4/19/19: There is nothing President
Trump hates more than “Fake News,” and no source of “Fake News” he hates so
profoundly as The New York Times.
Trump keeps insisting that the Mueller report totally exonerates him. “NO
COLLUSION. NO OBSTRUCTION,” he loves to tweet.
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The president’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.
Mueller Report
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Meanwhile, the Times keeps putting out “Fake News” stories. On Friday, the “enemies of the people” strike again, after reporters read the report and publish actual quotes. Here are a few gems.
From Page 9, Volume I of the Mueller Report:
The investigation established
that several individuals affiliated with the Trump Campaign lied to the office,
and to Congress, about their interactions with Russian-affiliated individuals
and related matters. Those lies materially impaired the investigation [emphasis
added, unless otherwise noted] of Russian election interference.
Page 78, Volume II:
“When Sessions told the president that a special counsel had
been appointed, the president slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh, my God.
This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.’”
Did the Mueller Report clear the president of obstruction?
Page 182, Volume II:
“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.”
Did Trump try to obstruct?
Page 158, Volume II:
The president’s efforts to
influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely
because the persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.
…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.
Viewing the acts collectively can help to illuminate their significance.
Allow me to “illuminate” the significance of Trump’s “direct and indirect contacts with witnesses.”
Here’s what he told reporters last November, regarding Paul
Manafort, a witness who had potentially devastating testimony to offer:
Finally, did Trump cooperate fully with the investigation, as Attorney General Barr has suggested?
Appendix C, Page 1:
We received the President’s
written responses [to questions prosecutors had asked] in late November 2018.
In December 2018, we informed counsel of the insufficiency of those
responses in several
respects. We noted, among other things, that the President stated on more than
30 occasions that he “does not recall” or “remember” or have an “independent
recollection” of information called for by the questions. Other answers were
“incomplete or imprecise.”
Did Team Trump have questionable contacts with Russians? (At this point, you might think no sane individual would question that fact.) (Sadly, see: 4/21/19.)
Page 173, Volume I:
The investigation established
multiple links between Trump Campaign officials and individuals tied to the
Russian government. Those links included Russian offers of assistance to the campaign…Ultimately, the
investigation did not establish that the campaign coordinated or conspired with
the Russian government in its election-interference activities.
So, multiple links.
Bumbling attempts to obstruct justice.
Lies that materially impaired the investigation.
Trump’s incomplete written answers, written because he
refused to be deposed and answer under oath.
That might not be enough to determine legally that Trump and the Russians conspired; but it’s certainly not total exoneration.
Finally, Mueller is clear on the role Congress might still play.
Page 8, Volume II:
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“The conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws
to the president’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our
constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person
is above the law.”
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BLOGGER’S NOTE: For additional evidence, see Sean Hannity’s text messages to Paul Manafort, and efforts to assure him, if he kept his mouth clamped, that he had “a friend in the White House, 6/22/19.
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