The full Mueller report is about 300 pages of text and 400 of evidentiary appendices according to people involved and the printer.
The oft quoted segments of the Barr Report, which is itself an edited segment, conveniently leaves out that multiple members of the Trump Campaign were found guilty for, or pled guilty to attempting collusion with a foreign power. At least one (Manafort) was also found to be vulnerable to blackmail and manipulation by Russians and Russian-allies who helped hide large sums of money for him so that he could avoid his economic tax responsibility to our nation, which is why his finances trial was held first, of course.
A lot of time by multiple very busy members of the Trump Campaign was therefore spent attempting collusion. Does anyone think that they would have spent that much time and not gone ahead in an instance where Russia said, “Yes.”?
Some of the people who CREATED the guidelines that govern what can be released have already written publicly that Barr’s statement about what he can not release to Congress is WRONG and not what the guidelines say.
I am curious about the fallout from some other questions. Certainly, there have been past cases which went after people who facilitated crime not by participating in those crimes but by creating barriers to law enforcement, AND there have been past cases in which crime lords, drug cartel leaders, etc. were called to pay for what their employees did to aid them. Setting a new precedent on either of these two issues could greatly hamper law enforcement against some very serious criminals by badly complicating such cases in court.
Obstruction of Justice is such a very bad charge against a president that it has been the one reported to be most worrying Trump’s legal team. Trump DID make public statements that appear to fit the definition, but there is a question raised whether he can be charged with Obstruction of Justice without it being connected to charges of a crime by that individual himself rather than just by the person influenced.
Meanwhile, there DEFINITELY were successful prosecutions of Attempted Collusion (not the exact term (?), but easily understood) by multiple members of the campaign, which itself is a crime, so that raises a different question: at what point do illegal actions of employees have to also infer responsibility of the boss?
So, there are questions if Trump can be held at all responsible for the actions of multiple high level campaign employees with whom he had direct meetings, AND there is the question (IF bosses get off the hook) of whether obstruction can be charged if a criminal charge is not being held against them.
Depending on how Trump’s legal team thinks the questions will resolve in court Barr might release the full Mueller report, with retracted areas, or not, with Barr taking the fall.
Actually, Colbert beat Drew to this, and I beat Colbert with my Woody Allen speed-reading joke (technically, Woody beat ME to it, though his joke was decades before the Barr “summary”), but pretty funny. As far as people wanting the entire Mueller Report (minus any truly classified info that might interfere with future investigations, such as the revelation of sources or investigative tools) made public, you just KNOW the late great John McCain would be demanding it to be released in full. As would Eisenhower. As would Lincoln. Hell, as would any PATRIOT!
SukieCrandall Premium Member about 5 years ago
Great minds think alike. If you have not yet gotten a heads up and read Borowitz, you will want to do so.
SukieCrandall Premium Member about 5 years ago
The full Barr Report is 4 pages.
The full Mueller report is about 300 pages of text and 400 of evidentiary appendices according to people involved and the printer.
The oft quoted segments of the Barr Report, which is itself an edited segment, conveniently leaves out that multiple members of the Trump Campaign were found guilty for, or pled guilty to attempting collusion with a foreign power. At least one (Manafort) was also found to be vulnerable to blackmail and manipulation by Russians and Russian-allies who helped hide large sums of money for him so that he could avoid his economic tax responsibility to our nation, which is why his finances trial was held first, of course.
A lot of time by multiple very busy members of the Trump Campaign was therefore spent attempting collusion. Does anyone think that they would have spent that much time and not gone ahead in an instance where Russia said, “Yes.”?
SukieCrandall Premium Member about 5 years ago
Some of the people who CREATED the guidelines that govern what can be released have already written publicly that Barr’s statement about what he can not release to Congress is WRONG and not what the guidelines say.
I am curious about the fallout from some other questions. Certainly, there have been past cases which went after people who facilitated crime not by participating in those crimes but by creating barriers to law enforcement, AND there have been past cases in which crime lords, drug cartel leaders, etc. were called to pay for what their employees did to aid them. Setting a new precedent on either of these two issues could greatly hamper law enforcement against some very serious criminals by badly complicating such cases in court.
Obstruction of Justice is such a very bad charge against a president that it has been the one reported to be most worrying Trump’s legal team. Trump DID make public statements that appear to fit the definition, but there is a question raised whether he can be charged with Obstruction of Justice without it being connected to charges of a crime by that individual himself rather than just by the person influenced.
Meanwhile, there DEFINITELY were successful prosecutions of Attempted Collusion (not the exact term (?), but easily understood) by multiple members of the campaign, which itself is a crime, so that raises a different question: at what point do illegal actions of employees have to also infer responsibility of the boss?
So, there are questions if Trump can be held at all responsible for the actions of multiple high level campaign employees with whom he had direct meetings, AND there is the question (IF bosses get off the hook) of whether obstruction can be charged if a criminal charge is not being held against them.
Depending on how Trump’s legal team thinks the questions will resolve in court Barr might release the full Mueller report, with retracted areas, or not, with Barr taking the fall.
pam Miner about 5 years ago
Thank you Drew for such good insights in your cartoons.
Godfreydaniel about 5 years ago
Actually, Colbert beat Drew to this, and I beat Colbert with my Woody Allen speed-reading joke (technically, Woody beat ME to it, though his joke was decades before the Barr “summary”), but pretty funny. As far as people wanting the entire Mueller Report (minus any truly classified info that might interfere with future investigations, such as the revelation of sources or investigative tools) made public, you just KNOW the late great John McCain would be demanding it to be released in full. As would Eisenhower. As would Lincoln. Hell, as would any PATRIOT!
SukieCrandall Premium Member about 5 years ago
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/23/i-wrote-special-counsel-rules-attorney-general-can-should-release-mueller-report/?utm_term=.130e9cd636df&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1
which is
>Opinion
>I wrote the special counsel rules. The attorney general can — and should — release the Mueller report.
>Neal Kumar Katyal
>March 22 at 8:14 PM