Why did the Trump campaign have so many conversations with Russians? Mueller Report

Echo opinion letter published in The Post-Star a New York State newspaper:  Editor:

I have been following the coverage of the Mueller investigation from its beginning. I have read many news articles, and because I am too cheap to pay for two upgrades for ESPN and the Golf Channel, my cable package does not include #45's favorite channel. Being unable to hear both sides' opinions, I decided to read the Mueller report. I purchased my copy for $.99 online.

Volume I is a nightmare. It is so redacted, and includes numerous names of Russian persons and organizations, that you need to constantly refer to Appendix A to make sense of it. 

My biggest concern was why were #45's people in contact with so many Russians?

Volume II proved to be much easier to follow. Two parts that people should definitely read are #45's answers to Mueller's questions. For a self-proclaimed "stable genius with a great mind," #45 had difficulty remembering or recalling numerous events.

Reading the possible obstruction of justice cases was much easier. They involved not just #45, but many of the people who he personally knew or worked on his campaign. Each case is quite easy to follow and involves many members of #45's closest allies. My suggestion is that if you really care about what is happening, you should take the time and read this report. 

As for the congressional hearing, I feel badly that Mueller didn't memorize what was in the report so that he could answer more eloquently.

One more thought. I believe that there are 435 members in the House of Representatives. Why is Donald Trump so focused and obsessed with four of them?* If people in the districts they represent don't agree with them, they will vote them out in the next election. That is also true of the next presidential election.

Daniel Trainor, Queensbury/Florida

*Trump escalated his attacks on a group of four minority congresswomen:  

• Representatives Ilhan Omar, Democrat of Minnesota 
• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York 
• Rashida Tlaib of Michigan
• Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts

Robert Mueller gave the Shakespeare conclusion - "dear Brutus..."

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” *
― William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

In my opinion, if Americans can't see the truth in the message below, delivered by special prosecutor Robert Mueller, then we deserve what we have in the failed and flawed leadership of the evil Donald Trump.

Mueller:  …[I]f 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. … Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime [add: because to do so would violate due process principles], it does not exonerate him.’ (italics added)..(published opinion by Lani Davis, in The Hill...)

And Mueller's refusal on Wednesday to state legal conclusions on the overwhelming evidence of obstruction of justice in his report, he was actually adhering to due process principles. He passed the baton to where it belongs: the impeachment and removal power uniquely possessed under our Constitution by the U.S. Congress.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, in his first public statement about his Russia probe on May 29, did not exonerate Donald Trump. He, instead, explained why his office never indicted him for the crime of obstruction of justice.

"As set forth in the report, after the investigation, if we had confidence that the president did not clearly commit a crime, we would have said so," he told reporters at the Justice Department Wednesday.

*Prophetic Shakespeare.....

No exoneration - echo opinion from Florida

Impeach of not to impeach?  That is the question. 

Palm Beach Post Editorial echoes published in the Daily Commercial newspaper, covering Lake and Sumter Counties in Florida:  

EDITORIAL OPINION- No matter how many times Donald Trump and his (brainwashed cult) allies declare the opposite, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report is not “complete and total exoneration.” Mueller says this plainly: “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

On the contrary, the 448-page report Russian meddling in U.S. elections lays out in exhaustive detail how Trump possibly obstructed justice while failing to protect this nation against a grave attack on our election system by a foreign adversary.

Mueller writes that, despite many contacts between the Trump campaign and Russians in 2016, he could not establish a conspiracy between them. And he writes that he did not believe it was his job to bring criminal charges on obstruction of justice.

For that, it’s up to Congress, whose members, all 535 of them, swore to uphold and defend the Constitution. When a president allegedly violates his own oath to do the same, Congress has a duty to act.

Nancy Pelosi, the shrewd House speaker, is right to be leery of jumping into impeachment proceedings for the perfectly sound reason that, such a perceived rush to judgment would surely be seen as a purely partisan attack that would only further divide an already fractured nation.

