revengeful, racist man. I know it because he shows it clearly on a daily basis, as he has in the past How sad it is to see maybe 40 percent of others rationalize this awful, embarrassing behavior and support him. America is getting what it deserves right now. How sad this all is.
13
Mexico may not pay for the wall, but Manafort paid for the Mueller investigation.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/17/mueller-probe-could-turn-a-profit-thanks-to-manafort-assets.html
2
So much hand-wringing, Republicans say. Democrats are just playing Chicken Little here, with their "Sky is Falling" routine. Republicans chalk up all these comments against Trump as more "hysteria" by "snowflakes".
But consider this, my fellow Americans. Did you ever think any of these things would possibly be done by a U.S. president before Trump took office?
- Putting Hispanic infants in cages
-Toadying up to Putin with his sickening subservience in Helsinki
- Declaring a national "emergency" for something that exists only in his mind
- Threatening violence from "his army", "his police" and "his bikers" should he lose the next election
- Telling all of us that the KKK and neo-Nazis were very fine people, while ignoring the countless opportunities he had to disavow white nationalism
- Single-handedly destroying our international prestige and alliances that have taken us decades to develop
This is exactly where we are now. And Trump has an Attorney General and Supreme Court that will do his bidding. His powers are now only limited by his imagination and the laws of physics.
Oh -- and one last thing. This is the first time in my life, and I'm 63, where I seriously question whether we will have a presidential election next year. For those of you who believe that surely we will, how much are you willing to bet on it? There's your answer.
14
Now that it's been proven that the Times, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC etc were lying for the past 2 years and President Honest Don was telling the truth, we now know who can be trusted and who can't.
7
God why don't you talk about climate change or the relentless sucking of wealth into the highest reaches of the plutocracy? The US has dangerously disrespected Russia's national security interests. Absolutely demonized Putin. Tried to sell the stupid idea that Russia somehow has tried to demoralize the US voter. Then the idiotic claim that Trump is a Russian mole.
2
We will overcome this!! If you can’t accept Mueller’s conclusion after investing two years with Rachel Maddow and ruining several Thanksgivings don’t despair, there is hope for you. Just Google .... “Collusion Truthers”. We are united in uncovering every morsel and connecting every dot connecting Trump to his Kremlin handler (Jared). So don’t let up people for the future of our country is in the hands of us patriots! Not as in Bob Kraft Patriots, more like Bob Crane, the famous POW. Because we are really prisoners of the Trump collusion state! First Collusion Truther month fee waived for guessing how many times Michael Avenatti appeared on Rachel’s show. God help us!
3
Of course Trump was not criminally charged. Here’s the Godfather Pattern:
(Godfather and Henchman1 at the Godfather’s place…)
Godfather: I feel terrible about Joey. He’s just not what he used to be. I used to like him a lot.
Henchman 1: Yessir, we all feel bad about Joey. See you later Boss!
(Henchman1 walks down to the pool hall and visits with Henchman2…)
Henchman1: The Boss feels terrible about Joey!
Henchman2: Yeah, we all feel terrible about Joey.
(A week later Joey is found dead. Back at the Godfather’s place…)
FederalAgent: Godfather, what do know about Joey’s killing?
Godfather: Nothing, of course! I just hang out at my place and enjoy life. (laughs)
(Later at the Godfather’s restaurant with all his pals…)
Godfather: The feds tried to hang Joey’s murder on me! What losers! (laughs)
8
Silly. This columnist is like the Japanese soldiers found in 1971 still fighting WW II....
8
The Democrats are proving how crazy they are and how unfit they are to hold office at any level. Take off your tinfoil hats, President Honest Don has been totally exonerated!!
6
Trump is mendacious, lazy, venal, stupid and inept. He should not be president. I barely knew who he was before he became president and seeing him in the spotlight of public office I understand why he never before got my attention. He is a poser and a grifter. [Yawn]
But I don't hate him. And I don't want Trump or anybody found guilty of anything unwarranted. Let's get on with the other investigations and - always - proceed fairly but diligently.
4
I'm not intimidated by right-wingers, but am terribly disappointed at the Mueller report and Barr's stamp of approval. Is this going to be it? I know that as a follower of the Democratic Party and its platform, we better get with it b/c this president sure as hell is not intimidated by anything. Issues that matter to all include climate change: is Trump changing his views on that? Nope. Speaking of those who know nothing in this country, does the president know the history of gerrymandering or the electoral college, or...No. Does it matter to his people? No. Where do we start in trying to balance the scales of the republic and the government? It's a though this scenario was written by Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland and everything is topsy-turvy. Russians laughing with Trump in the White House after his coronation? A tax cut for what percentage of the country? Slash social security, etc., in order to pay for a wall? Outsource that, if indeed that is done, not adding possible employment for those who need jobs, in order to keep the cash in the till to pay for the gaps in the budget due to...tax cuts, overruns. GOP once screamed about deficits and our grandchildren, Commies, and whoring around. Yes, things have changed. A lot. The Mueller Report needs to be made public.
4
Predictions have been made over the past 2 years about how crazy the Democrats would go when President Honest Don was totally exonerated by Mueller. All those predictions underestimated the Democrat's level of crazy
6
The Mueller report appears to be an exercise in futility. Hopefully, congress and the public will get to see the actual report. All we have now is the Barr spin. Beyond the report everyone knows that Trump and his family are dirty so again hopefully something will be unearthed that will truly shine a light on illegal activities. Maybe, it will be Trump's skirting of the Emolument Clause. Finally, I hope that those who voted (especially in the upper Midwest) for Trump will wake up and see that the current president is not for the everyman. The Dems have to get a candidate that can talk policy, but can also push back and be as rough as Trump. No playing around with niceties and false equal equivalencies.
4
It is of primary importance to bear in mind that Donald Trump and his administration are always willing to lie whenever it appears to their advantage. They will continue to lie to the American public shamelessly. Why should the present situation be any different?
As it is so easy to find co-liars and accomplices (the list of names goes on and on) there is no reason to listen to their lies. We are just going to have to wait for 2020, hoping this nation will then, to some degree return, to its founding principles.
If you don't think other national-level politicians have questionable ties to foreign interests you are horribly naive.
Clinton-Gore and the Chinese in '96, anyone? Charlie Trie ring any bells?
Clinton didn't get impeached for that either but he did for an affair with an intern in the Oval Office.
Interesting priorities.
3
Wow. In the wake of the biggest and most embarrassing failure of the press in known history, members of news media had two main alternatives:
1) Accept responsibility and work hard to make sure it doesn't happen again.
2) Double down on conspiracy theory to the point where a comparison to Alex Jones on acid is not fair to Alex Jones.
Thanks to insights from Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, I pretty much knew what the choice would be. Good luck with #2, Michelle!
Here's a tune for your condition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWxMj6IQbJc
7
Boy were we dumb. All this time we thought that having secret meetings with Russians, providing poll results to Russians, lying to the FBI to cover up contact with Russians, encouraging Russians to release stolen emails, undermining punishment for Russian interference and annexing Crimea, enabling dirty tricks by Russians, firing people who were trying to investigate Russians, believing the Russian leader when he said, "It wasn't me!" while calling stuff like lunatic social media postings by Russians "fake news," according to some crackpot lawyer who thinks presidents can't possibly be criminals, actually isn't illegal! Who would have known?
Silly us. All those hard-working reporters, decent senators and congressmen, and patriotic citizens who foolishly believed that it was important to keep America free of foreign influence. Now they're the bad guys.
244
Absolutely on point. The pressure won't (and shouldn't) stop until the public sees the complete report. Associated documents and evidence should at least be available to Congress. Once that's done, we can tone down the aggression, the conspiracy theories, and the speculation. I can't emphasize this enough: release the papers, so we can all get over it and move on to whatever's next.
3
What is most egregious was when Trump and his campaign hired a law firm that hired an opposition research firm to hire an investigator to go to Russia and meet with Russian sources who presumably were tied to the Kremlin to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. (We’re these Russian sources paid?) Is that not collusion? And then the investigator types up the dirt, which turns out to be false, and peddles it to the FBI, the media, Clinton’ s enemies and gets the FBI to open a counterintelligence campaign against members of the Clinton campaign. Isn’t that an abuse of power? And then...what? Hillary did that? Oh. Never mind.
3
Remember the Trump Tower meeting was arranged after an email from Goldstone in which he said that the "Crown prosecutor" of Russia offered to provide the Trump campaign with some "official documents and information" "as part of Russia and its government’s support" for Trump.
They took the meeting with agents of the Russian government. We know this and much much more. We need to see the Mueller report, not the Barr memo.
4
As a Trump appointee, we do not know that Barr is not lying. There must be more than one copy of that report.
1
Enough already. The OCD-like tunnel vision with which NY Times reporters are doing their job is disappointing.
Look, we all get it: Donald Trump is scummy. But there's really not much else to say. Have you ever met a greedy old white man? Than you know Donald Trump! Congrats!
He stops JUST short of the legal line EVERY time. He will scam you out of every cent in your bank account, but he won't commit legally defined fraud - not because he's morally against it, but because he doesn't want to go to jail and is willing to hire the best lawyers in the business to read and re-read every line of fine print in every contract.
"Moving on" from the Mueller report doesn't require admitting Donald Trump is a good person (or any different than you previously thought), it just means recognizing that this specific path of confrontation is a dead end, and that we now need to find a new angle of attack. There are plenty of ways to promote the liberal agenda - and improve the world - that do not require one to obsess over the Trump-Russia collusion theory... I repeat: MANY OTHER WAYS.
60
@Johnny: Obsessing? You have the possibility the elected President of the United States may be an acting Russian agent and it's obsessive to want to find out if it's true or not?
Putin has you right where he wants you.
30
I agree; no vindication to be found here. There have been 6 members of the White House staff indicted-- the second highest in the history of the nation after Watergate. There have been 34 charges brought against against individuals, 3 against companies. Trump has been up to his eyeballs in Russian oligarchs and mafia. Meanwhile, after the Mueller (Barr) report had broken, it had been reported that Trump associate Felix Sater is being hauled in to testify to Congress about money stolen from a bank in Kazakhstan that he allegedly tried to use to help develop a Trump tower in Moscow. That may be as shady as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' connection to the Bank of Cyprus and all of its dealings with oligarchs.
Trump hasn't been cleared except in the eyes of his supporters who will believe whatever he says-- which changes with the weather. Mueller and company simply failed to unearth the "Nixon tapes" that would have proven the quid pro quo. The stink is everywhere.
7
One thing that Trump can't explain away is that a hostile government and its lackeys cheated the system and helped get him elected. After all, the Russian media has been crowing over it for two years.
According to Mikhail Zagar's book on the Kremlin, it's oligarchs like the Agalarovs and Deripaska who really run the show because they want to keep Putin in power. The Trump campaign certainly had dealings with them.
4
It doesn't matter about the Mueller investigation. Anyone reasonably intelligent knows that Trump is a mean-spirited, cheating liar, fed on the fast foods of tweets and television.
4
Proving that the right is content knowing their leader can't be proven a crook, it's okay if he is one, just so long as it can't be proven.
6
Where is my Daniel Ellsberg ?
7
What we got from Mueller was not "final", was not a "report" and was not about "Trump-Russia". The "report" only summarizes prosecutions or declensions. All we know is that Mueller is probably done indicting. He is still prosecuting Roger Stone, still receiving testimony from Rick Gates and Mike Flynn, and much else. As for exoneration, the rules require that they can only bring charges if they have proof beyond a reasonable doubt at the 90% level. Did they have proof at the 85% level? Barr's summary doesn't say. In fact, his summary conflates the case file, which is detailed and exhaustive, with the summary Mueller just submitted, making it seem as if there is "no evidence" when the document actually may have said only "not enough to prosecute". Until we se Mueller's actual submission we won't know. So on every level the reporting we're seeing is getting it all wrong (you're being played, NYT) and the idea that this is a final and exonerating report is completely wrong.
4
Sounds like all that Christopher Steele stuff about Trump "leaking" wasn't true. But I do hope someone leaks the actual report to NYT or WaPost.
2
The Mueller Investigation was already sliding away from the public trust BEFORE Mueller handed over his final report last Friday.
Yes, in light of everything we know about all those in Trump's close orbit regarding their convictions about lying to Congress and lying to the FBI seem to be the ultimate let down as nothing got close to Trump himself or his immediate family.
There is nothing "good" about what may come next.
Trump and the GOP has been vindicated and they have quickly returned to destroying our country and giving it to the rich.
What possible weight can Congressional and SDNY investigations now hold ?
We know Trump and his family are corrupt and very skillful dirty liars.
What was in Mueller's hands seemed convincingly damning;
The firing of James Comey and boasting about with Russian officials -
Private conversations with Putin with no American officials present and the translator's notes confiscated -
The Kushner/Junior Trump Tower Meeting -
The Moscow Trump Building project with luxury giveaway to Putin -
The Inauguration Money Fraud -
The Trump Charity Fraud -
The Trump University Fraud -
and the continuous "Obstruction of Justice In Plain Site" by Tweet and slanderous threats.
It seems all but Cohen will receive pardons in light of this unearned vindication.
The GOP is and has always united during a crisis - seems like the Democrats can't find their way to do so - - -
But I hope they can !
Trump has skirted the law all his adult life. This is no different. He was happy to let Russia interfere and help him. He also paid off the two women right before the election and this helped me some more.
He remains the most despicable and corrupt president we as a country will ever know.
Let's hope the celebration is short lived as the SDNY announces its indictments.
6
But you all on the left guaranteed each other and the American public there was collusion. Beyond a doubt. Your shiny object is really a rusty piece of metal and now you want a new shiny object to point at.
Does a jackal coordinate with another jackals to feed on a carcass, or do they just all naturally gravitate there, guided by the smell, and find themselves all at the trough together?
Does a jackal write a note to demonstrate that he is doing what his nature dictates? Can it even write?
No need for proof in the universe of jackals.
Of course, I have nothing against jackals, they are who nature dictates for them to be.
I have a lot against human beings indulging and cultivating their corrupted nature at the trough of the nation. My postcard writing for candidates in the 2020 election has just multiplied by 1000.
2
Trump apparently likes Strip Shows, so let's give him one: strip the cover off the Mueller report. If Team Trump is so gloatingly sure that the report vindicates their boy, why not exhibit it to the full, really rub it in the face of the doubters? Why let Billy Barr get away with his little tease, if full exposure would provide convincing evidence that there never was a witch? Let the show begin!
1
admit defeat and move on.
1
@lucky.. Wash, rinse, repeat
Yes, the GOP, with the aid of most MSM, is controlling the narrative. There is a lot "Hey, look over there" going on from Trump to McConnell, and now the DOJ under Barr is out to trash the ACA altogether. Roberts will need to be front and center these days.
Who is pulling the strings? Easy targets are the Koch Bros, Mercers, etc. But, corporations are busy feeding at the Federal trough in a big way. They do not like uncertainty in any form. Anti Trust is old fashioned so we have become pretty much a monopoly state. Trump is no more than a 'useful idiot'. Bannon has succeeded in disassembling the 'administrative state' through Trump and has gone on to instigate more right wing insurrections everywhere.
As others point out, the longer this goes on the harder it will be to undo. Decades of concerted effort on the part of the GOP is now visible to all who care. The GOP's overreach may have just caused them to self immolate: Arrogance breeds more arrogance.
Trump has nothing to celebrate about. There was not a statement saying that he's home free here. He has not conducted himself as president of all the people in this country. He has exacerbated the tensions to a level that has not been seen in decades. And now he's talking about going after people for treason. This is not the behavior of a reasonable human being. This is petty, vengeful, and dictatorial. This reeks of Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Duterte, Putin, and other strongmen.
If Trump were smart he'd say he was glad that the report indicated that there was no collusion and that he's sorry this investigation had to happen. He's not. He's a petty tyrant and the worst part of all is he's likely to be re-elected.
3
Ah yes, moving the goal post. Classic tactic of the defeated.
Let us be honest with each other, you have one thing going for you. Your all consuming and irrational hate for the man who defeated the anointed replacement for the “Chosen One”
There was no collusion.
Without the baseline crime, there can be no obstruction of justice.
If there was any corruption, the nearly three year long multi-million investigation would have uncovered it. After all it uncovered meaningless unrelated minor transgressions committed by individuals only tangentially involved with the campaign or administration.
What you got was “A great big nothing burger.”
What you are going to get from any further investigations will be “Nothing burger sliders”.
What the American people and justice deserve is jail time for those that conspired to manipulate the election process to insure the elevation of a career criminal to the Office of the President of the United States.
We also deserve to see justice served on the prime movers behind the sale of critical American material to Russia facilitated by the Clinton Foundation.
We deserve to see members of the previous administration, up to and including the highest echelons, incarcerated for their criminal actions conducted against the American people.
We further demand that those persons who abused their position of authority be removed from positions of power. No Chairmanships, no committees, and no perks.
DRAIN THE FRACKING SWAMP.
1
Show us the report.
3
Thank you, Michelle. Come on mass media, don't fall for another set of conservative falsehoods! By now, you should know better. You fell for the false equivalency game and allowed Trump to win in 2016 as a result, and now you are doing it again. The Muelller investigation shows that our president was elected due to an effective Russian attack on our nation, and that he obstructed justice, and that his hand-picked attorney general is concealing the evidence from Congress, who is designated by the Constitution to weigh it and determine if he should be impeached. Also, Republicans picked a Special Counsel under the control of the president rather than an Independent Counsel so that the president's crimes could be kept under wraps - bingo - success! So, America, you are the victims, and you fall for the games of your silly president and his unscrupulous party as they lie and cheat you and wreck your beautiful nation.
1
Trump Derangment Syndrome show no signs of abating.
Exhibit A: Michelle Goldberg.
1
@Expatico, I think you got it wrong. Trump has gotten away with so many wrongdoings all his life that he chose to become a public figure so we can scrutinize him. If he had stayed private we wouldn’t have cared cuz the long arms of the law would catch him eventually for some illegal stuff or the other.
1
The mentally deficient president and his allies may not understand plain English or might abuse the little they understand. They know supporters who do not read to the end of sentences do not recognize being disdained. Disdain has made Republicans career-rich, so they are going to prey on any weak-minded crossing the path. They combine absences of rigor and ethics with surpluses of self-serving, lying, cheating. National interest issues never exceed self-interest, filling their plate and harming the only nation we have. If that does not distress, one is part of the problem.
In my view, this was always going to turn out to be a whopping disappointment for those in the media and government who were hoping for evidence of "collusion". Look at it this way. Putin and his pals are pros at disinformation campaigns. Surely they realized that Trump and his pals could not be counted on to keep any actual cooperation under wraps. Given the assortment of boobs running the Trump campaign, the last thing they would have wanted was "cooperation" from those people. Putin's gang is certainly smart enough to know any actual coordination would have entailed a high risk of disclosure with obvious disastrous consequences. So, I'm pretty sure the
Russians nixed any suggestion of working together with Trump's team, saying, in effect, "thanks, but we got this."
The picture that emerges for me here is that Trump was eager to butter up Putin so he could slap his name on a Moscow tower. Putin was quick to recognize how manipulable Trump was and picked him as his ally against the hated Hillary. The rest is history, unfortunately. There was no need for cooperation, much less conspiracy.
There is one reason, and one reason only, that this summary, or "interpretation" does not pass the smell test: it has been done by a republican.
Let's face it, there hasn't been a single republican in the past few years whom you could attest to possess an independent point of view, one way or the other, a morally sound, objective point of view. Perhaps the last one who had some honor in his bones passed away with McCain, and who for that reason still draws Trumps ire.
I am sorry, but I can not accept any "impartial" republican conclusion any longer, as there is simply no more "impartial" bone left within the GOP. Systematically, over the years, repubs have undermined the very fabric of truth and honestly, there is no excuse to validate and pamper an unhinged, uneducated, misfit in the WH. There is no more impartiallity.
From blocking Garlands hearing, gerry mandering, Comey's last minute election interference, acquiecing to a raging wacko during the primaries, to bow spinelessly to this same unhinged person as he delibertly destroys the constitution, attack, slander, lie incessently about everything constantly, up to silently accepting a government shutdown, (which as we know now, actually did cost peoples lives, although in Ethiopia), republican have proved time and time again to be one thing, and one thing only: reptile brained predators.
As such, I do not accept any impartial reading of a report by yet another republican, issued by yet another republican...
Sorry
1
I'm not a fan of the President's personality or his propensity to engage in unwarranted - some would say stupid - discussions. However, it is clear that no matter how many investigations are conducted, there will always be 'one more' that must be held to negate the 2016 election. That will not help the nation fix its immigration or infrastructure problems.
I believe that Trump was a terrible employer and took advantage of everything available to him and his lawyers. As much as I despise that behavior, the way to deal with it is to change law and regulation, not to complain about legal behavior as currently written.
Lots of corruption, absolutely. Trump's still a dirty crook, but he's a dirty crook who finally hired the right AG, the one who promised he'd get him off the hook -- unlike the AG who recused himself.
Trump University, Trump's fake charitable foundation, the shady loans from Deutsche Bank, the shady dealings of Jared with the Saudis, the shady licenses that Ivanka got from the Chinese, the multiple crimes of Trump underlings like Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, et al, the multiple govts paying large sums for suites of rooms at Trump's DC hotel, the tax fraud, the insurance fraud -- ethically-challenged is a laughable understatement for this guy and his whole dirty family. Anyone who hasn't drunk the Trump Kool-Aid still knows what they are. Once a bum, always a bum! What a charade.
History will not be kind.
2
Michelle, Russiagate is indeed “this generation’s W.M.D.,” a national security hoax, abetted by a credulous media." We await your mea culpa. Despising Trump elevates yourself to a higher moral plane for your credulous readers, and I hope that feels good. However, as a so-called "journalist", might it be possible that a bit of bias has slipped into your reporting? The sad fact is that many journalists like yourself actually are activists still in denial over Trump's election, and are desperately seeking his removal from office. So desperately, in fact, that you and many of your colleagues have destroyed in your profession any pretense of seriousness and impartiality. Consider writing a thoughtful piece regarding the corruption of journalism, not to mention an investigation of those who planned, organized and abetted this "national security hoax".
Trump hasn't been vindicated. The MSM looks bad. Both are true. The MSM took every fact that came out during past 2 years and gave each fact a nefariousness that Robert Mueller didn't. Is it possible that Roger Stone can call Trump and say Wikileaks will dump tomorrow and Trump not be involved in a conspieracy? MSM punditry said no-- ridiculous. But Mueller said yes. So it went for all of the facts that came out by excellent reporting for 2 years. The Pundits and Senators/Congressman on the Intelligence committess all said it sure seems like conspiracy is there. It wasn't. Trump campaign was a MESS. The gang that couldn't shoot straight. They lucked into the Presidency. They have COMEY to thank. Clinton lost because of COMEY COMEY COMEY.
Well, there it is, you admit you and your fans “despise him”. Thank you for your honest statement, not that prior columns didn’t previously transmit your perspective.
Barr: “...while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
The president (Trumpet) and his allies are claiming... "Complete and Total EXONERATION.”
Non Sequitur, ya prezzz i dunce!
Waiting......... there's more.......
Michelle Goldberg is so blind she can not see! Another bleeding heart liberal who lies to herself, because she does not like Trump. Hiding from the truth does not work anymore. Let us go after Hilary, if we really believe in justice over lies!
Michelle, hatred of Donald Trump does not make a movement or your comments. When you have something real to talk about, come back. I would like to hear it. Until then,stick to your leftist, Democrats who will believe anything you say.
Why don't you go back to the Obama administration and their protection of Hilliary and produce something noteworthy.
This is an opportunity.
Be mindful of the way Trump wields his power when emboldened. Take notes.
Then remember it as Election Day approaches. Don’t rely on others to lock him up. Votw him out
1
The same fools like this nitwit who got the ‘16 election wrong we’re the same people who swore Trump was working for the Kremlin.
The same fools like this nitwit who looked past all of the crimes of Obama and Hillary in trying to topple a lawfully-elected president.
1
Arguably, there may have not been no criminal collusion. But one thing is for sure: he is still the same "liar, racist, and cheat" he always has been.
My thoughts...
JOE BIDEN 2020 !
Period. Experienced, for the people, tough, and can take on Orange Face.
2
Ask the wrong question, and expect the right answer?
Wishful thinking.
Hint: How and why did the "moron" select Exxon CEO Tillerson as Secretary of State? A tower in Moscow for Trump, sure!
But what about the trillions of dollars worth of hydrocarbons in the Arctic that would have made a nice warm bath for dasPutin?
Not connecting the dots with "the players" in this melodrama was always barking up the wrong tree!
Now that Mueller's report is in the problem remains the same when Comey and McCain "snaked" in the Russian collusion connection--how the left might get Trump out of the White House.
Hint: DNC Politburo party-mix of contenders--to include old Joe--is not the answer nor is the Ortez Cuba 1959 Green New Deal the answer.
What next? Our Sovietized mass-media waits the left's command.
1
Oh give it a rest already!!! The biggest problem of all is that the mainstream media hates to admit it's wrong about anything, especially when it comes to Donald Trump. Ever since that dark day in 2016 when Trump bested its golden girl, Hillary Clinton, for the presidency the mainstream media went into a deep state of denial because things didn't go according to their well thought out plan. Invoking the 25th amendment proved to be total flop. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just took impeachment off the table. The Mueller report is a complete disappointment.
Well so much for the mainstream media fantasy of seeing Donald Trump being marched out of the White House between two burly Federal Marshals in an orange jumpsuit.
Curses!! Foiled again!!
Another pathetic attempt to move the goalposts and to cover up the crimes of Obama Administration.
Donald Trump is as innocent and exonerated as most of us believed OJ Simpson to be after his murder trial. What's next, will Trump be looking for the 'real colluders?'
1
enough with the smears - "If Trump thinks he has been vindicated, then what is he hiding?".
you and your paper, along with other parts of the MSM did absolutely zero investigative reporting into Russia-gate and instead accepted hook line and sinker the democratic attack machine's narrative.
It's disgusting that the MSM calls itself reporters, you uncovered nothing other than what you wanted uncovered.
My Book Report on Moby Dick
By William Barr
10th grade
I read Moby Dick over the weekend. Wow is it long! I counted 585 pages (two pages per sheet) and 212,758 words. I read it in just two days. OK, I skimmed it, skipping over some parts here and there that didn't amount to much other than tiring descriptions of what went on in the ship, whose name I don't recall.
The story is kinda of boring. It's about an Arab sea captain who chases this white whale all over the ocean. The captain, whose name is Mohammad or something, really wants to get the whale which may have taken a bite out of the captain's leg in the past. While the captain has a wooden leg, there were to witnesses on his current ship, the Peapod, so who knows what really happened?
There's not much action except for a couple of pages where the captain and his crew try to capture or kill the whale. Since there were no on the spot videos (I looked on YouTube, but there was a movie!) of any of these actions, I cannot conclude that they actually happened.
Finally, Captain Mohammed catches the whale. Or the whale catches him. The author, Herman Melville, leaves out a lot of key information here and is unclear to me what the captain's motives were. I mean, who chases a whale all over the seas only to end up with no blubber? Really?
"Moby Dick" is an interesting story, but since it doesn't have a Moral, I can't recommend it. Also, it needs more pictures.
123
Brilliant!
17
Well done, Michelle.
Why is AG Wm. Barr so confident that his twist on obstruction will not be countered by Robert Miller himself. Either through his complete report's release or through testimony in Congress?
Mueller's restraint and carefulness are well known, but would he not, for professional pride if nothing else, want to set the record straight in some way or some fashion?
My guess is that Barr was going for immediate and dramatic effect. And he has achieved that for sure. If in time he has to back track a bit in light of whatever Miller says, well, the headlines will not be as big or explosive. Barr has given his boss what his appointment promised, so let the boss carry the torch from here on!
1
We don't have the Mueller report so we have only the word of Trump's handpicked lackey as to what it says about collusion & obstruction. The Mueller investigation will not be concluded until we have the report & know what it means by asking Mueller himself.
In the meantime, the investigation revealed that Trump's campaign was rife with corruption. We already know that his regime is.
3
Trying to build a case for Trump's colluding with Russia was always a bit like trying to convict corporations of price fixing. As price fixing shows, you don't need to actually conspire to do collusive things.
3
I was always hoping evidence would surface proving trump was actively involved or at least could be PROVEN to know about the Russian hacking on his behalf. I still think he was aware even if there’s no physical proof. Regardless of Muller’s findings and barr’s Erroneous summary, trump has perpetrated crimes including tax fraud, obstruction of justice, LYING under oath (Essentially what he’s done in filing false papers Re his assets when getting loans and insurance). That so many close associates of trump have been convicted of crimes and are going to prison would have ended the political career of any democrat and republican not named Donald trump. It’s mind boggling how dishonest the republicans standing up for trump (Lindsay graHAM, et al). The entire republican party is a national disgrace. mcCONnell, trump and the rest must go. Americans VOTE them out. Or we’ll have trumPutin 2020.
