Raise the Barr or Lower the Barr?
Bill Barr didn’t release the report over the weekend. He released a 4 page letter concluding that Trump and his campaign didn’t conspire with Russia to win the election or obstruct justice with corrupt intent.
Not conspiring with Russia is not the same as being duped by Russia and you can still obstruct justice without corrupt intent.
Was this more of a press release, an elegant and devious framing of headlines for Trump? After all, Bill Barr hasn’t been the AG but for a few weeks and he was at the White House last week. Soon after Barr was seated, Trump and the Republicans started saying, “Let the Mueller Report come out.” That’s a complete turn around from “witch hunt” and “hoax.” That’s suspicious.
Or was the report so shocking that Barr decided he better throw Trump a bone so he’d calm the fuck down and not do anything really crazy like push the nukes button? That would be really smart.
Bill Barr’s letter — suspicious or smart?
The letter was perfectly crafted to give Trump the headlines. Reporters and cable news talking heads were debating headlines all day, not the report.
Nobody has seen the report.
Towards the end of the letter Barr wrote, “The Special Counsel states that while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
The talking heads kind of missed that.
Whether suspicious or smart, the White House is doing a happy dance and singing, “No Collusion! No Collusion!” It’s a ho’ down at the OK Corral.
Meanwhile, back at Reality Ranch:
“The Barr summary says there was no criminal conspiracy related to the hacking and disinformation campaign. Where are people getting that it said there was no collusion? Do you think the full Mueller report just skips the Trump Tower meeting and the Moscow real estate deal?” — Zac Petkanus
We can all relax a bit knowing that Trump won’t blow the world up today because he feels like king of the world. He won! He loves that.
The Department of Justice determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgement. The decision not to charge Trump on obstruction was made by Bill Barr, not Bob Mueller. Suspicious? Or smart because now this gets punted over to Congress. Jerry Nadler, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, says it’s time to bring Barr and Mueller in to testify before Congress.
Mueller just forced Congress’ hand.
The Mueller investigation went on for 2 years - 2,800 subpoenas, 19 lawyers, 40 FBI agents, 500 search warrants, 230 orders from communication records, 50 orders authorizing use of penn registers, 13 requests to foreign governments for evidence, and 500 witnesses. That’s a lot.
That means there should be a lot of pages in the report but we don’t know BECAUSE NOBODY HAS READ IT.
Bob Mueller is back at work today.
Click here for a copy of Bill Barr’s letter.
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