Earlier today Attorney General Barr released a four page summary of the Mueller Report to Congress and media outlets in which he said Mueller concluded was that no American or anyone part of the Trump campaign or administration colluded with Russia:
The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. As the report states: “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”1
This is what the president has been saying from the very beginning.
As for the accusation that the president obstructed justice when he fired James Comey, AG Barr said there was no evidence that would require pursuing such charges. Media and Democrats, clearly dismayed that the narrative they’ve run on for two years has just blown up in their faces, are focusing everything on this one line:
The Special Counsel states that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
It’s all they’ve got so they’re hanging onto this line like it was a life preserver in a hurricane. However, if you read further, you’ll see it is a futile effort (emphasis mine):
After reviewing the Special Counsel’s final report on these issues; consulting with Department officials, including the Office of Legal Counsel; and applying the principles of federal prosecution that guide our charging decisions, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense. Our determination was made without regard to, and is not based on, the constitutional considerations that surround the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting president. 2
In making this determination, we noted that the Special Counsel recognized that “the evidence does not establish that the President was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference,” and that, while not determinative, the absence of such evidence bears upon the President’s intent with respect to obstruction. Generally speaking, to obtain and sustain an obstruction conviction, the government would need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a person, acting with corrupt intent, engaged in obstructive conduct with a sufficient nexus to a pending or contemplated proceeding. In cataloguing the President’s actions, many of which took place in public view, the report identifies no actions that, in our judgment, constitute obstructive conduct, had a nexus to a pending or contemplated proceeding, and were done with corrupt intent, each of which, under the Department’s principles of federal prosecution guiding charging decisions, would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to establish an obstruction-of-justice offense.
In a nutshell, what these paragraphs mean is if you don’t have a crime, then you can’t have obstruction of justice. What was there to hide? There was no crime.
This is a clear victory for President Trump. For the past two years, he has said over and over again that there was no collusion and no obstruction, and today he has been proven right.
However, don’t think the Democrats are going to accept Mueller’s report even though they’ve been touting it for two years now. They’ve invested way too much time and political capital with their base on their accusations that Trump not only colluded with the Russians to “steal” the election from the “rightful president,” Hillary Clinton, but that Trump obstructed justice when he fired James Comey. There’s no way they’re walking away now, even though to continue this investigation into the president, who now looks like he’s being persecuted by his political enemies, is political suicide. Jerold Nadler already said so today. Again, note his focus on the “does not exonerate him” line:
In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before @HouseJudiciary in the near future.
— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) March 24, 2019
The Democrats are desperate now. They put all their eggs in the Trump/Russia collusion basket, and it blew up in their faces. At this point they’ve got nowhere to go. All they can do is dig in even more for fear their base will have their heads on spikes if they don’t and pursue their political persecution of a president who has been proven right once again.
Update: A few minutes ago, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer released the following statement about Attorney General Bob Barr’s summary of the Mueller report:
Washington, D.C. – Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer released the following statement regarding Attorney General Barr’s summary of the Mueller report:
“Attorney General Barr’s letter raises as many questions as it answers. The fact that Special Counsel Mueller’s report does not exonerate the president on a charge as serious as obstruction of justice demonstrates how urgent it is that the full report and underlying documentation be made public without any further delay. Given Mr. Barr’s public record of bias against the Special Counsel’s inquiry, he is not a neutral observer and is not in a position to make objective determinations about the report.
“And most obviously, for the president to say he is completely exonerated directly contradicts the words of Mr. Mueller and is not to be taken with any degree of credibility.
“Congress requires the full report and the underlying documents so that the Committees can proceed with their independent work, including oversight and legislating to address any issues the Mueller report may raise. The American people have a right to know.”
The Democrats are fully committed to their political persecution of President Trump to the point that they’re now going to investigate the attorney general. It sounds like they’re following the Joy Reid school of conspiracy theories, which is that there’s a cover up afoot by Attorney General Barr to protect the president.
Back to Jerold Nadler, take a look at this word salad in which he also tries to argue that Bill Barr could be engaging in a cover up:
And for the (DOJ) to take the position that we’re not going to give information because he’s not indicted like a normal person who’s not indicted because of lack of evidence, is equivalent to a cover-up and subverts the only ability to hold the president accountable.
What Nadler is saying is that the Democrats’ standards aren’t nearly as high as the DOJ’s regarding what’s considered indictable evidence, so the Dems are desperate to get their hands on what exactly is in the Mueller report. They want comb through it for the purpose of finding any detail or details that they think they can twist into evidence of collusion that will allow them to bring articles of impeachment against Trump and his administration.
A year ago, Adam Schiff said there is “ample evidence” of collusion between Trump and Russia. That Mueller didn’t find it is immaterial to the Democrats.