1
"No coordination. Lots of corruption."
The no coordination part was not established. What was established is that there was insufficient evidence, in order for
the so called "Department of Justice" to prosecute. That is the opinion of a bunch of Republicans.
1
It is abundantly clear that in finding that the President is not "exonerated" of crime, Mueller punted the ball into Congress' court. Mueller did not fail to indict trump because he was not guilty of anything; rather, the failure to indict reflected the legal fact that a sitting President cannot be indicted by a Grand Jury. Indicting a President for "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" is a job assigned directly to the Congress of the United States by the Constitution. We have a Triumvirate government; the power of Congress is exactly equal to the power of the Executive branch, and is is the work of Congress to provide necessary checks and balances to Presidential power. It is essential, then, that the House and the Senate peruse the entire Mueller report and determine what the next steps should be. It ain't over yet.
1
Is Mr. Mueller’s report being misrepresented by AG Barr? If so, and if Mr. Mueller remains silent on the matter, he will have made himself complicit in the deceit and will have allowed himself to be used by Trump and his acolytes. I expected that he would have too much integrity to allow that to happen, but I may have been wrong.
Without Mr. Mueller stepping up and speaking up, the only way the I believe report will see the light of day is if someone leaks it.
2
Trump Tower Moscow is a big piece of it, yes -- and don't forget that Trump's campaign manager and his national security advisor were both UNREGISTERED FOREIGN AGENTS. Whether or not he willfully conspired with the Russians, this man is clearly severely compromised -- and our national security depends on holding him to account.
3
Trump set the tone of suspicion when he lied about his taxes being audited, therefore he would not disclose. If you lie about small things you lie about big things. We don't want him out of office because we didn't vote for him and he won. We want him out because he is unqualified and has no moral authority.
4
Well then, we'll just have to bury Trump, Repubs, extremists, and right-wing media with VOTES in the 2020 election. The man is STILL not fit to lead America. He can claim exoneration all he wants. Most Americans know better. An avalanche of votes wil remove all doubt about whether Trump should continue in the presidency or not.
4
"Jay Sekulow, one of Trump’s lawyers, has said he would “fight very aggressively” to stop the president’s written answers to Mueller from being made public. "
Why? if the President has nothing to hide, that "no collusion or obstruction of justice" does mean "no," where is the harm in the public reading Trump's answers to the inquiry? Or is this to cover up a Trump version of Bill Clinton's famous, "it depends on what the meaning of is, is" type statement? Give the public a little more intelligence, Mr. Sekulow, back off and let us decide for ourselves.
6
We still don't know all the details of the Mueller report since it has not been made public but what seems clear is that even if there was no collusion, probably related to the gross incompetence of the Trump campaign, there was clearly a welcome sign messaged to the Russians by Trump to interfere. In my opinion this is almost as bad. Hopefully we can move forward now and elect somebody who can unite this country and not exacerbate divisions as the current administration is doing
2
A: The report must be released
B: The criminal investigations must proceed
C: Congress needs to use it's subpoena power to sort this all out. D: Building a strong platform while also investigating trumpty's corruption can be accomplished.
This is what I've put forth in the past:
The Best Way Forward begins with some unifying principles:
1-Education: K-12 and beyond. Free and low cost options for post K-12 education and training will power the economy for the remainder of this century. This will lead to solutions to many of our most pressing problems. (Of course K-12 education needs a redesign as well. Sometimes it's best to start with a backward map so start with high school.)
2-An entire redesign of our national infrastructure which includes our energy grid and energy production including renewables and yet to be discovered alternatives, along with transportation hubs, roads, bridges, public buildings and schools.
3-Healthcare for all at an easily affordable price. There's lots of existing models. Let's examine them all and come with a hybrid of the best that works for us.
For the corporations they should be wise enough to realize there's trillions of profit to be made in this Best Way Forward approach.
Let's select and elect those who agree to this and are willing to enact term limits and campaign finance reform. Ultimately this rests squarely on our shoulders. Buckle up, roll up our sleeves and get to work however you and we can.
2
Wait, why does your interpretation include that neither Trump or his associates assisted Russia? I'm no lawyer but seems to me "assisted" is very different from "collusion" or "coordinated with". There was clearly Russian influence, and Trump clearly assisted, in plain sight. We've got to get this right.
1
Having written his summary, Barr has every personal and professional reason to edit the full Mueller report to justify his conclusions. That's a deep conflict of interest. Someone else should be doing the security/grand jury review, not Barr and his team.
4
The fact that Trump is still in office and not facing impeachment despite all the things we now know even before the Mueller report is a pretty clear indication our political system and institutions have been compromised. The fact that the Republican Party and right wing media from Fox on down backs him shows where the rot can be found.
3
"the investigation “did not establish” that anyone from the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its 2016 election interference."....It has been reported that as Trump's campaign manager, Manafort gave Republican polling data to to a Ukrainian Oligarch with close ties to the Kremlin. We need to hear Mueller's testimony. First is this true? And second, if it is true, why does this not rise to the level of coordination or conspiracy?
3
And the Media escapes unscathed?
Where did this all start. America wants to know how so many people could be duped so badly.
1
If Mr. Barr releases the report will Trump fire him?
Is that an unfair question?
1
Unfortunately rank bullying, bravado and bluster are weapons Trump knows all too well and wields with dogged and vicious persistence.
And just what would have constituted collusion with the *RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT*?
There certainly was Trump connected questionable and rightly suspicious contact with Russian entities — seeking as much political dirt as possible. And then the myriad lies about what actually happened. How could Muller not have included it all in given his investigation mandate.
As for obstruction of justice, for Barr to summarily dismiss this after his now famous memo disputing any legal avenue of so charging a sitting president is monumentally suspect.
And now Graham calling for an investigation of the FBI — beyond the pale. These political reprobates know no bounds.
2
OK; I'm a Democrat and I want Trump to be defeated in 2020. I don't much care if he is removed another way. That said, he is not above the law, and I fervently hope that law works as was intended.
The thing that baffles me is what a big deal is being made of the conclusions about the Mueller report as it relates to possible criminal wrongdoing by President Trump.
It's as if we don't even know what game it is that we are in. Mueller has gone far in revealing the extent and many specifics about how foreign governments are actively attacking our democracy. Wake up everyone! One way or another Trump's fate will be. We need to all comprehend that we are being attacked and manipulated by Putin and his allies. They must be absolutely loving this.
3
Actually, the biggest thing this story tells us is that it is quite likely that our judicial system was weaponized by a group of individuals intent on using a secretive court to thwart the will of the people and bring down the President. For that to be even possible is the biggest story here and needs to be investigated thoroughly. Secretive Courts (eg FISA) and Democracy do not belong in the same sentence much less the same country.
4
@NYer
Are you saying that we should not have an investigation when there is hard evidence that shows that our government has been penetrated by an enemy? Who gets indicted etc. is determined by the investigation itself. In the case of this one done by Robert Mueller, everyone agrees that it was fair and thorough. There have been quite a number of indictments, trials and convictions. The President, so far, appears to be mostly in the clear. I guess we can celebrate that, but shouldn't we horrified by what we have learned generally? Of course it would normally be expected that the President himself would be galvanized against foreign governments who seek to undermine our democracy. Normality is currently on hiatus.
1
Mueller's report was supposed to elucidate the extend of Russian meddling in our elections. Hopefully it will do that as more data are released because Mr. Barr's summary seems to largely ignore this mission and whether it was successfully completed.
Trump is still under Putin's thumb, wittingly or otherwise, because he'll still want to build Trump Tower Moscow, and Trump will do nothing to cross Putin for next two years or (God help us!) six.
1
Why should anyone trust Barr's summary of the report? Most Americans know that he was tacitly put in place to prevent Mueller's full report from ever seeing light and to provide coverage for the most corrupt president this side of Nixon (perhaps even Andrew Johnson?).
There should be no definitive moves made -- by either side -- until there has been a full vetting of the Mr. Mueller's evidence and conclusions.
2
Forget the Trump problems. The Democrats have to deal with their credibility gap. Like it or not, it just grew into a midwestern flood. Perhaps it is time they started listening to what America needs rather than what they presume is good for them. Perhaps they need to get off their "Democrats know best" soap box and really listen to the people of the country. Perhaps they really need to go to Michigan, Alabama, West Virginia, and even on FOX News and deal with things as opposed to thinking they are judge and jury. Dems - you've got some serious soul searching to do. And don't fall into the safety of thinking I'm "one of them". I'm not. However, I have a hard time thinking I'm one of you as well.
I must agree with the readers commenting that enough is enough regarding this issue.
Right now, the priority of the Democratic Party should be getting their candidate into the Oval Office in 2020, and gaining back the majority in the Senate as well.
Then - and only then - will there be any substantive laws put into place to curtail Russian involvement in our elections, which has been going on for over 70 years.
The reason the Democrats took back the majority in the House in 2018 was because candidates concentrated on issues that Americans felt were more important than RussiaGate: Health care, climate change, gun control.
It is not enough to run on a platform of "Hate Trump." He got elected because independent voters who traditionally voted the "D" column in the voting booth turned away, held their noses, and voted "R." We need to get those voters back into the fold. Bashing Trump will not be enough to do that.
2
I watched Cohen testify in his hearing before Congress and what I surmised was that Trump never expected to win the presidency, and so continued his real-estate business dealings in and with Russia during the campaign. That's pretty much the gist of this.
This is a really excellent piece articulating why we need to wait to see the report. I had forgotten about some of the wording in Barr's earlier memo - that “grossly irresponsible” and “fatally misconceived” in relation to the Mueller inquiry. Of course Barr is covering up. And although we don't know yet, he seems to have shut Mueller down early too. Trump found his bulldog.
In the meantime I'm astonished by the number of people who are not rabid Trumpists, yet accept Barr's letter unequivocally and call to move on. This is as misguided as Corbyn's constant calls to forget about Brexit - because 'there are more important things to deal with'. Such a stance fatally ignores the fact that Trump and Brexit do damage daily and actually impede progress. Can these people miss the fact that the GOP are now hellbent on destroying Obamacare in toto, a couple of days after Barr's would-be bombshell?
Supporting good Democratic candidates, campaigning for them, working to better your community - all this can be done while also fighting Trumpism and all it means, from climate denialism to damaging prospects for the poor to creating geopolitical chaos abroad. And we must stay focused on the indictments and guilty pleas that Mueller has nailed so far. That's not a wisp of smoke. It's a roiling bonfire. The true nature of Trump's ties to Russia have yet to be fully revealed.
7
Stephen Walt co author of the Israeli Lobby, was recently quoted Corruption is the #1 National Security Threat to the United States.
3
Mueller's work was dead on conception with Barr's appointment.
Impeachment was never more than a theatrical effort justifying a 'fake news' label.
Let's move forward with something that will drive the narcissistic piece-o-work nuts, censure.
4
This is a sad day(s) for America. Robert Mueller's "vindication" of Trump is a national disaster. But we have to accept it.
But absolutely and entirely regardless of the Mueller investigation, Trump's perfidy and disgusting character stands out like a sore thumb. All it takes (took) is listening to one neo-Nazi style Trump rally to "know" this President. And "if you don't know him by now, you will never ever ever know him."
5
Just stop already. You are only making it worse. There are real issues to discuss, like healthcare and immigration and inequality. Get to that, would you?
2
The thing about conspiracy theories is that the truth bewilders its subscribers.
Get out of your bubble and stop letting your emotions cloud your judgment.
3
Lot's of corruption?
Really? After two years of investigation, apparently there's no corruption on the part of Trump.
He's a clown, he's not corrupt, stop stating otherwise, you're ruining the reputation of this paper.
2
trump is a horrible human being in every dimension.
the fact that there is no clear path to remove him from office, shows a weakness of the system or that of his supporters.
3
Do not move the students. Improve the schools.
The historical argument for desegregation was access to better schools, funding, and teachers. Funding is no longer the issue in public schools. What distinguishes good from poor schools is the attitude of the students, the quality of the teachers, and the support of parents and the community. No one would think twice if the best schools were majority black and Hispanic. History has come full circle if diversity is now represented by a handful of white students forced to attend out-of-district majority black and Hispanic schools.
Schools and governments must step in to enable student success. The most effective intervention is one-on-one or small group tutoring.
Why fetishize eight high schools rather than strive to renovate the educational culture and mission at all the other high schools? Admission to schools like Stuyvesant is not the only path to success. And there is nothing wrong with CCNY and SUNY either.
Of the seven black students accepted to Stuyvesant, how many of them are the children of African immigrants? Tani Adewumi, the eight-year-old chess whiz, comes to mind.
Diversity and integration, if they compromise standards, are not necessarily laudable goals. I shudder to think of what passes for a curriculum at Afrocentric charter schools.
And de Blasio actually thinks he has a shot at the Presidency?
Eliza Shapiro needs to understand how dispiriting these articles must be to black and Hispanic students.
Best communicate this message to Dean Bosquet and the headline writers at the NYT Michelle, they are on the forefront of normalizing Trump’s unfounded boasts.
2
How a party can go from trying to elect War Hero John McCain to now hating him more than Hilary should tell you something. Pride will blind you and make you reverse every position you held in life. Adultery is OK. Openly racist is fine..... look at the economy. Our allies are our enemies and our foes friends. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?!!
4
Thank you Michelle.
4
Barr, as an avowed bandleader for dictatorial presidential powers, is just a cog in a crime family syndicate that has made its entire living off of a constant cycle of spin, graft, fraud and bankruptcy. Only now, that crime family has clear access to the funds and borrowing power of the US Federal government, the ability to force taxpayers to stuff their private accounts, and has made great inroads in getting in on the action with the military industrial cesspool, by cozying up to other corrupt, dynastic despots in KSA and Israel.
3
Barr just saved Trump from another bankruptcy.
2
"the investigation “did not establish” that anyone from the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its 2016 election interference."
The more likely the reason for no coordination is due to the chaos and ineptitude of Trump's campaign, not innocence of intent. This is the gang that cannot do anything straight. Were it a movie, it would be a comedy. As it is life, it is a tragedy. We are inside the theater; the stage is on fire; and the doors are locked.
Even if we survive this crisis of democracy, we will never be the same. We saw this first in the Whitewater hearings and impeachment frenzy of Clinton. Then, we saw it in the supreme court's selection of Bush as the 2000 presidential victor.
It is bigger than Trump, who is a useful idiot for the extreme reactionaries of the Republican party. We are involved in a (relatively) bloodless civil war. So, want to take bets on which happens first? Will our country as we knew it die before climate change kills us or the other way around?
3
"This week, New York developer Felix Sater is set to testify before Congress about his role in Donald Trump’s attempt to build a tower in Moscow. A lawsuit filed Monday may provide new fodder for his inquisitors, with its claim that Sater, a longtime associate of Trump’s, sought to use money stolen from a bank in Kazakhstan to help develop the building."
@
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-25/sater-eyed-trump-moscow-tower-to-launder-money-kazakh-bank-says
Everytime Trump thinks he's out of the woods....there's going to be more of his dirty deeds being investigated to pull him back in. He has spent 50+ years doing dirty deals for Trump, Inc. and there's endless things to dig up and go after him for. When you lay down with dogs...as they say, you get up with fleas. Trump by now is one big walking body of fleas.
4
1)We, the People need to see the whole report.
2)Congress has to continue its investigations and subpoena anyone who is of dubious character, I can think of my names, several starting with a T.
3) the real media: NYT, WaPo, Le Monde, BBC News, MSNBC, CNN etc... need to report anything they find out and keep ridiculing this corrupt, inept and oh so uneducated President.
Forget the fake news like FoX News, they are just a megaphone.
4) We, the People need to resist, persist and vote the GOP out in 2020.
3
Those of us who see plainly the brazen corruption in plain sight, know there is plenty more behind the veil of this slime factory of an administration. We feel powerless as our country is careening off track. As such, we looked to Mueller as a savior. We know in our "knower" that Trump is an evil doer. His knack for averting the consequences of his dirty deeds is perhaps his biggest talent. One that he shares with other sociopaths.I had hoped that Mueller would unmask him before the world. But, then, after all of the false but incessant branding of "witch hunt by 12 angry dems", etc, would enough people have believed it anyway? America is not accustomed to dealing with this personality type. Half of us are completely fooled. The other half better get busy trying to figure out how to deal with an amoral narcissistic tyrant masquerading as a savior. Batman are you out there?
1
You write that Mueller's findings are "dispiriting for those of us who despise" Trump. This line says it all. You despise the man, and so, everything he does or doesn't do is seen through your entrenched bias. Sure, you're an "opinion" writer....but your hate for the man is infecting your credibility. But as long as you feed your readers a steady diet of Trump bashing red meat, your fan base will stay satiated. Good work.
4
We should really give the Russians more credit here. Would they really choose to conspire with an unintelligent, unreliable, egomaniac? Just because they wanted to discredit and make a mockery of our electoral system by getting a clown elected doesn't mean they would actually conspire with the clown.
1
Let’s go to the videos from 2016 to now —-
Yah, ok,no problems here with Trump presidency.
Can the MAGA’s be serious?
Calm down Michelle... only six more years to go.
4
For reasons having to do with DJT's natural laziness and lack of smarts, I never really believed he directly conspired with the Russians in that tented-fingers kind of way, but I am still confounded as to why he continually behaves as if he conspired with the Russians.
Which only matters in two ways: what is DJT doing to enact policies that favor the Russians to the detriment of the US, and what is he NOT doing to stop the hacking and disruption that the Russians have directed at us and many a western democracy?
1
I am wondering if we are not being naive accepting AG Barr’s interpretation of the Mueller report.
No collusion with the Russian government? The thick web of oligarchs who work for Putin are not a formal part of the Russian government. But they might as well be. Let’s be clear: The oligarchs who funded and launched the likes of Natalia Veselnitskaya (the Russian attorney at the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower) and Maria Butina (the Russian gun lobbyist) at the 2016 presidential election are the informal agents of the Russian government. (And speaking of Maria Butina, how did Trump just happen to pick her out of a crowd of journalists for the first question? This coincidence—just like the campaign’s many other inexplicable brushes with Russian agents—boggles the mind.)
Given AG Barr’s June 2018 unsolicited memo to the Justice Department (questioning the basis for Mueller’s investigation and positing the president is not subject to constitutional controls) why should we accept his interpretation of Mueller’s findings? For all we know, Barr looked at a long list of minor and major crimes, and since the decision was his to make, happily concluded: ‘Nothing to see here, folks. Move along!’
My conclusion: Barr’s objectivity is questionable. We need to see the Mueller report—and quickly. The Republican hacks, cronies and traitors to the American Constitution (yes, Mitch McConnell, I’m lookin’ at you) cannot be permitted to shrug this off.
7
Rather there was assistance by the Trump Campaign but not knowingly-they weren’t intelligent enough to know they were dealing with the Russian government-a doubly concerning indictment of the Trumps and their minions
Trump's people have been successful:
1. They have created the "collusion" matter, establishing that is the "crime" in play even though there is no legal theory of collusion that would apply here.
2. They have seemingly established that a President goes scot free if not convicted of a serious crime in a court of law; convenient, since everyone assumes a sitting President can't be indicted, and thus can't be convicted in a court of law.
3. Since no crime of "collusion" can apply here, neither Trump nor his campaign can be legally accused of it, much less anyone can find legal evidence of something that doesn't exist legally.
4. Can a President actually obstruct justice if merely doing things a President is empowered to do? Something, it seems, Congress via impeachment or maybe ultimately the Supreme Court, only, can decisively determine. Robert Mueller is not the kind of prosecutor who would inject his opinion into the works for that kind of circumstance, which is probably why he left that determination open in his letter (assuming Barr's summary is accurate, there). Unlike Comey, who usurped even lesser powers in giving an opinion about Hillary Clinton prosecutability while trashing her sans benefit of trial.
Stop saying "collusion". Trump's primary, and possibly only, real skill: setting the narrative. In business terms, branding. His Presidency has been corruption, incompetence, cruelty, racism, ignorance, mendacity, banality, and cowardice...but with great branding.
3
If the Russians committed a violation of U.S. election law by assisting Trump's campaign, why wasn't it obstruction of justice for the Trump campaign to fail to report that crime to the FBI?
3
The Trump haters are very sad that there was no evidence of Russian collusion in the Mueller investigation findings. None. Yet many will continue to say he is guilty of something anything to discredit President Trump. The only thing President Trump is guilty of is winning the presidency much to their dismay. This was never supposed to happen and they will continue to find fault with him until his presidency ends in 2024. If President Trump has been able to withstand this badgering and condemnation for this length of time and survive, he can surely survive for a few more years. He must continue making America the great nation he promised he would accomplish during his campaign. He will succeed.
4
The NYT has published over 100 comments of mine re Trump running for president and after Trump somehow won the presidency. I regard Trump's tweet of "Complete and Total EXONERATION" as simply one of thousands of exaggerations or lies Trump's tweeted the during the past 4 years. The country deserves better. Mueller's report is the first of many investigations to come. I continue to believe, as do many world leaders, that the president's relationship with dictators and his dictator-like threats makes him the most dangerous president America's ever had.
3
We're in totally different territory when we begin to wish that the president is a criminal so he can be brought down. I wish for it every day - so low has the bar been lowered.
The real tragedy is ever letting this con-man anywhere near the White House. If I were an optimist I might hope that we learn something here.
2
For one we can start calling the Barr "summary" what is really is. It is an "opinion" and nothing more.
1
Barr can't be trusted. I won't believe Trump has been exonerated until the report is released in full to Congress.
1
This is an example of why Ted Koppel recently bemoaned the current state of this paper. While an “opinion” piece, the sorrow at learning the President did not commit treason, and the hope something, anything, will be found to destroy him, is consistent with “news” stories for two years. The editors need to address their front page story from shortly after the election stating Trump was the end of normal reporting. I grew up on this paper and no longer see it as trying to simply follow facts.
1
They can party down in the WH all they want. We still have a complete liar in the office of the presidency, and a liar whose every "decision" comes down on the wrong side of morality and decency and/or democracy. We still have a president who stood next to Putin and chose Putin's "very strong" statement over U.S. intelligence agencies regarding election "meddling."
So, if the WH is willing to take the Barr "summary" as correct and final, then I would remind them the Barr summary still includes the fact that Russians interfered with the 2016 election in favor of the current U.S. President. So, now I want to see funding, and I mean major funding, and commitment and a plan (a real plan) to solve the Russian interference problem.
There really should be no celebration in the WH until our country is safe from Russia's breaching our cyber walls.
1
First of all Michelle, he was not installed. He won the election, his campaign did not collude as accused, so you lose your credibility when you use that language. Your commentary should try to move the undecided, and inflammatory language and complaining about the person and not the policies won’t do it. Make your policy argument, you can do it even if it is hard. Come on, you can do better.
3
Come on. Give it up already.
We get it. Trump is a lying cheat who surrounds himself with lying cheaters. So is Hillary. They have one important thing in common, money, and lots of people with money use that money to cheat, and then they lie about it. Just look at Aunt Becky.
But that's neither here nor there. Time to stop worrying about jailing Trump and start worrying about beating him in 2020.
Republicans are now unified and emboldened, meanwhile, the left wing media has proven all of Trump's claims of bias and fake news true, blatant anti-Semitism and a refusal to directly address it has sparked the Jexodus movement, and the Democrats appear to be on the verge of a civil war between their rational moderates and radical fringe.
They'd be well advised to fight that war quickly, defeat the fringe soundly, and choose a candidate who appeals to the reasonable center.
For many, the Mueller report vindicates the president of collusion with the Russians. It does not, however, absolve the Russians of tampering with American elections, or Donald Trump of willingly currying favor with the Russians for personal gain. It does not vindicate him for his other gross failings or, particularly, of the serious charge of obstructing justice.
Allowing Trump and his supporters define and spin the Mueller investigation's findings narrowly may satisfy them, but the pattern of facts that clearly show Trump riddling our nation's moral standing with decay are compelling, and the damage that is doing to our country cannot be erased by a narrow finding of the Mueller report or, worse, by the newly Trump-appointed Attorney General's spin on it.
241
@Quoth The Raven Democrats in the House of Representatives and the Democratic National Party must find a way to counteract the powerful propaganda machine -- Fox. C'mon, Madison Avenue, combine your creative
resources to beguile American households to switch to
an honest news source. This is America -- you can do it!
12
I have always doubted that our president and the rest of his gang that can’t shoot straight successfully colluded with the Russians, but I do believe that they did benefit from Russian interference and would have colluded if they could have.
We must keep focusing on the facts: this failed businessman is in no way equipped to run our country and we need to kick him out resoundingly in 2020.
219
@Frances Menzel
well he's already on his way to bankrupting the US treasury with all his giveaways to rich corporations and to the top1%. And don't forget his 3.2 million dollar weekends at his florida investment properties (with the tax payer footing the bill which is a running tab now to the tune of over 300 million dollars - all so he and his inner circle can pow wow with the rich and privileged donors to the Republican party down in Florida.
And it continues as he chips away at our safeguard programs that the majority of Americans rely on - social security, medicare, health care for the poor, environmental protections, protections from corrupt lenders and credit card companies, rules and regulations that protect our the quality of life for most Americans (not just the rich) etc etc...I just hope when this president and administration leaves Washington we can recover from the damages he is causing to this country and it's democratic foundation.
Vote for change in 2020!
27
@Frances Menzel When Republicans claim the election interference was all right because it happened during President Obama’s term, they are idiotically bragging about inadequately responding at a time when they held both houses and a majority of states’ elective machinery. These Republicans reveal the kind of nation-haters they are. And there is more. How could a self-respecting voter support a Republican in 2020? Past time to clean house.
15
@Rain Perfectly said.
3
One can be amoral and corrupt without breaking the law with enough practice.
142
@Moose without breaking the law or without getting caught breaking the law?
5
@Moose, or one can surround oneself with crooks who will break the law for you without you ever getting caught! That’s the duping trump is an expert at.
8
We heard the Barr Report, not the Mueller Report. There are many Russia-Trump related meetings and links, as well as lies to the House Intelligence Committee that need to be explained. Until that happens, the president and all ecstatic Republicans should hold off dancing in the end zone.
1
It's clear from this opinion piece and the comments that this was never really about collusion with Russia - it was all about overturning the results of the 2016 election. Thanks to the FBI's misguided counterintelligence operation, it appeared that the Russian collusion narrative was the way to destroy Trump. Now that that didn't work, Democrats have to change the narrative to something else.
What Democrats need to recognize is that most voters were well aware of Trump's many faults and voted for him anyway because they saw Clinton as a corrupt representative of the political establishment that had failed them so badly.
1
So you were wrong and you'd like to say you're sorry.
2
SO the left has declared it will not stop pushing false and hateful narratives, despite millions in tax payer money spent, thousands of man hours, surveillance and no indictments? Shame on all of you. Shame on the biased media, shame on the liars like John Brennan and Adam shiff who claimed secret knowledge of wrong doing. shame on dems for not ending the silent coup. lastly shame on Hillary for starting it all with the bought and paid for fake Russian dossier. The FISA courts need a reckoning of how they were abused by dems to target their political enemies and I want to know why Obama allowed all this law breaking. Today's dems own this modern day McCarthyism.
2
News Flash...
Russians are in full blown celebration mode, after getting the Barr report.
That should tell you everything you need to know about this 4 page cliff notes.
Another total farce, that we should expect by now from pro-Russian administration with Individual-1 at the helm.
MRGA = Make Russia Great Again!
2
I am really happy with this outcome, because it could only do good to the future quality of traditional journalism. I hope my beloved New York Times will now stop supporting activistic opionism on its frontpage at least...
Editor’s note: This comment has been anonymized in accordance with applicable law(s).
He's like a bad dream and sadly the night never seems to end as he is the quintessential liar, bully, racist etc., etc. - a complete wretched miscreant who has hardly been vindicated until the Mueller report is released in it's unexpurgated, I believing damning, entirety. Regardless of the "complete and total vindication" we face at least two more years of what will become a true witch hunt as Trump will relentlessly obsess and pummel his usual adversaries (i.e., the press, Democrats, Obama and Hillary) at his frightening nationalist rallies. We all can and must move on for there are many issues and problems our legislators need to address and confront to buffer the inept and worthless doings of this administration. Let the babbling idiot proclaim what a fine fellow he is and how he is doing more for this country than any president ever... lets hope the brainwashed base will see some of their members wake up and realize they've been had by this conceiving imposter and jump ship. Otherwise goodness knows what havoc and destruction the country may witness if he is reelected - the thought is terrifying.
1
LOL, take the "L" Michelle, he has been vindicated.
