Sandy Shanks
Gold Member
- Jul 10, 2018
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One thing was crystal clear from Barr's press conference on Thursday and before the Mueller Report was released: No collusion! Barr's willingness to echo Trump's favorite two-word mantra was evident throughout his remarks.
"The special counsel confirmed that the Russian government sponsored efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016 presidential election but did not find that the Trump campaign or other Americans colluded in those schemes," Barr said.
It's true: Mueller did not establish that there was a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. But Mueller uncovered "multiple links" connecting Trump aides to Russian officials and that there was at least some willingness to collaborate -- like Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump Tower meeting. Mueller could not prove conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt.
Also, Barr's use of the word "collusion," which he repeated multiple times, raised some eyebrows in the legal community. In the report, Mueller intentionally steered clear of that political phrase because it "is not a specific offense" under US law, "nor is it a term used in federal criminal law." Strange Barr would use it.
Barr cleared Trump of obstruction."After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report... the deputy attorney general and I concluded that the evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction of justice offense," Barr said.
Mueller did not struggle with whether there was enough evidence to bring a case of obstruction of justice. The challenge was that they amassed compelling evidence but couldn't indict a President even if they wanted to, DOJ rules.
Here's what the report actually said: "...if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred."
Barr downplayed the role that DOJ guidelines played when Mueller considered whether Trump violated the law. Internal DOJ policies say that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The policy comes from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).
"We specifically asked him about the OLC opinion and whether or not he was taking the position that he would have found a crime but for the existence of the OLC opinion," Barr said at his press conference. "And he made it very clear several times that that was not his position."
The OLC opinion had a major impact on Mueller's internal deliberations. In effect, Mueller framed his entire obstruction investigation around the notion that he couldn't bring any charges against Trump even if he found ironclad evidence against him, because of the OLC opinion. He specifically left the matter up to Congress.
"Special Counsel Mueller did not indicate that his purpose was to leave the decision to Congress," Barr said.
"With respect to whether the President can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a President's corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice," Mueller said.
Barr became a Trump lackey. It is difficult understand why this proud professional lowered himself to this role, sacrificing every bit of his self-esteem.
4 times Barr twisted and cherry-picked Mueller's report - CNNPolitics
"The special counsel confirmed that the Russian government sponsored efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016 presidential election but did not find that the Trump campaign or other Americans colluded in those schemes," Barr said.
It's true: Mueller did not establish that there was a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. But Mueller uncovered "multiple links" connecting Trump aides to Russian officials and that there was at least some willingness to collaborate -- like Donald Trump Jr. and the Trump Tower meeting. Mueller could not prove conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt.
Also, Barr's use of the word "collusion," which he repeated multiple times, raised some eyebrows in the legal community. In the report, Mueller intentionally steered clear of that political phrase because it "is not a specific offense" under US law, "nor is it a term used in federal criminal law." Strange Barr would use it.
Barr cleared Trump of obstruction."After carefully reviewing the facts and legal theories outlined in the report... the deputy attorney general and I concluded that the evidence developed by the special counsel is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction of justice offense," Barr said.
Mueller did not struggle with whether there was enough evidence to bring a case of obstruction of justice. The challenge was that they amassed compelling evidence but couldn't indict a President even if they wanted to, DOJ rules.
Here's what the report actually said: "...if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred."
Barr downplayed the role that DOJ guidelines played when Mueller considered whether Trump violated the law. Internal DOJ policies say that a sitting president cannot be indicted. The policy comes from the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).
"We specifically asked him about the OLC opinion and whether or not he was taking the position that he would have found a crime but for the existence of the OLC opinion," Barr said at his press conference. "And he made it very clear several times that that was not his position."
The OLC opinion had a major impact on Mueller's internal deliberations. In effect, Mueller framed his entire obstruction investigation around the notion that he couldn't bring any charges against Trump even if he found ironclad evidence against him, because of the OLC opinion. He specifically left the matter up to Congress.
"Special Counsel Mueller did not indicate that his purpose was to leave the decision to Congress," Barr said.
"With respect to whether the President can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has authority to prohibit a President's corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice," Mueller said.
Barr became a Trump lackey. It is difficult understand why this proud professional lowered himself to this role, sacrificing every bit of his self-esteem.
4 times Barr twisted and cherry-picked Mueller's report - CNNPolitics