The release of the Mueller report and Barr's spin set the stage for another cycle of politics as usual--meaning political and policy misdirection. Congress remains distracted from conducting the nation's business amidst the swirl of Trump as a boorish in your face rock star (or Jerry Springer on steroids), social media churning and propaganda, heavily-moneyed politics. Racial and social injustice, gun safety, prison and entitlement reform, infrastructure repair, health care, education, and climate change are ignored. Both political parties are to blame, but Republicans as the party of no, of foreign misadventures and of debt-doubling tax cuts for the hyper-rich more so. Sadly, the moribund Democrats lack the wisdom or the spine to confront reality. No wonder opinion polls over the past twenty years consistently show Congress with an approval rating of less than half that of Trump.
10
thank u, next controversy
Barr has done his job. there may be a swirl of controversy, but it will die down in time and be forgotten. all that will continue will be the result. like it or lump it. oerhaos Congressional oversight will not be as diaphanous.
1
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.
4
We have not seen the findings of the Special Council- only a summary narrative by Trump's latest man in the Justice Department- one he got by firing his first pick.
2
This statement is not correct: "The summary stated that Mr. Mueller found no evidence that either President Trump or his aides had coordinated with the Russian government in the 2016 interference." When we see the report, we likely will see what evidence he found and can make our own judgments. Mueller and his colleagues' conclusion was that there was not sufficient evidence to bring a criminal case -- which requires a very high standard of evidence. His task was to determine whether there existed sufficient evidence to bring criminal proceedings. The author's conclusion is not accurate.
5
As much as I would have liked to hear that there was a definitive 'smoking gun' in Mueller's report, I don't think I was really expecting one. On the other hand, I was hoping for some kind of explanation of a few things, like:
Why are at least 6 of Trump's close associates going to prison for offences related to the investigation if they were not trying to hide something?
Why did Trump refuse to meet with Mueller if he knew he was innocent (and what was in those written answers he did submit)?
Why has Trump's PR campaign against the investigation focused entirely on how it might threaten him, rather than how Russia's actions threaten our democracy?
Were Mueller's reasons for handing off parts of the investigation to the SDNY purely procedural, or possibly strategic?
Maybe such answers are in the full report, and maybe not. Maybe we'll eventually get to see it. In any event, I don't feel any more comfortable with Trump sitting in the Oval Office today than I did last Monday. And I'm still stuck hoping that I might resolve that unease one way or the other if I had those answers
3
One would think Mueller provided an executive summary to the report. At the very least that should be released.
3
I’m fascinated that Trump has consistently used the term witch hunt, which is ironic because a witch by definition is a woman with magic powers, or an ugly unpleasant woman. Trump is neither of those, although he would probably use the word to the political rival he would like to lock up.
3
Your main point is well taken.
However, unlike something like the "Nunes memo" which was hyped far beyond it's potential explosive power, the Mueller investigation at a minimum had potentially had the makings of at once in a generation or two catastrophe.
The potential of a real constitutional crisis did/does exist, so from that standpoint I don't completely feel that the anticipation was completely unwarranted or silly.
I do agree that the hero worship accorded to Mueller was as troubling as it was unrealistic. And the work product he ultimately produced proves that point.
He took two full years and couldn't even come to a conclusion on obstruction of justice? With all of the awesome power of the Federal Government behind him, that is some pretty weak tea, there is no other way to say it.
1
Several things are clear:
* Trump is unqualified to hold the office of POTUS -- a fact that the majority of the electorate understood before his election.
* A man truly innocent of the charges Robert Mueller was empowered to investigate would not have needed to constantly denigrate the investigation as a "witch hunt."
* The Mueller report does not exonerate Trump of all crimes, as even the Barr letter acknowledges.
* Labeling the Nunes memo and the Mueller report as equivalent "nothingburgers" -- as this article seems to do -- is in my opinion a false equivalence.
1
Progressives who are criticizing Mueller are simply wrong.
Just because they want to have an all out war with Trump, it does not mean Mueller should have made a public spectacle of the process. He issued an accurate report - I never thought that Trump or his “team” were competent enough to collude. But I was sure that he was guilty of obstruction even if obstruction was designed to protect his fragile ego.
The discoveries from the process spoke for themselves - Russians interfered, trump lied, trump and his enablers are corrupt and inept.
It also kicked of a series of legal reckonings for Trump’s corrupt past.
The investigation already achieved this: It furthere erroded any legitimacy of 2016 elections. The president who lost the popular vote was aided by the Russians, even if he did not coordinate that help with them. That's a big cloud over his legitimacy.
Let voters pass their judgement on Trump at the polls.
And this time, put forth someone better than Hillary Clinton please.
That’s what’s best for the country.
2
So the author finds fault with Wall Street Journal’s editorial asking for the release of the full report and all related documents, as part of the “build the expectation” campaign. How about the endless articles in the NYT, and the rest of the left-leaning media, about the dramatic revelations perpetually just-around-the-corner in Mueller’s investigation ? Today’s crushing victory for Trump was built by a year and a half of feverish speculation in the media, unrelated to any hard fact.
2
I am sure every person that has been punished for 'obstruction of justice' has his lawyer looking into why they were able to prove his intent (with far less obvious actions) while simultaneously exonerating Trump without explanation.
Most crimes do not take place right in front of the American public. When they do and someone says, "Nope, nothing here all you dim people!," it strains credulity to the extreme to say that the problem here is anticipation or partisan spin.
What exactly do you tell people, millions of them, who watched as Trump flat out admitted to firing Comey because of that FBI thing? What do you tell those of concerned about him asking the FBI director to 'let that Flynn thing go?' What do you tell those of us who witnessed an unprecedented attack on the special counsel on a nearly daily basis? What do we make of the clear dangling of pardons to those entangled in an investigation? What do we make of an illicit cooperation with Manafort, violating all investigative norms with Trump's lawyers violating a cooperation agreement?
When you see all of those things and someone attempts to tell you that legal statute is so spectacularly high that there is no way a body of American citizens could look at those actions and reach the determination that there was corrupt intent in these actions ... is absurd.
The majority of the US that was hoping JUST MAYBE facts and evidence married to some kind of real ethic would matter. Why doesn't it?
3
you imply the words ethic and Republicans in the same thought. as events over the last 3 years or so have shown, ethics are far removed from Republican imperatives, which are to hold onto power at all costs and squeeze every last drop of life out of ordinary Americans, for the benefit of the richest and most religiously fanatical among us. the President and his supporters were not exonerated: Mueller seems to have concluded there is insufficient evidence to prosecute a case that would be impossible to lose. but now that the report is delivered, exonerated is on every loyalists lips. thu just wamt to put the whole comsiracy and obstruction thing to bed asap so they can get on with the raping and pillaging. can you blame them? their President himself is their highest obstacle.
1
Barr seems to be acting more like the President’s attorney than the chief of our federal law enforcement institution, that is supposed to protect all of us. Mr. Trump, according to James Comey, wanted the FBI to back off on investigating Mr. Flynn, who clearly had ties to the Russians. Comey wouldn’t bite and he then was fired, leading to the creation of the Special Counsel.
You don’t have to believe Comey, but it is always hard to believe Mr. Trump. Obviously, Mr. Barr does not believe the former FBI director.
1
Everyone knows this is a political dispute. Nobody would bother to investigate Trump if everyone liked his policies.
The best way to resolve political disputes is through politics. Let the Democrats take their best shot in 2020, with whichever candidate they decide on. If Trump beats them again under the existing electoral system, then they might start to consider why they keep losing to a guy who is nobody's idea of any sort of ideal.
4
It doesn't feel like the time to be optimistic, but Trump's approval uptick today is quite minor, with the majority of the country still disapproving of him. He can crow all he wants about his innocence, but more of us than not want him out of office as much as we did before the report was submitted. Perhaps even more so today.
There'll be a lot of pressure to reveal the report, thanks to the resolute Democrats in the House and their voacal constituents. Congressional Republicans are aware of the likely consequences on Election Day should they resist. The president they're protecting is still appealing to a minority base.
1
I disagree. Citizens want to see what the report actually says, without media spin and without relying on the conclusion reached by a recent Trump appointee. Give us the report and two weeks, and we'll see if there is any reason to keep investigations going, to initiate impeachment, or to concentrate on the next election instead.
2
It's true that it's very hard to find hard, criminal evidence of a conspiracy with a foreign government.
But what we could see with our own eyes is not nothing. Nothing "exonerates" a president who asked the Russians to hack a US citizen's e-mails, who showed up to get dirt on an opponent, who changed the Republican platform to suit Russia, who is in hock to the Russians, who denies to this day that Russia interfered and that we should do something about it.
I could go on, but suffice it to say: Even if Mueller could not find specific, verbal, quid-pro-quo evidence of a crime, there's still enough there that honorable people would throw this guy out of office.
1
So what’s so self evident to you and your ilk is good enough. god for bid we have a two year investigation that looks at the facts.
1
For an example of the build up turn to PBS News Hour on Friday. Almost the entire program was devoted to speculation about the Mueller report. What a waste of time. You could see David Brooks squirming in his seat, a thought bubble; why don’t we talk about real news. Sad when PBS follows the dog whistles.