(MaineWriter- Perhaps the impeachment of Trump might be perceived as political over reach, because he is already so unpopular. Nevertheless, Speaker Nancy Pelosi could legitimately call for the impeachment of the fake Attorney General William Barr, who lied to Congress.)

William Barr should be impeached because he lied to Congress - echo opinion

Donald Trump obstructed justice during the Russia and Mueller investigation. 

Bob Mueller’s Extraordinary Letter to Bill Barr

The special counsel Robert Mueller publicly upbraided the attorney general for his sketchy summary of the Trump investigation.

By The Editorial Board

William Barr's shameful testimony- extends the lies spewing out of the White House is irresponsible!  

This echo is The New York Times editorial supported by the newspaper's editorial board.

Robert Mueller is a stickler for the rules. The special counsel team he led was a leak proof box, his spokesman seldom spoke and his only public statements came in the form of indictments and court filings.

But on March 27, three days after Attorney General William Barr cleared President Trump of criminal wrongdoing in a misleading and incomplete summary of Mr. Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation, the special counsel felt compelled to protest. 

In a letter made public on Wednesday, just as Mr. Barr was preparing to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the American public got its first glimpse of how the special counsel thinks and speaks about his work. 

William Barr lied about the content reported by Robert Mueller.  Instead of accurately supporting the information in Mueller's report, Barr, instead, created a spin cycle to mislead Congress and the American people.

Mr. Mueller’s tone and tenor are remarkable — and a sharp rebuke to Mr. Barr.

“The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this Office’s work and conclusions,” Mr. Mueller wrote in a letter addressed to Mr. Barr, whose characterizations of Mr. Mueller’s investigation have also come under fire by members of the special counsel’s team.

The special counsel notes in his letter that just a day after Mr. Barr’s effort to spin the findings of the investigation (which Mr. Trump crowed was a “Complete and Total EXONERATION”), Mr. Mueller raised “concern” about all the confusion and misreporting that the attorney general had caused.

“There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation,” Mr. Mueller wrote. “This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”

(Mr. Barr referred in his testimony to Mr. Mueller’s letter as “a bit snitty,” and suggested it had been written by an underling.)

For an institutionalist like Mr. Mueller, who never once spoke up to defend himself or his work from relentless attacks from the president and his Republican allies, the letter is an unusual (and welcome) breach of protocol. It is rare for a senior Department of Justice official to so sharply criticize the attorney general in a written communication that would soon be made public.

Clearly, Mr. Mueller deemed it necessary. Beginning in early March, he and Mr. Barr were in close contact and seemed to have reached a gentlemen’s agreement about the timely public release of the special counsel’s findings without compromising grand jury material, intelligence sources and methods or current criminal investigations.

Mr. Mueller noted that he had prepared detailed and accurate summaries of the two volumes of the report, one on contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives, the second on potential obstruction of justice.

“Accordingly, the enclosed documents are in a form that can be released to the public consistent with legal requirements and Department policies,” Mr. Mueller wrote. “I am requesting that you provide these materials to Congress and authorize their public release at this time.”

At this time. In late March, the special counsel wanted the crux of his findings delivered to the American public immediately, to clear up the misconceptions Mr. Barr had left with his four-page summary letter to Congress. Instead, Mr. Barr took another three weeks to release the summaries and the full report, saying he needed to go through it line by line to redact any privileged material.
Bob Mueller’s Extraordinary Letter to Bill Barr
The special counsel publicly upbraided the attorney general for his sketchy summary of the Trump investigation.

In congressional testimony on Wednesday, Mr. Barr justified the delay by saying he didn’t want to release the report “piecemeal,” and said that Mr. Mueller’s summaries were “underinclusive.” 

He asserted that the report became his responsibility after the special counsel submitted it, which is true in a formalistic sense: The regulations governing Mr. Mueller’s work call for a “confidential” report to the attorney general at the conclusion of the inquiry, which the attorney general may then release if he determined it “would be in the public interest.”

That Mr. Mueller quoted from this regulatory language in his letter to Mr. Barr shows that he cares about rules, perhaps to a fault. 

