[ad_1]
How was this movie called? As good as he gets? That's what Donald Trump must feel now that the Attorney General has released his four-page summary of the Mueller report.
It is impossible to overemphasize the meaning of what has been said.
If the Democrats want to remove this president from the White House, it will have to be through the ballot box in November 2020, not before.
The cloud covering the president for 22 months has disappeared, the weight on his shoulders has been lifted.
This is undoubtedly the best day that Donald Trump has known since taking office in January 2017. So let's get through.
The Mueller investigation involved two components: first, the question of whether there had been collusion between his campaign and the Russians.
There is 100% exemption. Special advocate Robert Mueller concluded that his campaign was neither conspiring nor coordinating with Russia. This question is put to bed.
On the question of the obstruction of justice, there is a bit of ambiguity.
Mr. Mueller has a very interesting sentence: "Although the report does not conclude that the president has committed a crime, he does not exonerate him either."
The Attorney General has looked into the matter and William Barr comes to this conclusion: "Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and I have concluded that the evidence produced during the investigation of the Special advocate was not sufficient to establish that the president had interfered with the offense. "
So, in the eyes of the AG, Trump is clear here too.
Democrats will focus on this ambiguity. And again, I will try to divide this into two parts. The first legal, the second policy.
Legally, the Judiciary Committee of the House will want to get hold of Mueller's full report.
They will want to see why Robert Mueller felt that he could not exonerate the president for obstructing justice.
And remember that obstruction of justice is one of the so-called "serious crimes and offenses" that can lead to impeachment.
There will be a never-ending back and forth about it. And I would not be surprised at all if the badignments start to fly.
Committees have the right to call people and papers. They are required to flex their muscles as much as they can. They want to play so long. They want to hurt the president.
To prosecute the president for obstructing justice, he would have had to prove his intent to obstruct. So even though the president fired the former FBI leader, James Comey, and triggered regular torrents of abuse on Twitter about the investigation, if his only motivation was to purge his spleen rather than breaking the law, he did not do anything lawfully.
- Main lines of Barr's summary
- Trump's not conspired with Russia & # 39;
There is, of course, a separate series of criminal investigations into different aspects of the Trump organization – the foundation, the inauguration committee, even the way in which it could have inflated or destroyed the insurance values on the market. value of the properties.
They will follow their course. But do not get me wrong, the biggest element of danger comes from the verdict of the Mueller report, and the interpretation that this equates to a "not guilty" is a boost for Donald Trump.
Now consider politics.
It seems to me that if it's perfectly understandable that the Democrats will go astray – and in a way, it would be an abdication for an opposition party that would not do it, and they could very well cause other damage to the president – the risk the course of action is greater than any opportunity it presents.
Public opinion is going to watch the newscasts of the network tonight, check the news websites after this exhausting 22-month process and say, "OK, that's it. Continue. "
How many ordinary people (a sentence I hate, but forgive me) would read the entire Mueller report with its endless appendices, even if it was published in total?
I guess not much. And we all have busy lives and limited attention span.
The most successful politicians recognize this. An important part of the electoral population will just think, "God be praised, it's over."
The danger for the Democrats is exactly the same as that faced by the Republicans in the face of Bill Clinton's removal.
Despite his perjury and lies, President Clinton stepped down in 2000 with incredibly high approval ratings.
- Follow the reaction as she enters between
- The Trump-Russia saga in 350 words
Why? In part, the economy was skyrocketing. But the Democrats too were repelled by what they saw as a political game by Republicans perceived as putting their own political interests ahead of the country.
And the feeling was – to use a word that Donald Trump likes – that the Republican Party was conducting a witch hunt.
The senior Democratic leaders of Congress have always been aware of getting on the road to impeachment. But now, they must take into account the risk of giving the appearance of being more interested and more focused on the dismissal of the president than on the problems of ordinary people – health, work, wages, tuition, studies, education. epidemic of opioids, etc.
As I write these lines, Donald Trump is on board Air Force One as he returns to Washington.
If he was not a partisan, I'm sure he would debut the champagne. Maybe he'll have a celebratory Coca-Cola with an extra ice cube.
He always said that it was a hoax and a witch hunt. And not surprisingly, he says that he was totally justified.
Moving this story, even if the Democrats will try it, will be extremely difficult.
Source link