1
This is what happens when you bet all your chips and all your credibility on one card.
The card can come back and bite you, like it did.
For years the Democrats have played the card that this would certainly dethrone Trump, but as it turns out, no, it did not.
Now the Democrats have to save face, and have less than two years to come up with a candidate that can unite them all.
Too late, you loose.
Next up they will claim something else and try to hand feed us what they have claimed they did not want all along: a white, male, old, rich, Washington insider, known for making deals. But being that they are so fractured between the extreme left, the Socialists under AOC, and a few cowed centrists, it is already too late to unite.
Trump 2020 is a done deal now.
2
Mr. Warzel makes a grave mistake in this essay. He writes: "It's only when it's released (referring to the Mueller report) that it seems to lose its power.". Please note Mr. Warzel that the Mueller report HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED! All that has been published is the letter by a Trump appointee telling us what the report says. Would you believe Frank Nitti's explanation of Al Capone's behavior? If Barr would accept what Barr has put out, he would be an incompetent A.G..
PROSECUTE RUSSIAGATE!
2
Nothing can conceal or obfuscate the fact that we have a man in the White House who is incompetent, incurious, insecure and who is morally unfit to occupy the high office he was barely elected to.
2
My belief is if this was Obama he would’ve been indicted.
3
In the end it's always the indisputable, rock-solid evidence of Tax Fraud that brings them down.
We hard working taxpayers just cannot stomach those
already-filthy-rich billionaires who lie, cheat and steal and
get away with tax evasion while we middle class citizens struggle just to pay our bills.
2
No, we do not care more about the build up and anticipation than the reveal. In fact we yearn for the truth to be revealed, without spin or caveat. The problem is that we never get it. We can thank our so-called "leaders", who do anything but, and who have a vested interest in lying and covering up the truth.
And we can thank the media that goes along with that, spinning stories based upon which side of the political spectrum they report from, withholding certain facts to make sure their stories align with their political views. Outfits like Fox and Breitbart are more visibly partisan, but even the NY Times engages in emphasizing the viewpoints it wants over the facts. I wold love to be able to get the straight, unfiltered news and be allowed to make up my own mind about what it means.
But I suspect that maybe such a news outlet wouldn't make any money and would go out of business. Maybe it's like Jack Nicholson shouted at Tom Cruise in "A Few Good Men": 'You can't handle the truth!' If that's the case, then our ability to remain free is in doubt.
1
It's hard to believe that trump did not have a legal duty to report the attempts of the Russians to commit crimes in his favor to the authorities. Everyone else, excepting the trump operatives, did so. trump operatives lied about the contacts. Jared attempted to commit a crime by seeking back door comm channel with the Russians before the inauguration.
Mueller's world is black and white, looking for an airtight case in order to indict.
Today, we all woke up to a world where trump is a law abiding citizen who has been terribly wronged by an improper investigation carried out by his political enemies.
That's insane, just insane.
1
The biggest threat to our Democracy in this moment is the willingness of those in power to manipulate and frame information in ways that raise fear, anger and hate in service of gaining and keeping power. Until we see those in power refuse to accept this attack on the integrity of our government, we are in danger of completely losing control of our own government. We must demand transparency and vote for leaders who refuse to allow those who do act with intent to undermine our confidence in the actions of ALL of our government servants. The press must stop twisting the truth and those who do should be pushed to the forefront with every instance of disinformation and lies in service as propagandists. I keep waiting for a fellow news organization to highlight FOX news and their use of information as a clear and intentional tool to protect and serve those in power. They have been very potent in an effort to assure that their power is intact and grows. This is not Democracy. This is fascism. When will we see this exposed in earnest?
2
Th onywayto cope with the Orwellian world described here which is the world that Trumpthrives in is to get the facts.
The Mueller "roadmap" of Trump's suspicious activities will be invaluable. The Democrats must now stand strong and openly investigate in great detail Donald Trump’s finances linked to Russian investors, his misuse of charitable funds and his abuse of his campaign funds.
The Republican House spent untold millions "investigating" Hillary for strictly political reasons and could prove no wrongdoing. Yet, the Republicans are perfectly willing to help cover up Trump's violation of Constitutional emolument rules, his gross intimidation of anyone in his way, his obstruction of justice, etc. And what about those hidden tax returns? Trump indeed behaves in office like the wannabe mafia crime boss that he is. Yes, the GOP leadership is complicit in Trump's endless crimes.
It is a matter of loyalty and respect for this nation for the Democratic House and various state attorney generals to leave no stone unturned in a massive effort to expose the vast corruption of the ignorant, selfish, dangerous narcissist Trump. He can run but he cannot hide.
However, it is a matter for voters to recognize the complete corruption of the Republican Party that inflicted Trump on the United States knowing full he spent his entire life immersed in criminal fraud.
1
I think that many of us do, in fact, enjoy the hype and spin and all the affirmations that we can get from the media pundits as well as each other online.
Having said that, I think that a lot of people do not know where to turn for a definitive answer. Guilty or Not? Maybe but we just couldn't prove it. Climate change Yes or No? Should I vaccinate my child? Yes or No? Evidence claimed by both sides.
On and on it goes with more facets of our lives succumbing to doubt each and every day. The alternative facts world has taken over.
Manafort was found guilty of tax evasion and fraud but was 'such a blameless guy'. What? Call me old fashioned but you're a crook if you cheat and are found guilty.
I still believe that 2+2=4 but I am also sure someone might take me on so to say to prove me wrong.
Trump lives for the 'outrage'. He doesn't get that anger and chaos from facts so the spin is all for him. Saner minds seem incapable of prevailing.
Rudy Giuliani: "The truth isn't truth".
And here we go again down the rabbit hole.
Please stop.
1
Mr. Warzel has a point of course, but he does not speak for all thinking Americans. What we are hearing are the loudest and most vociferous on both sides of the aisle re the Mueller Report and Special Counsel. I think I speak for many that the bottom lines are our everyday needs....jobs, health care, standard of living, education, equal rights for all in spite of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual identity. Even if there was no further investigation into Russia's meddling in 2016, our most crucial problems would still exist. And the problems have at its center a very corrupt, amoral, and unfit Donald Trump. He has failed miserably at our expense. He, his Cabinet, his Senate are spending money on real and metaphorical walls. These walls block out justice and fairness and equal rights for us. In the end, it is about Trumpism not a Special Counsel.
17
@Kathy Lollock: I always enjoy your posts; they are straightforward and pointed without frills. It almost seems like we need to move beyond Donald Trump now and seed the 2020 election season with fertile issues rather than ruin our ploughshares on the unyielding and stony ground of which this administration is barren and bare of policy and meaning for all Americans, not just the priceless one percent. Thanks for the needed douse of cold water. Brrrr.
2
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18 And I always read and heed your posts, friend!
1
"The summary stated that Mr. Mueller found no evidence that either President Trump or his aides had coordinated with the Russian government"
It did NOT say that. It said that the investigatiive team did not have sufficient grounds to establish that there was a conspiracy. We know there is evidence. (meetings, etc.) we can infer that their is more. Mueller concluded that it wasn't conclusive.
So let's see the evidence and continue the conversation without getting spun.
1
When did you get the report Michael please share it, So in your mind, god forbid we follow law , the lack of evidence to proceed should be the ...lack of evidence to proceed forward until the lack of evidence is still lack of evidence.... or we get him on something else .
1
When court documents directly implicate the President in election fraud, why is that considered "controversy" or a hidden conspiracy?
The facts in plain view make it clear our president is a crook.
2
A “relentless pursuer of truth” who never even tried to force Trump to testify?
2
No. The buildup.....all the anticipatory talk about what was in Mueller’s report was media generated.
Most of us want the report and REALLY don’t want to hear endless speculation when the corrupt, cruel and chaotic WH is something we are dealing with in real time already.
1
The Russian collusion hoax was perpetrated on the American public by a bitter democratic party and their sympathetic media allies. Nothing can be said to distract from this fact.
2
All legal arguments notwithstanding, if someone as venal and vulgar as Donald Trump can't be impeached, then no one can.
2
The temptation is to pick apart every feather and foot in minute detail, but let's face it, Trump is so awful maybe we should go for some low-hanging fruit and put him in prison for tax evasion.
It worked with John Dillinger. Why waste the time; the money; and effort when something so simple lies easily within our grasp.
Does it really matter why he goes to jail as long as goes?
5
We now have real cause to worry about the future of America. A two year investigation wrapped up in a one page letter. That’s like making the Constitution a footnote.
3
Time to move on. Focus on what an incompetent president he is. Let the drama go. Please America get out and vote in 2020. I’m afraid this exoneration will give Trump significant political momentum going into 2020. Watch out!
Democrats must tread carefully. The damage here is not the president's vindication; it'a that his fans will use this as cover for all his other wrongdoing. Callng Devin Nunes...calling Devin Nunes....
To put it simply, the president did not collude with the Russians therefore he's done nothing improper on his taxes, he didn't pay off women, he never lies and so on. Because the list of probable crimes is so long, anyone who investigates will be characterized as persecuting the world's most honest man.
Rudy has taken this a step further, questioning why there was an investigation at all. It's not like any criminal activity was uncovered, right? Just ask Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort and the others.