1
"I won’t pretend that the weekend’s news was not very good for Trump and dispiriting for those of us who despise him."
I despise Trump and have for at least thirty years. I do not agree with your conclusion that the Mueller report was dispiriting to the US. I believe it is preferable to have a miserable person who is an idiot and a pathological liar as a president than to have a traitor.
1
No criminal collusion? He's still crooked, narcissist, bully, the great divider, white supremacy symbol, callous, and cult leader of the republican party. How many convictions and confessions surround him? Either he is a crook, too, he is an accessory to criminal dealings, or he is stupidly fooled by them. Birds of a feather...
BTW, Watch new Maddow report...pretty informative...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGGxoxLzBLQ
Also, never underestimate the FAUX NEWS, which in it's essence is a Pure PROPAGANDA channel just like back in the USSR!
One more thing...
Apparently Russians are in full blown celebration mode, after getting the Barr report.
That should tell you everything you need to know about this 4 page cliff notes.
Another total farce, that we should expect by now from pro-Russian administration with Individual-1 at the helm.
MRGA = Make Russia Great Again!
2
This is a calmly reasoned piece
Why is an opinion writer telling the truth of this travesty while the seasoned NYT reporter, Peter Baker, actually bought into the lie that the Barr letter was a legal finding rather than a political document to whitewash the real story?
1
President Trump has been vindicated, but you, and the New York Times, and Barack Obama, and James Comey, and Adam Schiff and Gerald Nadler have not—not by a long-shot!
1
So the president is not a traitor. He is just a proven corrupt, homophobe, racist, neo-fascist, sexist and more or less rich would-be dictator with dubious associations. And we are supposed to feel relieved.
Its over. Trump was cleared. He was right.
The media and the Democrats accusing him of treason were all wrong.
Get over it.
Did you folks ever stop to think, even just a little, that this media and the Democrat Party took you all for fools?
Everything you heard about Trump was false.
The only parts of this entire fiasco that were true was how WikiLeaks caught Democrats red handed lying, cheating, fixing their own primary, and colluding with the media on a mass scale.
This Russia thing was to deflect from that.
When will you folks ever learn?
Trump is still a liar, a cheat, and a con artist, and a whole bunch
of other things just as disgusting, to boot! When they impeached Clinton, the Republicans insisted on releasing the most salacious details of that report. I read it in the Atlanta Journal and was absolutely disgusted and appalled, but Starr and Kavanaugh wanted us all to read the dirtiest private details about Pres. Clinton! RELEASE THE REPORT YOU COWARDS!
Comey, McAbe, Barr, Whitaker, and Muller are die heart Republicans.
Republicans committed treason against the United States of America, and Republicans are delighted to still have the support of the Russian GRU Officers.
A vote for any Republican, brings joy to Vladimir Putin's heart.
I'll put it out there I think Taibbi is a focused, disciplined, fact based thinker, but I've alwasy been of 2 minds about his take on Russia, a place where strangely enough he's actually lived unlike most of us.
There's a there there, as you effectively point out, but I've never herd one thing I'd consider prosecutable for the great pretender himself. This report was never going to be the rope in a celebratory public hanging, so regardless of facts it would have been better for everyone, including the pubic bullhorns, to act as if it was just the most significant of the many ongoing investigations.
Ms. Goldberg you're far too interesting to lean too much on russiagate for subject matter, and I personally don't think Taibbi is making a blanket statement to include people like yourself, but he does have a valid criticism of ostensibly lefty media, particularly television. You are right it is objectively silly to state there's no there there, but at the same time Taibbi is exactly right that the left of the mass media drove that donkey of a story into the ditch, where we aspirants to a knowable common reality now find ourselves.
Do you think we'll learn anything about the next time there's a need to fill dead airtime?
Gee The holier than thou Democrats have never been corrupt. Sour grapes. See you in 2020.
If the mob can hide connections to a Don, certainly the Kremlin can. Duh!
As I recall matters, at the time that the Steel dossier's existence was made public, there was also reporting that Russia was interfering with our election. trump chose to believe putin's assurances that Russia was doing nothing of the sort; despite what our own intelligence agency found to the contrary.
trump's behavior during this time certainly gave credence to the suspicion that he was somehow compromised by the Russians. trump's firing of FBI Director Comey; and the bragging about it to the Russian delegation visiting trump in the oval office. trump's behavior in Helsinki when meeting with putin strongly suggested that he was subservient to putin.
So all this "self-reflection" by the MSM, while healthy, shouldn't distract from the challenge ahead. trump's recent carrying on about how he was wronged is a foreshadow of what he has in mind. . .it looks like a rehash of the McCarthy era.
Now, more than ever, a free press is needed.
1
Is it possible that Barr actually shut down the Mueller investigation before it was complete?
Many pundits expressed surprise at the seeming discrepancy between announcement of the end and the state of ongoing indictments, etc.
That could be the reason for Mueller’s inconclusive conclusion. He did not yet have all the evidence.
Barr is way out of line here. He is not supposed to filter the report. He is supposed to hand it over to Congress. Only Trump's very recent appointee has seen the report. Something stinks to high heaven here and the vicious Trump bow wants to take revenge on people just doing their job. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark as Shakespeare said... oh wait... make that Finland.
6
Its almost as if History, and in this case an alternative horrifying dimensional shift, marches on without the slightest thought of whether the entire era is simply inexplicable.
A monster achieved the White House. A White Nationalist, crime lord, who by rights should eventually spend the rest of his life in prison, is now deregulating everything, unleashing carbon at a turbo-charged rate, doing everything in his power to dismantle the Climate Change Prevention industry, and sullying the very core of The United States as anything other than a decrepit Oligarchy.
And this cretin may even win again in 2020. Its one of the reasons I remain confused about the electoral college. Lets fix gerrymandering definitely. But never underestimate the stupidity of the American Public or , really, any Public. The "Public" rarely votes in their best interest. I understand Hillary won by 3 million votes. She should of won by 15 million.
Trump is a sideshow for the Billionaires. And until Dems and some other Republican Party not in this dimension fully dismantle the Oligarchy, we are going to continue to slide into the abyss.
6
Ok, Now this is like trying to milk a cow. It’s done. He didn’t do it. It’s time to let it go
1
This putrid and corrupt individual, of course, lacks the capability of feeling any shame and is already proclaiming full vindication of any malfeasance and threatening anyone who dared to doubt his "innocence." And, naturally, the equally shameless and corrupt Republicans in Congress are right behind trump trying to intimidate the Democrats, who, I'm sorry to say, are known to have weak spines and may be ready to turn tails and retreat into silence. It's all a continuous disgrace for those of us who really care for the United States, its Constitution and the rule of law.
2
Folks, Trump is not innocent! The Republicans are shielding him, protecting their own.
Now is time for the other shoe to drop. Southern District of New York....BRING IT!
Let the Wrath of the American People be heard!
Let these sleazy politicians tremble at our feet!
LONG LIVE AMERICA!
WE WILL NOT BECOME RUSSIANS!
3
If Trump is totally and completely exonerated then why not give the report to the American people who paid for it? We didn't pay for and wait two years to see the Barr report. This stinks to high heaven.
5
Republicans are out for revenge. Great. Let’s remember that Congressional Democrats had nothing to do with the investigation. Rosenstein appointed Mueller. Meanwhile, Trump fired Comey, Sessions, and McCabe. Who are they going to go after? Rachael Maddow? By all means, the Senate should spend the next 17 months on a rampage. If Pelosi plays her cards right, the Democrats will retake the Senate. And if Trump keeps up his aberrant behavior and accomplishes nothing else, we’ll have the Presidency. The only people who feel sorry Trump are his base and Trump himself.
Why should we expect anything less than more bad faith and bogus equivalence from the usual paragons of virtue in Trump World? These fools spent the last two years lambasting the DOJ for doing its job and calling the Mueller investigation everything bad under the sun. Now that the report is done and seems to favor their Dear Leader in its main conclusion, they want to start their own score-settling jihad. Give us a break.
2
This, and just about everything being written in the NYTimes right now from Messers Bouie, Blow and more, captures perfectly what has gone so wrong with the Times and with the Media broadly. You got a major story wrong. Not only that, you participated in the creation of a story for ideological reasons, throwing your professionalism, such as it was, and your integrity (can we even assume you had it?) out the window. And now, this. In the wake of the report, you're not asking for investigations into the FBI, our Intel services' misbehavior, nor even into what we know Hillary has done. Instead, you're doubling down. There must be something in the whole report, after all! As I have said all along, let's declassify all the documents on it all --- let the chips fall where they may. But no more of this ideological ranting on the part of the Left and its Media minions. That way, the Mueller investigation, which was the cover up all along, will be exposed for what it was --- the hysteria of the Left, behaving unconscionably in the face of a stinging defeat by, yes, a horrible man.
"...control the narrative and the data at all costs"
You know that the only way to ensure any belief in honest election results is with a paper ballot. You tell me who designed, built, created the software, and services the voting machines that we use? The results are at least "baked in", and now, more likely adjustable in real time. No more hanging chads - too distracting and time consuming.
I want to know more about this. Do you? Who are the people behind the corporations that have the contracts to provide this potentially corruptible vehicle in our democracy? This paper is obligated to explain this in detail. "All the news that's fit to print" or "All the news that fits in the ads, too."
Thanks, Ms. Goldberg. Two thoughts:
(1) Scripture enjoins us to pray for our leaders. My wife and I (this is Norm, not Susan)--my wife and I do just that. We pray for Mr. Trump. For our House and Senate leaders. For the Supreme Court. For everyone else in our government. Which is a lot of people.
We pray all these men and women HAVE and USE--wisdom. Discretion. Moderation. Foresight. And so--to cut to the chase--
(2) I pray that, likewise, the Democrats HAVE and USE--wisdom. Discretion. Moderation. Foresight.
This is a bad moment for Democrats. Albeit long foreseen. I do believe "collusion" is (legally) a meaningless term. Absent a "smoking gun"--a tape recording of Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin explicitly DISCUSSING tricks and ploys to put Mr. Trump in the White House--
--how could anyone prove "collusion"? Quid pro quo? Tit for tat?
Ms. Goldberg, I think--and I expect you think--and millions of Americans think: there has NEVER been such a threat to our democracy as Mr. Donald J. Trump. I'll be frank: his "base" scares me too. They scare me no end.
Let the Democrats pick their battles carefully. Let them not go flailing and wailing into every fight they see. Let them weigh their blows. Let them measure their strength. And yes!--
--let them for God's sake deliver our country. From the extraordinary menace of Mr. Donald J. Trump. And his administration. His hangers-on. His enablers.
If they don't--
--who will?
Is there any shame ? What is left ? Time to rethink the papers mission ....
How do you know there was not a conspiracy? Because you believe Barr? How foolish. He puts forth a very very minority view of federal structure (unitary executive theory) in his 19 page job application. Can you imagine that he may be lying, or spreading false conclusions? This is part of 17+ individuals who lied about over a hundred contacts with Russians. Maybe you might suspect something? Maybe this is part of the ongoing active measure. Only way to address the issue is to release the full Mueller report, including all appendices and attachments. Maybe you should review all the relevant documents before you accept there was no conspiracy. I bet you dinner that you are wrong.
Ms. Goldberg - you sound like a sore loser. Everyone predicted Hillary would win and she lost. Then she lost because Trump colluded with the Russians. Now we get a report from someone we were told by the media was above reproach that says there was no collusion. But you still can't face the fact that a) Mr. Trump was elected fair and square and b) there is no proof he did anything wrong. Now you can imagine or speculate all you want but those are the facts.
Note to the left: Grifters specialize in avoiding responsibility; that's why you don't elect them.
Anything and anybody Trump associates with will be subjected to a certain amount of sleaze--that is just who Trump is---not enough sleaze to warrant a criminal indictment, but just enough sleaze to get the job done and leave a bad taste in the mouths of those who have been sleazed. What we do know from the Mueller report, and I believe is our saving grace as a country, is basically Trump and his associates and family members are incompetent---at almost everything they do. Barring any major national or international event---the next two years our country will rumble along on Trump's little engine that couldn't.
Does it matter to anyone that Trump called upon Russia several times, publicly, to hack Clinton's e-mail?
2
Rosenstein thinks Trump is so off that he seriously contemplates wearing a wire when in the Oval office with him. And we're supposed to believe that this same Rosenstein believes Trump has acted within the law?
This would be a farce if it wasn't so serious.
FTFY
The Mueller investigation is over, and the only people close to Donald Trump who have been criminally charged are his former campaign chairman (not for Russia), former deputy campaign chairman (not for Russia), former personal lawyer (not for Russia), former national security adviser (not for Russia), former campaign foreign policy adviser (not for Russia) and Roger Stone (not for Russia).
I love your "guilty unless or even if proven innocent" attitude.
2
He ran as a lark, just to get his branding up. No real desire to be president and certainly not suited to be president. His flaws are numerous. He exists to lie and mislead. He destroys but does not create. He sows hatred, he has no compassion. He steals and withholds the truth. He is a racist. He has no warmth for all of America. He betrays American intelligence agencies to pander to those hostile to America. Money means more to him than anything else. He gloats and says he will chase down his "enemies". He is so totally unfit to be president. His sins are worse than collusion. Please do not re-elect him.
Again, we have not seen the report. I am shocked and dismayed at just how ignorant and, in some cases, downright stupid portions of our citizenry are. Even if Mueller concluded nobody in Trump's or it actively conspired with Russia, they likely clearly knew Putin was working to get them elected. The difference I flag is actively participating verse passively participating. In both cases they were participating. It is not the case we are putting too much emphasis on Mueller, we are putting too much emphasis on Barr!
A real president would get on with his job instead of whining and threatening.
Matt Taibbi thinks Julian Assange is a journalist. ‘Nuff said.
1
How can The New York Times continue to provide a platform to an op-ed columnist who would write a sentence such as Ms. Goldberg does? That is, as Ms. Goldberg states: "I won't pretend that the weekend's news was not very good for Trump and dispiriting for those of us who despise him".
Though op-ed's are, by design, opinions, isn't there some standard for fairness, case-by-case decision-making, critical thinking and judgment -- not to mention adherence to and support for The Times' journalistic ideals -- that would preclude and prohibit overt and clear expressions of bias and personal animus?
This style of writing sadly appears common for Ms. Goldberg, whose writing frequently descends to diatribe rather than rising to insight and enlightenment.
If this is what passes for a victory for Trump; God help the U.S these days. He is not going to prison like all his "friends" (yet); so I guess that means the last two years of corruption; lies; alternative facts; race baiting; xenopobia; cozying up to murderous thugs; insulting and attacking allies; and on and on can now be forgotten and swept under the rug. Yeah; Sure!
We heard from Barr, a Trump puppet. Trump has been a crook his entire life. Nothing has changed.
I would be ashamed to have Adam Schiff of John Brennan in my party. They owe America a public apology. Shame!
1
Trump is the head of a real estate mafia, fully intent in expanding his turbid business to Moscow, thus requiring Putin's favor, and in exchange willing to reverse the sanctions imposed by the West (by invading and annexing Crimea); in other words, in Putin's pocket; while president of these United States, Trump has become a dangerous 'fifth columnist'...corrosive for the safety of this democracy. Trump is a brutus ignoramus alright...but with superb expertise in lying and demagoging the issues for his, and his family's benefit...and at our expense. His is a glaring abuse of power. Plus his daily assault on anybody, Mueller included, that dares expose his 'criminal intent'. As you said, if he were innocent, why all these attacks, and the lying?
Trump is a lying con-artist scoundrel - he has been for all his adult life, and he will be until his last breath.
Just because Mueller can't prove "criminal collusion" (which to me just means Trump's operation is so loosey-goosey that it's effectively "dis-organized crime") in no way lets Don-the-Con off the hook except in his own warped mind.
1
Try the other side of the isle when seeking corruption. Start with the Clinton Foundation and then work your way through the myriad of Presidential hopefuls and call again Ms. Goldberg. The truth shall set you free.
1
It is no joking matter but for 2 1/2 years the Dems have loudly pontificated about how Mueller was beyond reproach, a true consummate professional investigator who could be trusted without question. Mueller then handpicked a team of seasoned investigators known to lean liberal, many with evidence of being Trump haters. They interviewed hundreds of witnesses, reviewed over a million docs, spent 2 1/2 years on this insane investigation that may have been initiated solely on the basis of a now proven fake dossier. Now the report is out and it purportedly doesn't just say there is not enough evidence to conclude that there was collusion, it emphatically states that there was NO evidence of collusion. Instead of being enthused to learn that no American participated in rigging the election, the liberals are now saying there STILL was collusion. So, in just one day Mueller went from beyond reproach to not being able to be trusted. Remember how liberals loved James Comey for not prosecuting Hillary, then hated him for reopening the investigation, then praised him for his great leadership at the FBI the day after Trump fired him!! Political hypocrites!
We can wait to learn more about possible obstruction, but keep in mind you can character assassinate Barr all you want, but the decision that there is insufficient evidence to prosecute for obstruction was made in unison with Rosenstein, the guy who hates Trump so much he spoke of wearing a wire into the White House to trip up Trump.
1
Trump lies and lies again—-release the full report to those of us who live in this Democracy—-2020 is next year......
. If Trump thinks he has been vindicated, then what is he hiding?
......First of all, I’m certainly NO Trump fan....
......Yet, Michelle ‘s logic seems a little fuzzy in her last sentence!?!?
Why must feeling vindicated....imply that one is hiding something ?????
Barr's letter is no different than Frank Nitti writing a letter to help Al Capone.
Thanks for this. Can you pls talk w your colleagues tho about changing today's NYT lead headline -- all day it's joyfully spread the AG's claim that "a cloud has been lifted," despite the fact we have yet to see the full report. Earlier it at least couched it as, Barr says...now it's just reporting it as truth. This seems like incredibly irresponsible journalism at this point...
And let's also not pretend that Trump haters haven't been indicted. I actually call myself a Trump hater but if you read Manjoo's column in the very same paper for which you write, you'll understand why your hate has led you not only to irrationality but to self-destruction.
I've got a hundred bucks that says the NY Times is going to be printing an apology for running Trump propaganda today without identifying it as such, before having the full report, exactly like the Times printed an apology for Times' reporting on the Iraq war.
May 26, 2004 "We have found a number of instances where our coverage was not as rigorous as it should have been," NY Times.
Let's hope today's Times lack of rigor in the opinion pages and headlines this date March 25, 2019 doesn't result in thousands of our finest young men and women getting killed and maimed.
You should have seen the scars at Walter Reed ten, fifteen years ago. All of you. Jagged. Fresh. Frightening.
And I wish you could know what being a disabled vet is like.
Really. I do wish it. Even if only for a few days.
Pull all the nonsense back and get that report, do your jobs.
Get the report. Do your jobs.
Whatever you need to tell yourself
At least though, you admit no collusion occurred. A small whiff of intellectual honesty.
1
Jeez
Cohen told us Trump didn’t actually expect nor WANT to be President...
Why consciously collude if you’re just promoting your brand?
c
God this is boring, 2020 will be the deciding factor. You will have 4 more years to chase conspiracies and fake news.
Many of we on the Left smelled a rat from the outset of the Russian Collusion premise ,particularly as we know Podesta pushed it right after the election as a means to deflect from the abysmal failure of Hilary Clinton’s candidacy and her highly paid ,connected consultants.
God forbid the Democratic Leadership focus on Trump’s lifelong pattern of dubious business practices , tax evasion , charity fraud , etc. The most important thing was saving face and derailing desperately needed Party reform -especially calls coming from the Left flank . Trump wasn’t their enemy , he’s just someone whose style and crass approach offends but economically aligns with Democratic elites pretty well.
Now that the whole ruse is coming tumbling down the grand irony is that Trump is only strengthened and his “Resistance” opposition discredited and weakened -all because Party Leadership refused to reflect , reform and get off the corporate gravy train and get back to being the Party of the People .
What I find the most galling aspect of this entire spectacle is the same Party Leadership that pushed pragmatism and realistic expectations when it came to Progressive ambitions were able to leverage enormous political capital when it came to rear end covering and self interest .
When it comes to advocating for constituents , they’re hands are tied .
Funny how that works .
2
@Paul G Knox
*their hands are tied
The organization most influential in changing the election was not Russia, but the FBI and Comey. Let's make sure that the FBI never behaves so erratically again and get back to being a functional country if we can. Trump, too, will pass.
It's wonderful that Trump is not a mole.
1
I believe we have to reframe Trump's entire "presidency" as a massive SCANDAL, now that the Mueller Report seems to have put a "do not disturb" sign on "Russiagate." Trump will now rage forth unleashed.
Somehow, "scandal" has not been employed as the powerful tool it deserves to be. God knows, there are enough elements to the whole affair to fill both sides of a whiteboard, as Stephen Colbert showed last night -- crossing off Mueller was only one piece.
Trump will be with us for six years (or more!) if the American public cannot be convinced that this is THE most corruption we've seen for decades and decades, if ever. That'll take a masterful effort, and the Democrats don't have it. Someone HAS to.
1
Trump and his team know he hasn't been vindicated. He just managed to escape prosecution.
2
Yep, Taibbi is absolutely right. We all understand that the media doesn't like Trump. But the blatant partisanship in the reporting, and the readiness to exploit the worst abuses of prosecutorial discretion-- running people to the wall for arbitrarily enforced "crimes" like "lying to a federal officer" and "obstruction of justice" -- that's really ugly stuff. It was a disgraceful performance by the media and the punditry, and if they have any integrity at all, they should acknowledge the excesses they were engaged in. I'm not holding my breath, however.
1
The report indicates that there was not a single shred of evidence that Trump or his team ever colluded with the Russians. So how did Trump obstruct justice? There was no crime and no intent of a crime on the issue. Instead of backing down and acknowledging the fact that the so-called journalists spent over a year peddling lies and half-truths, we get a doubling down - well he must be guilty of something. Pretty disgraceful.
1
No, we have no idea what the report says. And we absolutely don't know that there is not "a single shred of evidence." All we know is that Robert Mueller is just as careful in his words, and obedient to the letter of the law, as many of us have always thought. And all we know is what was written in 4 pages by an Attorney General who had belittled and degraded Mr. Mueller and this process long ago. So let's hold off on our claims about the evidence until we learn what is actually there.
@Robert
You don't need to be found guilty of the underlying crime to be guilty of obstruction of justice.
Remember Helsinki!
1
MS Goldberg, you point out a politicians mastery of the system, we have a genius for a president. Too bad the Democrats can't jump on board a great period of Americas history. It should be in the constitution that politicians, should not be lawyers but tv reality stars. All the convictions, all the indictments are involved with lying to congress or a court. These great patriots only lied because they thought they had broken the law, when talking and meeting with Russians. If they only knew at the time it was perfectly legal, we wouldn't have had this ridicules witch hunt. By the way, what has witches got to do with this, doesn't it slander witches?
The real tragedy in this two year debacle is the failure of the press to live up to it's responsibilities. Reporters (including Ms Goldberg) and certain cable networks have done more damage to the country than President Trump could ever have done and still no change in course for the most guilty of its reporters. The left leaning media not only is the media of fake news, it's the dishonest, unapologetic and shameless.
2
Those who care don't support Trump. Those who support Trump don't care.
We should keep in mind that Mueller is both a Republican and a Vietnam War "hero", so morals and scruples are not exactly in his wheelhouse. Perhaps the public and media put too much trust in him.
1
Nice.... just what we should expect
Time to throw Mueller in under the bus
Let’s throw in reverse for good measure
How could anyone believe that Trump didn't collude with Russians? In fact, just yesterday he met and shook hands with Alex Ovechkin and two other Russians in the White House. For Resistance members who don't read sports pages, these are Russian hockey players who won a hockey tournament called the Stanley Cup.
And this latest Trump-Russia collusion meeting is all on film. Open and shut case. Call back Mueller! Maybe he can get it right now.
3
Great response
I feel like I'm living November 2016 again!
Politics are driven these days by hate, hate, and more hate... I’m not a Trump fan... yet I trust our legal system, fair or not, but it’s our backbone for leading a decent human life... through many, many years...let’s move forward as one nation under God,
1
"I won’t pretend that the weekend’s news was not very good for Trump and dispiriting for those of us who despise him."
Ahhh... As they say, what goes around, comes around.
The right's burning hatred for all things Obama and then Hillary Clinton has been matched, I would dare say even exceeded, by the left's loathing of Trump and all he has been in contact with. Ms Goldberg clearly is in that camp.
Our country is sinking in to a morass of bitter partisanship that, like quicksand, is becoming hard and hard for us to extract ourselves from.
Perhaps the Constitution's preamble calling for us "...to form a more perfect Union,..." is no longer possible? Perhaps we should consider dissolution of these United States?
Great opinion piece and final link, Ms Goldberg.
Devin Nunes came out of hiding and rediscovered his Fox Hotline to report blame. A culprit is needed to divert attention from the actual record on the Trump administration. The weight of its lies is bringing down the Republican sky.
"..Fusion GPS is essentially the Hillary Clinton campaign. They were hired by the Clinton campaign.."
Mr Nunes purposely implies that Hillary's campaign created the dossier on Trump. Damage inflicted, Mr Nunes admits that Fusion GPS was hired. Mr Nunes FAILED to disclose:
"In a statement, the Washington Free Beacon said it retained Fusion GPS to provide research on multiple Republican candidates in the 2016 presidential election. Two people familiar with billionaire GOP donor Paul Singer said he provides financial support to the publication."
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/national-security/conservative-website-first-paid-fusion-gps-for-trump-research/2017/10/27/ee05c1d6-bb6f-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html
Everyone understands above, except people that rely on Fox News. Also common knowledge, outside the Fox hole:
Night of 21 March 2017, Mr Nunes got a call.
"The next day, Mr. Nunes gave a hastily arranged news conference before going to brief Mr. Trump on what he had learned the night before from — as it turns out — White House officials." - NYT, 30 Mar 2017.
Mueller: “This does NOT exonerate the president”
Trump: “This is a complete exoneration!”.
Only one sentence was quoted from the Mueller report in Barr’s letter - and Trump blatantly lies about it.
Thank you liberals and main stream media for sticking your heads into the sand and wasting America’s time by not focusing on issues about which American’s care. Your continued lack of even a tiny amount of introspection gives me great confidence that Trump and Republicans will win big in 2020.
What is so surprising, Michelle? This whole country -- in fact, the entire capitalist enterprise -- is corrupt to the core. And it instills values of a runaway patriarchy which no amount of #MeToo can cure. Shaming men into behaving themselves while the entire system cries out for no-holds-barred competitive aggression (look at Boeing) will get us nowhere. The only option is to find our way to a new system. Otherwise if we're honest we'll see figures like Trump here and Bolsinaro in Brazil and endless pint-sized versions of them -- in business, on Wall Street, in the arts, in science -- no matter which way we look.
wouldn't it be ironical that Wikileaks releases the complete Mueller report?
2
For god’s sake, stop! We are 18 months from the next election. The Democrats need to put some concrete plans & accomplishments on the table if they are to take back the White House. Dragging this out is counterproductive. So you find “the blue dress”...so what?
1
Why are we assuming that we know the Mueller report? We have NOT seen or read the Mueller report? IS THAT CLEAR ENOUGH? A 4 page summary of someone's reading--is NOT the Mueller report. What we need now is to read the REAL MUELLER REPORT!. Please, address that issue and stop making comments on what Mueller said or did not say. We have not read or heard anything from the man. PAY ATTENTION TO FACTS!
There is far too much smoke for their not to have been fire. Something is very fishy here.
Late to the comment game, but allow me to vent!
While I guess it's good news that the president, apparently, didn't actively collude with a hostile foreign power, everything else about this makes me sick to my stomach. There was no collusion... except for all the stuff that's already public knowledge, and for which several people are already in or headed to prison? There's not enough evidence for an obstruction charge... except for what you can plainly observe. Trump casually admitted to obstruction on TV!
There is so obviously some kind of inappropriate relationship here. The sequence of events in 2016 are so damning - the Trump tower meeting, dealings with wikileaks, changing the Republican party platform re: Ukraine... the list goes on and on. Have I gone totally insane?
And now Trump bask in "victory," but Mitch McConnell doesn't want the report to be made public. If I were Trump, or any of his allies, and I/we just spent 2 years in the crosshairs of an "illegal witch-hunt investigation", I'd want to show people exactly how innocent I am!
And on a purely partisan level, which I know isn't healthy, this just hurts. We can cry all we want about how there's more to this story and the players in it aren't telling us everything, but the fact of the matter is that this will win back a ton of 2020 votes for Trump. I want off the ride already; I can't take another 4 years of this - and I know this pleases his base greatly. Yuck.
