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United States Politics News

The Mueller Report (justice.gov) 679

Almost two years after Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign, his report -- a redacted version of it -- is finally out [PDF]. [Update: Here's a PDF file of the report that supports search functionality.]
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The Mueller Report

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  • Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Thursday April 18, 2019 @10:37AM (#58454386)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • ...or News for Policy Wonks?
  • "I'm fucked" (Score:5, Informative)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Thursday April 18, 2019 @10:52AM (#58454500) Journal

    So far, my favorite part of the report is this, on page 290 of the version released at the press conference this morning (which is paginated differently from the one on the DOJ website for some reason).

    "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.'"

    Then the paragraph goes on to describe Trump demanding Sessions resign as soon as he found out a special counsel had been appointed. Clearly the reaction of an innocent man.

    • LOL when you opened the 448 page PDF file the first thing you searched for was "fuck"?
    • You would have noticed that he was talking about the tremendous amount of wasted time and effort it would take to deal with the special counsel and that he could not accomplish anything meaningful during that time. Context is important. Do not just parrot CNN please.
  • by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Thursday April 18, 2019 @10:57AM (#58454548)
    I guess to make it harder to search? Trivial matter to convert it to text nonetheless.
  • Huh. Like it could be any other report? Oh, it's in "/storage"...

  • by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Thursday April 18, 2019 @02:14PM (#58455906)

    How both political parties are handling this publicly is just silly. Everyone keeps talking over the obvious that's confirmed in this report. Russia is attempting to actively mess with the elections in the United States. It's like the tribalism between the two parties can't stop for fifteen fucking seconds to address that people are being manipulated (or at least the attempt is being made to) by a foreign country. Geez, do all politicians from both sides think so little of the election process to devalue the conclusion that's clearly made and addressing it would severe the public's interest?

    And before we start hearing the "well the US meddles in..." Exactly, we ought to outraged about that as well. Foreign countries ought not meddle with other country's democracy. What's good for the goose is good for the gander logic ought not apply here. How in Jeebuz name does the general public get so fucked in the head to be so finely focused on all the wrong things to point out?

  • by GrimSavant ( 5251917 ) on Thursday April 18, 2019 @11:55PM (#58458086)
    I've only read the executive summaries and some of the juicy bits linked by others, but I've got to say that Barr has grossly misrepresented what I've read so far, and this may turn out to be a bigger problem for him in the short term than it is for Trump.

    Specifically, he said his decision to not prosecute Trump over the obstruction of justice issues was not based on the issues around whether a sitting president could be indicted [cnn.com]:

    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.

    Reading the summary of volume 2 of Mueller's actual report, the determination that a sitting president could not be indicted under DOJ rules was a fundamental and central concern that dictated how Mueller approached the investigation. Mueller's decision to not provide the normal binary decision to either prosecute or not prosecute Trump was due to acceptance of the regulations and policies prohibiting prosecution of the sitting president, and he went further in stating that it would be unfair for a prosecutor to accuse a sitting president of a crime because they would not have the normal recourse a criminal defendant would have of mounting a defense in court to try to clear their name. However, Mueller's way around that is that he believes a sitting president is still subject to a criminal investigation that can collect evidence, and it is permissible for the prosecutor to clear the president of obstruction of justice charges if the evidence doesn't support a prosecution. Subsequently, the special counsel explicitly refuses to clear Trump of obstruction of justice, which is as close to accusing Trump of obstructing justice that Mueller believes he is legally allowed to go. This is in contrast with the conspiracy charges with the Russian election interference where they more clearly decline to make any charges beyond what have already been made, and say they have insufficient evidence to go further.

    Because we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment, we did not draw ultimate conclusions about the President's conduct. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that would need to be resolved if we were making a traditional prosecutorial judgment. At the same time, 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, we are unable to reach that judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.

    Reading between the lines, this shows just how far out of line AG Barr has gone. Mueller believes that the DOJ and by extension him as special counsel lacks the authority to so much as accuse Trump of crimes while he is in office. Thus the clear constitutional authority to handle these matters while the president is sitting is congress, and congress can determine whether or not the behavior merits impeachment. NOT BARR. Even under the expansive rules that protect the president from federal prosecution, Barr has taken upon himself an undeserved authority to try to clear the president of wrongdoing when the special counsel explicitly went out of their way not to, and Barr has obfuscated and covered up that the decision for this should not be up to him no matter how you slice it.

Riches: A gift from Heaven signifying, "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." -- John D. Rockefeller, (slander by Ambrose Bierce)

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