2
Democrats have to be careful from here on out. Having tried and failed to find evidence of collusion, repeated attempts to find something beyond what Mueller uncovered risk making the Trump investigation hearings resemble nothing so much as the Benghazi hearings. Democrats derided those hearings as repetitive attempts to drag Hilary's name through the mud, with no new information ever resulting. There is a strong chance that Trump hearings will be the same.
Trump is incompetent and odious in many ways. These are neither criminal nor impeachable offenses. Lying to Congress and covering up sex scandals during a campaign are what we expect of our politicians; they do not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. From this point on, these investigations will generate more antipathy among independent voters than additional support from Democrats.
3
Uh what do you know! Sometimes it If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a a turkey!
1
If he wasn't above the law before,
he sure is now.
Strap in, very rough air ahead.
1
Mr. Warzel must keep in mind that the Mueller report has Not yet been released, at least not to Congress or the American people.
It was released only to AG Barr and Deputy AG Rosenstein, who jointly made the decision to overrule Mueller's apparent (Barr quotes Mueller) decision that he found strong mixed evidence on whether Trump had obstructed justice. Barr, not Mueller, decided there was no obstruction of justice --no surprise, because he got his job by writing a long memo claiming that a president cannot,
by dint of his office, commit obstruction of justice.
We need to see the full Mueller report. Millions of Americans will, indeed, read the longer documents, because we avoid "spin" wherever we find it--either in Barr's summary of Mueller, or in this article.
1
Trump's reaction to AG Barr's "summary" was very predictable. Of course he feels completely exonerated, despite this not being the case. Trump emphatically spins content to his advantage, lying even when unnecessary.
Barr was appointed by Trump. Barr's opinion of the investigation was clear before being AG. Of course he was going to spin this in Trump's favor. But what he fails to highlight is that Mueller concluded that Russia DID MEDDLE in our election, and helped Trump. Trump kept going on about there being no meddling. And despite the conclusion of the report, he will continue to do so... BECAUSE THEY ARE HELPING HIM.
Trump is of course weaponizing this report, now trying to lay claim that this was an investigation ill conceived by Democrats, when it was actually Republicans. His behavior throughout this whole affair has been despicable. This is NOT OVER. Not by a long shot.
This whole thing reminds me of the Superbowl. The buildup, half-time show and the post game analysis can have more impact than the game itself. These generate a lot of advertising. I have felt that people support political parties and politicians the same way that they support their favorite teams and players. It is about loyalty and emotion, not rationality. Most people are not purists when it comes to sports. They want their team to win in order to feel good. Unfortunately, this emotional dynamic also drives what passes for citizenship in our society today.
2
This analysis is right on target. An insightful analysis of the social psychology and mythos at work especially in current polarized times. The spin wars are also sort of wars of conjuring separate realities, sometimes it sounds like virtual games or modern magic. In any case, this investigation was not the right strategy to bring Trump down. It was too elusive. Why not focus on hard policy issues instead? This has consumed too much energy and too many front pages in the NYT. Incredible. I hope we the public and citizens of this country are not made to endure more of this story (movie?). Bring him down through more substantial battles. And, btw, given the nature of the global digital communications in which we now live in, the propaganda and fake news campaigns are going to continue and escalate (whether managed by Russians, Chinese, Americans, or Tahitians.
2
It seems clear to me that there is no evidence of collusion /conspiracy to charge the president with. I t also seems clear to me that the charge of obstruction of justice is not chargeable because there was no underlying crime to obstruct. Thank you Mr Mueller.
And it is different when the actions of the president are public rather than secret, because the american people ( either through congress or an election ) can determine for themselves how these behaviors should be handled.
Yet, I am still confused by one thing. Why did so many (all?) of Trumps men risk jail by lying to the FBI and/or congress if there was nothing to hide. Why?
4
There is a basic problem with the media and the public when it comes to reporting on things like the Mueller investigation findings. Like impatient children, the public and the media demand immediate information, immediate conclusions from that information and immediate analysis of that information, including the future ramifications of that information. All of the analysis and pontificating about AG Barr's brief analysis of the Mueller report is completely premature. It's as if a jury in a criminal case were to deliberate and vote to convict or not convict after each piece of evidence or witness testimony is presented to it, instead of waiting for all of the evidence and testimony to be presented to them before deliberating (as it is supposed to do). In this case, AG Barr also appears to be manipulating the media and public opinion by picking out one conclusion of Mr. Mueller and his team that there is no evidence of collusion to present to the public. I suspect that there is information in the Mueller report about obstruction that will make Trump look very bad but Trump and his supporters are hoping that if and when that information is released it will be deemed old, rehashed news. Let us resist the urge to form definitive opinions when we don't have all of the information.
6
Like the Nunes memo, the Mueller report turns out to be a nothing-burger. Except in this case, it was a two-year, taxpayer funded, multimillion dollar nothing-burger. I dare say that the sainted Bob Mueller -- silent, inscrutable, even holy in the eyes of some -- could have saved America a lot of time and energy by winding this thing up 10 months ago, by which time it must have been clear to him and his dozen-plus attorneys that there was no "there there." Hopefully, we can all move on, once Trump quits screaming his new favorite word: Exoneration!!
3
@Tim C: You have already fallen for the spin that is the Barr letter. How do you conclude the report is a " nothing burger" when you haven't even seen it? You have seen what Barr wants you to see, which is his own independent conclusion (backed up by what, exactly?) that Trump did not commit a crime of obstruction. Others may disagree, especially those who were not hand-picked to protect the President. I will be as happy as the next person to " move on, " but not before knowing what that report actually says.
1
This all may be true of the body politic as a whole. But for individuals who care about the truth, and I hope I may count myself as one, all I care about is what the conclusion was, not what the spin is. I think we get a distorted view sometimes of politics, because the persons who are the most partisan are also the persons who are the most vocal.
If Robert Mueller says there was no collusion that is good enough for me, and frankly I am glad it is not true, I would hate to think anyone in the White House had colluded with a foreign power. I did not anticipate this outcome -- because it Trump and his associates repeatedly lied about their contacts with Russian individuals, the meeting at Trump tower, etc. This is still a mystery to me, and I would like to see the details in the Justice Dept. report. But surely Mueller's team looked closely at all of this and concluded either that there was no actual collusion or that there may have been but they couldn't prove it.
So no, despite the spin that partisans on both sides may indulge in over the next few months, many of us are unaffected by this and will be guided strictly by what the justice Dept. concludes.
3
Now that the Mueller report is completed, we know that Trump is not Putin's partner, merely his pawn. We still don't have a firm explanation for Trump's strange partiality for Russia. It may be a promise of a Trump Tower in Moscow. It may be something else. Whatever the reason, it is disturbing to see a US President put Russia ahead of his own country.
6
It wasn't Mr. Mueller's job to prove the case for treason. Congress will do that and should.
6
All this by an Attorney General who, by all ethical standards, should have recused himself from any Russian matters. His conclusions may not truly reflect those of Mueller. The public must see the entire report.
4
There is nothing new about conspiratorial thinking, ideological blindness and extreme partisanship. But the Democrats’ reaction to the Mueller report takes all of the above to new heights - or should it be lows? The conclusions of the report are unambiguous: there is no evidence of collusion, either by Trump or any of his associates. Even if you believe that the President cannot be indicted, everybody else can be. So if there was any proof of the Trump campaign’s coordinating or conspiring with Russians, we would have indictments of people in the Trumpworld. We don’t have any except for Manafort and others who have been indicted for financial crimes and/or obstruction of justice unrelated to Russia. In fact, for anybody familiar with Putin’s modus operandi, the idea that he would actually hatch a conspiracy with Trump is as ridiculous as Hillary’s supposed involvement in Pizzagate. This is not how Russians operate (and before you ask, I read Russian and follow their media). So, Democrats, drop it. Just drop it, move on and concentrate on offering a real sane alternative to Trump in 2020. As a Hillary supporter, I am telling you that you chase the shiny object of impeachment at your electiral peril.
3
24/7 news channels are a pox on our country. Sadly, the Internet has not resulted in a population that is better informed; it has simply made it easier for many to seek out confirmation. Both cable and the Internet have degraded us. They have contributed to a poorer, more close-minded, more tribal culture on the whole.
Trump is our first Kardashian president; he won't be the last.
4
I accept that Mueller could not prove that Trump colluded with Russia. I also accept Mueller’s findings that Russian violated our election laws to help Trump. Russia is clearly at fault. They may have the proof that Mueller was looking for. Our president may be forever beholden to Putin, so he must never be permitted to repay him.
2
I can't help but blame the American people. I'm tired of hearing how the media or the politicians are controlling American appetites for sensationalism. It's nonsense. Until people are better than this, Trump is exactly what we deserve.
The report plainly says it is not an exoneration. And anyone with even a cursory understanding of the criminal legal process understands that an acquittal--or a prosecutorial declination--is not the same thing as an exoneration. In fairness to Trump, an exoneration would have to prove the negative (No collusion!, as he says), which is next to impossible.