How are we supposed to believe a man who acts like a crook, associates with crooks, lies to the public and breaks his promises? If Trump surrounds himself with people who are more than willing to do illegal things for him how are we supposed to believe in his integrity? I can't and I won't.
Is it possible that Barr and Mueller, who are friends, have a plan and that is to keep Trump at ease and relaxed until something pounces on him.
Trump brings out the worst in people. He is an adept demagogue and totally incapable of fulfilling the responsibilities of a President. He cannot lead and he does not understand how the U.S. has come to where it has. With Trump, what you see is what there is. He has no deeper understanding as most Republicans believe. The longer he’s in office, the worse off this country will be.
Of William Barr, you write, “There is no reason for anyone to take his finding seriously.” I get your drift. Barr was hired because of his questionable views about executive privilege, which serve Trump’s purposes. Of course he would make such a finding.
But as long as Barr is Attorney General, we don’t have the option of not taking him seriously. At present, this is serious.
"Don’t let Trump pretend he has been vindicated." Amen!
Its pretty obvious that Trump sent Barr in to end the investigation and cover up the Muller Report, which is what he did. If Trump is so innocent, why is he still acting so guilty? Why the anger and attacks on the investigation for the past two years? How could all these Trump intimates like Manafort, Cohen and Stone be so corrupt and Trump not know it?
Let's assume there was no collusion, which seems incredibly far fetched based on what was reported in the media, if Trump and his clan knew the Russians were meddling in the 2016 election and chose to not report it to FBI or other authorities does that make Trump and his family and colleagues at the time culpable? The other thing is that the Democrats led by Pelosi have made it clear they will not pursue an impeachment, a very dumb move from a standpoint of justice and strategy. So why bother pursuing the full Mueller report if it's of no value in impeachment? Seems like another game by Democrats to demonstrate they are serious about determining the truth about Trump and the Russians and every other crime he has probably committed. But no impeachment. The whole charade is disgusting. Trump wins again, just like he'll win re-election against a soft, weak Democratic party in 2020. It's over no matter what the pundits say.
My question: who is taking apart Trump's relationship with Deutsche Bank? Did Mueller?
Were we expecting to find emails written by Trump? or evidence that he attended meetings with the Russian government? His flying monkeys did that. They didn't write up any agreement to find.
It now falls on the House to take delivery of the report and wade it thru the Ruspublican swamp and bring it out into the light. I never expected charges to come from this report, but now we have a coordinated listing of what went on. Now we can get with the Civil action.
If there was no conspiracy to influence the election, why did the President work so hard to obstruct and discredit the investigation? Clearly he feared exposure of his business connections with Russia. Congress must demand the Mueller report, tax returns, everything and increase the pressure on our corrupt and shameless President.
Trump is simply the clown show that serves to distract us while Republicans mangle our freedoms and give our money to the Koch brothers. In a truly rational nation someone like him would have never been elected but he was and it is time to accept that and move on.
Democrats need to ignore the grifter in the White House and his sleazy enablers and move forward while trying to make the government work for the people of the US. Just take a look at someone like Senator Sherrod Brown who is introducing and supporting laws to benefit normal Americans and not playing the silly games that define our federal government.
Goldberg grasping at straws herself with this string pushing plea that Trump is in the hands of Putin and therefore Adam Schiff, the man responsible for nurturing the Steele Dosser in Congress, needs to march onward to the drum of collusion truthers! Taibbi is right and you folks can’t handle that truth.
"The overtures we all know about — the Trump Tower meeting, Trump’s public call for Russia to obtain Hillary Clinton’s emails, which Russian hackers tried to do that very day — were not part of a crime, or at least not part of a crime that the special counsel could prove."
OMG this is so silly.
Trump's joke was about the missing emails from Clinton's private server that she operated while Secretary of State. At the time he made the joke, that server had been in the hands of the FBI for over a year and it would have been impossible to hack.
He never said anything about hacking Clinton campaign servers, which the Times article from last year references.
Trying to conflate these two is dishonest at best.
He's not only been vindicated, but he's been an extremely successful President in the midst of a bitter, fraudulent campaign to remove him from office. America is great again in spite of Democrats and the MSM.
What I find so disturbing is the Democratic Congress, and the left wing media suggested the Mueller report would be the "end all". Trump would be proven to have colluded with the Russians. Now that it is out, the rules of the game have changed. The nastiness on both sides of the aisle ( not just the Democrats) must stop, if we, as a country, are to move forward.
I am neither a Democrat, nor a Republican. (Personally, I think the time is ripe for a third party.) Have we, the American people not been through enough?
How about the media do their job, and be the Fourth Estate, oversea what Congress and the President do. Do not use bias. Rather, present, fair and balanced reporting. You know. "All the news that is fit to print".
As far as our politicians, is it not time to move on? Have you not wasted enough of our (you know, the citizens) time and money without the results you wanted or anticipated? How about doing your jobs. You know, set policy, enact laws, protect the American people, etc.
This paper, the NYT has been especially biased in both its editorial and mainstream presentations. Is it not time to apologize for such bias', and move forward with the needs of the country and its electorate?
Do you really believe the divisiveness which you sow is benefiting the country?
If the Russians interfered in the election, why are we blaming Trump instead of Brennan, Clapper and Obama? They were in charge, and they let our country down.
1
Muller chickened out and didn't implicate a very sick man with all the indictments and guilty pleas. The GOP have ruined this country permanently.
1
Don’t let Trump feel he’s been vindicated? How do we do that, Michelle??
Exactly, What's he hiding if he's so innocent
William Barr’s letter should be burned. He successfully applied for the job of Attorney General when he ostentatiously condemned the Mueller investigation.
The letter was even hollower that I had anticipated—no specifics, but a compendium of exculpatory clichés. The entire letter was pablum.
How can Trump remain untainted when so many of his lackeys have fallen?
Robert Penn Warren wrote this one already. It is called “All the King’s Men.”
Trump feels vindicated and vindictive: a combustible combination.
His radar is a meandering, flickering thing. Where it bleeps nobody knows, but it will settle on a few people to settle scores with (think Kathy Griffith).
He will taste the blood of his enemies, at least a few of them. It is not in his nature to do otherwise.
Earth to media. Trump was not exonerated or
vindicated.
his NSA, Campaign Chief, Personal Lawyer, economic
adviser, are criminals.
True to form, McConnell aims to protect Trump
if so innocent why hide the Mueller Report
He has not been vindicated. Why do reputable news outlets say he has been? Mueller presented facts. Barr (bought and paid for by dump) told us there was no criminal case. Well in late January 2021 we will likely see many criminal and civil cases against dump & co.
I'm sorry but I just can't let go of this: how can it be that Bill Clinton was impeached for lying about a consensual affair, and this guy won't be impeached for lying about… everything? I'm not weighing in on whether he colluded with Russia or not. (He himself probably didn't; crime bosses never dirty their own hands.)
I am saying he has been proven to lie about so many things, not least of which are the Moscow tower and the porn star payoff.
I get why he won't be impeached (thank you Mitch McConnell) but it sickens me and saddens me that there is simply no justice.
1
He may not be impeachable or indictable but he’s no President.
If the shoe were on the other foot Republicans would be attacking the attorney general for being a partisan hack. Democrats are too ethical or afraid to do this. Maybe they should. So let me be explicit: Barr is a partisan hack.
“They literally accused the President of the United States of being an agent for a foreign government. That's equivalent to treason. Thats punishable by death in this country." - Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier today.
Russia collaborator or domestic tyrant, does it really make a difference? This constitional republic is on its death bed when the president’s spokeperson talks like the Minister of Propaganda in North Korea. How long before threats are carried out?
Explain to me again how, “I fired the FBI director to stop the FBI inquiry into my doings with Russia, and openly said so on television,” does not really add up to “I obstructed justice.”
Trump and corruption go hand and hand. Like father, like son. Hope NY has better luck.
No collusion. No corruption. No obstruction. No win in any way for Pelosi and Schumer.
MAGA!
Start putting your energy into 2020.
More corruption more grafits more lying it’s a sad day for the rest of us and a typical day for all the corruption that happens in Washington DC
Best summary: “What actually happened with RussiaGate? A cabal of government officials colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign to interfere in the 2016 election and, failing to achieve their desired outcome, engineered a two-years-plus formal inquisition to deflect attention from their own misconduct and attempt to overthrow the election result.”
1
Dare I say, this reminds me of the OJ not guilty verdict? Yet, he didn't change his explosive temper and, in time, the law finally caught up with him. Karma. Period.
It is the manner in which the Mueller investigation has concluded that is now leading to many questions.
Mueller has not been clear in concluding his investigation. Why did he not say clearly - whether the President obstructed justice, or did not do so. Instead, he left that portion to be handled by the Attorney General.
The Democrats are now up in arms with all the questions they have on their lists. This will now consume all their time. More questions and more debates. In the meantime, there will be less time for people's concerns - healthcare, education, economy, infrastructure, climate change and other issues.
Mueller's investigation did not charge Trump with criminal conspiracy, the correct term, not collusion, for a very narrow range of behavior relating to the DNC hacking and the IRA social media attacks. None of us knew the scope of Mueller's investigation, it was kept secret. No one knew that all these other very corrupt actions: the constant lying about contacts with Russians, the Trump Tower meeting with Russians, lying about Trump Tower Moscow while still working the deal, changing the GOP party platform to benefit Russia, removing sanctions on Russia oligarchs, trying to set up a back channel with Russia during the campaign, etc. would not be part of Mueller's investigation. To say that there is no collusion is dead wrong and misrepresents the findings, that I should add, we haven't even seen yet. The GOP is too scared to reveal them! Why? We must demand they be released in their entirety with the supporting evidence. Every other Special Counsel investigation has been. Trump was not cleared of obstruction by Mueller.
I really wish people would stop saying no criminal collusion. The fact that Mueller did not recommend prosecution does not mean that he discovered no evidence of collusion, criminal or otherwise. It simply means that he could not find enough evidence to prosecute. The burden of proof has a high threshold, especially when you're talking about the POTUS and his family. And, especially when you're talking about an issue in which criminal intent is a factor.
Hence the reason we need to see the full report and Congress needs to judge whether or not impeachment should be on the table.
While disagreeing with the thinking behind Barr's exonerative statements-- they have interesting implications for those gloating over Trump's success.
Barr argues that absent a crime, (collusion in this case) obstruction does not risk to a legal level of concern. This logic applied to the impeachment process Bill Clinton underwent-- would consider it a questionably legal, purely partisan and political act by Congress.
Please stop it - focus on issues that matter to people and how the Trump Administration has hurt the Country and the Earth by it’s policies. Russiagate is the opiate of the MSM and it has now OD’d.
66
@Mike1968 Russian intereference with an American election and Republican cooperation with such interference does matter to the American people. I am stunned by those who don't care.
35
@Daniel A. Greenbaum
It isn't that Americans don't care. Russia has been trying to interfere with our elections (and others around the globe) for over 70 years. It's just more sophisticated due to the social media platform.
Until a Democrat is sitting in the Oval Office or until the Dems assume the majority in the Senate, there will be nothing put into place to disrupt that interference.
Right now, the Democratic Party needs to refine its message to gain back the voters it lost over the years. Health care, climate change, gun control. Those are the issues that will have weight in 2020, just as they did in the midterms of 2018. Not RussiaGate.
16
@Len The House also has to continue its investigations of Trump. He is totally corrupt and amoral and must be taken down.
3
As it is in most cases in life, the most obvious answer turns out to be the truth:
The Russians helped Trump, and Trump’s people discussed it and encouraged it but played no role in it. They lied because they knew any contacts with Russians would look bad. Even more so for Trump himself because his vanity wouldn’t allow the perception that he needed help to win.
That’s it. The report itself will reveal a lot suspicious threads, but it won’t amount to a hill of beans.
So now we know what Barr is really good at: burying the evidence. (yes, think Iran-Contra) It's what the Trump White House has been wanting to do all along. I don't think the members of Congress and, I hope, the press are going to stand for this. Let us all praise subpoena power and hope for sunshine to fill the Mueller report.
9
The President may or may not have obstructed an investigation into a conspiracy that did not happen.
In this Alice in Wonderland administration, that makes perfect sense.
4
Trump is a U.S. creation, a throwback to the days when men raised their sons to bully. Their chosen industry is oftentimes real estate. In real estate dealings, most often the consumer is held to all the rules of engagement while the developer or realtor is allowed ample wiggle room. It is a blind favoritism based on the faulty notion that developers and realtors are bringing in much needed tax dollars, but it's not true. Maybe for a few years, but then, inevitably, we crash, property values plummet and they get away with all the money.
The real estate industry has eroded all safe guards for the consumer. Trump's techniques come from this industry. They are sneaky and subtle- like fraud and constructive fraud. Errors and omissions crop up everywhere, getting the developer what he wants, while making it impossible for consumer retaliation- there's no obvious "smoking gun", but many, many deviations that are allowed the developer, not the consumer.
The industry that has created Trump is the industry destroying the U.S. and the judicial branch of government. None of the above could happen with enforced rules and laws. There doesn't seem to be a logical connection between the population and real estate, i.e., that the reason for real estate is due to the population.
Finally, there seems to be no logical connection between the President and the population. He has no responsibilities and we must give him what he wants and be grateful!
10
If there was no collusion, then why did Hilary Clinton lose the election? It’s amazing that after all this Democrats still have no idea why they lost. Here’s a hint: if Democratic policies were so popular, voters would have chosen to continue the Obama legacy and Clinton would
have won. She didn’t. That should tell you something.
5
fewer than 100,000 votes in 3-4 states brought us the trump disaster. He has no mandate; nor does the GOP. We are a nation of 325million people, not one of a few million trump cultists. The system has failed us and trumpists have run amock with this systemic nightmare.
9
@karen
Exactly what disaster?
Hows the economy doing?
@AVR, her campaign miss estimated the need to channel energies resources to battle ground states like WI MI PA OH. Neglecting to do that out of arrogance, led to Hillary’s losing the election. No other reasons even though her supporters put the blame on Comey Russia Bernie Bros Jill Stein and everything else, the fact remains those states were assumed to be Hillary’s for taking, wrong assumption! These states were begging for attention..
1
Remember when Hillary was constantly investigated, and then exonerated by the facts? After each episode, the media would say; 'there was nothing there, but there is still a cloud over Hillary'. Why don't they say that about Trump? There is a massive cloud of him, missed only by his supporters and the lapdog media.
14
Criminal Collusion-Corruption-Vindication
Take a deep breath, select a better Democratic nominee next time. One that the entire country can accept and embrace.
Stop tearing at the fabric of the country because there was a flawed candidate that ran for President as a Democrat in 2016.
7
If you're as hungover as I am about the miscarriage of justice that occurred yesterday, no wonder. It's simply how we all felt the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday in November of 2016 ... déjà vu all over again. Why? First time, shame on them, second time, shame on you for not managing your expectations without assuming that what you choose to believe should happen actually will happen and the media you choose to follow tells you is going to happen.
The rest is just noise. Let's try to break this pesky habit before it's too late, since the third time definitely won't be a charm.
Vote.
2
So perfect.as always. Thank you Michelle.
1
It should have been apparent all along that Trump didn't collude with the Russians because he didn't need to. They, along with the Mercers, hoisted him into the Presidency without needing his assistance.
7
We have not yet received The Mueller Report. We've received a "Barr Report" that has the same off-ness of a Trump health report. We didn't contract for that and will not accept the conclusion of a hired hit man, partisan as gospel.
11
Won't a heavily redacted release of the Mueller report (Barr's & Trump's heavy thumb on scale of justice) become grounds for some honest functionary to intervene (before it's burned) and provide it to us?
1
So many of the comments here seem disconnected from reality and based on wishful, partisan thinking.
Yes, reading the full Mueller Report would be interesting, but it is likely to be released almost in full (absent legally confidential Grand Jury testimony and redactions to protect national intelligence sources—hah! Another source for conspiracy theorists) or leaked. As such, it is reasonably certain that Barr’s summary is accurate and thorough.
No, 19 prosecutors (many of them Clinton partisans) and myriad FBI agents and 2,800 subpoenas and 500 witnesses interviewed and hundreds of search warrants and surveillance orders over two years . . .
No, so many commenters here are sure Mueller is wrong and they know better.
Well, here it is, from the Barr letter: the special counsel's investigation "did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election."
It’s time to move on. If you hate Trump, then vote, volunteer, donate, run for office yourself, whatever . . . But please try to find a grounding in reality.
5
Release the testimony.
Focus: release. the. testimony
1
So we got the Readers Digest version of the Mueller Report and that person in the White House takes from it what he wants to in spite of the fact that he's really not home free. Not to forget that Barr came to his conclusion even before the report was
released.
4
If the Democratic party really wants to win the next election, they need to forget this obsession with Russia, etc. Its over. Explain to Americans why the next four years with a Democratic POTUS will be better than the last 4 years. Nobody cares about this guy's indiscretions, etc. They all knew what he was when they voted for him. This is going to be another 1972. A bad guy (Nixon) got elected when the Dems put up an unelectable guy (McGovern).
3
We are all being victimized by someone with the biggest and the best and something only he has that no other President had:
A Personality Disorder like we’ve never seen.
Think about this: People with personality disorders split others and sow discord. They create instability. They crave attention. They must come out on top regardless of the carnage it takes to get there.
Read the comments. We’re victims folks but we have to continue to hold Mr Personality Disorder to account while this nightmare continues.
5
Somewhere lost in all the reaction to the release of the Mueller report is the extraordinary pattern of lies and denials that Trump issued regarding Russian interference in the election. These are outlined nice here:
https://www.factcheck.org/2018/02/words-trump-russian-meddling/
It includes lies disputing intelligence assessments about hacking the DNC servers to lies disputing the intelligence assessments about Russian interference as a whole. It was Trump's astounding lies about these events, not his political enemies, that triggered this investigation. While Obama was retaliating against Russia by expelling diplomats over Russian interference in the election, Trump was disputing that it ever took place.
These lies are still lies and the conclusion that nothing illegal took place should be heartwarming to no one.
My interpretation of the Mueller summary: Trump is too incompetent and chaotic to coordinate with anybody about anything, even if he consistently welcomed Russian interference. Trump's post election messages on Russia were really about how easily manipulated he is, as we also learned from the N. Koreans.
Trump also famously lied about the June 2016 meeting at Trump tower with the Russian lawyer. For what purpose? Sadly, if Trump had said these things to a Federal prosecutor, it would be a crime. Instead he lied to the press and the public, which is legal, but hardly proof of integrity.
"Mere" dishonesty is not reassuring in a President.
2
Trump opponents were eager for the investigation to destroy Trump. Now that it has essentially vindicated him, they are eager to discredit it. Can't have it both ways.
7
Ms. Goldberg- Please, give it a rest. Please.
At this point anything resembling not accepting the Mueller report will only make the Democrats look bad.
4
@Tom, she is not asking not to accept the mueller/Barr report. She is saying there’s plenty else.
2
Republicans are acting as the fact of an investigation is itself proof of the crime being investigated. Indeed, they pretended to be patriots when they investigated Hillary Clinton over and over. But the investigations produced no indictments, and they were furious. Now comes an investigation of Trump, and Republican logic has reversed. The investigation was proof of nothing, and the investigators were the criminals.
Republicans' heads I win/tails you lose approach to politics is a disservice to the country. As is apparent from the two years in which they controlled Congress and the White House, they are incapable of public service, only public spats. Time for a change, with punishment at the polls in 2020.
3
If the Mueller investigation does nothing more than prevent Trump from fully accomplishing his "agenda," the I say, thank god for Mueller.
If Trump's "code" is discernible only among thugs like Putin and fixers like Cohen, do we expect these readings to ever be revealed by charges of an organized conspiracy?
These "codes" among authoritarians need to be deciphered.
Until then we can only exercise our instincts.
And defend the media and their dogged investigators. These words -- "the enemy of the people" -- alone, are impeachable.
3
Trump and his amplifiers seem to be saying that a non-guilty verdict, or a decision not to prosecute, means that the case should never have been investigated in the first place. They’re pretending to have zero understanding of how criminal investigations and law enforcement work, and are selectively ignoring a mountian of highly relevant facts.
Given Russia's attempt to undermine the election and the sheer number of suspicious interactions between trump team members and Russian govt.-affiliated contacts (and the ies about these), the FBI would have been negligent had it *not* investigated.
We need to see much more of the report to
—learn more about the interactions between trump campaign officials and russians, like Maria Butina (trump tower meeting) and Konstantin Kilimnik (to whom manafort passed election polling data)
— understand *why* the many publicly known contacts and communications fell short, legally, of conspiracy
(note that Barr’s summary of Mueller’s report refers to coordination with “the Russian Govertment”; that leaves open a whole range of contacts with russians, expat russians, oligarchs whose connections to putin or the kremlin might be indeterminate beyond a reasonable doubt...
2
Trump just yesterday said that many people had engaged in terrible actions that he deems treasonous, the implication being that any person stating their beliefs in Trump wrongdoing is a traitor. Trump’s nature is to take all disagreement as criticism and all criticism as personal attacks and all personal attacks to be justification for his verbal nuclear bomb attacks against those whom he perceives as his attackers. I expect Trump to go after all persons on his enemies list partly as vendetta and partly as election campaigning. No prosecutions will result of course; but much like Joseph McCarthy found communists under every leaf, Trump will find his enemies everywhere and seek to expose them and urge their prosecution nevertheless.
2
We don't need Mueller's report to know that Trump said and did many things that would have been the ruin of other politicians, but up to now this Teflon Don seems immune. Too early to know if that will continue to be true in 2020. Who is the Democrat who can persuade voters in a few swing states to vote differently? Klochbarer would seem to me a good choice if Biden doesn't run.
1
Take heart....all things Trump tries to accomplish eventually turn to dust....as the author says, everyone went gaga over how Trump met with Kim Jong Un...but look how that turned out? The US got bupkus, while Kim got the world stage....
Its not over yet.....he sails too close to the wind, thinks he is invulnerable. I still believe the inevitable will happen to him...
1
Trump is totally neglecting the fact that the whole Mueller report hasn't been read. "... it also does not exonerate him.” Barr writes a four page report after 48 hours that covers 2 years of an in-depth investigation and we are now supposed to believe that something wasn't covered up? Barr predetermined what he would say last year when he wrote a memo calling Mueller’s obstruction investigation “grossly irresponsible” and “fatally misconceived.”
Trump also is forgetting that the SDNY is investigating him and that nobody, including himself, can pardon him from those crimes.
Trump is blatantly crowing and plans to give one more vanity speech in Michigan.
"There are a lot of people out there that have done some very, very evil things. Very bad things. I would say treasonous things against our country," Trump said Monday. "We've gone through a period of really bad things happening. Those people will certainly be looked at."
1
Any American who needs the results of the Mueller investigation to formulate an opinion as to Trump’s integrity, intelligence, concern for the nation or overall decency has not been paying much attention to his words and deeds. If his policies on race, sex, science, religion, climate, immigration taxation, health care, Medicare and foreign relations have not convinced you that he is the worst in the nation’s history nothing he did or does will ever change your mind.
4
I know the Mueller report is very distressing for many but, unfortunately, too many will still be trying to hunt for a way to remove Pres. Trump from office. I suggest that you lick your wounds and do your best to remove him in a more legitimate manner via the 2020 elections. Good luck with that
2
Trump is by nature corrupt and crooked. That is a solid about his character. With those facts incontrovertible, you and I know he has broken the the laws of the land somewhere somehow. His paranoia about the past couple of years is revolting. He cannot run or hide from the obvious digressions he has taken as President. Congress and the US prosecutors should have no problem parsing these facts out as soon as the GOP Trump enablers release Mueller’s Intrigues.
2
This investigation was a success. Multiple criminals who worked forTrump have gotten justice, even with thurs very limited investigation. The juicy stuff is just beginning: Trump's financial dealings. Press on brave soldiers and bring us more heads!
1
What part of "no collusion" don't you understand? It's over. The collusion narrative is dead. You're blowing air into a dead fish and it ain't coming back to life. Keep going: it's amusing for the rest of us to watch.
1
A four page “summary” by a trump lackey isn’t going to convince me of anything. I demand the report be made public. Mueller I do trust.
Trump has been getting away with everything just short of shooting someone on 5th Avenue for 50 years. What makes you think anything will change now?
He just got a bigger clean bill of health than did Bill Clinton after a special investigation.
There was no Mueller Miracle. There will be no SDNY Savior. Want to be rid of Trump? Vote him out. It is your one and only chance.
1
Well, I guess Trump is now free to openly call for Russians and Wikileaks to hack his Democratic opponent’s info in the 2020 election.
And Don Jr can take as many meetings with Russians about dirt on the Democrat as he pleases, without a thought of reporting it to the FBI.
And the Trumps can build that Moscow tower.
It’s open season for one party...
2
I still am trying to understand why people support a president who denies what his/our intelligence agencies have told us and takes the word of our national adversary. Trump stood next to Putin at an international press conference in Finland and claimed that he believed Putin's denials of interference in the 2016 election because Putin was "extremely strong" in his denials. Trump did not defend the United States!
Trump has never been alarmed by the reports of Russia meddling in the election. He was warned during the election that they were active. Trump did not care or react like any presidential candidate should. As president he quotes Putin's world view on NATO, hatred of the media, attacking the EU, trade wars, Crimea, and lifting sanctions on Russia. If it wasn't "collusion" it's certainly a shared political agenda and world view that doesn't align with our American democracy.
13
If Mr. mueller and his team can not prove things that president Trump and his cohorts have done in plain sight, of what good or use is our judicial system?
6
The most important comment here is that we shouldn’t draw any conclusions about the Mueller report until it is released in its entirety.
Barr minimizes the contents in a self-interested effort to justify not releasing it. The Republicans wouldn’t be trying so hard if they really thought this was vindication.
9
The whole system is corrupt it’s pay to play. Let’s not forget it was unions that first pushed what became the Citizen United case that came to the mind boggling conclusion corporations were people.
2
One thing to remember, Mueller was tasked with finding certain specific crimes (and criminal activity discovered while investigating). Therefore, his conclusions must reach a very tough legal standard, if there were to be any indictments. According to AG Barr’s summation, Mueller said that he did not find sufficient evidence to indict. That does not mean that he found no evidence of such actions, just not strong enough.
The summation does explicitly indicate that Mueller does not exonerate Trump on the obstruction charge(*). We know that Mueller found that Manafort did give polling data to the Russians, but we do not know what that data was used for, nor whether Trump knew about the transfer. Even if he did, the purpose behind the transfer would have to presentable as evidence in court for Mueller to indict.
* We do know that AG Barr has written in the past that it is not possible for a president to commit obstruction of justice, so his his declaration that Trump did not obstruct justice was a given before Mueller drafted his report and gave it to the AG.
3
The weekend's news was very good for President Trump because the two top officials at the Justice Department rushed to declare that he didn't obstruct justice. They didn't have time to read the report carefully, so whatever their decision was based on, it must have been things that they already had decided. Mr. Barr has suggested in the past that presidents can't obstruct justice, a view that essentially places presidents above the law and the constitution. Mr. Rosenstein may truly in his heart believe that the President never obstructed justice, but he also must know that he would have been fired if he hadn't said so now. Mr. Trump, in his usual dishonest fashion, can claim that he's been "totally exonerated", and it seems that the Republican Party's political establishment is salivating at the chance to follow him in that lie. That's Mr. Trump's very good news.
7
Mueller was probably never going to issue an indictment for Trump anyway. I've been of the opinion that this report was not going to be the answer for getting rid of this President. And if the House impeaches, it probably won't even get a hearing in Mitch's Senate.
Getting rid of Trump will have to come in 2020, with what little power we, the citizens, have left to us. The vote. Which will have to be overwhelming to overcome the electoral college shortcomings.
9
Sadly democrats have to count on massive turnout because sheer numbers do not being our party victory. Let's hope we don't repeat 2016 voter abdication.
Michelle,
This piece is a classic example of why the Democrat party has little or no chance replacing the Trumpster in 2020. Your focus is and has been on, ad nauseum, uncovering more reasons why we should despise (your word) him instead of focusing on a platform whose planks resonate with voters who will then defeat him at the polls. Stirring up hate is a losing strategy. Many of my friends are not fans of Trump the man, but appreciate that he brought issues to the forefront that we, as a country had neglected to address for many years. They've held their noses the whole time.
When Dems claim victory and political progress because thy proved Trump associated himself with Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, etc., they in fact gained nothing. Americans not focused on hate could care less.
So Michelle and Dems, how about showing some creativity and uncover real problems to which most Americans can relate and solutions that click with those Americans. Despising and hating are nothing but negative emotions.
