Robert Mueller Didn't Finish The Job, And We'll Never Know Why by Elie Mystal
Full article
https://abovethelaw.com/2019/04/mueller-report-no-subpoena-trump/
If you ever have the opportunity to choose who will prosecute you for you potential crimes, ask to be prosecuted by Robert Mueller. Apparently, he will spend half of his time making your legal arguments for you, and will not try to secure your testimony under oath if it looks like youll give him too much trouble.
I have read through (well, scrolled through) the entire Mueller report, and I am deeply dissatisfied with the thoroughness of Muellers investigation. Yes, yes, I know, Im supposed to parrot the line about how thorough this investigation was because
it took a lot of time and the report is very long. Big whoop. For all the time spent on it, and the obvious meticulous dedication to the cause, Mueller did not finish the job. Maybe he was pressured by new Attorney General William Barr. Maybe the constant drumbeat of wrap it up coming from the Trump administration wore him down. Maybe well never know. But the 22-month investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and President Donald Trumps potential obstruction of justice punted investigative functions to Congress that his office should have completed before turning over his report.
And thats because Mueller declined to seek subpoenas to compel testimony from Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, or Eric Trump. Mueller was willing to put the screws to everybody else. Paul Manafort is in jail; Michael Cohen is going to jail. Michael Flynn is going to jail; Robert Gates is going to jail; Roger Stone will most likely be going to jail. Many of these people are going to jail because they lied to Robert Mueller. But the First Family is not going to jail. And its not because they are innocent. Its because Mueller refused to ask them a damned question.
As has been widely understood and now confirmed with the release of the report Mueller made the decision that his office did not have the authority to charge President Donald Trump with a crime. Thats
a questionable legal conclusion. I can more or less accept it on the issue of conspiracy with Russia to influence the election. But when it comes to obstruction of justice, I just cant. Literally, what is the point of having an independent, non-political appointee conduct an investigation into the President if only political appointees and elected officials can actually do anything about it? Its like hiring a restaurant critic who isnt allowed to eat the food.
Fine. Whatever. It is what it is. Given Muellers legal conclusion, his only use then was to put together information that would allow political appointees and Congress to make their own determination on how to proceed. If your charge is to investigate the Trump campaigns actions, then how in the hell can you conduct that investigation without at least attempting to interview the people who were in charge of Trumps campaign? Yes, Mueller did try to secure testimony from Paul Manafort and Corey Lewandowski and Steve Bannon and Hope Hicks and any number of hangers-on and sycophants that Trump surrounded himself with. But, the people in charge of Trumps operations have always been Trump, his adult children, and his son-in-law.
Link to tweet
I love his spin on things.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)brush
(53,475 posts)Guess we all put too much hope in Mueller doing the right thing.
He did a lot but stopped at the crucial moment. He should've questioned all those family members, especially liar trump.
Being a good soldier is fine but this situation call for him going beyond the call of duty. He should've made the call that trump obstructed.
Wonder if it's the whole being a repug thing, like what caused Comey to do what he did?
Rebl2
(13,311 posts)right down to it, Mr. Mueller is a republican and I think that is why he made no conclusions on obstruction. Everyone on both sides say he was a good choice to investigate. Im not so sure.
SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)In Volume II of the Report, Mueller spends two paragraphs on page 2 wringing his hands over "concerns about fairness" if he issued a decision that Trump's conduct constituted a federal offense. Mueller thought that a decision would be unfair because Trump could not "respond" to the "accusation," but would suffer "stigma and approbrium" from the conclusion that a crime had been committed.
Say what???! This is Trump we are talking about Mr. Mueller. Since when does Trump not respond to ANY slight? Have you seen his Twitter feed, Mr. Mueller. Right, of course you have. So what the fuck are you talking about? And what "opprobrium" would Trump "suffer" that he does not already have?! His approval rating has been under water ever since Putin installed him in office!
How come law enforcement never worries about the opprobrium black men suffer from stop and frisk?
Paladin
(28,204 posts)I'm sick of Republicans doing trump all these favors.