The proper interpretation of this report is that Mueller did not feel so strongly that he took a side, and therefore simply gave his findings to the AG, who decided there was insufficient evidence to obtain or sustain a criminal conviction. The resolution of the Trump saga will have to come from voters. The Democrats who continue to fan the flames of a fantasy of criminal consequences for Trump's behavior (none of which could rival his open ambivalence-bordering-on-affinity for white nationalism, by the way) are eroding their own credibility. At this point, he is what he is, and we all know what he is. In the judgment of his opponents, he is unacceptable. In the judgment of his supporters, he can do no wrong.
We will have to resolve this at the polls, which are undemocratically bent to help elect Republicans, who don't care whether Russia helped them. Let's focus on the real problems.
3
@Andre...
If our polls are "...undemocratically bent to help elect Republicans....", then how did Barack Obama manage to win two terms as president?
Your partisan ship, sir, is destroying your ability to reason from a to b.
1
You forget though this was full weight of two year investigation that upon its inception would shed light on what you all were told or out right believed was blatant self evident and serious collusion by this president. And yet it’s not. So your shiny object has dulled and you want another one. Go get a blue ribbon for losing the election to Trump.
1
This is all very predictable. I'm open minded, and will reserve judgement until Mueller's full report is released publically and vetted. Until then, and only then, it's business as usual.
4
We must accept the Mueller report but we must continue to investigate trump until we can remove him from office. He is not a president by any stretch of the imagination. He plays one only for the applause of his sycophants. The SDNY will hopefully find the proof that trump is a criminal and maybe, just maybe we can fumigate the White House in time for our next real president. This country will have a long road ahead to full health. But first we must get rid of the trump virus.
5
@MLE53
I'll accept the Mueller report when I can read it, not when William Barr regurgitates his predigested version of it for me.
4
Charlie Warzel is correct in this respect: those of us who follow politics and the pundit class closely--and, despite our skewed perceptions, that isn't a very large group nationally--look upon these machinations with great anticipation, and treat the reveals like the Second Coming.
This is probably due to some desire for closure, and also the tendency to want to end "buildup" with "release"--the Greeks knew all about the effect of catharsis in theater--but it winds up being, well, political porn.
As regards the actual substance, or lack of same, in Barr's letter and in the still not completely perused Meuller report, the fact remains that there's plenty of other malfeasance that doesn't involve conspiring with a foreign adversary to rig an election for Trump to be bounced on--emoluments, payoffs to paramours, etc. The question remains whether the highly distractable average American (not the pundit types who type commentary) is going to be able to make such distinctions and not just say Trump is completely exonerated.
2
Yeah but you all said then this is the low hanging fruit he will be out of office for collusion. It’s self evident. And now two years later it’s not and you want another shot at the piñata. Promising us again we will get him it’s obvious.... we’ll maybe if you took off your hate glasses and thought some more looked around and honestly evaluated America all the policies and politics you cry for could have been enacted by Democrats under Obama but were not. The world did not come to an end when Obama did not grant free education to all unlimited open borders, 30 acres and a Lexus in reparations and no enforcement of foreign policy. The world will not come to an end if Trump does not enact those same leftie wishes.
Let America see the full report.
Putin and Russians still hacked into the Democratic National Committee's email server, handed the emails to Wikileaks, Trumper Roger Stone then lied about his communications with Wikileaks, and Wikileaks then proceeded with a slow systematic drip-drip campaign-style release of emails carefully orchestrated to damage Hillary Clinton's candidacy.
This circumstantial and criminal evidence is damning in and of itself.
It's evidence that the 2016 election was in fact tampered with.
There are more details in the body of the Mueller report that Americans deserve to see about this 2016 foreign invasion.
What has this Administration done to protect American from another invasion in 2020 ?
Absolutely nothing.
There's something rotten in the state of Trumpistan and Republistan.
The full report must be released.
The Russians have gotten away with their American invasion.
And the Republican Party doesn't care.
Time for the Republican Party to change their flag lapels to match the Russian flag.
41
The problem is that Trump obstructed revelation of Trump Tower Moscow and appearance of quid pro quo. That there was no direct link between GRU and Trump campaign - despite Manafort giving polling data to Kilimnik - does not mean that Trump did not obstruct justice or that there was not an underlying crime of a different sort either.
The full report may have copious evidence to that effect, and that should have been passed to congress, not summarized by an AG who can't indict anyway.
1
We should remember that the Republican-initiated and Republican-conducted "witch hunt" had closely circumscribed objectives: investigation of collusion and obstruction of justice. The information available to the public suggested that both of these were long shots. As a solidly anti-Trump voter, I was skeptical that either of these threads would yield fruit. But Trump is far from out of the woods. Mueller spun off the most serious charges that were outside his purview to several Federal jurisdictions, like SDNY, and NY State prosecutors.
Individual-1 was named as the instigator and driver in the hush money payments conviction of Michael Cohen. Trump is under investigation in a number of cases of business fraud. He may well get busted for money laundering and other shenanigans with various Russian oligarchs. His taxes are suspect.
Trump will bellow about his "total vindication," ignoring that he had not been absolved of obstruction. He'll spin it his usual way, with half-truths and proof by assertion, but the wheels of justice are still turning, He hasn't retained a team of lawyers because he was afraid of Mueller's limited-scope investigation; he's much more worried about the rest of the fallout.
8
@Bill McGrath I, too, think that financial shenanigans will be his undoing, rather than collusion.
2
Limited scope.....?... no one was actually jailed for collusion with the Russians. All the actors had been charged with peripheral crimes. So to the contrary he was not limited in scope.
1
The apparent conclusion of a lack of collusion reminds me of the Robert Kraft case, that is, what justice is like for rich people. Kraft was given a $5,000 fine and community service because the prosecutor claimed he couldn't prove the most serious charges. This is despite the fact that both payments and services for Kraft are on video tape. Mueller took an approach with Trump that said all 103 lied about Russian contacts by 13 individuals in the Trump orbit signified nothing provable about conspiracy. The Don Jr, Jared, Maefort meeting talking about dirt on Hillary and sanctions removal also meant nothing provable. Manefort giving a Russian insider 75 pages of private Trump campaign polling data after explaining its meaning was a just so happens. This fails a straight face test. Mueller was looking always for an airtight paper trail as his standard. In the case of collusion with the Russians, nothing short of a signed note from Putin thanking Comrade Trump for conspiring with him would be the rich person standard that applied, not a common sense look at the evidence that is the best case when applied to the poor.
5
What did I learn from the Mueller report? I learned that Mr. Mueller did not exonerate The President from obstruction of justice and his appointed Attorney General followed through on his pre-job statement that the President could not be indicted for obstruction of justice.
What did I learn about Trump, his family, and his allies? Three years of excellent legitimate investigative journalists & Mr. Mueller revealed President's and his family's long history of lies, probable tax evasion & insurance fraud, the use of attorneys to cheat everyday people out of their contractual fees, his flagrant use of undocumented Polish construction workers to build Trump Tower in NYC, the payment of fines to avoid criminal trials and publicly admitting guilt for a variety of crimes, including fraud, housing discrimination, workplace employment violations, submitting fraudulent documents to the NYC housing authority that resulted in rent increases for low and middle income residents, use of undocumented immigration, shady money practices at his AC casino, and many other criminal activities.
I, also, learned that the so-called law and order party and pro-family party & the current AG are okay with shady behavior & adultery as long as they get their anti-public health, anti-environment, anti-worker, anti-minority, anti-women, anti-environment, anti-civil rights, pro-voter suppression, pro-fossil fuel, and pro-banking agenda. And, we are a plutocracy.
22
Hey buddy ever hear of the Kennedys... I mean the saint Kennedy’s.
1
As much as I respect Quinta Jurecic's opinion, I think we're confusing the media's reaction with actual public thought.
Anyone paying attention recognized Devin Nunes as a partisan hack and a bad one at that. The whole episode was a stunt designed to provide grist to the Fox News machine and distract public attention from Trump's conduct.
The Mueller investigation is on a separate order of magnitude. The punditry and news media respond in a similar way but there's a yawning gap in motivation and character. I trust Mueller is acting in good faith. If his report states there was no conspiracy, I can live with that.
However, we don't know what the report says. We have a four page legal opinion from a suspect Trump appointee. The reveal hasn't happened yet.The public are incapable of developing an informed opinion without Mueller's report. That doesn't seem likely to happen any time soon.
I therefore feel like the entire episode is anti-climatic without being disappointing. We knew the report was not going to provide definitive evidence. We also knew the White House, and by extension the DOJ, was going to suppress the Mueller report when Trump fired Jeff Sessions. How else can you explain Matt Whitaker? We simply had to wait awhile for events to play out.
There really isn't much anticipation when you already know the outcome. We've known from the beginning Trump is likely getting voted out of office before anyone can remove him. How the media reacts really doesn't matter.
5
One myth that can be put to rest is the myth that Robert Mueller and "13 angry Democrats" on Mueller's legal team were conducting a witch hunt. If anything, Trump and his political cronies were conducting an ongoing witch hunt to discredit Mueller's investigation. For his part, Robert Muller never got on a soapbox and opined in public about anything. In the face of tremendous pressure from both sides he stayed silent because he is a 'class act' and consumate professional. For the most part, the system of justice worked fairly well. The only thing that has been 'rigged' about Mueller's investigation was Trump's non-stop, very public, conspiratorial finger-pointing.
