Some basic takeaways from the release of the Mueller report, which I intend to read in its entirety when I have five-six hours with nothing else to do.
1. The report only refers to “collusion” by stating that “collusion” is not a “term of art in criminal law.” The Mueller team investigated “conspiracy,” a crime with a bar too high given the evidence. In the entire document, the word “collusion” appears only 24 times, most of them in recitation of President Trump’s Tweets. It’s fairly clear that Russia and the Trump campaign followed the parallel goals of electing Trump President but mostly pursued that goal independently of each other. Certainly, there’s no evidence of conspiracy. The only “collusion” appears to be between Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik and (possibly) between Roger Stone and Julian Assange.
2. Regarding the case of “obstruction of justice,” it’s clear that Mueller’s team did not reach a conclusion that the President “committed a crime” but also did not “exonerate him.” Attorney General Barr, weeks ago, decided on his own to exonerate the President. It’s fairly clear from the report that the question was meant to be left to Congress to either deal with or punt. Speaking of Barr, he has clearly been one of Trump’s best hires (from the perspective of what’s good for Trump). If I were to just read Barr’s words, I might have a hard time telling the difference between him and Rudy Giuliani.
3. While there were things in this report that were not previously known to the public, a significant majority of the report (at least what I’ve seen so far) has already been reported in the mainstream media. The journalists at the New York Times and Washington Post deserve the Pulitzer Prizes they were awarded. Most of what I seen reported on TV or in the major mainstream media are things already in the public square. Virtually every news report in the Times and the Post has been validated by Mueller’s report. They are not fake news nor the enemy of the people (although they are certainly acting as enemy of the President). The mainstream media certainly, however, was guilty of over-hyping this; the commentators on CNN/MSNBC and the Op-Ed writers at the Times and Post are clearly oversold the level of collusion between Trump, his people and the Russians. Having said that, there is still #4.
4. What I was most curious about was whether the Mueller Report would have any detail about Trump’s business career, in particular the laundering of money from Russian oligarchs through Trump properties (either with or without his knowledge). Clearly, Mueller had a very narrow lane and stuck to his lane. The lack of criminal charges in this report is not the end of this story for the President. Many threads have been passed off to the Southern District of New York (SDNY). In addition, the Democratic House is pursuing Trump’s business dealings in a way that was not examined by Mueller’s team. It’s my belief that part of Trump’s public rage and fear about the Mueller investigation is that he wasn’t certain about the full scope of that investigation. When he first heard about it, his response was “I’m fucked.” It’s my belief that he’s always been worried about an investigation into his business dealings and not that he colluded with Russia. Between the SDNY and the House Committees, there is a lot for Trump to be worried about. For the Republican party, it would be a nightmare scenario if bombshells are revealed late in the 2020 campaign.
5. Trump and his loyal supporters now want A.G. Barr to investigate the investigators, the origins of the Russia probe (or the “oranges” as Trump put it). The information revealed today in the Mueller report clearly shows that there was enough smoke to investigate contacts between Trump, his campaign and the Russians. Many of them were caught lying about it. However, it’s certainly worth a look by the Inspector General but hardly worthy of a new Special Counsel. To me, Trump’s constant cries to “look at the other side” evoke memories of O.J. Simpson going after “the real killers.”
That’s all I’ve got for now.
This is something all of us should read at some point.
Great Job on this Chris.