5
Your accusations about the Trump Tower negotiations seem more factual than they are. You accuse Trump of negotiating, and later The Trump Organization of the same. Is it both? Is there any other way to perceive the assumptions you make? When did the Amazon negotions with New York end? Jeff Bezos, I’m sure would have a different answer than than Cuomo. A Russian oligarch proposes giving a penthouse to Putin happened. Was that the continuing of the negotiations, or a desperate move to keep the deal alive? Cuomo has made efforts to keep Amazon interested, but in the eyes of Amazon, the negotions are over. Is Bezos still involved? Maybe, or maybe not.
The absence of conspiracy indictments makes perfect sense when you consider all the people in his campaign were too busy trying to get rich or richer by association with a professional con man to bother helping Russians hack computers and spread propaganda on social media. I dare say they all cared more about growing their own bank accounts than getting Donald Trump elected, with or without Russian help. Even Jeff Sessions expected a raise and a bigger office if by some miracle Trump got elected. And why would Trump himself need any help telling lies and sowing discord when he does it naturally?
5
The republicans are gearing up for a propaganda campaign, trying to relive the heady revenge election of 2016. How fitting. They squandered two years with a Congressional majority and republican president and weren't able to completely dismantle policies that benefit regular people.
Trump knows all about plausible deniability, and he has clearly shown his willingness to cut loose any foot soldiers that jeopardize his own skin.
Barr's interpretation of the Mueller Report doesn't negate that Trump is still an historically lazy president and amoral human being, governing only to his base, and more interested in revenge than performing any of the often mundane duties expected of a head of state.
It's too bad we can't trade him to New Zealand for a Prime Minister, but I'm afraid the best we could do is release him and let Putin pick him up on waivers.
God help the country through the next wave of sleazy propaganda as republicans (and Fox News) launch a PR attack to cover up the fact that their vault of ideas that might pass for thoughtful public policy has been overrun by snakes and scorpions.
8
Kinda interesting that Mueller did not conduct under-oath interviews with Don Jr. and Jared Kushner about their Trump Tower meetings with the Russians.
[Remember when tRump’s spin teams said the meetings were about adoptions.]
That IS very interesting. One might even say weird. Or questionable.
I just hope that state prosecutors will pursue a lot of the misdeeds!
Bannon wasn’t interviewed either. Nor Trump!
7
@J L S
Nobody had to testify. They could all plead the 5th. Why wouldn’t they? All of the witnesses in the HRC investigations were given immunity, and then couldn’t recall or remember the answers to hundreds of questions. Clinton wasn’t questioned under oath, without a recording or transcript to document her testimony. Flynn was questioned by the FBI, and was perceived to be truthful by a partisan agent. Mueller, and his team decided he lied later, and indicted him. No immunity, and adding a D.C. grand jury left witnesses with the option of huge legal fees to testify, or the cheapest out, pleading the 5th. Immunity would have compelled testifying, but prosecutors wanted scalps, not answers.
As an ex-internal auditor, I must say he looks guilty to me.
8
Michelle, you might consider apologizing to Trump and even more, to the nation.
The way you Democrats have gone after Trump not only is not fair, but it has prevented the nation from addressing its problems.
For instance, Trump expressed approval of single payer health care long before AOC did. But you Democrats never took him up on it because "it might make Trump look good."
Your strategy has been to prevent anything good happening during Trump's first term for fear that there might be a second.
And that is four years wasted.
@Ludweig In the meantime Trump has rolled back environmental regulations as the country burns and floods all while denying that the world will be unlivable for our children, particularly if he is reelected. He has given a tax break to the wealthiest among us and is supporting cutbacks to Social Security and Medicare, while driving up the deficit beyond imagination, once again leaving it to our children to attempt to fix the mess. He has alienated the leaders of the western world and embraced those who wish autocratic rule, as he does. I never supported the concerted orchestrated effort of colluding with the Russians because he doesn't have the attention span and for him and the criminals around him it's always been about the money in their pockets..The libertarian philosophy of the more you have the more powerful you should be and those of us who have less can just die in the streets. His attempt to "go after problems" should have been thwarted at every turn. I only wish the Dems would have been able to thwart more of the destruction he and his minions have wrought.
3
@Ludwig
It takes a special kind of chutzpah to claim the Democrats are trying to "prevent anything good happening during Trump's first term". First of all: remember the last eight years of Republican obstruction? McConnell declared his congress's most important job was to make Obama a one term president, and they blocked him at every turn. Secondly: what problems has trump addressed? If he wanted a single payer system, why didn't he work for it? If he wanted an infrastructure plan, why hasn't he proposed one? All he has focussed on for the past two is shutting down immigration (except from Norway) and his reelection. Oh, and appointing incompetent people whose only merit is loyalty to him.
1
@Ludwig Gee Ludwig Trump's DOJ is now after the ACA, preexisting conditions, etc. You have swallowed the Fox narrative whole.
Thank you for this excellent column. Trump and his minions will try to run out the clock between now and November 2020.
It is well nigh impossible to prove a negative. Trump's assertion of total exoneration is laughably false.And once again EVERYONE who enters Trumpworld leaves covered with shame.
Empty words notwithstanding, Barr will fight forever to withhold the Mueller report from Congress and the people who pay his salary.
3
We. Have. Not. Seen. The. Mueller. Report.
We have only seen the Barr report, written by an AG who auditioned for his job by (1) saying the Mueller investigation was illegal and (2) anyway the President is above the law when it comes to obstruction of justice.
We need to see the MUELLER REPORT.
7
Michelle is right - the gang that couldn't shoot straight will surely turn this "triumph" into a bullet through the foot. The beauty of Trump is that he has no shame and his lackey's have no spines. The criminal activity will accelerate - they may only have 22 months of pillage left.
Cy Vance has a treasure trove of evidence to begin prosecuting.
The Trump Criminal Organization will fall - we just have to hope that Captain Queegue does not take that entire ship of state down with him.
2
Barr was clearly hired to run interference for Trump just like everyone else he hires.... I don't the Mueller report will ever see the light of day. Worse Trump will run on a vendetta against all those who supported the investigation. His enemies list will be like Nixon's only on steroids.
4
Why does almost everyone ignore the undeniable fact that THE SDNY FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT ACCEPTED A GUILTY PLEA TO TWO FELONY VIOLATIONS OF FEDERAL ELECTION LAWS, STATING THAT DONALD J. TRUMP DIRECTED THE DEFENDANT MICHAEL COHEN TO COMMIT THOSE VIOLATIONS FOR THE PURPOSE OF ASSISTING CANDIDATE TRUMP'S ELECTION TO THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT? How is that not, by itself, ample grounds for impeachment of a President who deliberately conspired to gain his own election by paying over $300,000 in hush money to keep US voters from knowing about his extramarital affairs -- and from knowing that he was lying to those voters when he denied even knowing the women in question? If it is "not worth" impeaching a President who committed two felonies for the purpose of aiding his own election, then when would it be "worth it" to impeach a President? And for those who have been saying "but impeachment would anger Trump supporters and further divide our nation," doesn't the immediate response of Trump and his supporters to the Mueller Report make clear that the failure of the House to bring impeachment proceedings will only embolden Trump and his supporters to further attack and trash our federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies? If the House does not pursue legitimate proceedings to investigate and impeach a plainly criminal President, things are going to get worse and not better, between now and the 2020 elections.
2
The very fact that Trump "chose" Barr because of his views in regard to presidential powers, have him installed just in the nick of time for him to receive the Mueller report, is in itself the very definition of "obstruction."
For Barr to decide otherwise is truly a travesty.
4
@svenbi
Right on!
Correct me if I'm wrong. Trump Republicans' devastating, effective political strategy is to keep REPUBLICAN Robert S. Mueller III's meticulously researched investigation and report hidden in the dark from the American people.
3
Thank you Muchelle for another worthy article!
I must confess I was feeling completely deflated all weekend but, as I had time to think it over, I think we the American peple won.
Thanks to the great work from Mr Mueller, we got many Russians indicted. It was our first shot to the Russians to let them know that we know what they are doing.
We also unconver unethical and even illegal behaviour around Trump’s innercircle. They should know now that we are watching. We also have proof of the incompetency of the current administration.
And in the words of Cohen, we have proof that Trump (best known in the Justice System as Individual 1 ) is a cheat, a con and a racist.
It is up to us, the American people, to say enough is enough and to vote him out of office. Do not discourage, vote !
2
Fact: Russia interfered with our election on Donald Trump's behalf.
Fact: Donald Trump knew this.
Fact: His son, son-in-law, campaign chairman, and a handful of other senior campaign officials knew this.
Fact: All of the above-mentioned persons demonstrably lied, either under oath or through national media, that they didn't know this.
Fact: Donald Trump has taken no action against Russia, or pro-active steps to keep the interference from happening again.
Fact: Donald Trump has on at least two occasions met privately with Vladimir Putin and refused to share the nature of his discussions with his own intelligence officials. He confiscated his translator's notes.
Fact: Donald Trump has taken political positions toward NATO, the EU, and our allies around the world that are aligned with Putin's agenda and counter to a half-century's worth of established U.S. international policy.
No collusion? How about treason?
9
@jg
Yes!
Special council, Mr. Mueller, did not exonerate Trump, I don’t understand what all the celebrations are for? We need to see the full report, which I’m sure we won’t. Besides,how could all of his cohorts be in prison for all the crimes they committed for trump, without him knowing anything about them?
2
Trump may have received a passing grade on Collusion, but he is still failing miserably on the other C's: Corruption, Competence and Civility. We need to focus on fixing that at the ballot box in 2020.
4
24Johnson
16 seconds ago
Edit
McConnell and his fellow Senate enablers are supporting The Con Man in Chief and his boss Putin. McConnell blocked vote The right-wing propaganda machine is already spinning out of control. Here are the facts: Mueller did NOT exonerate Trump. In fact his report specifically said it did NOT exonerate the president, according to the summary. Attorney General Barr, who Trump picked explicitly because he said the president can never obstruct justice, rushed to say — surprise! — no obstruction. Barr’s summary is grossly inadequate. We need to see the whole report. Congress and the public must see the Mueller report NOW. The American people deserve the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. McConnell and the Russians do not want the public release. It is hard to understand why the majority leader should stand alone in objections no one else found to be reasonable or sustainable and oppose this resolution. The report should be made public, and the Senate should resolve that it should be. I hope the voters of Kentucky understand that Mitch always puts his party ahead of Kentuckians and the country.
4
The bottom line is that the Russians meddled with our election by hacking into our society and sowing discord. The fact that they did it without collusion with Trump is secondary.
Shouldn't the main focus now be on protecting ourselves from Russian malfeasance? They have succeeded in turning us against each other. Shouldn't we be seeing each other first as human beings, even if we disagree with each other, rather than as the demons that others want us to see? The polarization that exists in the US is an existential threat.
1
After an intense two year investigation by Mueller, Trump and the Republicans are using the feeble four page summary made by Trump's stooge William Barr as an excuse to launch a media blitz claiming Trump has been completely exonerated. More Big Lies and Propaganda to feed to Trump's rabid but extremely gullible base.
Barr’s memo even says the Mueller report “does not exonerate him" in reference to Trump’s possible obstruction of justice. Trump still remains the subject of at least a dozen congressional, federal, and state investigations into his businesses, his associates, and his abuse of power in office.
Mueller's probe has to date resulted in 37 indictments or guilty pleas, including Trump’s former campaign chairman, personal lawyer, and other top campaign officials. No one other than a MAGA hatter can believe that the center of this corruption, Donald Trump, is without blame.
Democrats must not rollover for yet another classic Republican/Trumpian Whitewash. Expose Trump for the fraud and criminal he is through the serious investigations that are mandated by Mueller's findings. We the people are entitled to know the truth.
4
We have 40 years of video to tell us Trump does not speak the truth. It is not even a problem that Trump never tells the truth. The tragedy is that nobody even cares.
6
@Montreal Moe, lying has been normalized in our culture. George W Bush lied to the entire world in broad daylight to make his case against Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with 9/11. Instead the Bush family schmoozed the Saudi royalty, from whose country most of the tettorusts originated. To this day our kids have not been told the truth demonstrated by accountability so the lesson they learn is keep lying you will never get caught! Trumps own father lied about his worth to escape taxes and so trump carried on with the tradition of lying to Uncle Sam. It is the darnest irony that the sane tax dodger is now the chief executive of Uncke Sam, the same government they fleeced off!
2
Sadly, Trump's administration has normalized corruption to the point where it is now an acceptable stain on our government, acceptable at least to Republicans in Congress. If they don't pay heavily for it at the polls our country will be well on its way to becoming a banana republic.
3
Trump is guilty of money laundering for the Russian oligarchs for years, and the Russians have that on him and control him.
5
@cheerful dramatist yes, the real estate transaction in Florida where he bought a property for 45 million and then sold it to an oligarch for 92 million (and what, they split the change) has to be money laundering. The fact that all of these pieces hadn't come together before is a sign of how the dirty rich (I don't think all rich people are dirty but hey, some of them can't help it) are more than happy to do anything to increase their loot - look at Manafort. And Trump's in the same mold.
1
An innocent man would not act with such fury and concern as Mr. Trump did over the past two years. Trump's current glee and giddiness is simply because he did not get found out. It is the only explanation.
Now rooting for SDNY.
3
My only question is: if it wasn't the Trump campaign, and it wasn't the Russian Government, who was paying the Internet Research Agency, the Russian troll farm that spread pro-Trump and anti-Clinton propaganda? They certainly were not working for free. What foreign government seems to be benefiting the most from Trump's presidency, that most likely would not have found such favor under Clinton?
1
"According to Barr"
Why are we giving so much credence to a summary of the report essentially written by the administration? How much do you want to bet that Trump, Sanders, or other White House figures were involved in what the summary said? The summary has a handful of tiny, cherry-picked quotations.
The truth is that none of us actually knows what's in there. This is an administration that lies about what Trump said even in the face of directly contradictory video and audio recording. Why wouldn't they lie about the report? This is ultimately a coordinated effort to spin the contents of the report before anyone has seen it and to justify keeping it mostly secret because it's ostensibly a nothing-burger, and news outlets like the NYT are playing right into their hands.
1
Comparatively, the amount of grief that Trump has gotten is proportional to the lies he tells. Consider that Obama was Hammered for having told a whole 16 full or partial lies while in office.
It was Trump himself that hung the whole Birther thing around Obama's neck, while otherwise the Obama Presidency was one of no major traumas or dramas of presidential pique. The worst that happened with His Staff is a couple of them with tax reporting problems.
Nothing at all like Trump's parade of deplorable Cabinet Members and judges that the ABA say should not even practice law at all...into lifetime positions. And scandals, scandals, scandals. If Mr Obama were to have had even ONE sexual dalliance the whole of the Republican party would have come down on him for his 'lack of family values'.
Imagine how the Press and right wing would have reacted if it was Obama paying off Ms Stormy: they would have been orbitally ballistic in no time at all, and would have been The Worst Ever, especially as Trump would state it.
We found out the Trumpublican's Family Values when Trump spoke to the Boy Scouts. That went off really well (sarcasm font).
The only reason Trump did not collude with the Russians is because his Team tried to do so openly, which even the Russians know better than to play that way.
And beside that: "He dont need them Russians to win"...well, he did need them, as happens, but there was no coordination to it.
If Hillary had not acted so entitled, it would be different.
I am just as nauseated as the day, when against all odds Trump won as President of my country. How can this be happening, I ask again and again. The terrible news continues every day and the shock and the dizziness felt after this report does not abate. How do we trust any of our elected officials-be they Supreme justices or congress people? Now we have an AG who put in black and white how he felt about Trump and his criminal activities. And why should we be surprised when he "exonerates" him as he told us in so many words he would.
If Trump, his followers, his lawyers, propaganda machine which is part of our media believes his innocence and his exoneration then why not let the world see the Mueller Report?
And if I had to bet the pardons will now begin.
We have been duped once again.
3
The power to oust Trump and bring some decency and civility in politics and government lies in the hands of people and not Mueller, Congress or the Justice Department. GO VOTE !
2
We were expecting Mr. Mueller’s report, and so far we have only seen Mr. Barr’s ramblings and woefully incomplete representations. Since Trump and his senate collaborators planted Robert Barr at the DOJ, he carries near zero credibility, especially following the incredible stunt with Trump’s lackey Matt Whitaker. Mr. Trump’s abuse of the DOJ is the clearest example of corrupt intent by this president yet.
The Congress and the American people need to hear directly from Mr. Mueller. Furthermore, Mr. Barr should also provide a legal basis for substituting his own prosecutorial opinions over that of Mr. Mueller’s.
Until then, this will remain another instance of obstruction, fraud and corrupt intent by the fraudster-in-chief.
2
I was 200% sure that Trump was a Russian asset. He has been behaving like a guilty person. As Comey tweeted, so many questions:
If T had been truly innocent,
1). Why did he fire Comey?
2). Why did he fire Sessions saying Its AG’s job to protect him?
3). Why did he demonize/attack Mueller non stop and was obsessed with the investigation?
4). Why did he go into the meeting with Putin alone & take away the notes from the translator?
5). Why does he fawn over Putin?
6). Why were there over 100 contacts between T people and Russians?
7). Why did T dodge the interview with Mueller?
Innocent person should have had nothing to worry about the investigation.
Bill Barr’s integrity is another matter:
1). Could Barr read hundreds of Mueller report in one day?
2). How was he so sure he can deliver the summary in the same weekend?
3). No matter what the report says, didn’t Barr know what his report was going to say before reading it?
Things just don’t add up.
3
President Trump has been vindicated and will be reelected in 2020. Keep America Great--Trump Pence in 2020 and Pence in 2024.
So Goldberg finds it "dispiriting" that the President of the United States did not collude with a foreign power to affect the election. I think that tells us all we need to know.
Exactly. If there is nothing in the report implicating Trump in any manner of wrongdoing...why would it not be made public?
When Cohen under Trump's direction attempted to hide payments to women he'd had affairs with, the public was deliberately blinded to truths that would allow informed voting decisions. When Trump wrote a letter of explanation telling the public why his son and son-in-law met with the Russians to discuss 'dirt' meant to aid in his election, we were deliberately misled. Once again we're prevented from having information needed for a best possible choice. Are we your children? Must we be given permission to be a part of what affects us all? Who are you and what are you hiding? We can take it. Let us show you Mr. Barr, just how adult we can be. How dare you make the decision to withhold from we the people. Acts such of these are turning us into not 'deplorables', but 'despondents'.
2
Kudos to Vladimir in running a KGB asset the way it should be done.
1
At the very least (a considerable "least"), the Mueller investigation exposed the extensive mendacity and lawbreaking in the Trump campaign, committed with the intent of helping him win the election. Even the most ardent Trump fan should realize that such acts were almost certainly done with the boss's knowledge and tacit, if not explicit, encouragement. By making "crooked Hillary" his rallying cry, Trump clearly sought to steer attention away from his own crookedness. And as he himself admitted, his firing of Comey was an effort to stymie (obstruct?) the investigation. His cries of "witch hunt" were clearly an effort to de-legitimize Mueller. Just as clearly, he had - and still has - something to hide. It must not be forgotten that all this remains as plain as day to anyone with half a brain, regardless of the report's legalistic conclusions.
I was definitely hoping for a different conclusion, but if you think about it, would you collude with such an incompetent, indiscreet person as trump? He'd spill the whole story in a tweet at 3am.
Hopefully the election in 2020 will focus on issues and character, rather than hatred of people who are different from you, and divisiveness. Democrats will win in a landslide.
The Democrats will really need to up their game now. The investigations by NY State Attorney General and other must continue. Those Americans, in both parties as well as independents, who recognize his to-the-core corruption must not become discouraged and must retrench with renewed determination. We must infiltrate the airwaves of Fox News, try to persuade those who are repulsed by him to reject him and the current GOP corruption, and beat the mad king-baby and his GOP goons in every local, county, state and national election. We are now fighting for the soul of true democracy.
My biggest fear, however, is that willful ignorance is our biggest enemy. When 50% of Americans in a poll last week said they thought the Mueller investigation was a witch hunt, and 19% (the largest amount) of viewers get their news primarily from Fox News, it shows a dumbing down of this nation that is the reason we are in this mess. Not something that will be quickly overcome, but it nonetheless must be, because the alternative is to ultimately fall into fascism.
1
The more time goes by, after Barr’s utterly corrupt attempt to whitewash Trump, the better I feel about the press. With the exception of David Brooks and (of course!) Fox “News,” and the likes of Lindsay Graham, I see little evidence that the media is playing the role of a stooge. Barr’s attempted end run is proving to be an utter bust and has utterly destroyed his reputation. The saga of this corrupt president is far from over.
2
Let’s review:
Just weeks before the 2016 election a Republican FBI director revealed a ‘renewed investigation’ - against department policy, mind you - that could have swung the voting against the Democrat and in favor of the Republican.
The newly elected Republican president proceeds quickly to build the most corrupt administration in American history; meanwhile scooping up double armloads of perks, favors and other goodies for himself and his three children and their families, all on the taxpayers’ tab. And shouting ‘Witch Hunt’ if anyone makes a peep about it.
So the investigation into the Republican’s misdeeds, run by a Republican former FBI director makes no conclusion after two years (and still no tax returns) and next day the Republican Attorney General with a reputation for believing the whole thing was unnecessary and who was installed just last month decides the report does not merit a prosecution on obstruction of justice.
And now the Republicans are shouting ‘Complete Vindication’.
A smart fifth-grader can see a pattern here; why should a conscious adult be surprised at anything the Republicans do to cover for their man? Trying to honestly reason together with them is like the old line about trying to teach a pig to sing, except in this case the pig is laughing at you.
Follow The Money. The louder they scream, the closer you are to the truth!
2
Ms.Goldberg is right on point. The coward-in-chief never faced an interview under oath. He submitted written answers with the aid of his own attorneys. And now, the gop wants to bury or destroy the report. Sounds like the actions of innocent people to me.
The House Dems need to get the report released and insist the AG and the Assistant A.G. recuse themselves. Truely innocent people would not worry about the report being released.
1
Though I'd love to agree, unfortunately our Founding Father's failed to see some glaring holes in our democracy. Our system allows a sitting presidentially appointed Attorney General pick and choose what he wishes to provide to congress about his benefactor. So long as this blatantly wacky set of protocols remains in place...Trump can rightly claim victory - and he should. It's our once vaunted democracy that lost...again.
If Russia had never interfered, and Trump were elected, it would not change the quality of his character or ethics.
Trump is morally repugnant in every manner of speaking. Then again, Hillary Clinton showed little better character than Trump regarding how she torpedoed Sanders and other candidates.
Unfortunately for America, one of them had to be elected. This is the actual Constitutional crisis. Our Constitution calls for a representative of the people. Trump and Clinton are representations of the worst that America had to offer.
Mueller can't let Barr's version stand. The Democrats will be unsuccessful in trying to get their hands on the report, at least in a time frame that matters. Time to pull a Pentagon Papers and "leak" it to media outlets willing to publish it.
Goldberg writes: "I won’t pretend that the weekend’s news was not very good for Trump and dispiriting for those of us who despise him."
Of course Trump is a bad president and a bad person. But what a bizarre thing to say, as if it never mattered whether the accusations were true as long as they brought him down. If the report is accurate, the only thing that's legitimately dispiriting is how much hope we put in it. It's also dispiriting how little the truth matters on both sides of the political divide.
67
@Alexander Menzies The reason it's dispiriting is that there is so much circumstantial evidence that Trump and his family knew very well what was going on, and actively sought to collude. Roger Stone was one of Trump's closest associates, going back many years, and he is on trial as we speak. The finding of "innocent" doesn't necessarily mean what we think of as innocent. It simply means that there wasn't enough provable evidence to indict.
It isn't that we on the anti-Trump side don't care about the truth. It is that it is obvious to me anyway that there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. As well as the fact that most of us know that Trump will use this report as a weapon and falsely claim that it exonerates him. And he will be believed by his base.
So there's that.
56
@Charles E exactly. And the fact that justice department policy wont allow indictment of sitting president (makes him above the law-so wrong) means he couldn't be indicted. And now we have barr and republicans tying to bury report. Its all sickening and extremely dispiriting.
37
@Alexander Menzies
Nah. It was an honest thing to say. We know the accusations were true. It's already public. Apparently Mueller can't prove it.
18
I’ve been telling friends from the moment Barr was mentioned for AG that he was there to bury the Mueller report as much as humanly and legally possible to protect the a Party. Just like Iran-Contra.. so far, Barr is doing just that.
Colluding with the Russia government is different (in name only) than colluding the oligarchs. It seems the media and general populace have forgotten already. Barr is playing a nuanced game.
The calls for going after Clinton, again, is just another excuse to holler “squirrel” and have the base and more forget about the deplorable things folks did on behalf of Trump. Mob bosses don’t do the dirty work, others do it for them.
It also seems that Mueller never tried to cross the third rail of going after Trump children. I’m certain Barr won’t.
243
It’s enough. Those who oppose the president need to deal with facts, not inferences, no matter how obvious they may be. Fact: Trump is the president and as such he runs the Justice Department. There’s no realistic chance a federal agency is going to do anything to assist in his removal from office. Fact: Trump is running for re-election. There’s no chance the election will be decided by a national vote. Thus, to defeat him requires winning the electoral vote. Fact: a significant portion of the electorate thinks it’s irrelevant that Trump is in bed with the Russians and is sympathetic to other autocratic regimes. Belaboring this without explaining how this hurts us is a waste of time. It is not obvious. Stop condescending to those who don’t see it that way. Fact: Trump is going to paint the Democratic Party with a giant brush of socialism, anti-semitism, anti-Americanism for promoting open borders, and alarmism for the temerity of believing climate change science. Painting him as a Russian stooge will do nothing to counter that. Fact: this is a fight for the very soul of the country. Roughly 40% of eligible voters don’t bother to vote. What is the plan for getting those voters out? None is apparent thus far. Their indifference should be viewed as acquiescence. What makes anyone think chasing the Russian story will change that? Fact: there’s no Democratic strategy for addressing real issues other than investigating Trump to tear him down. That’s 2016 all over. America loses.
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@MOG
This is the smartest summation I have read, from both readers and media commenters, of the actual nuts and bolts of the Trump problem as it stands. Bravo! I hope that our fellow Democrats across the country and in Washington are paying attention as the 2020 campaign ramps up. If not, this very disturbed man and dangerous president will reign with even more pretense until 2024, wreaking further damage to our beloved country.
35
@MOG
Well said. The Democrats are fractured at this juncture and seem unable to coalesce. Trump is already running for reelection while the party of the opposition stews. It will not bode well for this country.
17
@MOG
You make very sound points here
8
None of us actually believed for a second that Trump and Co. had the brains and intellectual sophistication to orchestrate an international treasonous conspiracy with the Russian secret services. But we all now know that Putin interfered with our election with the prime intent of damaging HRC.
The real questions that Mueller's report should answer are whether Trump's campaign was aware of the Russian efforts, whether Trump obstructed justice and/or impeded the investigation, and - ultimately - why would he go out of his way to help and defend the interests of Russia in Ukraine, Crimea and - by attacking NATO - in the Baltic republics.
All these questions are still unanswered, and Trump would be wise not to gloat and to keep his mouth shut, lest somebody come forward and answer them once and for all.
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@Lawrence Mc Cormick What you've provided here is concise, well-informed, reasoned political commentary. This is better than anything I've seen or heard from my various news outlets. You should be employed by a national outlet so that we can have this type of rational commentary for those of us who refuse to engage with the CNN/MSNBCs, or as I like to call them: the corporate Democratic response to Fox News.
9
@Lawrence Mc Cormick
Actually, Trump has supplied weapons to the Ukraine, which Putin does not want, and he opposes the Russian-German pipeline, which Putin does not want, and he ended the treaty with Iran, which Putin does not want, and he is trying to topple Maduro, which Putin does not want.
He has also said nice things about Putin and might be damaging NATO, which Putin does want, but the fact is that the Putin-Trump conspiracy theorists are cherrypicking the data, as conspiracy theorists usually do. If people looked at all the data, they'd see how one sided this idiocy has been. Taibbi is right.
Now if people want to look for collusion, Trump colludes with the Saudis as they wage a genocidal war in Yemen, but most of our wonderful liberal class is too lost in their spy novel fantasies to care about something so trivial as genocide. Goldberg here has never written on Yemen to my knowledge. Kristof did once or twice. Ho hum.
@Lawrence Mc Cormick
Actually, Trump has supplied weapons to the Ukraine, which Putin does not want, and he opposes the Russian-German pipeline, a pipeline Putin wants, and he ended the treaty with Iran, a treaty Putin supports, and he is trying to topple Maduro, which Putin does not want.
He has also said nice things about Putin and might be damaging NATO, which Putin does want, but the fact is that the Putin-Trump conspiracy theorists are cherrypicking the data, as conspiracy theorists usually do. If people looked at all the data, they'd see how one sided this idiocy has been. Taibbi is right.