5
There is a better way.
Everyone is seeking the truth but why are most – from readers to editorialists – seemingly content to receive a “redacted” version of the special counsel’s report? If the attorney general’s letter is any indication – the summarily dismissal of the obstruction of justice charge within one day of receiving the report – there should be widespread concern as to whether the report will be “properly” redacted. Consequently, everyone – from all members of congress, the media, and especially the electorate – should insist on the immediate and full disclosure of the report. No “processing” (read censorship) of the report should take place.
If any redacting is to be done to meet requirements of the law, such redaction should be carried out with congressional oversight as represented by the heads of the two judiciary committees. This bipartisan, comingling of the two branches of government in this history-making initiative should not and does not infringe on the constitutional separation of powers. Moreover, the members of the committees should collectively sign off on the report with a covering letter that assures the American people that any redaction was done solely pursuant to legal requirements and not to suppress any inconvenient truths.
Anything less will be an affront to the American people.
5
Republicans - and the Kochtopus - have been and are interfering with elections, by a range of means that disempower those who struggle to get by. People who work for less than a reasonable living wage have trouble with housing and transport, and cannot take time off from work, just for starters.
I just received my confirmation of my residence/voting status (in "liberal" Boston) and even there the pressure is on to respond or be removed from the lists. So if the list goes astray.
There's gerrymandering ...
ID's can be troubling for the elderly, and even for military people who've been abroad for a while. If it was easy to get an ID ...
Crosscheck is a nasty - imagine if somebody misspelled your name or used your middle initial - the permutations are endless.
We need a more accessible system, so everyone who is a citizen can vote easily.
It should also be a national holiday, though that would not help the "servant" class much (I work with Home Health Aides, so they are on my mind; of course I'd make sure they have time, but how many of us require our "help" (the underpaid lower echelons) to be present regardless of other priorities.
3
And one of the biggies: Bush v. Gore
So as long as they cater to their financier buddies, the rich and powerful will become more rich and powerful, and devil take the hindmost!
1
I'm wondering how much of the phenomenon described by Mr. Warzel is the result of news media looking for the sensational and spectacular.
We see it in something as mundane as weather reporting. The buildup is intense. It's the storm of the century! Then reporters lean into the wind, which sometimes might be something less than is being depicted. Then there are the interviews by "experts" and even more interviews by the people affected. The reporters demeanor is that of excitement, barely contained. Isn't this horrible? And aren't we happy it's so horrible?
That tendency has taken over the entire spectrum of news reporting. That is one reason we are left feeling disappointed at the Mueller report. There are been so much hype that the result, which we haven't actually seen. and may never see, can't possibly live up to expectations.
75
@Betsy S, the news media has been in hyper mode since 2015 when Trump announced his run. From that very moment the media has been horribly obsessed with Trump. Fully preoccupied with Trump. They have lost their objectivity. They have lost their purpose which is to report facts, not inject opinions into the non thinking audience that is comprised of vastly gullible American public. Just look at the number of political “pundits”, talking heads, each claiming to be an expert in this and that. Just look at the multitude of news media outlets the cable tv channels the online blogs the radio talk shows. Who is paying them? Why do they even exist? We the public are feeding the frenzy. So who is to blame?
4
@Betsy S
I want CNN, MSNBC, Schiff, Nadler and Perez to apologize for their "There's collusion hiding in plain sight" declarations. And the MSM distorted charges demand an investigation into who was driving that defamatory story line. The country suffered through taxpayers of lies all because those mentioned couldn't accept Hillary's loss. Cry in Maddow's bowl of tears, and accept Trump as our legitimate President.
1
@Betsy S
Solution? Watch NPR
4
This column and most of the press mischaracterizes Barr's letter. Barr does not claim that Mueller found no evidence of collusion. Barr merely states that Mueller concluded that the investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign colluded or coordinated with Russia's interference in the elections. Barr does not set forth the standard of proof that Mueller applied in reaching this conclusion. Given that Mueller conducted a criminal investigation, it is likely that he applied a "beyond a reasonable doubt standard." Thus, it is very possible that Mueller found clear and convincing evidence of such collussion or coordination but concluded that the Investigation had not established such conllusion beyond a reasonable doubt. Barr's letter therefore should not be read as saying that Mueller exonerated the Trump campaign with respect to collussion.
123
@k You've just spun it yourself. You've got an "it is likely" and a "very possible" and use those to establish a firm conclusion that suppprts your beliefs. That's what this column is about. Months--years--of this.
10
@k
But is beyond a reasonable doubt the standard here? I thought that was in criminal cases only and while I agree w/many that Trump is and has done many illegal things, Mueller et al found it not to be beyond a reasonble doubt. High crimes and misdemeanors or just misdemeanors, less than a high crime? Now Barr the pal of Republicans going back to Reagan decides for the country what the report from Mueller says? And that's it?
2
Like almost everyone on the left I would have loved a smoking gun report, but it seems that isn't going to happen.
Attorney general Barr has cleverly worded his summary to make sure Trump can now be defended by his partisan supporters to the bitter end. I'm sorry to say it but this is something like a checkmate for the democrats in regards to Russia. Any further push into this is going to be held up as proof positive of a conspiracy to discredit Trump.
The solution isn't going to come from a Russia investigation of any sort at this point. The solution is at the ballot box. And if our democratic candidate continues to push a collusion narrative I fear it will only push more voters to Trump. Let's focus on health care, wage inequality, climate change, and repairing America's image.
175
@Adam
Why would you have loved that? Wouldn't that have illustrated a victory for the Russians and a loss for America?
If taken at face value with the headline, "No Collusion" - is this not good news for the United States?
6
@Adam
Exactly. This has been a distracting issue for too long. Let's focus on more substantial issues to win the battle against Trump (which by the way, it is not only a battle to defeat one man, this is a a movement now).
5
@ Adam. Wrong. The solution lies in releasing the report we paid for to see for ourselves what it uncovered. Only then can a true “debate” begin. It’s been whitewashed and that is unacceptable.
2
As Bill Maher pointed out we didn't need the Mueller report to conclude that Trump has betrayed the country. We just needed to watch TV. No, Trump didn't display behavior that is a part of a criminal conspiracy. Rather he attacked his own intelligence community, said he believed Putin, called the investigation a hoax, denied for a long time that it was Russia who interfered with our election, and welcomed more interference from Russia. Anyone doubt that this aided and abetted the Russian attack? Anyone wonder whether Russia is empowered to do the same thing in the 2020? Does anyone care. Are we so trapped in the persistent quicksand of that all we care about is "no collusion" and "exoneration. Every reporter worth anything will ignore this report and simply ask the president, "what have you and your administration done and what are you now doing to prevent further attacks by foreign powers on our election process?" The answers will illuminate the real problem.
226
@Al Singer
Take a deep breath Al, walk outside for a minute and get some fresh air.
The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.
Shake off your media-induced histrionics, it's not healthy.
5
@asdfj
Not media-induced, asdfj, the product of observation, thought and reflection on the core mechanisms and norms of a functioning republic, and the immense dangers that have arisen since 2016, to great consternation (and plenty of histrionics). At this moment it seems to me that the chief two dangers may be that the president is involved and that his behavior has been/is being "normalized" by comments such as your own.
27
@Al Singer
You can "ignore this report" if you wish, We The People have learned that we cannot trust what trump and his friends say, and this includes Barr. We are the employers of these people, we put them in office and we want to read the report ourselves and draw our own conclusions.
6
If the hypothesis of this article is correct, it explains why Americans are so enamored of Trump: he is the master of “hype”. It’s time we went to rehab.
Republicans were worried about the Mueller Report--what if it showed the president had done illegal things, how could they continue to support him? They now know they've backed the right horse! I'll bet contributions are already flooding into the "Trump 2020" campaign war-chest. How do Dems plan to fight a clear winner like Mr. Trump? With world-redeeming quasi-religious climate activism, a job-killing Green New Deal, a free ride for all manner of layabouts, open borders, a dogeared race card?
1
Wow, this article is a shameless attempt to relativize the findings of the Mueller report to make it seem like they will satisfy neither the right nor the left. The author seems to imply that objectively speaking, after reading Barr’s takeaways, no side has the ability to pounce on Mueller’s findings and say “AHA! Trump is great/innocent/horrible/guilty.”
This is a shameless mischaracterization of the situation. This report has been absolutely catastrophic for the Democrats and the leftists around the western world.
For two years, those who were totally opposed to the Trump presidency have crossed their fingers in the hope that he would be impeached due to his alleged “Russia ties.” They were also hoping to see Don Jr. and Jared Carted away in handcuffs, weeping along the way. Many, if not the vast majority of these sadists were 100% certain that this is indeed what would happen (ha!).
Now it is quite clear that none of this will happen. Trump may be President for 8 years as a direct result of this spectacular bungle by the left.
There was absolutely zero collusion- the central question of the investigation. Even if there was obstruction (which legally there wasn’t) the central claim of collusion has been debunked.
This has been a cataclysmic past 24 hours for the left. Let us not pretend otherwise. And I, for one, being a skeptic about this whole collusion narrative from the very beginning will gently smirk and enjoy the schadenfreude.