But it also shows that Mr. Mueller sensed the urgency of his conclusions — and that he couldn’t sit idly by as the chief legal officer of the United States actively undermined them. 

Donald Trump impeded justice - no exoneration: echo opinion

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/sally-yates-if-trump-werent-president-he-would-likely-be-indicted-on-obstruction

Sally Yates: If Trump Weren’t President, ‘He Would Likely Be Indicted On Obstruction’

Eugene Robinson echo opinion published in The Mercury News, a California newspaper

WASHINGTON, DC— There is a mountain of evidence that Donald Trump obstructed justice. There is considerable evidence that the Trump campaign embraced and encouraged Russia’s attempt to meddle in the 2016 election. Special counsel Robert Mueller laid out the facts — and now Congress has a solemn duty to confront them.

Contrary to what Trump says, the long-awaited Mueller report is not an exoneration. The report makes that clear more than once, verbatim, including this passage in Part II: “Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Nor does the report indict Trump for obstruction. But that is because Mueller took as his starting point the Justice Department opinion that a sitting president should not be made to face criminal charges. “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,” Mueller wrote. “[W]e are unable to reach that judgment.”

Trump and his apologists will try to paint the report as equivocal, but the evidence it cites strikes me as definitive. One representative passage from Part II, page 157:

“Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations. The incidents were often carried out through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought to use his official power outside of usual channels. These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General ‘s recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony.”

Mueller does not explicitly say that Congress must now judge the president’s conduct. But he draws a detailed road map for such an exercise, including not just the voluminous evidence he gathered but also the legal reasoning for viewing some of Trump’s actions — including his firing of then-FBI Director James Comey and his attempt to get then-

White House Counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller — as patently illegal.

Mueller's report was released by Attorney General William Barr, who, in the process, destroyed what was left of his own credibility. 

William Barr's Mueller pre-report "spin conference"

Pre-spinning (at the "spin conference"), he skewed the document before anyone had a chance to read it. In his spin, Barr parroted Trump’s favorite talking point and said Mueller found no “collusion” between the Trump campaign and the Russians. The report, however, says no such thing. It notes that “collusion” is not a federal offense and seeks instead to determine whether there is evidence of conspiracy, which is a statutory crime. Mueller did find such evidence, but not enough to bring criminal charges.

Barr flat-out lied when he said that Mueller’s decision not to charge Trump had nothing to do with the Justice Department opinion that effectively gives immunity to a sitting president. The report states clearly that this opinion has everything to do with Mueller’s choice to lay out the evidence without reaching a conclusion.

Barr said he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein decided to declare the matter of obstruction closed because Trump was understandably “frustrated and angered” at the very existence of the investigation, and thus may not have had the requisite intent to commit a crime. But Barr was confusing two different concepts, motive and intent. Trump’s motive for trying to fire Mueller, for example, may well have been anger and frustration. But his legal intent may have been to obstruct justice.

Barr so embarrassed himself that Fox News anchor Chris Wallace seemed appalled. “The attorney general seemed almost to be acting as the counselor for the defense, the counselor for the president, rather than the attorney general, talking about his motives, his emotions,” Wallace said. “Really, as I say, making a case for the president.”

The report notes that Trump “lambasted” former Attorney General Jeff Sessions when Sessions recused himself from involvement in the Mueller probe, telling him “‘you were supposed to protect me’ or words to that effect.” Barr obviously is determined not to make the same mistake.

Now responsibility shifts to Congress, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has a decision to make.

The Mueller report establishes that the Russians massively interfered with our election and that the Trump campaign cheered and encouraged that hostile act. It lays out ample evidence that Trump obstructed justice. Only Congress can hold the president accountable.

Thus far, Pelosi has resisted any move toward impeachment. Politically convenient or not, that’s where Mueller’s road map leads.

Trump opinion from Idaho - "And the enemy is us: DJT?"

The wall and Trump- the enemy from within

Opinion echo published in the Idaho State Journal newspaper

When are Republicans going to come to the realization that the biggest threat to our national security is not, as Donald Trump states, from Mexico and Central America but from the White House occupant himself. That’s where the real national emergency lies! Building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is primarily rooted in Trump’s extreme racial bias — NOTHING MORE!