Now if people want to look for collusion, Trump colludes with the Saudis as they wage a genocidal war in Yemen, but most of our wonderful liberal class is too lost in their spy novel fantasies to care about something so trivial as genocide. Goldberg here has never written on Yemen to my knowledge. Kristof did once or twice. Ho hum.
I never really believed that Trump would be found guilty of election conspiracy (a.k.a. “collusion”). Too complex a scheme, and unequivocal evidence directly against Trump too unlikely to be discovered. I believe it is far more likely and provable that Trump has engaged in extensive money laundering for Russian entities. Straightforward thuggery and short-term greed; nothing so subtle and unsure as election meddling.
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I'm not a Trump supporter, didn't vote for him, despise everything he stands for, and hope that he's not re-elected in 2020 (though I believe he will be re-elected). But I'm still glad that Mueller found no criminal collusion with Russia. Many of our politicians are corrupt, seeking to line their own pockets, to grab power, and put themselves and their party first, the country and the people last. I've wondered what would have happened if Mueller had found strong evidence of criminal collusion. The country is fractured now, and I fear criminal collusion would have split the country in two, with those who support Trump no matter what he does at war with those who want him held accountable. How does the country heal from such a thing? Can trust ever be restored? And how do we prevent such a thing from happening again? I also feared that Congress wouldn't have the guts to impeach him if there was criminal collusion, and would turn this option into a political weapon, with the GOP and Trump's base crying foul and threatening those who want to use it, and then using it against a democratic president, if one should be elected, as revenge.
I still think there's something Trump's lackeys were hiding--otherwise why the obstruction, why the lying by Trump, Manafort, Flynn, Cohen, etc.? Everyone knows Trump is corrupt, rotten to the core, and he revels in it. Will Congress be able to do anything about the corruption, or is it a case of "pot, meet kettle"?
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@marybeth Great points. In terms of all the lying, which I think you're right to claim that they raise red flags, I don't think we can read much into Trump's lies. He seems constitutionally incapable of honesty. I DO think we should see the web of lies told by those surrounding Trump as evidence that something big and damaging is being covered up.
Part of me wishes that Mueller had been given a broader scope - I think the money laundering angle needs to be examined closely by someone with his level of experience and integrity. I do not trust the Justice Department, run by Barr, a man appointed with the specific task of minimizing and downplaying any of Mueller's findings for the Administration.
The other part of me says Democrats should continue investigations in the House with a specific focus of uncovering details that can be used against the president in the 2020 race. He needs to be stopped, and the ballot box seems to be the best place to do it at this point.
16
@marybeth
A resounding "amen" to your post.
3
Judgment on Trump is now firmly where it should be -- With Voters in the 2020 election.
2
I feel really bad
because it seems that yet again the decent smart people who believe in democracy have been out flanked. I felt this way after Iran Contra, the Florida election decided by the Supreme court, Trump's election, and now this. Barr can block the release of the report because of all the small and large ways that republicans have looked the other way for years and years that resulted in Barr being confirmed. Barr will make the report dissolve into ashes because he can, and because he is the next result of a large minority of Americans who want these outcomes.
Maybe Watergate that was the fluke, not the real emblem of American values. Not the self-correcting image of America some us believed in.
Possibly younger people who did not live through these political disappointments will be free of the bad feelings-- they have a worse set of really horrible realities to face, of climate change and gun violence, degrading of health care and social injustice, and personal debt and world accords weakening. Maybe they will be able to feel real optimism, but I'm not sure anymore for myself.
Here are the facts: 1) Robert Mueller is smiling. What does that mean? Maybe simply that Mueller did his job and feels no dissonance about what comes next.
2) The Grifter in Chief is now stronger than ever.
I believed as Barbra Jordan believed. Now I'm not sure everything will eventually be alright.
9
I am not a lawyer, and I learned long ago that what seems obvious to me may be obviously wrong from a legal perspective.
I see massive evidence collusion between the Trump campaign and Russians. However, it's possible that it fails on some technicality to qualify as a crime.
12
What we’ve apparently learned is that just actively encouraging Russian interference in our elections (while pursuing future pecuniary gain from Russian projects) does not rise to the legal definition of conspiracy. More active involvement is required to meet the standard. But,this is just corruption by another name.
On obstruction... so much of this played out in plain sight that it is difficult to imagine any analysis that could rationally argue that Trump’s actions were not intended to prevent the investigation from moving forward to its endpoint.
It’s my belief that what saved Trump on the obstruction charge is DOJ policy preventing the issuance of a subpoena or indictment against a sitting president. As has been noted elsewhere, this may be DOJ “custom” but it’s not a constitutionally mandated practice. I believe that this is procedural “box” that caused Mueller to refrain from making a finding on obstruction.
It’s not surprising that Bill Barr then settled the issue by saying “no obstruction.” Barr is, after all, an adherent to the idea that presidential power should be virtually unconstrained. He wrote about this notion extensively, right up to last summer when (as a private citizen) he filed a brief to that effect with the DOJ. So, it’s not at all surprising that when Trump went shopping for a new DOJ chief, that Barr was selected.
Since the pivotal issue here is DOJ policy related (and not constitutional), the report should be released.
17
I’d like to hear from Mueller (not to mention the release of the full report); what was the thinking in reaching the conclusions, and does he agree with Barr’s odd summary?
12
Wouldn't it be more honest simply to apologize and get back to arguing about policy issues? Or is honesty still not an option?
6
@Charles Everything written here is totally factual and based on information in the public record. Are you seriously suggesting anyone owes an apology to a POTUS who lied to the public about pursuing a business deal in Moscow that would require Putin's acquiescence during his Presidential campaign? Or do we owe Trump and Co an apology for being outraged by the stream of other lies? The Trump campaign may not have been part of a conspiracy with Russia to carry out the 2016 Russian disinformation campaign and hacking. But the campaign had an unprecedented number of contacts with Russian officials and Russian agents and lied about those contacts. Trump's national security advisor lied about having a conversation with Russian officials about lifting sanctions against Russia that had been imposed by the Obama administration because of the election interference. Tell me what else we need to apologize to Trump for.
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@Charles. Apologize for what? Honesty went out the window with Trump. Trump has been very successful at turning lies into truth and truth into lies. And why on earth should anyone apologize for investigating what was very suspicious behavior of meetings with one campaign with a country that was hacking into US emails to interfere with our election? Do you seriously believe that, had that been the Clinton campaign, you'd be demanding an apology? Speaking of which, where's the apology to Clinton for both Benghazi and the email nonsense? the arrogance of the right wing and Trump faction in this country is breathtaking, as is the mentality of making Trump a king who should never, ever be questioned.
Sorry but for the popular minority of Americans who voted for (and need to believe in) Trump he’s been vindicated. For the popular majority he’s slimed his way through yet another bankruptcy/divorce/shell-game and that majority waits impatiently for his next brush with the law.
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@Lewis Sternberg really? after two two straight years of false accusations...you double down? This is the problem with today's left. arrogance and party override facts and ethics.
The Democrats won the House because they focused on issues, not Trump. They need to stop focusing on Trump and tell me (and the American people) what their plans are for this country if they get control of Congress and/or the Presidency.
No matter what turns up on Trump's tax returns, answers to interrogatories, etc., his base will remain intact and many other voters will get tired of what's beginning to look like a one-trick pony: Get Trump! Democrats need to talk about policies, not personalities. We know enough about Trump's ethics to put him on the lowest rung of humanity. Let's hear what Democrats want to do to change the landscape, policy-wise!
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@Sledge
Their only focus since losing the presidency in 2016 has been the witch hunt.
No Criminal Collusion without the full report no criminal collusion cannot be concluded.
10
If Democrats think that justice won't be served until Trump is in jail, then you might as well hand Trump his second term right now. Most of the country has had enough. If Mueller's two year investigation doesn't satisfy because the conclusion was not the outcome they wanted, and Congress continues to pursue him, then this will be a witch hunt. It's time to MoveOn, to use a liberal organization name, even if it means MSNBC and CNN will have to come up with alternative programming.
9
@Pragmatist In CT Without the full report, no criminal collusion cannot be proved..
13
@Pragmatist In CTlets see what else comes of all the investigations no written or face to face answers to what is behind trump and Russia. (Given to Congress as of this date. )Money laundering surely will be explained with completely seeing financial statements.
5
@Carlos A. Martinez
Donald Trump has not been charged with any crime. Nor has any crime been declared. So, why should President Trump submit to any part of this fishing trip? We all know its only purpose will be to attack the President. I say, tell'em to go pound sand. Game over.
On a (a)side note: The president's response to this investigation could have been predicted (word for word), regardless of outcome, findings, conclusions (?), etc, two years ago.
10
Despite his self serving interpretation that Mueller's report is "totally exonerating," he's regained the microphone. Our only choices are to move forward to address practical economic and social issues and disregard the static of Trump's blindly loyal base.
There can be no reasoning or negotiation with Trump going forward. Thus our only recourse is described in Federalist 10:
"If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote."
23
@SMKNC
Unless, of course, said minority faction resides in the 2/3 of the states that are home to only 1/3 of the population of the United States. Then that faction gets to hold hostage the majority and leads ad absurdum the republican principle.
Something the founding fathers must have missed, and which surely brings a smile to Mitch McConnells face every night as he goes to sleep.
15
The electoral college is proportional & states are changing the distribution of their votes. Some(I believe 13) are actually saying that no matter who their own voters select as the winner, their electors will vote with the national winner...count on revolt when that happens!
Is it possible that the founding fathers understood that the needs of rural & urban America were different & that both needed to be represented? Presidents who represented bi-coastal interests(wealth) are the reason we are currently in this mess!
Time to put this behind us and move on. Nothing will be gained by continuing to make what may have been done or not done our main course of business will need to nothing but further increasing the numbers that support Trump. That may very well lead to his reelection. Congress, particularly the House, needs to address the problems facing the country including immigration and healthcare. Their responsibility is to pass laws and take care of the business of the Country which they have not done for over 30 years. If the Democrats, with the party fractionalized as it is, keeps on harping Trump, they will live to regret it!
3
@clayton- unfortunately, there is a lot to "harp" on right now. If anyone know how the "harp" it's the Republicans who beat the band with Bengazi until we all went nuts. How about the truth, or is that a lost cause with us now as we
are forced to live with the constant, daily lies this President twitters, tweets and tortures us with. The Democrats can
work on important issues to this country , ie. immigration,
healthcare, infrastructure, et al, and still investigate the investigations we've endured for the past two years. We have an election due in 2020,, and we know the Russians were instrumental in the last one - how about protecting the next one so it's fair and untainted - that's a job for the congress that's sorely needed. Trump will never admit that the Russians helped put him in office. We have a lot of work to do and the Republicans are just not there.
1
Why are the Democrats always so far behind the curve on messaging? This is a Republican Cover-Up of the Mueller Report. Until the report is revealed to Congress it should be referred to as such in the media over and over.
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@Frank Roseavelt
You have to be kidding.
It's over, you lost.
And you're spinning more conspiracy theories?
Most of the report will come out, and the results are already there: nothing happened.
Folks, we are going to have to do it the old fashioned way -- we will have to win at the ballot box. That may be what is best for the country in any event. Let's show the world that the election of Trump was a temporary wrong turn and a short lived victory for the racists and xenophobes by voting him out, together with as many of his enablers in the Republican Party as we can. We can do this, if the 2018 Election is any guide. As Joe Hill said once upon a time in America, "don't mourn, organize." Let's stop hoping that Mr. Mueller or Congress or anyone else will do our work for us. It's on us to get the job done.
50
Unless turnout by Democrats is overwhelmingly massive on an unprecedented scale, it will be almost impossible to beat Trump in 2020.
2
@RolandR
Unless an enemy state is welcomed to meddle with the outcome again. And some who might vote democratic are denied the ability to vote at all. And districts are so gerrymandered that Republicans can’t be voted out even when majorities want them gone. And when another presidential win, this time by over 2,000,000 votes, is simply overturned by the electoral college, just before we hear a lot of talk about the American people having spoken.
15
@Frau Greta Actually, all things being equal, if 108,000 more Democratic voters show up in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, Trump will go down in flames even if he wins Ohio and Florida. Yes, it was that close in 2016 and will likely be in 2020. If the Democrats keep the 2018 fires lit, it will be eminently possible to beat Trump in 2020.
15
Thoughtful and accurate assessment of the situation. Not being able to collect enough information to prove something in a court of law does not mean misbehavior did not occur. Just what is in the open record is mind boggling and to claim exoneration is bizarre.
93
I really appreciate your carefully thought-out op-ed, Michelle, it calmed the crazed feeling I have so much of the time. It occurred to me as I read some of the responses, that were we to still have the Fairness Doctrine in television (now cable) news, our democracy would not be as threatened, we’d be less helpless. How often does a Trump action begin or end with Fox News amplifying his notions and justifying his actions? Nearly all. This has changed the equation of our representation, of checks and balances, and is made worse by a parallel tendency in social media to silo citizens into focus groups providing them with data collection.
40
@SB SB You are sooooo right.....I blame FOX News for all the increase in anger and hate and racism in the US over the past 21 years. They are Evil Incarnate as far as I am concerned, and Jon Stewart told us this many years ago! Ted Turner did, too! Ted said that Rupert Murdoch was the most dangerous man on the Planet! He was so right! Stop watching FOX News. They are liars and hate mongers and have damaged our precious country spirit.
In what world is it okay for only allies of the suspect in an investigation to see the evidence?
99
@Jeff Caspari Mueller was an ally? I think he would tell us if his report was being mischaracterized. Just get over it already. There was no collusion. The sooner you accept that you have been duped by the media the better off you will be.
As a 16 year retired American expatriate living in France I’m legally required to pay all my income tax to the United States.
The result of the Mueller investigation, which I helped pay for, expects me to believe that despite 35 Trump associates being found guilty of felonies none of this law breaking in any way rubbed off on Trump.
We are to believe that Trump is exonerated despite all this wrong doing?
129
Eh? 25 of the indictees were Russian spies/hackers—in Russia—indicted for activities committed during the Obama administration. Others were Americans with related charges. None had any connection to Trump.
Only six, mentioned in the column, had any connection to Trump, and two of those, Manafort and Gates, were convicted of activities predating their involvement with Trump or his campaign. So that leaves four.
Robert S. Mueller III has finished the report. The result of the special counsel report was not meant to be a flash and bang impact to Trump and his occupation of the Oval Office. Those who were sorely disappointed by the result of it should really not despair. Given the thoroughness of Mueller, it would be appropriate that Mueller would not be able to indict Trump given that he was given a very narrow window to operate within. AG Barr's decision to clear Trump of obstruction of justice so quickly should raise concern on all sides of the aisle.
Trump may celebrate on this reprieve of pressure from the special counsel, but the pending investigations by the SDNY is how Mueller ensured that Trump's longtime ongoing actions would not go unaccounted for. So what is the American public, opposing parties, and GOP members who do not condone the actions of Trump and their fellow party members to do with the current state of affairs? Concentrate on resisting in a manner that does not lower yourself to the level of Trump and others who use incorrect truths, and irrational fears to create division. It is not easy, and there is not really one set way to do this.
For what it may be worth, the reason Mueller perhaps was not able to indict Trump lies all within Mr. Cohen's recent public testimony. Focusing on the part on Mr. Cohen detailing on how Trump speaks is key to accepting Mueller's report. Now Trump stated he would release his Federal Tax Returns more than once. Is this a red line?
25
Part of the challenge with the Mueller investigation, and therefore with the subsequent spin, is it was built around the prosecutorial standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt" in anticipation of charging someone with a crime. Yet from the beginning the FBI interpreted the action as a counterintelligence investigation, seeking to build as detailed a picture of Russian-Trump campaign connections not for purposes of prosecution but to understand the complexities and dynamics of relationships. The shift in focus means that know we face the consequences of a binary choice, collusion or not, rather than a more extensive and nuanced understanding of what happened. That Donald Trump exposed himself to possible Russian blackmail by lying about his Moscow Trump Tower negotiations during the 2016 campaign is incredibly important yet difficult to fit into the collusion narrative. We still do not have clarity regarding the lengthy array of lies and behaviors putting American security at risk. These may not be acts of collusion as the Mueller investigators saw them but they are matters that cry out for explanation. As usual we see Donald Trump seizing the lowest standard, i.e. "not indicted today", as proof of innocence. By reducing the possible outcomes to presentation as "indicted" or "innocent" and using the standard of beyond a reasonable doubt as the basis for the former the conclusion is largely rigged, above all in the absence of sworn testimony from those in Trump´s inner circle.
22
I have read this piece and Taibbi's. Both are excellent. Whether the big prize was the election law violations or the knowledge that he was trying to buy property in Moscow during the campaign doesn't matter in the end.
Things like these would have blown up the political world in the very recent past. Now they are afterthoughts, as politically earth shaking as a cloudy day.
Trump has changed everything. All that is left to do is to get our hands on the report or take our hands off the keys.
9
In anti-trust cases the following is needed to establish proof:
An agreement.
An unlawful object (ie, a criminal offense).
Knowledge and intent.
An overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Further, the law does not require that the agreement is written. Rather, it can be written or verbal, or even unspoken as long as there is an agreement. It is a question for the jury whether an agreement was made, and the proof is usually circumstantial evidence.
In my view, the issue of whether Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russians, meets all of the above four criteria. And the evidence for this is both overt and covert (out of the public eye).
The burden of proof with respect to obstruction of justice is probably similar to the above as well. Yet why did the Special Prosecutor shy away from asserting what in my mind- just by looking at Trump's overt actions as reported in the Press, would be obstruction of justice? Is the burden of proof higher because Trump was elected President? Is the difficulty of cross examining Russian government officials in US court an impediment? Did Trump effectively camouflage illegal acts with overt and obvious displays of disregard for the law and constitutional norms?
There is no question that Trump- on innumerable grounds should be impeached- whether by virtue of temperament, soundness of mind, the conduct of his business, seedy relationships with organized crime- even acts of treason in plain view.
Yet- here we are. Why?
54
@Lowell Greenberg Or maybe he didn’t collude? Have you considered that? I noticed that you didn’t have any evidence to backup your claims of collusion. I realize that you think Trump is a abhorrent person capable of colluding but it’s possible that he didn’t. Can you acknowledge that or is that asking to much?
If Trump were innocent, why did he do everything he could to thwart being investigated?
If Trump were innocent, he would have been, should have been, aggressively cooperative, in order to get the thing over with as quickly as possible. He did everything but.
Has Trump ever acted like an innocent individual?
97
@Robert Henry Eller It's called innocent until proven guilty in this country. And no one will ever be advised by their lawyers to cooperate completely with investigators.
@Chris
Your comment answers nothing, except that you know nothing. While the courts technically presume innocence, in making a case, there is no requirement outside of the courts to refrain from weighing the available evidence. And in fact, some lawyers will advise cooperation (another thing that you just pulled out of we both know where) when they think it's in their clients interest. Isn't it apparent that Michael Cohen's lawyers advised Cohen to cooperate? Buy thanks for playing our game, and with yourself.
So if Kamala Harris urges China to hack Trump, that's kosher? If China offers their support and Harris' campaign responds, "I love it especially later in the summer", and then actually meets with the Chinese officials to accept their support, that's not collusion? What if China hacks the RNC, gives the RNC's emails to WikiLeaks, and then Harris helps China promote misinformation around those emails? What if Harris changes the Democratic platform to make it more China-friendly after meeting with Chinese officials? What if Harris hires a campaign manager who specializes in colluding with China, gives China campaign updates, and shares internal polling data with China while China interferes in the election on Harris' behalf with a sophistication never seen before? What if Harris tried to blame Chinese interference on Russia knowing full well that it was China helping her campaign? What if Harris was pushing Chinese foreign policy against the advice of her advisors? What if Harris insisted on meeting with China alone? What if she held a press conference with Xi Jinping and declared to the world that she believes Xi over her own intelligence agencies? I could go on and on but you get the point. This is collusion. Trump is gaslighting us again.
138
@Jamie Puts this all in the right perspective. Thank you, thank you!
6
@Jamie
Best way to look at all of this, thanks!
Can the Dems put out some TV adverts mimicking this?
2
@Jamie... you only forgot her son in law setting up a "back channel" for communication in the Chinese Embassy, of course secretly...
3
There is a bizarre tunnel vision that has developed around the Russia collusion. It seems everyone is quite willing to ignore the the evidence of many forms of corruption and downright criminal conduct because the Russian collusion angle is more alluring. From Michael Cohen’s testimony to selling access through some massage parlor madam to T-Mobile execs paying above-market rate for group bookings at Trump Hotel during merger requiring DOJ approval.
The media and the public seem mind-booglingly easy to manipulate. You dangle a shiny thing and they forget all the evidence of all kinds of grift all out there in the open.
55
@citybumpkin
1. The massage parlor lady was basically charging people to bring them to the club where they may meet trump. It does not mean that Trump had any knowledge of her dealings. Fake news.
2. Michael Cohens Testimony. Really? A known liar who is trying to get a reduced sentence who offered noting substantive. Proves nothing.
3. T Mobile story is a big nothing burger. Haven’t heard about this since the first day it was reported and was complete speculation.
There is a reason that the media doesn’t focus on these stories. Because there is nothing there.
The reason the collusion story hung around so long is because it’s hard to prove or disprove collusion with a foreign government. It also gains more attention because all voters would want to know if a candidate colluded with another country to interfere with presidential election.
Just saying those words in his letter -- did not exonerate -- Barr cannot just let the public accept his inadequate summary -- how and why is Trump not exonerated? He can't just say that without revealing the reasoning behind it. In his attempt to sweep this whole 2 year exhaustive inquiry under the rug, Barr highlighted his own bias and the absolute need for more disclosure.
54
@DS As mentioned in anothe rcommentary, the GOP, have lost any credibility of having any impartiality or willingness to find the truth, left in their ranks.
Truth + GOP = Oxymoron
I'm getting so weary of the commentary in the near vacuum of information about the Mueller report that my eyes glaze over. (I can't bear to read on any more in long "opinion" pieces, so many of them, everyone saying essentially the same thing.) I want to get off the grid and read an enriching book.
7
@gary e. davis
And what could be more enriching than reading the Mueller report?
24
@gary e. davis. Read “The Case For Trump” by Victor Davis Hanson. It’s excellent.
1
I agree. In the words of former FBI agent (and never Trumper) Peter Strzok, there “doesn’t seem to be any there, there”.
Yet the words drone on.
After all is said and done I am none the wiser about what Mueller actually did?
Did he follow the money? Did he examined Trump's tax records? Did he find out how much Russian money has been propping up his empire since US Banks cut him off.
Unless there has been a full investigation of Trump's financial dealings with the Russians, then it would seem Mueller has been wasting all our time.
43
@James Even though he shouldn’t have any right to go digging around in trumps financial records. But yes, Mueller did dig into his finances. Even subpoena his bank records overseas as well as his son, stepson, and people closely associated with Trump. You could have found the answer to your question with a simple search. Do you feel better now? Mueller did his job. Sorry you didn’t get the outcome you had hoped for.
I read Taibbi's link you pointed to. I wouldn't be dismissive of him as you were. It was obvious from the beginning to any open-minded observer that the intelligence agencies were driving the story. One thing that became clearer is the ambiguous and often gossipy nature of raw intelligence which Christopher Steele compiled, but that was taken as gospel by everyone. I was dumbfounded that the intelligence agencies took it that seriously. Why? Is it incompetence or worse? Has it really been procured for the sole purpose of tapping Carter Page, or through him Trump's campaign? Disturbing.
3
@Chandra Varanasi, I don't think we know exactly what drove the investigation in its earliest days, but we do know that Mueller produced 34 indictments, convictions, or guilty pleas. That's not incompetence. Carter Page has been under FBI surveillance since 2013 when he was caught up in the arrests of that famous Russian sleeper cell (the basis for the TV series "The Americans").
I'm impressed by the professionalism of our intelligence agencies, and I have complete respect for Christopher Steele, the former head of MI6's Russia desk. Btw, he wasn't the only source for our knowledge of Trump associates' interactions with Russians. Dutch intelligence was a big part of it.
17
@SandraH. And none of the American indictments had anything to do with Russian collusion. It was all process crimes. It was corrupt investigating in hopes of flipping someone as a witness.
Ok, we have a hint of what Trump didn’t do. What did Mueller determine Trump actually did do that doesn’t exonerate him?
39
@btrnuthatch That is not for you to know. Just take Barr's word for it that Trump is innocent of everything.
@btrnuthatch. He was speaking about possible obstruction. However, since there wasn’t a crime to cover up, there can’t really be obstruction. Maybe Trump, did fire comedy because he knew he was innocent, and realized that he was a political hack and corrupt. You can’t be charged of obstruction if there is no underlying crime to cover up for.
It comes down to this: Release the papers, provide transparency and let us decide for ourselves what it all means. As long as the report and background info is withheld, the assertions of no collision or transgression won't be believed by many of us. If there is nothing to hide, stop hiding it.
48
While I felt disappointed with Mueller’s conclusions, I find that Goldberg does not want to accept defeat when she cites Barr’s disapproval of the investigation. Goldberg’s feelings towards the matter are somewhat dangerous because it displays a major problem with American politics in the sense that we are not giving respect where respect is due. I am not saying we should all throw are hands in the air and bow down to Trump, but I am saying we need to accept the fact that Mueller could not conclude that Trump had colluded with Russia.
These antics are the plague of democracy. The once held bipartisan and progressive spirit of America is tarnished as we can not accept defeat in even our hardest fought battles.
5
I’m reminded of a sad tale told me by a neighbor in another time and place many years ago. The woman confided that they had learned her small grandchild was being abused by another child.
They were being served by a local victim support agency. At some point, that agency advised them against taking the young perpetrator to court.
Sadly, the family took that advice as evidence that the abuse didn’t happen.
12
@J Campbell Bipartisan? What was the last "bipartisan" action? I think, it was Obama appointing a republican to his cabinet, to "show" bipartisan spirit. Obama appointed Comey in a bipartisan spirit...the result we are dealing with today, sitting here writing these commentaries...
The lesson to be learned is this: republicans don't do "bipartisan", they practice scorched earth only. The "hardest fought battles" are still ahead now, unfortunately.
28
@J Campbell. Accept defeat? That would be so much easier if the conclusion made sense! Members of Trump's campaign have been indicted, pled guilty, and are going to jail. For lying to the FBI. Why? Per Barr they did nothing illegal. Manafort took polling data to a Russian! Over 100 Russian contacts - lied about.
If not guilty why didn't Trump cooperate? His lawyers were positive he would lie if interviewed! He obstructed in plain sight.
If all this can be explained, I can accept that Trump was an honest thief - someone willing to steal when something valuable is left out unguarded. Not as bad as if he had actively broken into the safe, but for our President a pretty low bar.
Remember when we were all looking to shore up Attorney General Sessions' job? The theory was, if Sessions were fired and Trump replaced him with someone who didn't recuse himself, the new guy would shut down the Mueller investigation.
Turns out the theory was right, wasn't it?
65
If nothing else, Americans need to know who, what, when, where, and how of Russian attacks on our election system and be reminded every minute of every day of foreign attacks and that they are not welcome. We need more information than what appeared in unredacted portions of indictments of Russians and Russian entities coming from the Special Counsel.
While individuals involved in the Trump campaign were concluded to have committed no crime, this does not rule out corruption. The Special Counsel’s report can confirm or deny this. Americans need to see this report.
Congress, specifically the Senate, needs to take this seriously and, rather than inflict Trump’s vengeance on people just doing their jobs, pass laws that will guard against future foreign attacks on out elections. So far, the GOP-Senate is refusing to do anything to safeguard this country.
25
The Scottish trial process, as I understand it, allows the jury to come to one of three conclusions: innocent, guilty, or insufficient evidence. Muelleur’s investigation did not uncover sufficient evidence. Trump has not been exonerated. Trump has a dishonorable history. Based on my experience as a retired senior Air Force Officer, if Trump desired an officer’s commission (ridiculous, I know), there is no way he would be granted a commission or security clearance. That he and his family have access to sensitive information is disturbing.
42
@JSK
Thank you for your service.
You want to be disturbed? I am reading Kushner, Inc. The only question is what word fits this mess the best: Kakistocracy or Kleptocracy?
“On day One of my Administration, I will direct the Attorney General to release the full Mueller report.”
A promise that surely will assure the speaker’s election, if the Bart/Trump stonewalling lasts that long.
11
It is difficult to stay calm about the Mueller report. Chris Matthews, for example, seems to be beside himself with frustration and agitation as are most of the other MSNBC hosts. The results should not be surprising based on Bannon's statement some time ago that team Trump was incapable of colluding with each other much less a foreign state. Further more, Chris Christie's comment made multiple times on ABC that Trump should be more concerned with the Southern District of NY rather than the Mueller investigation is telling. An innocent man should not be worried of any law enforcement agency so one has to wonder what Christie knows about Trump that prompts him to make such a statement. This is the question journalists never ask when Christie is a guest but I wish they would.