7
@Rahul It was interesting to read your comments, being not from the US, I find a lot of comments to be either about the right or left. Having no interest in either myself. This report and its investigation has resulted in some very disturbing conclusions. The Russians were able to get close to the Republican party to influence the election process and its a reflection on Trump and his team. Secondly, it resulted in exposing some members of Trumps team being serious liars and blue collar criminals which also exposes trumps long time personal contacts as criminals. If they werent criminals, they would not have been convicted. It still surprises me people are celebrating it as a victory or an exonoration. The fact they even had to investigate it while there was a Republican majority in power is also a reflection. Anywhere else in the first world, Trump would be considered untrustworthy and too naive, too inexperienced, and is too close to too many shady dishonest people.
1
Really all the roads lead back to the fact that half of America believes we have a mentally challenged, narcissistic, creepy president and half of America thinks he’s cool.
This is America 2019.
At one point in the not too distant past we would have thought that all roads lead to Rome.
How could it have been possible to surround yourself with so many questionable felons and not be one yourself?
4
Ask the Clintons.
1
Another op-ed piece elsewhere in today’s Times is far more received: that the sliminess of Donald Trump as both a candidate and as a president—and his attendant conduct in both situations—made it quite easy for the special counsel to conclude that at no time did the campaign nor the administration conspire—“collude, if you’re savagely angry this morning—with Russia. Perhaps Trump is more savvy than anyone ever gave him credit for being. After all, he’s skated all his professional life on thin ice: bankruptcy proceedings; liens; courts judgments affirming red-lining in renting; his serial borrowing and defaulting on loans. In other words, his word had never been any good although his reputation is sterling when it comes to persuading banks and other financial entities to part with money.
It’s looking more like Michael Cohen told the truth: that Trump didn’t expect to win the White House and used his candidacy as collateral for future borrowing after his defeat to Hillary Clinton. But he won and he now is vindicated in his clearance of conspiracy with Russia to defraud our election process(es).
The ease with which he has danced between the raindrops has cinfiyhis sleaziness. His Senate will claw back against any attempt to curb him. He won; we lost.
8
If Trump is innocent, why did he behave like a Mafia boss instead of getting on with his work? Why the demands for loyalty oaths, the incessant efforts and attacks on the FBI, and anybody else involved? Why did Nunes & others in the GOP seek to sabotage the investigation?
They sure did act guilty. Nor do I regard Barr as credible; he’s too partisan.
Show that report. We paid for it.
I spent an afternoon reading the Ken Starr report, which convinced me that Ken Starr needed a long vacation. So let’s see this one.
7
A Republican, Barr, concluded that Muller didn't find Trump guilty of collusion with Russia or obstruction of justice. And Americans are supposed to believe that.
5
The (full unabridged) Mueller report?
The ongoing SDNY investigation?
The NY state attorneys general investigation?
The U.S. House of Representatives?
“WHICH HUNT?” indeed.
3
For President Trump, his supporters, Fox News, and right-wing pundits, any possible result is "proof" of a "deep state" conspiracy:
1) If Mr. Trump and his campaign had been found guilty of collusion, it's because of a deep state plan. If the President is still found guilty of having obstructed justice, again, it's because of the deep state.
2) That the President is exonerated of having colluded with Russia proves that the whole investigation was a "witch hunt" concocted by the deep state, never mind the obvious fact that the very bureaucracy where the deep state supposedly resides found the President free from wrongdoing in this instance.
3) If the Democrats insist, as they rightly should, on seeing the complete Mueller report as well as the President's taxes returns and other documents pertaining to his financial interests in other countries, again, this is more proof to the right-wing of a deep state conspiracy to discredit Mr. Trump.
4) Finally, imagine if President Hillary Clinton had been investigated for the same, and found not to have colluded. Those same results would once again mean a deep state conspiracy on behalf of HRC.
In short, no matter the result, for President Trump and his conspiracy-minded supporters, anything and everything points to a non-existent deep state conspiracy. And we thought Mr. Trump's anti-democratic behavior was horrible the last two years? Just wait.
6
No matter how Barr's analysis of the Mueller report came out, Trump would lie and spin it. To me, this is just another day of disappointment that Trump, with all of his bloviating and pandering to foreign financial interests for personal gain, is in the White House.
3
After living through Scott Walker’s recall, and him winning, many of us Wisconsinites became numb and now nothing really surprises us.
Truth is, collusion or not, Donald Trump has alienated our allies, adores being pals with Putin and Kim, has tried to make a fool of us before the United Nations, and thinks the Saudis are tops. That’s his international contribution.
Nationally he finds ways to ruin our natural resources, even tampers with the existence of endangered animal species, how low is that, has declared war on America’s healthcare (as a nurse that’s really hard to swallow), toyed with even kids who need CHIP, gives our tax money to his wealthy fundraising friends, “hires” his family members but doesn’t make them get security clearance, appoints a woman who loves private school vouchers to oversee our public school education, makes fools of military leaders who have sacrificed their lives, McCain, McMaster, Mattis and more. That’s for starters.
Then he says he loves our country! Wow! That’s a joke. The Robert Mueller report has really been predictable. We still haven’t seen Manafort get pardoned - that’s next. So what did it matter in the whole spectrum of Donald Trump goes to Washington?
73
One of the real dangers at this point is loss of focus by the opposition to the most corrupt and malevolent administration (yes, asserted totally independent of anything examined in this report) and weakest and complicit former Congress in my lifetime. Attempts at crushing the poor and victims of corporate greed a decade ago will continue. The Resistance must drive the crooks out.
1
The president is a con man. That would be bad enough, but the Republican Party chose, not just to defend his cons, but to aid and abet his cons.
Truth is what Mr. Mueller pursued, what the American people wanted. Perception is what Trump and the Republican Party orchestrated and delivered. That's what cons do, create a perception which hides their deception.
"The report was a hope for something spin-proof to be held up as evidence that, at the very least, somebody could get to the truth."
Yes, that is what America counted on. That is what Mr. Mueller sought, but that is not what Trump's pre-screened, litmus tested, handpicked Attorney General delivered on Sunday. Barr took the report and spun it to fit Trump's con, the Republican Party's con.
Mr. Warzel concludes that "each side isn’t just armed with their own algorithmically amplified echo chambers, but with their own sets of facts."
That statement is a false equivalency. When a demagogue lies with every breath he takes and has a major political party and a media industry aid and abet his lies, it is absolutely necessary for truth seeking Americans to rally and stand up to the lies, to demand the truth.
Standing up to the lies is not creating your own echo chamber. Standing up to the lies is not creating your "own set of facts." Standing up to the lies is being adamant that we will not allow con men to rollover the American people. Seeking truth, speaking truth is not an echo chamber of alternative facts.
5
False equivalency seems to be an American cognitive disorder. We have your national security chief - Mr. Flynn - on the phone five minutes after the inauguration cutting deals with the Russians on sanctions.
We have Mr. Trump's campaign chairman, who cut some kind of deal with the Russians on the Ukraine issue when he changed the Republican Party Platform. Now, is he in jail on unrelated charges - bank fraud, money-laundering - or just on a government-paid vacation waiting for a pardon?
There is a list of Trump operatives - Roger Stone among them, waiting trail on conspiracy with Wikileaks to influence the election - who have already plead guilty or are "cooperating" with federal prosecutors awaiting sentencing.
Was Micheal Cohen actually negotiating with the Russians on Trump's behalf to cut a deal for financing and space to build another Tower? What were the Russians supposed to get out of this deal? Or was Mr. Cohen just picking daisies in Red Square?
Boil all this evidence down and what do you get? "All Hail the Great White Leader Trump" - pure as the driven snow - and "Shame on Those Nasty Democrats" for running a witch hunt (a hunt run by Republicans - Mueller, Rosenstein, Comey - and now dribbled out by he political hack, Barr).
The power of propaganda...
5
Yes, I agree that even when we see the full Mueller report minus the Barr opinions, there is no doubt that Trump has betrayed our country (unless you don't believe your own eyes and ears!).
I don't think we should put up with "President Putin" any longer than we have to.
Let us get rid of this outrage, preferably at the voting booth!
Partisan gladiators love unpublished reports. They can spin them in any direction they want, knowing that when the truth finally comes out, the general public will have forgotten that all the propaganda was based on lies, and no one will hold them to account.
This incident may be different. There appears to have been a coordinated effort by the Obama White House, the DNC, the Clinton campaign team, and unseen bureaucrats to manufacture charges of treason for the express purpose of bring down a freely elected president.
What other explanation could there be for a two year temper tantrum and media feeding frenzy over accusations which through investigation find to be utterly false?
Not a single assertion in the Clinton campaign funded Steele dossier, used to secure FISA warrants and wiretaps, has been verified even after tens of thousands of "journalists" have searched in vain for confirmation.
I personally find Mr Trump to be a bombastic fool, but the obvious conspiracy concocted to remove him from power is far, far more dangerous than the man himself.
3
More than 100 contacts with Russians by Trump, his relatives and his aides. Kushner trying to set up a secret back channel of communications with the Kremlin. Manfort giving polling data to a Russian agent. Trump humiliating himself by fawning over Putin at a Helsinki summit. Trump preferring to believe Putin over his own intelligence agencies. Trump stalling, delaying and hedging on Russian sanctions, then lifting them on a Russian oligarch close to Putin. Smells like a conspiracy to me.