Border security should be updated, but a wall (as in the “Berlin Wall?”) is not the answer. There are high-tech solutions, just as effective if not more so, that could be implemented at a much lower cost. The $5 billion-plus is just the tip of the iceberg and could be better spent elsewhere.

Since Trump couldn’t get what he wanted by way of his temper tantrums, he was “PROUD” to shut down the government, trample on 800,000 federal workers, plus millions more and use them as pawns and sacrifice them and their families, and threatens to do it again. (Like a spoiled child!)

Meanwhile, other than the threats posed by the White House occupant, the foreign threats to our national security, China and Russia, continue to gain influence throughout the rest of the world because of the void created by Trump’s ludicrous and cockamamie decisions and policies.

Senators and representatives took an oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."

Many are not living up to the oath. What we now have in the White House is a domestic enemy of democracy and the country! The Republicans have forsaken their oath and the Constitution and pledged their loyalty to Trump, regardless of whatever he says, whatever his actions.

Too many activities of a very serious nature have occurred relating to Trump with some of those around him even being indicted (obstruction of justice, witness tampering and lying to Congress and more) to such an extent that it can not be just a coincidence.

And Trump, who is in flagrant violation of the emolument clause in the Constitution, claims to know nothing about any of this? How naïve and gullible can people be to believe this? He is a total disgrace to this country and for everything it has stood for for 200-plus years.

This nation is in serious trouble, and it will only get worse the longer Trump remains in office! When are the Republicans going to wake up and start doing what is right for our country instead of continuing to support the absolutely worst president to ever occupy the White House?

Steve Bevan
Pocatello

A President under investigation puts administration at risk

Trump says he is under investigation for firing James Comey- ABC News

Officials who served on Trump's transition team have been instructed to preserve all documents that could be pertinent to the Russia investigations conducted by Congress and the special counsel.

Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein privately signals to colleagues he may have to recuse himself from Russia probe- Daily News

Is it possible the blind scales of justice will truly save the United States of America from an executive branch implosion, by indicting Donald Trump and forcing an impeachment?

America must remove, by Constitutional methods, the unstable tyrant, Donald Trump, as soon as possible. And, the Trump administration must, likewise, resign.

So, let me get this right? I'm obviously not a lawyer, but watching television news and following Twitter, makes me feel more confident about my judicial opinion. Here's what I think:

If Attorney General Jefferson "Jeff" Sessions can't prosecute Donald Trump for obstruction of justice because he removed himself from the Russia investigation; and now the Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ponders whether or not he must also recuse himself for whatever reasons, then who is qualified to indict Donald Trump, for obstruction of justice? 

In fact, the entire investigation will have to go to the Congress for enactment of Articles of Impeachment, where the trial then goes before the people. Meanwhile, anything can happen to harm America while this political tragedy, wrapped in espionage, continues. As this stomach turning continues, Americans are abandoned, like dingy boats without paddles, lacking competent political leadership. In fact, politically speaking, the United States of America, at this time, is heading directly for a catastrophic governmental "iceberg".  We won't need to look for extraterrestrial forces to destroy our nation. In fact, there's no more need for SETI sites (Search for Extra Terrestrials), because plenty of internal stresses are in place, right now, to dismantle our nation's unity. 

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has privately admitted to colleagues that he may have to recuse himself from the ongoing federal probe into whether any associates of President Trump coordinated with Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 race, ABC News reported Friday.

Although Rosenstein hasn't yet requested Justice Department attorneys to provide him their legal opinion about a potential recusal, it is reported that he has spoken, in recent weeks, with Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, his own deputy, about the possibility of her taking on his responsibilities as the top overseer of the Russia probe, ABC News reported.

I'm a non-lawyer who stands watch, while the political news unfolds, and growing anxiety about the future is consuming our national energies, In my opinion, all of Donald Trump's administration must be directed to find their legal life preservers and search for the safety boats.