28
Speaking of lack of coordination, quite by coincidence about a year ago Barr gets up in the morning and writes a 19-page memo that the president cannot commit obstruction of justice quite coincidentally when the president is being investigated for obstruction of justice and he is looking for a new attorney general to take over that investigation.
The system couldn't be rigged, could it?
78
@sapere aude "Impartiality + GOP = oxymoron"
Perhaps no intentional collusion occurred that fits the legal definition of a crime - I can almost believe these Trumps are so dim that the opportunities simply fell into their laps and/or due to their long coziness with corruption they were easily used by our enemies. But the stench of corruption, lying, and cozying up to, and admiration of, some of the worst political leaders, Putin, Kim Jong Un, Duterte, to name a few, all while reneging on our global allies and obligations like the Paris Accord, more than warranted the need for investigation. And which, in the end, was validated over and over again by the numerous indictments.
I'm grateful to Mr. Mueller for his conscientious, impartial efforts and the integrity he and his team showed throughout the process. Our country deserved to have this process play out. And we at least cleaned out some of the traitors. Hopefully the rest will be swept out in 2020. Our country needs better and deserves better.
23
I am still thinking that Mueller himself doesn’t do the indicting, but refers it to the right places to be followed up on (Cohen, Stone etc all we’re busted by other agencies, not Independent counsel). I am hopeful some
Ugly stuff is still forthcoming. I have not thought it was enough to impeach for a long time, beside the Republicants wouldn’t have the guts for it anyway. I still believe we would find a lot of weird “irregularities” in his tax returns, Deutchebank dealing etc. I am still hopeful that he will be a one term guy perhaps with an asterisk.
21
There's a very good chance now with this news that Trump will sail through the next election easily and here's why - the Democrats will for the next two years spin in apoplexy, mired in the belief (true or false) that Donald Trump has grifted his way again through what seemingly would have pulled any other president down. It's human nature to dwell, but if the Democrats obsess over this for the next two years, they're going to look absolutely foolish and will further alienate voters. They will not accept that they've been taken by a con man, but they should. Once they own that, they can marginalize DJT and get going again. We will see.
7
If Trump didn't collude or obstruct then what was all the fuss about. Was it a soft coup by the deep state? I think we need a thorough investigation. In the end I think we'll find that Trump is a traitor, but if he isn't then we have a real problem.
10
@mike winters
There is no such thing as the 'deep state.'
There was no coup, attempted or otherwise, unless you're counting Russian interference in our 2016 election.
Trump is a traitor. We need no further proof than what happened in Helsinki.
There is more than enough smoke pouring forth
from Campsite - Trump
to lead one to believe there are many fires
still smouldering if not, indeed, burning.
But those who hate Trump, like Ms. Goldberg,
risk fanning those flames into fires that will
blow back upon themselves and incinerate them
and not Trump.
Most of the voters have paid half-hearted attention
to Mueller and the investigation.
As far as they know, it was a failed "Witch Hunt".
Unless "Trump Haters" produce
clear and irrefutable evidence -
Trump will use their campaigns against him -
against them -
and somehow, someway Trump
will be re-elected again in 2020 -
and thus -
they will have no one to blame
but -
themselves.
4
@John Brown Polls have shown that the electorate is about evenly split on the "Witch Hunt" spin. So your statement about "most voters" is false.
Never did I think they'd find collusion with the hackers, and I feared the trumpeting vindication when he didn't find it. Manafort was his last hope to come clean, and he didn't. End of case for collusion. Corruption has always been the bigger and more defined issue that has compromise this president. Besides his disordered narcissistic mind games....which by the way gave him his motive to obstruct the investigation and totally discredit his intelligence community. Michelle, the press should now inquire of Trump why he has not recognized the interference by Russia. His indifference is continuing to aid and abet that foreign powers attacking our election process.
26
Brilliant analysis! Thank you for speaking up for the rational segment of the population.
24
When trying to get the Mueller report, Democrats need to ask what would the Republicans do here? And then they should just do that. No mercy, no surrender.
46
@Me Republicans would be attacking Barr as a partisan hack, which he is
A prosecutor's job is to indict or not indict. And Mueller did not indict. To say he didn't vindicate Trump is meaningless. Prosecutors don't vindicate anybody. It's not in the job description. Bottom line, Mueller did not indict. He did say that the attorney general could indict if he wanted to. But he and everyone else who is paying attention knew that the attorney general did not want to. Mueller killed the case and he knew it. And it's time for those who don't get it to get it.
12
I disagree. I think Mueller may have left the obstruction of justice question open because he expected Barr to turn the report over to Congress, as previous AGs have. I suspect he was surprised by Barr's decision to insert himself.
6
Clearly, we have to get Paul Manafort in front of the various House Committees to explain how giving Russian/Ukrainian political consultant, Konstantin Kilimnik internal polling data that could be used to better target a campaign, does not constitute collusion. Rick Gates testified that when the three of them met to hand overt the data, they each left the building from a different entrance.
Could Mueller not verify Kilimnik's connections to the Russian government, or the hacking teams?
Poor Donald.
A victim of unfortunate circumstances where so many people who he hired - like Flynn and Manafort - turned out to be working simultaneously as unregistered lobbyist for foreign countries. What are the chances? I guess overwhelming coincidences don't rise to the level of prosecutable offenses.
Lucky Donald.
30
Even if the Trump campaign did not directly conspire with Russians to influence the election, the fact is that Russians did meddle in the election through a propaganda campaign of misinformation and deception.
Putin favored Trump because he clearly recognized that a Trump presidency would inflict serious damage to the United States. Domestically, a Trump presidency would increase division within the country, give license to overt racism, and undermine the effectiveness of both government and democratic institutions. Internationally, a Trump presidency would diminish the stature and power of the United States, damage alliances, and perhaps even undermine the credibility of liberal democracy itself.
A Trump presidency would thus strengthen Russia's position and further Putin's own imperial ambitions. Achieving that would not require direct collusion with the Trump campaign, only the exploitation of the Internet and social media companies that were more than willing to help spread propaganda. But just as Trump and Republicans spin the Mueller report into "complete exoneration," Democrats could use it to paint Trump as Putin's unwitting (and witless) agent, who in fact has done significant damage to the United States just as Putin expected.
32
No one has seen the Mueller report, but even the highly parsed summary presented by Barr does not exonerate Trump. So the spin put on this report by this administration, the GOP, and so much of the medias' rush to unquestioningly parrot Trump's interpretation of Barr's interpretation of Mueller report is appalling. Michelle is right on this one. We need to see the entire report. We cannot rely on Barr for the facts. He was tainted before he became AG.
48
@Jiminy The battle is still joined. The long conflict is not over. The American voting public has been initially outmaneuvered. Legalistic restrictions cannot hide blatantly venal actions. Trumputin needs to get a strong message. Stay off the ballot. Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. Collusion synonyms include lies, secret understandings, conspiracy, intrigue, deceit, complicity -- a wide range of actions, explicit and or implicit. In sum, the ultimate solution to Cadet Bone Spurs venality will come at the ballot box. We are the final judges in this matter. I think more ammunition is coming our way.
Mueller did specifically said he did not exonerate Trump, even as he would not rule that there was intentional collusion.
But simultaneously, Mueller referred other matters to the courts of the Southern District of New York , and other jurisdictions.
It seems premature for either side to be acting like this drama is up. Rather, only Act 1 has ended.
32
Our teachers are leading us children to the conclusion that despite the fact we all can see what has been going on we just don't get the subtlety which underlies our system.
At some point it will become clear the wealthy, no matter how they obtain that position, deserve every penny.
Bought and paid for, the American way.
12
Unfortunately the US political system is an adversarial one and by its very nature creates conflict and animosity. It may have been the best in the world 250 years ago but this is no longer the case.
The animosity and the vindictiveness is a symptom of a political disease in the making and I challenge anyone who can confidently say that it will get any better.
I’m proposing that the only solution is to do with the rest of the civilized world does and adopt a parliamentary political system. In a parliamentary system with multiple factions there’s more cooperation because politicians know that the party that you are denigrating today is the party that you might need to be aligned with sometime in the future and with this in mind your criticisms will be tempered. Too bad that this will never happen. American exceptionalism.
5
@Martello Maybe we need a constitutional convention to revisit all the sections of our Constitution which don't seem to work anymore (i.e. -- the electoral college)
4
@Gregg, please--a constitutional convention would be a mess. Let's eliminate the Electoral College through the Interstate Compact.
I'm a bit baffled. Mueller and team indicated to a judge that Flynn should receive no jail time due to extensive cooperation on their investigations - the judge even postponed sentencing to allow time for more cooperation. Similar on Gates where sentencing recommendations were delayed due to ongoing cooperation. So, if all their cooperation led to zero indictments, what useful cooperation could they possibly have provided that would justify the courts overlooking their crimes and reducing or eliminating their sentences? And of course a lot of open questions on Manafort's lying in coordination with the Trump defense team, Stone not even to trial yet, and more.
Something just doesn't feel right here. Or at least, there seem to be a lot of loose ends and unanswered questions. Feels like just as the dots were being connected, the investigation shut down - just after Barr took over, replacing the former AG who was fired specifically because he refused to shut down the investigation. And now we get a letter from Barr with no real information and a blanket statement, seemingly exonerating the whole campaign of the Russia involvement and with no obstruction charges.
Anyway, it does seem that a release of the full report is warranted, and further congressional inquiry from Barr and Mueller to better understand the answer the many open questions.
Meanwhile, will be interesting to see if Manafort and Stone are rewarded with pardons.
49
Let me say that I was hoping Trump would fall at the hands of Mueller. However, after 22 months, a large team of investigators and FBI agents, and hearing how much integrity Mueller and his lawyers have, I am shocked by some of the comments that now assume that Mueller was compromised or did not want to subpoena the President. If there was evidence, he would have gotten with or without testimony. My regret is that we have lost that time to have journalists focus on some of the truly criminal and egregious acts Trump has put forth on this nation. I appreciate Ms. Goldberg’s pivot, but I am worried that now debunked collusion narrative by the media casts shadows and people’s doubt over Trump’s corruption.
14
@PK
Your comment is basically good but it seems to be a fact that Mueller "did not want to subpoena" Trump. If he had tried and failed due to Trump judges blocking him, he might still have his integrity not in doubt.
11
@PK Not me. I have no doubt that we have in place a tainted "President" via a tainted "election. Trumputins' Supreme Narcissism long recognized. Dunning-Kruger Effect demonstrated almost every day. Cadet Bone Spurs a black mark on our history. Venality proven. Time to send him down the road. Character matters!!
Uh duh the media and Dems keep asserting it’s a slam dunk he has to be corrupt he obviously had colluded. Just spend millions of dollars and two years on a special prosecutor and 40 attorneys and for sure he is going down. But it did not happen as they assured us it did. They knew it and still know it we just need more investigating. Mueller and his team are incompetent partisans they asked the wrong people the wrong questions and blew it. Really ???!!!
Maybe Mr. Mueller has something more in store, and we should pay special attention to his existing federal indictments, which have been shipped out to presidential pardon-proof prosecutorial districts. The huge celebrations and stinging Republican accusations may yet be premature.
50
@Christa
1. Mueller has nothing more. He is finished.
2. Mueller can't ship any indictments to presidential pardon-proof districts. He can only do federal indictments which any president can pardon.
3
On the other hand, should Democrats and media feel vindicated? They've wasted our time and money for almost three years in pursuit of narrow partisan advantage.
16
Excuse me??? Democrats had zero power in government until a couple of months ago. Republicans ordered and investigated this.
@BD
So you're not at all disturbed that Trump has never clearly stated, after all this time, that Russia hacked into our election.
Or that Trump lied about negotiating a deal for a hotel in Russia while he was campaigning for President.
Or that his son's meeting with Russians in Trump Tower was not about Russian adoption policy but was about getting dirt on Hillary.
Another Trump supporter who believes in "ignorance is bliss"
@BD
Democrats and the media didn't initiate or conduct this investigation. It is only now that the newly Democratically controlled House is starting to conduct real oversight over the Trump administration.
You feel that an investigation that illuminated in great detail how Russians interfered in the 2016 election was a waste of time and money. Because it's all about the dear leader and you are not concerned about the integrity of our political process.
Yes, it was "dispiriting for those of us who despise him." But now there are no shackles any longer and a group of this kind of people often collapses from their inside, not by a pressure from outside. Let's see what happens.
18
Maybe we are missing something.Possibly Collusion involves elaborate plans and communications -maybe it does not involve meetings and cryptic social media communications.Al Capone got way with murder-tax problems brought him down. Congress and the SDNY have to keep following the money.
51
The finding that "the investigation 'did not establish' that anyone from the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its 2016 election interference" does not mean that there was no conspiracy or coordination, only that there was not sufficient evidence of conspiracy or coordination to convince Mr. Mueller that he had at least an 85% likelihood of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that there was a conspiracy on the basis of the evidence that he was able to amass. He may well be satisfied that he could have proved it if the standard were clear and convincing evidence, but for a criminal conviction it is a much higher standard.
32
@Jack Collusion synonyms - conspiracy, intrigue, deceit, complicity, connivance, secret understanding. Take your pick. Venality a separate category.
From the outside, all discussion regarding Mr Trump's role re collusion and obstruction appear somewhat moot unless the Mueller report is released. Interpretation by an Attorney General, who is on the record for disparaging both the indication and performance of the investigation, is patently conflicted and therefore dubious.
72
@A. F. G. Maclagan On the other hand, there is the law. Disclosure of grand jury information is flagrantly illegal. But don't let the law get in your way.
@A. F. G. Maclagan And one must remember that it took Barr only about 48 hours to speed read 400 pages of document to write his "summary."
1
@A. F. G. Maclagan Lets face it--we all want to see the full report. Anything less seems like a cover up.
1
The way I read Ms. Goldberg is that Trump is guilty even if he's innocent. If she were on the jury panel, she would be struck for cause. Nothing in the world can convince her that Trump didn't do it.
16
@michjas: It sounds hat nothing in the world would convince you that Trump did anything wrong even if he's guilty. Trump may not have been found guilty in Barr's judgement but neither was he found innocent. Nixon wasn't a crook but he was certainly guilty enough. Whatever you happen to believe about Trump, investigations are proceeding.
55
@michjas Add my name to the many millions of voters who share Ms. Goldbergs' opinion. We are eager to get to the voting booth.
8
@michjas Trump is guilty of being a very bad man who has no business being in the White House. That's a much bigger issue than the Mueller report.
Beyond that, there is nothing in the article to support your conclusion.
I am no lawyer, but I once had a friend who was a federal prosecutor before going into private practice, defending people brought up on federal charges. he told me that federal prosecutors never bring a case unless they are so positive of its strength that they are sure they will win; he explained that if it was felt there was any possibility other than a sure success, they would not bring the case at all. therefore, he believed all his clients were guilty. if this is true, Mueller had an impossibly high hurdle to clear. so, no easily provable collusion ( or, conspiracy) and potentially iffy on the obstruction front.
24
If there is no collusion and no obstruction, why are they so blatantly OBSTRUCTING the full disclosure of the Mueller report? You can't have it both ways !
211
@time2thinkYou're right--if they don't provide full disclosure, its almost an admission of guilt. How else can it be explained?
58
@William Tate -- The US House of Representatives passed last week a rare UNANIMOUS resolution to make the Mueller Report public.
What is the first thing that Mitch Mc Connell did today ? Refuse to take a vote on this in the Senate.
If this is not obstruction, what is it ??
121
@time2think
If you cannot find real "obstruction" but look really, really hard, you will find it somewhere.
Mueller is a savvy DC insider. It is inconceivable that he was so naive to think that Barr' summary would even come close to explaining his report. His error was the failure to demand, by subpoena if necessary, Trump's testimony under oath. In its absence he must have known that Trump and his cabal would be given a license to distort the report and claim full exoneration. Even if Mueller testifies before congressional committees, there will be no resolution. He has left us with a legal and political and moral mess, whose beneficiaries will be future historians who will write numerous articles, books and speak at many symposia.
15
From the start I belonged to a probably small group who did not place too much faith in the man. After all, anyone who can call himself a Republican after the Presidency of Bush II is on board with disgusting evil and subversion of our democracy. Trump, MitchMcC etc are just another extremity of that. But not new.
For the longest time, the Trump crowd has ignored the truth. Now, the anti-Trump crowd is adopting the same tactic. Mueller brought no case against Trump. But they claim that Trump is guilty nonetheless. Reality doesn't matter anymore. Whatever you believe is true.
9
@michjas Actually, disciplined thinking and examination matter now, much more than low level tit for tat thinking that can't deal with things below the surface. The one supreme fact right now is that we haven't seen the Mueller report to give us any nuance in what did or didn't happen. Another fact is that Trump manipulated things in this constitutional crisis so that he was able to appoint the person that very possibly will stand in the way of us seeing it, and is poised to "interpret" it for us. What qualifications does he have that Sessions didn't have? A refusal to recuse himself (and a long history of partisan work behind the scenes).
If you are satisfied with Barr's summary of the report as proof that Trump has done no wrong, you fail miserable when it comes to logical thinking.
15
@michjas: Nope. Barr wrote that Mueller’s report did not exonerate Trump. He and Rosenstein decided not to bring charges. That’s all for now. We don’t know what’s in the report. We do know what Trump and his sons have said and done or not done in public. That still raises questions, which Trump’s lawyers did not want him to answer under oath in an interview with Mueller, because he’s a habitual liar and would commit perjury.
12
And you apparently think Mueller is a spineless weasel that will let Barr change and completely misconstrue his findings and stand silently by while it happens.
Before anyone buys the claim of no collusion we need at the very least to know all that happened in that Trump rower meeting, and so much more. Were they playing Russian Roulette with blanks?
21
Attorney general Barr’s 4 page note and conclusions suggest he was dishonest at his confirmation hearing in the senate.
Do we, as citizens, have any recourse?
61
@Steve Ell
Vote for change in 2020! It's a duty of every US citizen to vote at every election.
1
@Steve Ell: Yes. The vote in 2020.
1
@Steve Ell
Yes storm the White House till we get the report in hand and then vote only for democrats. The GOP take us for fools and we are Americans not Russians we will not be ignored,
1
We still don't know how much money Trump owes to Russian oligarchs tied to Putin (i.e., all oligarchs). The best guess is $500-1,000 million. Small potatoes compared to the national debt, but for one organization, it might have some influence.
Oh, those hidden tax returns. When someone goes to such lengths to hide something, we should assume he's vindicating himself?
69
I haven't seen this question addressed: if there was no collusion or conspiracy with Russia, then why did so many of his campaign people and inner circle knowingly risk jail time by lying? What were they hiding?
328
@George
George, they are not hiding anything, we know what they did. They risked jail because they thought they had broken the law. But they didn't. Too bad.
1
I raised this in the comments of another NYT article yesterday. I fully agree with you - if nothing illegal happened, why were there so many lies spoken by the trump team? Why perjure yourself for no reason and risk your career, lifestyle and reputation?
6
@george,
Great questions. But the answer may be no more complex than a gang of thugs who lie with every breath because they've forgotten what it feels like to live an honest life. Narcissists and sociopaths can't help themselves. They live, therefore they lie.
7
Here come the pardons... The Dems should focus squarely on retaking the Senate. Lose the investigations. If Dems control Congress, then they set the agenda, they nominate judges and justices, they can block cabinet nominees, and they will force the president to govern from the center even if he's reelected. In the meantime, the House should continue to pass meaningful legislation and communicate that to the constituents of the newly elected House members in red states. Let's not lose our heads -- and the House -- over a lost cause.
20
The Democrats cannot move on from this issue. If the Democrats try to work with Trump to take on immigration, or health care, or infrastructure, or anything else, the Democrats will be giving him a win that he will be able to run on in 2020. The Democrats will not work with Trump on anything because what is good for America is bad for the Democratic party AND they know it.
11
@hapEguy
Democrats will not have to choose not to work with Trump. He will not be in favor of anything Democrats could support. He claimed to want to address health care, opioid crisis, infrastructure, etc. but his (in)actions prove he doesn't care about these things. His budget cuts Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security even though he promised not to cut these programs. He says he has kept his promises but he has not.
13
@hapEguy it is highly unlikely that Trump is willing to work on anything meaningful. He wasn't willing to work with his own party to pass some sort of immigration reform and he rejected his wall money, not to mention, he could have reworked the ACA to work better for more Americans, and he could have done something about drug prices. All of those things would have been big wins for him, but that is not of interest to Trump, he's only there to enrich himself and his family, so stop blaming the other party for at least trying to have a modicum of decency and morals as the GOP and Trump is boiling over with green swamp slime.
@hapEguy
That reminds me of something. Oh, yes, the Republicans wrote the book on that against Obama.
I'm quite disappointed that Mueller, after 22 months,
just dropped the ball and left it to Barr, a partisan political hack, to decide whether Trump obstructed justice. It is clear that Trump fired Jeff Sessions and replaced him with Barr as part of his plan to thwart justice. In Barr, Trump found his Roy Cohen.
79
@Whole Grains True. But maybe it's finally time for Americans to ask themselves if their political system is strong enough to prevent a future demagogue from becoming president and take this country on an even darker path. It seems to me there needs to be some soul searching. Article II of the US Constitution gives very little guidance pertaining to requirements of a president or candidate, so it's probably time Americans invest themselves in the process and demand some concrete job descriptions, skills and requirements. When you apply for a VP or CEO or CFO job in a company, the bar is high and the interview process rigorous. But if you want to be president of the USA, you just need to be at least 35, have lived in the US 14 years and be literate enough to sign your name on executive orders and legislation. Beyond that, it is obvious you can be as dumb as rock and as corrupt as a mafia Don...pun intended.
1
So many secrets, so much lying, so much fear. Who are these people?
Was there ever a time when elected officials were considered decent enough that I would invite them into my home to share a meal with?
32
you don't have to invite rats into your home to share your food. they will show up and take what they want no matter what you do.
@a p George Washington was a pretty decent dude.
As much as I despise this "wretched presidency" as much as you do, it's best for the country if tRump is ousted following the 2020 election. It's bad enough that we will have to endure his non stop and over the top gloating about his "innocence" and his desire for revenge against any Dem who calls him out on his daily lies and thuggish behavior. Someday this nightmare will be over but unfortunately not due to anything Mueller has in the report.
17
Neither the Mueller report nor the Attorney General's four-page summary of it provide me with even an ounce of satisfaction. In fact, there seems to have been no need for a Mueller investigation at all.
In the months since the presidential campaign, time and time again persuasive evidence has presented itself pointing to campaign collusion with Russia. The evidentiary weight is heavy.
Trump's bizarre behavior in the debates against Hillary Clinton offer one example. His behavior on the podium in Helsinki with President Putin provide another.
The change in the GOP platform regarding Ukraine leading up to the election is a third. The blatant lies about negotiations with Russia regarding the construction of Trump Tower Moscow offers yet another.
Then there was Roger Cohen's spot-on prediction about the imminent release of John Podesta's stolen DNC emails and Don Junior's prevarication about the nature of the Trump Tower meeting in June 2016.
Let's not forget Paul Manafort's hand-off of GOP polling data to Russian intelligence, nor Trump's brazanly public shout-out to Russia to find Hillary Clinton’s "hidden" email.
Any one of these incidents alone might be written off as concidence, but all of them in-tandem? No collusion? Who is kidding whom? Deep, persistent collusion is as plain as the nose on our face.
And we haven't even gotten to obstruction of justice yet.
48
@John LeBaron
Attorney General Bass asks the American people to forget everything we have heard Donald Trump say for nearly three years and everything witnesses have said under oath and all of the unrefuted evidence of
Donald Trump's indebtedness to Vladimir Putin.
Your comment, John LeBaron, points out the absurdity of Bass expecting his brief "summary" to satisfy our demand for true transparency.
OK. So here's what we know. President Trump fired Comey, as he himself said on TV, in order to stall the Russia investigation. He had his son and his major campaign people attend a meeting with Russian operatives where dirt on his opponent were discussed. Trump himself on nationwide TV called for an investigation on his opponents emails, which led to no indictments. His own (now former) staff (and campaign personnel) have been indicted. Our President continues to be a named figure in major criminal indictments, all of which continue to proceed forward.
Innocent? Please... What possible alternate universe are we inhabiting?
42
I thought Comey was so incompetent he cost Hillary the election. Yet Trump fires him and some how he was the best thing since sliced bread.
Of course Barr now has the ability to stall release of the report for months or years, just like trump’s taxes. And his job depends on doing exactly that. It’s not even a crime. Anybody ever play chess?
15
What convinces me that the fix is in with Barr is that Trump is saying, "Release the report, I don't care. that is up to the attorney general." Right. Trump won't release his taxes and threatened his alma maters to not release his school records. The only reason Trump would I've the go ahead to release the Mueller report would be because he feels confident that Barr won't do so, or at least will redact it to the point of making "Pat the Bunny" look like a crime manifesto more than the Mueller report. I really believe that Barr made a deal with this devil we have in the presidency to get that position. Trump is sure that report will not be released. Why?
31
Trump has MANY years of experience using associates and surrogates to do his dirty work. There is a trail of fall guys and gals who have taken the rap for DJT letting him keep his hands clean. There may not have been direct coordination and collusion, but there certainly were LOTS of contacts and a President who certainly acted like he was guilty!
24
The Press shouldn't be feeling too vindicated right now, either. They hyped the collusion every step of the way, based on nothing but their own desire for a certain outcome. We need a free press, not an advocacy program.
11
@TD I don’t think they hyped it, I think they reported it. That’s their job. Trump had his own advocacy program, it’s called FOX news.
27
@TD
Everything I saw was as fair as possible . I don't watch "Fox News" and the rest.
@TD
The press & the media reported the facts. And they broadcast live many of Donald Trump's own statements about Russia. Use your Google Machine & look these up, if you're doubtful. This is not called advocacy; it is called responsible journalism. If you're looking for advocacy, you only need to turn on Fox News.
“while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
If that is actually the conclusion of the Mueller report, I call that a cop-out. A waste of time and energy.
I'm very much ready to move on. Let's see if Don can actually be a LEADER. Less expensive, better healthcare. Modernized improved infrastructure. That is what we were promised. Let's see whatcha got, Donald.
Well, we all know the only thing he is good at is grandstanding and bloviating. This scandal was tailor-made for him and he'll be blowing this horn until the next scandal. Even if the conclusion was not decisive, it will be the ONLY thing he talks about. Leading is not in his DNA.
Prove me wrong, Don. If you can't, we'll take care of that in 2020.
15
The biggest thing revealed is Russia interfered in our 2016 election and Trump has done nothing about it. They did it again in 2018 midterms and will be right back at it again in 2020. Trump refuses to acknowledge we are under attack by Russia. I suppose as long as they are supporting him he does not feel the need to intervene and protect our country and democracy. God forbid we should be without Trump to lead us.
25
The cry from the Trumpatistas is that we owe Donald Trump an apology. How laughable is that? The war continues. The objective though is to win the war. That means winning the electoral college in November 2020. The Democratic Party should be on a war footing. This doesn't mean being in a permanent state of rage. That is probably counterproductive. But the party needs to be unified once it chooses its candidate and it must have a very detailed plan to bring back those Midwestern states Trump needed to win as well as Pennsylvania, a state that should always be blue. The way to beat Trump is through the execution of a proactive strategy that builds a national coalition that Trump can not defeat.
78
@Yankelnevich Trump brought on these troubles himself. He is a person of bad repute. He lied about spending the night in Moscow. He lied about doing business in Russia. He lied about the timeline of the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations.
our system of justice gives rights to the accused and puts a moral onus on the accuser to provide evidence. false accusation to overturn an election you do not like is certain to rebound, when this becomes a common practice for anyone disgruntled
2
After all the circumstantial evidence of "collusion", I don't see how Mueller arrived at this conclusion without examining Trump's tax returns, his international business dealings, interviewing Trump, Guccifer 2.0, Julian Assange, and the Trump children.
26
Collusion is not a federal crime, neither is attempted collusion. Mueller needed an insider to connect the campaign to WikiLeaks, but they got stonewalled by Roger and Manafort. It doesn't mean collusion did not happen and it does not mean that the actual Mueller report did not refer to these repeated attempts by the campaign to get help from the Russians to support Trump. It's not over until it's over and the fat lady has not sung yet
19
@Yves That is what is bugging me as well.
My take all along has been that Trump has been saying “no collusion” so much because he’s wanted us to think that’s all this has been about and he knew they wouldn’t be able to pin it on him. The obstruction is to keep them from digging deeper into his other affairs.