5
Mueller wanted out too. Can't see that I blame him.
1
I agree that the “build up” is more entertaining than the “reveal” because then anything can happen. When it’s over, we are all somehow let down. Radio and television soap operas understood this and told us “tune in tomorrow”.
I am interested in the number of “legal experts” both who actually went to law school and those who didn’t opining how fast Barr read the report, how he drew his conclusions, etc. Thanks to the new special counsel law, we don’t have to go through the Ken Starr business again...appointment by a three judge panel, answerable to no one, etc. For this, Mueller was a Justice Department employee. I assume he talked with Rosenstein certainly, if not Sessions and Barr, as things were progressing. Rosenstein and Barr probably “knew what to expect” when the report landed Friday afternoon. This is like prosecutors who think they’ve got a case, but the boss (US Attorney, DA, etc) thinks they don’t and refuses to prosecute. It happens all the time. And, it’s incredibly unfair to just release a list of names of people who could have been prosecuted, but weren’t for whatever reasons.
The report is over. Democrats can rightly investigate what they want (I like to remind my R friends that a similar report clearing Hillary wouldn’t have ended any investigations in the House). Ds need to focus on winning in 2020 with a strategy that appeals to a majority of Americans in ALL states, not just the coasts, and not just a campaign that “Trump’s a bad person”.
21
Barr: "president bone-spurs did nothing wrong."
The American People: "Boy, that's great. Then there's no reason not to release Mueller's full report."
Barr: "Well, in the interest of, well, trying not to, well, we can't go releasing the full report to, well, because I, in no way want not o try to be well...NO!"
Mueller and Barr are republicans.
Their first duty is to their party, not the country.
2
Progressives wanted a Report that legally demonstrated fraud, collusion, obstruction, evil, and a little shoplifting on the side. It didn't come. What America has had for some time, however, is a scandal the size of a sci-fi meteor hurtling toward Wichita.
Put in proper context and defined as such, a scandal of this proportion -- which is easy to see with Trump et al. -- clarifies that indeed America's leadership is beyond broke, that the damage is severe, perhaps irreparable, maybe even beyond a ballot box.
This is big-S Scandal, and the people and the media should begin defining and discussing it in this perspective. If the Mueller Report falls like a stone in muddy water, then the mammoth amount of wrongdoing we already know about should be assembled into a new report with Massive Scandal in the headline. Language matters when talking meteors and meteorites.
20
@SGK you have a great comment here.
We are now in the Twilight Zone with a meteor already having hit Earth.
This is so odd really since Trumps crimes are there on TV in the open everyday.
@SGK
Take a deep breath, walk outside for a few minutes. The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.
3
With all the continuing controversy and political noise, the Democrats need to focus on nominating a decent, honest, electable candidate on practical solutions for the many issues that need to be addressed. All we common people have is THE VOTE in November 2020.
17
The moral of the story appears to be: no matter how morally bankrupt, how uncivil, how bad mouthed our President is, we have detach his personality issues from his professional performance. We have to look at what he has achieved this far, which he did chaotically. My partner and I find ourselves thinking of positive outcomes although delivered by a monster like human being. The Economy is good, touch wood, jobs are being generated, touch wood, we are talking to North Korea Russia China, drug prices will likely get lower and inch down towards affordability, something is brewing in the middle east, hopefully towards a better understanding of all sides, and democrats are fully awake vigilant engaged hopeful. That's not all bad. Sadly all the progress made with Iran, stalls, hopefully it won't deteriorate.
4
@petey tonei
Even better - we're talking about single payer healthcare among many other issues that wouldn't even be on the table if Clinton had won.
2
@rtjletscsee what urvfavorite Republican mitch does with single payer plan when reaches the Senate please u seem to be in the bread line people may have jobs and barely salaries to keep up.sad
Although it may appear to be the wisdom of Solomon at work here, it is not. All the report really does is give something to everyone so neither side wins, effectively punting ultimate judgement back to the electoral process by vindicating a stolen election. The courts effectively did the same thing in Bush v Gore, by sending the election back to Florida.
The root cause of this schism is a flawed election system that essentially allows those with the means to do so to seize power through manipulation, virtually guaranteeing minority rule instead of asserting the will of the people. As long as the minority retains leverage, it will continue to wreak havoc now that Justice is no longer an independent branch. The coup is complete, and short of open revolution, there’s not a lot Democrats can legally do about it.
The real crime here is our system has failed and a demagogue will now become an autocrat. Trump has already declared the putsch has begun, and that he fully intends to prosecute his tormentors. Furthermore, we must now deal with the reality that the intended constitutional protection against a tyrant, the second amendment, has been usurped by the tyrant, and he stated he is not afraid to use it.
The bully has won. Now he’s coming for our lunch money.
39
How do we know that Putin hasn't promised to build Trump Tower after Trump leaves office? Does this depend on our trust in Trump's sense of honor?
3
@Roy Greenfield
Yes, obviously Trump is guilty until proven innocent. While Trump's mentor was Roy Cohn, it seems it's the Democrats who learned from him.
2
I am quite ready to believe that Trump did not conspire with Russia to win election. The Russians did not want Clinton in power. Their contacts with Trump and his tribe would reveal how awful he is so they took action to help his election. The Trump and the Republicans did not have to conspire. All they did was assure Russia they liked what the Russians were doing.
15
@irdac
It appears that, at the least, Trump and his minions were dangling removal of sanctions from Russia in order to smooth the way for a better business atmosphere for the Trump Organization and its desire for building a hotel in Moscow and elsewhere.
1
Now it is up to Congress to fully investigate, especially since the Mueller Report is apparently not important enough for us to all see. Lets go ahead and unfold this in hearings on TV. ASAP The AG has played his card for which he was appointed to do. The very act of appointing Barr is now continuing evidence of obstruction of justice.
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@Joseph
American taxpayers paid for the Mueller report.
We struggling taxpayers demand to see it in its entirety.
If Trump is so "completely exonerated" as he proclaims, why wouldn't he want the entire report out there for the whole world to see how "innocent" he is.
2
Like the Warren Commission report of a bygone era, people will be arguing fifty years from now over what Barr omitted from Mueller’s findings. The alternative is to put the whole thing out for all to see.
11
"A Mueller report can be whatever you imagine it to be. It’s only when it’s released that it seems to lose its power."
Not so, if the president can stretch the envelope about what others say it reveals. Not so, if you have a hand-picked "protector" in the form of an Attorney General who made no bones about his views of justice.
For a president who can spin gold out of straw, verbally and factually, his obfuscations, distractions, diversions, and yes, outright falsifications--otherwise known as lies--this weekend showed a great reward for deviant behavior.
It's as if, Robert Mueller in his super legal terseness told the country, it really doesn't matter what the president says or does, when my hands are tied on a personal interview and when I can't make up my mind or not about certain charges, well then, let's hand it off to others to render the verdict.
Bad call, Mr. Mueller, bad call.
21
@ChristineMcM, Mueller likely hangs around in Republican circles, elite circles that too. He worships at the sunday church next to the WH. He perhaps did not want to become a James Comey. And he is already hero worshipped, the media labeled him as beyond labelling. Untouchable. So having established that image by the media, Mueller felt free to do whatever he wanted with his conclusions, keeping his reputation intact, keeping the republicans happy and raising enough doubts in the minds of democrats to keep them fiercely busy and occupied for some reasonable time to come. Was the strategy pre determined? Who knows.
13
@petey tonei: my disappointment is that the apolitical Mueller seems to have written his comments in such a way as to leave a vacuum for others to fill. Bill Barr was clearly delighted to do so. Democrats might get a chance if they ever get the full report, but by then in the court of public opinion, it's too late. I'm sure you've noticed how Donald Trump has taken what were pretty general and certainly not triumphant observations to imply the president was a wronged victim of a witch hunt and none of his behavior can ever be questioned again.
And that is the danger: the NYT used the word "emboldened" to describe how this anticlimactic and pretty noncommittal report must make him feel.
Emboldened is hardly the beginning of what will be hard t hings to watch. Never underestimate this man whose audaciousness is only bested by his vindictiveness and cruelty.
5
Your comments Ms McM go to the heart of what should be every American’s concern. That is, the message that Mr. Mueller and Mr. Barr just sent to us all. Basically, we have been told that it doesn’t matter if the President lies to us about his contacts with a foreign adversary, denigrates his own intelligence and security experts’ information about that adversary’s interference in our election, or tries every way possible to interfere with the investigation of the contacts with our Russian opponent. I have lost all confidence that this country stands for anything good.
It isn't just about documents, reports and revelations. It's about anything that we don't know, as opposed to what we do know.
What we don't know: conspiracies & conspiracy theories, intentions, the future, the evil and the racism in other people's hearts, the results of the next election. What we do know: that our government is devoted to the ongoing transfer of economic and political power from the many to the few, that it runs on bribery and conflicts of interest, and that none of this is likely to change substantially, no matter who wins the next election.
