Fake Barr letter - at least ten unanswered questions

An echo opinion from David Leonhardt published in The New York Times.  MaineWriter opinion, the reason these questions are outstanding with pundits are because the Muller Investigation was shut down before they could be answered.Americans must see the Mueller Report still haven’t seen the Mueller report

Here are 10 big questions, compiled with help from articles that appeared elsewhere (David Leonhardt*):

1. Did Robert Mueller find evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, but that the collusion was not criminal?

2. Related: Why did Barr’s four-page summary appear to define coordination with Russia so narrowly — as an “agreement” between the Trump campaign and the Russian government — and does this word choice suggest that the Mueller investigation found coordination that did not rise to the level of an agreement?

3. What did Mueller discover about Paul Manafort — Trump’s campaign chairman — having shared poll data with a political operative who had apparent ties to Russian military intelligence? (Manafort’s lawyers inadvertently revealed those interactions earlier this year.)

4. Why did Trump and his associates repeatedly lie about their contacts with Russians?

5. Why did Mueller not charge Jerome Corsi, a conservative conspiracy promulgator and an associate of Roger Stone, despite reportedly engaging in plea negotiations with Corsi last year?

6. Does the arrest of Maria Butina, a Russian spy with ties to the National Rifle Association, have anything to do with Mueller’s investigation?

7. Did Mueller find evidence that the activities of Trump or his aides have compromised national security?

8. Did Mueller find any evidence of efforts by the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries to influence the 2016 election?

9. Did Mueller issue no decision about obstruction of justice because he believed a sitting president could not be charged with a crime — and thus the decision was ultimately a political matter, to be decided by Congress, rather than a legal one?

10. Did Mueller investigate the possibility that Trump’s businesses helped Russian criminals launder money before he became president, or did Mueller consider this beyond the scope of his investigation? (If he investigated and found no evidence, it would reduce the urgency for the House to pursue this matter.)

*This echo opinion was published in The New York Times by David Leonhardt.  In Maine Writer Opinion, the reason these questions are unanswered are because the Robert Mueller investigation was shut down before he was finished. 

Fake Barr Letter - but here is what we know

Thank you to my Facebook friend Marc Malon for sharing this helpful context about the #fakeBarrletter, that irresponsibly hides the entire Mueller Report from the public view.

"Comey, you're not off the hook and you never will be," #fakeBarrletter

A Twitter post by Paul Krugman @paulkrugman
Three things: 1. We need to see the report, not just Trump appointees' summary 2. Anyone who thought Mueller was a silver bullet that would bring Trump down was living in a fantasy world 3. The Trumpzi administration's corruption on multiple fronts is as obvious as ever

So here is what we know, Facebook folk:

The Mueller report, which we have not actually seen yet, does not prove collusion, and does not indict nor exonerate the president on obstruction of justice. There still could be many more investigations/indictments/convictions in other jurisdictions.

We DO, however, know that Russia interfered in our elections in a major way, and our president* publicly sided with Putin over our intelligence agencies.

We know that the president* (aka "comrade Trumpzi") was implicated in a felony by his former personal lawyer.

We know that the president* lied about his business dealings with Russia on the campaign trail, and about pretty much every other aspect of his business as well.

We know that his campaign chairman, national security advisor, and lawyer all are looking at substantial prison time.

We know that Trumpzi lies with impunity.

We know that he has bragged on tape about sexually assaulting women.

We know that he has authorized inhumane policies, including those that put children in cages on the border.

We also know that he is the logical result of a debased political culture created through asymmetric polarization due to the radicalization of the Republican party. We see it in his authoritarianism, you see it in the authoritarianism of his followers (including the mayor of Waterville, Maine).

We know he is a dysfunctional narcissist who lacks the capacity to competently run a country, let alone one with a nuclear arsenal.

And that doesn't even get into his awful policies, his pay to play use of Mar a Lago or the Trump International Hotel, or his corrupt cabinet.

So let's be real: whatever is or is not in the report changes none of the aforementioned facts. Democratic campaigns in 2018 did not focus on Mueller nor were they going to in 2020. This is still a debased presidency which is debasing this country.

So what are we going to do to stop it? The answer is what it has been all along: defeat him in November of 2020, and elect Democrats everywhere at the same time.

Nothing else will do.

Onward.

ADDENDUM: Comey, you're not off the hook and you never will be.

And one more thing: while the jury is still out on whether or not Barr (#fakeBarrletter!) acted honorably, an indelible truth of the era we're in is that absolutely nobody associated with Trump is entitled to our trust. Anyone who works with him has his stench on them, and will for the rest of their lives unless they expressly prove otherwise.