27
so right. and, for a show-stopping distraction from the Trump Troubles, how about the already-called-for revival of the hit Hillary Clinton Investigation? that will dominate the ink and airtime like crazy and soon we'll forget about all the Trump shenanigans and they can get back to major bamboozlement programs,like selling our natural resources, locking up children, and eliminating all those pesky old regulations that hold back the stealing fair.
@B Eaton
I think the same. Great minds?
Wow he is so much smarter than you guys gave him credit for that must be humbling.
Of course President Trump has been vindicated. When a multi-year investigation involving 20 prosecutors, 45 FBI agents, thousands of subpoenas, hundreds of search warrants, and 500 interviews demonstrates there is no evidence of collusion or conspiracy - that’s vindication !
Of course there was no obstruction of justice, the President enjoys the same First Amendment right to criticize the government and its actions as anyone else - and so he was free to call the investigation a witch hunt - which ironically the results reveal it very well might have been.
Please - be intelligent about this - you may hate the President, and you may believe he committed crimes - but one thing we know he did NOT do is collude with the Russians.
14
@John- did you miss the part about not being exonerated?
21
@John
Clearly you struggle with the meaning of the word "vindication." It means, according to the dictionary, "clearing someone of blame or suspicion." In fact, the Mueller probe landed us 37 indictments and multiple convictions of Trump's campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, national security advisor, a chief political advisor, personal lawyer, and numerous Russian agents. It also proved that the Russian government was actively working on behalf of Trump.
At the same time this probe was taking place, Trump lied publicly and continuously about his family and staff members meeting with Russians - either about the desire to build Trump Towers Moscow (with a reported 50 million penthouse bribe); with Russian diplomats in secret, trying to open secret back channels to Putin; and how they might help take down Hillary Clinton be procuring her emails.
While Barr's minimal report says that there is no evidence they intentionally colluded together with the Russians, Mueller could not answer the charge on obstruction of Justice. So Barr decided to answer the question for him to side for Trump (who publicly was against this inquiry from the beginning).
This is far from anyone's definition of "vindication." The fact that Barr refuses to release the whole unredacted report should give you pause before you shout to the heavens that our "Liar in Chief" is truly without blame or suspicion.
28
Perhaps you missed the part that none of those Americans indicted were convicted of any crime related to Russian collusion or any conspiracy to interfere in the election process.
Perhaps you also missed the part of the Constitution which requires the government prove you committed a crime - you are not tasked with proving your innocence.
Democrats need to stop shredding the presumption of innocence and due process simply because there is an absence of proof against the President.
While a private citizen, he paid a hooker to be silent - that’s not a crime and you’re free to vote against him in 2020.
In the meantime, accept the alleged “collusion” was a Democrat sponsored political hoax, and work to nominate a candidate that can garner enough electoral votes to win.
(By the way, all this outrage about interference in the election is somewhat ironic in light of America’s tradition of intervening in elections throughout the world.)
Not particularly related to Trump, but to greed and self-interest in general in the United States ...
I'm no conspiracy theorist … not that there aren't some people who conspire, but people who are greedy often render large scale conspiracies unworkable.
However, I do believe in the broader "conspiracy" of greed, that is, the tendency for those whose values center around making money to work together, actively or passively, to shape government policy in their favor. And that tendency allows for "lots of corruption".
And the structures of American politics foster those tendencies. Think private and corporate contributions to federal election campaigns. Think lavish lobbying efforts to shape federal tax legislation to favor personal wealth, certain businesses and/or business practices.
Getting $$$ out of politics is the way to reduce corruption in this country.
13
The primary goal of the Mueller investigation was to determine how Russia interfered with the election. Somewhere along the line, wishful thinking, the media, and probably most of all Trump himself, framed the investigation as one focused on uncovering presidential wrongdoing. Of course there was always a possibility that some dirt would be found on Trump and his family (and it got close), but this was never the primary goal. As a result of this misconception, everyone failed to notice that our president failed to do the one thing that any honorable president would have done: support the investigation. This is how the media could have most effectively shamed the president, and reminded us of what our standards once were.
21
Yes. Why all the lying. There is still a cover up here.
34
Regarding this paragraph:
"Barr wrote that no Trump associate conspired or “knowingly” coordinated with the Internet Research Agency, the Russian troll farm that spread pro-Trump and anti-Clinton propaganda. Did any do so unknowingly? Barr also wrote that the special counsel didn’t find that Trump associates “conspired or coordinated with the Russian government” in hacking into the Democratic National Committee’s computers, but few thought the campaign had a role in the actual digital break-in. "
... This leaves out other potential areas of collusion/conspiracy, such as a quid pro quo for Trump to reduce sanctions on Russia. One assumes Mueller looked into this as well.
4
Didn't Donald junior already admit that he met with Russian citizens to try to get "dirt" on Clinton. And didn't his father help him craft a false (lying as usual) statement about the meetings with the Russian citizens? Why has he (Trump JR) not been indicted? It is illegal to obtain anything of value from a non-US citizen/organization according to federal election statues. And why is Trump Sr. not guilty of obstruction of justice if he helped his son prepare a purposely false statement?
37
Certainly, don't let Trump claim he has been vindicated; even though he has!
7
@Samuel Spade
A good detective will read the report itself and make up his own mind.
Not releasing this report is anti democratic. There is too much at stake. Otherwise, it appears as a cover up. Even Individual 1 said that the report should be released, or was that just more blustery talk? If the administration won’t release it, will someone in a position to do so please get the report out? Where have you gone Daniel Ellsberg, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
17
Whatever happened with the idea of talking with the stenographer who was the only other person in the room when Trump met with Putin ? Thank goodness for the Democrats...we must vote our way out of this mess. We need to send a strong and overwhelming message so that even the Electoral College won't help Trump next election !! How there can still be any support for the worst administration in American History is beyond me. Mexico did not pay for the Wall...we don't have better Health Care! No better infrastructure,no substantial tax savings to us as individuals..etc. With all the hirings, firings, investigations, and indictments as well as Cohen's testimony..support for Trump is simply ...un American !!
20
There was no collusion. There was no collusion. Keep saying it, you may recover. Eventually. BTW. Hillary lost.
8
@Tim Dowd Naw. She won the popular vote, remember?
1
If Mr. trump is so innocent, then Chairmen Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings should invite Mr. Trump down to testify before their committees UNDER OATH.
Thank you James Madison wherever you are.
24
Trump inflated the value of one asset alone in a loan application to Deutsche Bank by over 200 million. Open and shut, in black and white. Cohen and Manafort will go to prison for far less. Trump is next.
12
No matter what happened this weekend with the Barr letter (and hopefully the full Mueller report release soon!), this is the most corrupt administration in the history of the country. Let the Congressional committees’ work continue uncovering double dealing and corruption, but in the meantime citizens need to roll up their sleeves and get to work! We’ve got an election to win next year!!
32
I am firmly convinced that Putin has something on Trump. Something big. Trump gets his knickers in a twist whenever the subject comes up. Putin snickers when the knickers get twisted. Trump’s total affect changes when the subject comes up, from defensive and arrogant to suddenly submissive and subservient.
Before/during the election Ivanka and Wendy Murdoch were galavanting around Moscow. T. Junior was high on Russian money “pouring in”. Trump’s minions were wallowing in rubles. Trump’s name was proudly displayed like a social media star throughout Russia. (I saw gold lettered “TRUMP” on a huge bottle of vodka in a Saint Petersburg vodka museum.)
One day before long Trump’s twisted knickers will be revealed to the world. The Mueller Report is just peanuts for what is to come. Have faith my friends!! I believe we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
28
@Hortencia
I certainly hope you are right. Preferably before the inevitable global crisis comes along and the ensuing panic begins. We've been fortunate thus far, but that won't hold.
12
Ya know, all those people charged just threw themselves under the bus for the sheer pleasure of it. Yup, just because they love the Donald and will do anything for him. What loyalty. Makes one proud. Omertà.
12
Here is what I don't understand. I admit that I was wrong in what I thought the Mueller Report would say, but now the question is:
Why did Trump act so guilty? He attacked the FBI, Mueller, and the investigation -- if he knew he was innocent, why not lay low, keep it out of the news, and wait to be vindicated? He is the most incompetent innocent person in history.
And, why in the world would all of these professional people commit stupid felonies by lying to the FBI -- and they are all lying about the same thing, their contacts with Russia? Their lives are ruined and they are going to prison to cover-up something that never happened? I don't get it.
I know I should accept Mueller's findings, and I suppose I do. It just seems more likely that Mueller couldn't find what Trump is guilty of, not that Trump is innocent.
30
@Ann We don't know what is in Mueller's report yet. It's up to the House of Representatives to get it released.
7
Yes, Trump had a real estate deal going in Moscow during the campaign. How many other real estate deals was Trump involved with over the same time? Taibbi is right in that the only crime related to the campaign is paying hush money to a porn star. Had Putin had even a modicum of leverage, Trump would not have sanctions, and the INF treaty would still be in tact. If you seriously are bothered by collusion and conspiracy to deal policy favors for campaign money with foreign governments, look into the Trump campaign with Saudi Arabia and Israel. It's all right there in the open.
1
This administration and their supporters and that includes some NYT posters have completely misunderstood Bob Mueller's task.
The Special Counsel is an investigative and prosecutorial office.
It is not a truth commission.
And William Barr's "cliff notes" summary release version of truth has only muddied the waters. Barr should have recused himself from this process since he is obviously biased.
Note his 19 page "cover letter" of 2018.
15
Alas, Matt Taibbi is right. By beating the (cold) war drums against Russia, the craven corporate Democrats and the mainstream media handed Trump his best gift yet--or at least his best gift since their nominating Hillary to run against him.
5
Michelle, Trump doesn't have to pretend to be vindicated because he was vindicated. The Democrats need to stop pursuing more useless investigations, apologize for what they did, and move on. Dems keep looking so foolish with every failed attempt to take this president out. It's like the Coyote and the Road Runner, and the Dems need to get out of this cartoon. We need two strong parties. Right now we only have the Republicans and spastic Dems. If Dem leadership keeps investigating, 2020 is going to be a blood bath for the left. People are actually feeling sympathetic for Trump today! Dems need to repurpose and refocus immediately. The party is in serious jeopardy.
6
@Mark
You mean give up like the republicans who spent decades investigating the clintons and only found an affair? Just like them?
Most of the people around trump have been found guilty of lying about russian contacts. Why all the lying? Innocent people don't go around lying to the FBI.
17
"The Democrats need to stop pursuing more useless investigations, apologize for what they did, and move on."
@MarkA quick question that's sorta OT, but quite relevant to one's character.
Has Donald Trump's "investigation" into President Obama's Hawaii birth certificate concluded ... yet? If it has, did Mr. Trump announce the results to that burning question? If the result was that the HI birth certificate was as legitimate as the millions of other HI birth certificates, did Donald ever apologize to the nation and President Obama for pulling such a hate-filled stunt?
Perhaps if/whenever Donald Trump decides to announce to the country the results of his "investigation" into Mr. Obama's birth--as well as his apologies to President Obama and the American people for the ugly stunt--maybe just maybe.
Thank you. Have a good week ahead. Peace to you.
@Mark. Did the Republicans apologize to Bill and Hillary Clinton for their endless and completely fruitless investigations into Whitewater, Benghazi, Vince Foster, etc.? Nah. Because Republicans don’t apologize for anything because they’re never wrong! Because they’re God’s Own Party, that’s why. I do agree that we need at least two strong parties. I don’t agree that the Republicans are the “strong” party.
Barr was sent in to the Trump admin to save the GOP ,Barr is a long time GOP political operative and like our adversaries he knew how to play Trump, write a memo trashing the Mueller report consider the president to be above the law. Trump got all excited hire him at once I found my Roy Cohn I can get away with anything now just give the GOP conservative judges and tax cuts ,consider done . Shameless with 3400 lawsuits behind him he could care less how sleazy he looks he like the look.
8
Michelle, stop you're killing us! Trump didn't win because of Russians. He won because Hillary was not electable. Better a fool who could be reigned in by the system, than a smart incorrigibly corrupt human being who would only serve themselves. I viewed her a more a threat to our democracy that the fool now on the hill.
6
@Ace Karoo: Hillary wasn't perfect, but she wasn't a fool, either.
Bottom line: Russiagate is nothing but a non-sensical bogus mass distraction. Oafish-boorish Trump was selected by the Electoral College by a landslide, in total contradiction of the popular vote, yet those without critical thinking skills or understanding of the electoral system opt for to blame Russia for their own corrupt electoral system. Those who haven't been stripped of their critical thinking skills understand that Trump has done everything contrary to Russia’s interests so far. Wouldn't it be a whole lot easier to admit that a war criminal Hillary Clinton could not win in spite of having twice the budget Trump had, the whole political machinery, AIPAC, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the CIA, the media, the super PACS, the fossil fuel mafia, Wall Street, Hollywood, Obama and Michelle as cheerleaders, a large part of the Republican Party including the Bushes and even Madonna giving out tricks for free?
6
@Michael Sorensen
Trump has done nothing against Russian interests. Congress did it. Trump has done vast harm already to an orderly world.
3
looks like 'collusion' which was THE issue is no more an issue..?????
who said "collusion" more. . .
Trumpie or everyone else?
Fact 1: Russia illegally interfered in our election to favor Donald Trump. Fact 2: In return, Donald Trump’s policies favor Russia. Question: How can any intelligent Republican honestly ignore these 2 facts? Answer: Blame the Democrats!
12
@EW
Trump's policies don't favor Russia.
1. strengthening American military hurts Russia
2. increasing sanctions against Russia hurts Russia
3. increasing American oil/gas production hurts Russia
4. arming Ukraine hurts Russia
5. increasing US military presence in Eastern Europe hurts Russia
You drank the kool-aid
Good sense. We've not seen or heard any of the Mueller report; only what A. G. Barr chose to say about it. He is Trump's man, chosen for the job.
Those of us who remember Iran-Contra may be less surprised (although equally appalled).
Let's see it--all of it.
17
Much of Trump's offenses have been norm-breaking rather than law breaking, such as his refusal to release his taxes. Just because he hasn't broken laws doesn't mean his administration isn't corrupt. What he has done is make obvious the need to enshrine norms into law.
11
What do you mean "don't let Trump pretend he has been vindicated"? His entire existence consists of him pretending that what is true is not and vice versa.
11
Muller has determined that he and his team of prosecutors were not able to establish that Trump and his campaign colluded with the Russians. The only ones that know for sure are: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and the 25 other Russians indicted by Muller who have never been questioned. It is up to Gina Cheri Haspel and her team to uncover the truth.
7
Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi are correct: Russiagate was a massive fraud, perpetrated by mainstream leftist media. Trump-Russia collusion is truly this election cycle's WMD scandal. I hope Trump and Republicans repeat over and over what a massive fraud this was, right through major victories in the 2020 election. I don't favor this Administration, but what has been perpetrated the last three years is an utter disgrace.
7
@Jack
I'm proud of an honest investigation of a pack of scoundrels, several of whom are already sitting in cells. It's far from over. If they haven't broken the law, then they have nothing to fear and nothing further to lie about. There is no mainstream leftist media deep state fraud. Just hard facts. Have you heard the mainstream leftist media say that Trump needed Russia's help in order to win the election? Their reserve is commendable.
1
@Jack
No, the endless investigations of Hillary Clinton by Republicans was a disgrace. This Mueller investigation was made necessary by the Russian interference with our elections, which is not in dispute.
1
@Jack
Perhaps you will then explain why Trump & his associates lied about their Russian contacts. If everything they did was legal, why lie? Why did they lie about their meetings with the Russians? Why did they lie about trying to set up back channels with the Russians? Why did they lie about the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians.
If they were all so innocent - why lie?
The only person who ratcheted up the media on the Mueller investigation was Trump. If he had kept his tweet and mouth shut, it would just have been an on-going investigation into the Russia meddling. Remember - his staff are all in and out of a revolving door. He will feel self satisfied now and that will make him even more dangerous. It's just ironic that he constantly attacked Obama - but when he was attacked, it wasn't so much fun. There is still campaign finance problems. This story is just getting interesting.
14
Let Trump pretend he has been vindicated? The headline for the place you work says "Cloud has been lifted from Trump."
It's going to be hard to convince people he hasn't been vindicated with headlines like that.
6
"Until the Mueller report is publicly released, however, it’s"Until the Mueller report is publicly released, however, it’s impossible to tell how much of Trump’s victory is substantive and how much is spin."
Really? The primary claim, collusion, has been confuted. There's no ambiguity here.
“(Recall the pressure to give Trump credit after his first meeting with Kim Jong-un, despite the emptiness of the resulting agreement.)”
Stopping atomic weapons tests is an empty result?
“Barr wrote that no Trump associate conspired or “knowingly” coordinated with the Internet Research Agency, the Russian troll farm that spread pro-Trump and anti-Clinton propaganda. Did any do so unknowingly?”
No, and the IRA isn’t some part of the Russian state. It’s a clickfarm, with no influence on the 2016 election. Nor be there any evidence to support Goldberg's speculation of unknowing collusion.
Ms Goldberg’s desperate dismissal of Matt Taibbi shows her as uninterested in truth.
3
I just like many others are disappointed that Trump is still standing. Now he wants revenge. It was a pipe dream that Mueller alone would save us from this nightmare. It is up to the candidates at all levels opposing Trump and the attack on democracy to do the very hard work and get elected and reelected. The NY Times needs to expose the sideshow that is Trump and reveal the real harm that is being done to all that is important to the vast majority of this country. No more news about his inane tweets please.
11
In readiness for the next election,the judiciary need to draw up a code or rules,perhaps laws, preventing any person or political party from approaching/meeting foreign enemies in an effort to gain an advantage.It might not be a crime according to Barr's summary BUT it is clearly unethical and frankly un American to do such a grotesque thing.
5
@Lord Snooty
"In readiness for the next election,the judiciary need to draw up a code or rules,perhaps laws, preventing any person or political party from approaching/meeting foreign enemies in an effort to gain an advantage."
1. the judiciary doesn't draw up laws. They are written and passed by Congress and signed by a President.
2. If this is unethical and unAmerican and grotesque what are we to make of the Clinton campaign effort to hire Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS to approach foreign enemies to get defamatory information on Trump
1
@ Steele
"What are we to make of the Clinton campaign effort to hire Christopher Steele?"
Ask the Republicans. They were the first to hire Steele. When his information did not help them, they rejected him, and then the Democrats picked up on the information from there.
The Steele report is a Pandora's Box; once you open it there is no telling where the contents will go. Maybe the Republicans should not have started looking for mud, if they did not want it splashed back on themselves.
The ethical standard of this administration is "Trump himself not under arrest". His friends and associates can be arrested and in jail, he can owe his election to illegal Russian interference, he can lie all the time, he can perform outrages like sending the military on a pointless mission to the border as an election gimmick, and declare a fake emergency... but as long as he isn't actually handcuffed and taken away, he's doing fine. And, everybody else is a criminal and will be investigated and locked up!
10
"Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Representative Devin Nunes, a devoted Trump lackey, called for the report to be burned."
I have an idea: tell Nunes the report will be burned 5 minutes after he wins his lawsuit against the Twitter Account #NunesCow.
of course Democrats are incensed. Mr. Clean meets Mr. Corrupt and punts the ball to Trump's handpicked AG who already told the nation about his views on obstruction and was supposed to hand it to Congress.
We need to see the full report. now, I'm not in favor of leaking but I suspect that if Congress doesn't get it, then somebody will.
13
@ChristineMcM
One hopes the leak will include copies of his tax returns, his college grades and test scores, and his true net worth, minus the fronting foreign oligarchs are providing him. He's lived his entire life as a fraud.... it would be a shame to allow him to die as one.
1
Thank you Michelle for an excellent overview and perspective of where we now stand on the Trump investigations and revelations. To summarize:
1. Trump has surrounded himself since 2015 with criminal elements and Russian agents. Most who have been convicted as you point out.
2. In his "Helsinki Capitulation" to Putin he essentially committed Treason.
3. He has befriended several foreign powers attempting to undermine U.S. democracy while shunning our strongest allies.
4. As it turns out his entire 50 year " business career" has been shown to be a criminal enterprise.
5. And the list goes on........
In the end, it would be interesting to ask the people of the United States: "Would Trump sell American secrets and endanger American lives for his own personal gain ?" (think Trump tower in Moscow and Trump golf clubs in North Korea)
To save everyone time, the answer to the above question is ........YES.
14
Just another reminder, as if we could forget, of his narcism. Instead of being glad that criminals were caught and found guilty, he only cares for his own predicament. Also, he said that no one he knows could have endured what he has endured with this investigation. Well that's because the only people he knows are weak in the character department. Obama endured far worse throughout his presidency all because of the color of his skin and he was unbelievably graceful about it all.
8
There was not sufficient evidence of criminal conspiracy [that Mueller was allowed to document-- Trump refused to go under oath]. But his circle of frat-boys lied multiples of time to the Law.
The reality is that Trump is the must untrustworthy elected official in recorded history, well, since the Stone Age. Yet, on the basis of a 4-page summary written by an avowed Trump follower, we're supposed to know all?
8
You need to stop. At this point the collusion truthers are helping re-elect Trump. "Did not establish?" No, Trump did not conspire with the Russians to sway the election. Full stop. Move on. Trump is an albatross around the neck of the Republican party, and will be for years to come. Take care of the people's business and the Democrats will be rewarded with the Senate as well as the Presidency. Make the next 2 years about investigating Trump and risk alienating the non-partisan.
4
"No Criminal Collusion. Lots of Corruption."
Not to mention incredible amounts of incompetence.
6
Ms Goldberg has, after dousing the flames from her hair afire, has proclaimed that corruption is still there. Can’t prove it but because she can’t this means in her mind that it exists. She should be more concerned about the corruption running rampant in NYC. Billions of dollars misused by the mayor and his equally corrupt spouse. Yet she remains quiet on this very issue. Guess she doesn’t want to lose her dinner guests.
4
"...it’s impossible to tell how much of Trump’s victory is substantive and how much is spin." About as much as the "millions of illegal voters who voted for Hillary Clinton," to deny Trump the victory in popular votes!
6
During a July 27, 2016, press conference, Donald Trump said “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.” Trump was referring to the emails that Hillary Clinton’s computer server technician deleted from the private home server she used to conduct State Department business while serving as secretary of state. The technician claimed he had accidentally deleted then emails after they had been subpoena. He used BleachBit to erase them.
Trump was being sarcastic. He was not asking Russia to hack Hillary’s computer. He knew and the Russian knew the emails had been deleted. The FBI determined that the server had been under hack attacks since 2012. That the remark is referred to as evidence of collusion indicates a paucity of evidence.
1
@William Case
Very true. The server she used illegally as Sec of State had also been in the hands of the FBI since April 2015 and couldn't have been hacked anyway.
1
Really, folks? We're supposed to not let Trump pretend he's been vindicated. Is this the 2020 Democratic Party slogan? Is this their last and only ambition? That's fine, enjoy Nancy Pelosi. Good luck on the Supreme Court. Bless your hearts over the Senate.
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Goldberg ought to be ashamed of herself, not having the ethical integrity to point out the one salient here: anti-Trump derangement has been allowed to completely color the journalism here for two years, it in turn has completely fed back and colored the public baseline of opinion. This is a travesty for the 4th estate - the same process has been running wild at MSNBC and to a lesser extent CNN. Those three are the clarions of Liberal journalism standards in America and they have gone rogue, and are responsible for the generalized use of the term "traitor" by Trump's opponents. A clear & strong statement on this hyperbolic lynching is required by Goldberg, to reset the machinery to ethical honesty. Instead it's diversion to side issues. I have read this paper for 44 years, if you don't address this misguidance you may never recover.
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Facebook groups is the 4th. looks like Helsinki and Trump and putin is trending today, or did that arise from MSNBC or cnn? or all three
It's not reassuring that the leader and founder of the gang that couldn't shoot straight is now off the hook with new minions to command. Expendable to the very last one.
If convicted in public opinion he won't be reelected. An impeachment at this point would take too long (at least the rest of the year) - for what?
Still there will still be more trials and charges with more minions to sacrifice. A new Justice Dept branch to handle some new dirt (aka Manafort style) as well. That says nothing for more resignations.
There just wasn't enough proof! The whole report in it's entirety will not be released without redaction. The House won't get to retry the case nor should the country suffer it.
Get him un-elected and then let the State of New York and the City of New York take a crack at his wealth. It's the only way to really win this injustice.
We can all survive another 20 months with a chance of justice. In the mean time congress can do some real business.
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I am sure when the Mueller Report is released there will still be no general consensus regarding whether Mr. Trump colluded or obstructed justice.
After reading many comments today, the majority of NYT commenters still believe there was no collusion and obstruction even though Mr. Barr's summary quotes Mueller's report saying there is no evidence to support charges that Mr. Trump or any other American associated with his campaign engaged with foreign agents (Russians) to rig the election.
With regard to obstruction, it is clear that Mr. Trump and his campaign played dirty and right to the edge of legality. Nevertheless, Mr. Mueller refused to bring charges or recommendations for impeachment. This investigation is over. While I am sure that the full Mueller report will have some juicy parts that expose Mr. Trump as an unethical, immoral stinkpot (who knew), since Mr. Mueller, Mr. Barr and Mr. Rosenstein decided that they could not make conspiracy and obstruction charges stick, why does Mr. Nadler think he will do any better.
The House needs to put up or shut up.
Please Democrats start trying to govern, this investigation is over and clinging to it looks like Mrs. Havisham hanging onto her pathetic past.
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If coverage of his corruption does decline, it will make extra room for coverage of the failures and mind boggling incompetence of him and his administration. Those have been getting short shrift of late, but are really as important.
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Trump hasn't been vindicated, but the media has taken a body-blow. If your only source of news was the Times, with its breathless coverage of all the Trump-Russia connections, you would have been shocked by the outcome. The Times own Peter Baker got it exactly right in his fine article last Friday: "Have journalists connected too many dots that do not really add up?" According to Baker, before the release of the report, a bare majority of Americans agreed with the characterization of the investigation as a "witch hunt". What will the polls show now?
Feeding the victimization complex of the guy in the White House is not a winning strategy.
At least I'll be able to get the WSJ for $10 per month on Apple News now.
The corruption is with the media, which failed in their duties, became partisan hacks for the Democrat Party, and now refuses to acknowledge its many mistakes.
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Trump was vindicated except for those, like the author of this opinion piece, for whom being Trump is original sin.
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I hate Trump and nothing Mueller says will change my mind. If he didn’t steal the election or obstruct the investigation, surely we can find some other crime.
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I read the article by Matt Taibbi referenced in the article and others by Glenn Greenwald. Wow. They are blistering indictments of the media on the investigation coverage. I found the following two tweets to be illuminating:
Greenwald:
: "all kinds of moronic conspiracies that...drowned out our airwaves and our discourse for three years, preventing us from focusing on the real substantive damage that the Trump administration is doing and that Donald Trump's corruption entails."
Taibbi:
"You know what cynicism in media is? Making hundreds of millions pumping fear-driven narratives, preying on the emotional devastation of audiences by raising false hopes for an investigation, shielding audiences from unpleasant truths, etc"
These two journalists are not supporters of President Trump, and Taibbi wrote an entire book bashing Trump. This is quite the eye opener. To me, this explains how we got the collusion results so wrong. Well, here we go again with this article and others like it.
I for one am not falling for it again.
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To quote others, "Barr did exactly what he was hired to do" and also "his summation was like having your best friend summarize your report card to the principal". I for one remain extremely offended by the Trump family profiting personally off the presidency, and for my money that is where the criminality and impeachable offenses lie.
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Every word in Barr's letter is there for a reason.
There was no collusion with the Russian GOVERNMENT. What about the shadow government of the oligarchs that are close to Putin but not any part of the official government?
The very word COLLUSION was defined as an AGREEMENT, which means there are promises made by both sides. It is like a contract. Obviously, no such agreement existed. The Russians told the Trump people numerous times that they wanted to help him and hurt Hillary. He never told anyone, just said to the Russian non-governmental people "Thanks, go for it". I accept that any agreement that may have existed is unprovable.
The lies that Trump and his cohorts told wasn't from fear of Mueller finding out about Trump's involvement in Russian Election Hacking.
No, Trump didn't want Mueller looking into his finances, his money laundering of Russian mob money, his shady business dealings, and the Moscow Tower deal.
That was the motivation for all the lies and that is what remains to be prosecuted.
Trump is still dirty, still a criminal, conman, racist narcissist and still unfit to serve as President.
Follow the money still applies.
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So basically, it means whatever HE says it means, nothing more and nothing less. America: It was ( mostly ) a great place, while it lasted. THAT Country is Gone.
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