Our political system is so corrupt that we have almost achieved a complete division between politics & government. Politics is about what we don't know, because we can be made to believe anything on those subjects. Government is about what we do know, but we don't debate it because we have no power over it.
10
The bottom line demands a release of the full Mueller investigation with every single supporting document. A free people don't require being spoon fed interpretations of its conclusions by an ancient Republican. There are so many questions that are reflective of valid concerns that likely will be clarified within these vital materials.
Open up, guys. We the people deserve full access, nothing less.
19
It comes down to our thirst for vengeance. This man was never meant to be in a list with Abraham Lincoln. And we all know it. We wanted him to be shown for the scam artist he has always been in our collective consciousness since the eighties. We want him to “pay” for being so brazen as to even think he can sit behind that sacred desk.
And we are right.
But we also know that the presidency is something much larger than Trump himself. Even our forefathers predicted a man like this would come along one day.
Well, here he is. Big deal.
The office of the presidency must remain sacred and protected beyond Donald Trump. This is Mueller’s integrity in the face of such a heavy responsibility.
Trump will be pursued in a much more befitting fashion for a con man. New York.
And the country can move on and remember that our form of government is more noble than the primitive thirst for vengeance that would tarnish the way we treat future presidents and indeed our entire system in the decades to come.
Now Dems can focus on being terribly angry and motivated to win in 2020. Democracy at work is always the healthy option.
25
The accusations against the President, at least as they relate to Russia, have been proven false. There was a failed attempt to "take down" the President and those behind it need to be unbrainwashed and have there sound judgment restored. A counter-investigation is needed - no matter where it leads.
11
@Eugene Patrick Devany The only thing we have on the Mueller report is the Barr report, which is a joke. We need to see the Mueller report. All of it.
9
I wanted this to take down the president, because trump is a horrendous disaster. However, the investigation was not begun by partisans trying to take him down. It was a response to the real situation of Russian interference on behalf of trump. It needed to be investigated and it was. Trump didn’t help them help him, but of course he didn’t stop them either. He quite openly obstructed the investigation, but his pet AG let him off the hook.
138
@MMNY...
It is the required report to Congress, nothing more, nothing less.
What you did not see in the Barr report was something that you dreamed of seeing...
Time to wake up and understand that "collusion" in the sense that y'all on the left were trying to sell has a fairly precise legal definition that has requirements for conviction. Those requirements must be satisfied by evidence that survives challenge in court and is clear and convincing beyond reasonable doubt.
Note, too, that "reasonable doubt" is a well-defined and well-litigated legal concept. It does not allow for "I think so, so it must be right".
You took on the left took a shot...That shot missed at great cost to the country in terms of resources committed, and to the left politically in terms of the willingness of the great middle of the electorate to continue to grant the benefit of the doubt.
Isn't it time that you start focusing on what is going to win back that middle of the electorate...that middle that really decides who wins and loses in national elections?
The report did not find any wrong doing done by the president or those surrounding him. However, don’t forget that there were indictments made against multiple Russian nationals attempting to sway public opinion. Election interference is still a problem and I’m afraid 45 will do nothing about it.
24
@Kiley you got that wrong it's found plenty wrong with many around him and they were getting 50 and thrown in jail
2
@Kiley - No, the Mueller report did not find any of the numerous things that Trump and his election campaign did wrong to be something clearly criminal, with the obstruction of justice charges being in a very gray area. And on the obstruction of justice issue the JD gave Trump a wide berth on that because he did it "in the open", which is like saying that killing someone by shooting then in the face of 5th avenue is forgivable, while shooting them in a dark alleyway is not.
2
Get over it and get on with it.
Mueller failed to find and report clear cut criminal actions by Donald Trump. That is game over on the impeachment and prosecution front. Certainly not what I had hoped for but a credible conclusion that I cannot ignore. My party cannot ignore Mr. Mueller's conclusion either.
The time has come for Democrats to focus on beating Trump in the next election. That won't be easy. The difficulty should be enough to galvanize the leaders of the party and inspire rank and file Democrats. We need to form up, stand shoulder to shoulder and march to the polls four abreast. That will put an end to Trump.
November 3, 2020
46
@OldBoatMan
It's been clear for some time that impeachment would be difficult if not impossible. In light of what has already been exposed there is certainly more to come. But Barr shouldn't have the last word on Mueller's report.
4
@oldboatman. Wrong. We can’t know what is in mueller’s report without seeing it. And see it we will.
1
If you ask me, the promise of the great reveal serves the business purposes of the media itself which uses the tease of the purported import of what's coming next to keep the public tuned in.
17
To me the bigger question is nonpartisan which is why it will get no attention.
Steele first briefed an FBI agent on the Trump dossier in early July 2016. Wikileaks released the DNC and campaign emails in late July 2016.
Steele worked for Fusion, paid by the DNC and Clinton campaign. He went looking for Russian dirt on Trump. And Russia complied.
The Russians appear to have offered to Trump's group, or implied the availability of dirt on Clinton via the emails multiple times.
Russia has played us. Not just on Facebook, etc. It has used our partisan,whiplash attention spans and desire to believe the worst. And our never ending desire for the next scandal/ revelation thar feeds our beliefs.
We very much need to take a step back and look at this bigger picture.
31
@Talbot
Being angry at Russia is a bit like being angry at your dog for going through the garbage. It's what they, and we, do. This time they were more successful. Hasn't anyone ever read 'Spy vs. Spy' in Mad Magazine? And now we act like this is something new and outrageous?
2
@Talbot
Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent was paid, first by Republicans, then by Democrats. He was chosen because they recognized that he was the most capable person to know and interrogate Russians who knew about Trump connections. If his employers didn’t want the truth, they wouldn’t have hired him; they could have just made up convenient lies, like Karl Rove.
Steele, from years of close cooperation with America, felt loyalty and affection to us. He was so disturbed by what he discovered about Trump and Russia that he consulted the recent head of MI6 - the UK’s top spy. Then he went to the FBI and to Congress. But the Republicans, more loyal to their primary voters than to our security, then and now chose to smear him.
There is only one person in charge of thousands of nuclear missiles ready to target your home town, Vladimir Putin - who has threatened to use them to destroy us. From this information and from his words and actions, Donald Trump, a psychopath who feels no loyalty to anyone but himself, gives every indication that he is in alliance with Putin and against America.
2
@Talbot
The eagerness that the trump gang showed toward Russian interference, and its failure to disclose the attempts and then lie about them later will be that burr under everyone's saddle for a long time.
2
Like millions of others, I was sure he colluded. Rachel mapped it all out, experts like John Brennan suggested it was likely, the NYT editorial board made a compelling case for it. But he didn't, and his family didn't, I trust Mueller's report.
I'm disappointed. I still think Trump is a bad president and hope we win in '20. But we'll need to win based on the things that matter to people -- good jobs, healthcare, a plan for our infrastructure, a solution to immigration, a plan for dealing with regular and increasing weather disasters. Candidates better talk about how democratic leadership is going to make improvements in these areas. People are used to Trump's insults and lies now, and they don't think it's as serious as we do. I'm numb to it myself. Let's move on, inspire people to vote democratic, and win.
43
@Tom J, well said.
except, how about we inspire people to vote for the most credible, competent, intelligent candidates (rather than by party alone)
13
@Tom J
Well said. It’s game on to 2020.
1
Did you READ the Muller report? The American people need to demand the full report released. We are being spoon fed select information. You can twist and select information to tell the story you want to tell. Release the full report for all to read.
6
Don't mock us.
For what is this "we" of which you speak?
The crux of the matter, who belongs and who is cast into the outer darkness, is being fought over in the press. It is obvious to anyone with a heart that the Trump administration is about the 1% and the "we" of the huge capitalist structure, and so those on the outside, those who don't belong, are those who cannot afford a house, cannot afford to educate their kids, cannot get health care for their elderly parents.
Look to Trump's proposed budget before you try to figure out the "we" in Trump's world. It devastates public housing, medicare, and medicaid, but it elevates to the heavens the lives of the indecently rich.
No, we fear Trump's power and we fear the world he and the rich are creating, for good reasons.
Hugh Massengill, Eugene Oregon
111
@Hugh Massengill
Well said. Too many are looking at the trees and fail to see the forest and all else that lies within.
3
All I can say is, thank god for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament! I blissfully watched wall-to-wall games and closed out the din from the trump machinations.
Obviously, I will return my attention to this most important mess Trump and Co. has made of our country's future, but what a simply wonderful weekend this turned out to be at my house.
5
Many of you are missing the point, this column isn't about the Mueller Report, it's about the general sad state of affairs within which it was delivered and it's insightful.
17
There's a little truth in this piece, but only a little. I want to know what went on in the June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower, because it looks very bad. I want to know what's in Trump's tax returns, because he's breaking a norm by keeping them secret, and that looks bad. It's not about anticipation, it's about corruption and secrecy -- and a desire for the truth.
94
@Hal10034
Also what happened at the Putin-Trump meetings with no US officials present!
3
@Hal10034
A “relentless pursuer of truth” who never even tried to force Trump to testify?
2
"the release of the report likely wouldn’t settle any scores. The fight was just beginning"
True, but by analogy to football, the report moves the yard line on which the ball is placed for the next series of plays. It does not end things, but it changes things.
15