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Despite the fact that William Barr had publicly commented denigrating the Mueller investigation and clearly auditioned for the post with a false note suggesting that it was almost impossible for a president to impede justice, he was confirmed as Donald Trump's new attorney general without difficulty. After what had happened with Jeff Sessions, it was understood that Trump would never show up for an AG recusing any investigation of the President. Everyone therefore knew that Robert Mueller's report on Russia's interference in the 2016 election would be in the hands of someone who probably would not be an honest middleman.
Nevertheless, most of us have given Barr the benefit of the doubt. I wrote about Watergate's special attorney, Leon Jaworski, who had been a conservative supporter of Richard Nixon. Alexander Haig, Chief of Staff of the White House, forced him to accept the post. He then replied "We need you, Leon", assuming he would be loyal to the president. When Jaworski became aware of the evidence against Nixon, he was appalled and pursued the investigation. I thought maybe that could happen with Barr too.
I should have been better informed. Barr was a very political Attorney General at the time of George HW The Bush administration recommended rehabilitations to all the culprits of the Iran-Contra affair, showing that it was not the case. was not going to be one of those morons who considered Nixon's grace a bad example for the country. I should have realized that this was not the case for someone who had spent too much time watching Sean Hannity and who was slightly out of it. Barr has been a rock-solid right-winger for decades.
I have described the initial four-page summary of the Mueller report by Barr as an elegant little political document, that's right. This sparked exactly the reaction that he and the White House wanted. He validated Trump's slogan, "No collusion, no obstruction" while skilfully concealing the fact that there was obviously a lot more to this story. After a few weeks of careful analysis and reconsideration of the implications by the press and various experts, Barr has now lost control of the scenario. He promises to submit the full report after writing everything he deems necessary, but because of the game he plays, he no longer trusts that he acts in good faith.
Unlike Ken Starr's investigations into the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals, the Mueller team did not use friendly press members to lobby and defend the witnesses in public court. . In fact, they did not say anything at all outside the courtroom. But now that the investigation is over and the Attorney General has summed up their conclusions, he would have begun to express his distress at the way he handled the situation.
Many media outlets confirmed that members of Mueller's team claimed that Barr misinterpreted the evidence of obstruction of justice, which, in the opinion of all, is substantial. .
They also told associates that they had carefully prepared summaries for different parts of the report, assuming that they would be made public. These summaries should not require all of Barr's concern about redactions. This is certainly in line with the assumptions of many experts on how such a report would be organized. While Barr and the Department of Justice now say that the summaries are labeled as containing the grand jury and other confidential information, thus requiring careful review and writing, many professionals have suggested that pro forma.
I think we all knew that the issue of obstruction was going to be a problem for President Trump, simply because so much was going on right now. But according to NBC News, it's not just this issue that has stirred Mueller's team. The case of "collusion" is also somewhat distorted. The special council has decided not to accuse Trump or his campaign of conspiracy with the Russian government in his electoral interventions, but that is far from the case. Team members said that "the results give an image of a campaign whose members were manipulated by a sophisticated Russian intelligence operation".
I have long been inclined to believe that Trump and his henchmen were simply so unethical, corrupt and uninformed that they were easy markers for the campaign of electoral sabotage in Russia. We know that they behaved stupidly when the Russians approached them. Donald Trump Jr. writing an email saying "if that's what you say, I love it!" after learning that Russian envoys wanted to stop her from criticizing Hillary Clinton, "being part of Russia and her government's support for Mr. Trump "is not the language of a sophisticated conspirator, it's almost as if they're trying to find out if Junior is even sensitive, but that's not the case, neither he, nor Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort or Donald Trump It's a game. Trump is president of the United States.
Trump and his team were probably compromised by the lies they told about the Trump Tower negotiations in Moscow. Trump knew that this could be revealed at any time and that his obsequious behavior towards Vladimir Putin could easily be interpreted as an inclination to an unspoken threat. Trump is aware of the threats of blackmail, as we all know. We also know that he pays when he deems it necessary.
Mueller concluded that none of this could be prosecuted and it is essential that we find out why he came to this conclusion. But to say that there was nothing out there is to sweep under the carpet some of the worst judgments in the history of presidential campaigns. And that's really saying something.
These were outrageous decisions, regardless of their criminal responsibility or lack thereof. I am not sure that rank stupidity and reckless greed are termed crimes and serious offenses, but we should probably know the whole story before making a decision about it. Even though Trump and his close advisers were seduced by the "electoral interference activities in Russia", it is quite clear that once Trump realized that the FBI and the Intelligence services thought that he could have done something illegal, he tried to conceal it. If that is the case, it is not up to William Barr to decide on criminal obstruction of justice. If the Department of Justice concluded that he could not charge a president in the exercise of a crime, he also could not erase a wrongdoing. It's at Congress to decide what to do with Donald Trump. It seems that Mueller's investigators are in agreement.
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