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comment by am_Unition
am_Unition  ·  1806 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Redacted Mueller Report has been Released

Honestly, I don't think that is evidence he's guilty of election interference with the Russians, it's just that he equates special counsel investigations with dirt and bad press. And here we are, with some new dirt, and him pretending to be totally exonerated when it's clear he attempted to obstruct justice on many occasions. We know Barr's view is that a president can't obstruct justice, he was very clear about that in his unsolicited letter/job application to the white house last year. So now Barr is doing exactly what Trump lamented Sessions wasn't - protecting Trump. Obviously, that is not the function of an attorney general, despite Trump et al.'s (very poor) perception of previous relationships between the AG and presidents.

It is my opinion that enough evidence exists to impeach both Trump and Barr, but we all know the motion would only pass the house after a vote along party lines, and would die in the senate. If I had to choose between Dems winning the presidency or the Senate in 2020, I'd probably choose the presidency, but only just.





tacocat  ·  1806 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Apparently you have to prove intent to commit a crime in a conspiracy(?) charge and the Trump tower meeting with Don Jr is incredibly suspicious but he's too dumb to prove he was malicious. I don't know. That's me recalling an NPR story I probably wasn't even paying attention to

I don't think you're wrong though. The investigation apparently led to fourteen other separate investigations. I really just think it's a funny quote. I abandoned any hope that the Mueller Report would do anything substantial a long time ago. It's mostly entertainment at this point

johnnyFive  ·  1805 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    Apparently you have to prove intent to commit a crime in a conspiracy(?) charge and the Trump tower meeting with Don Jr is incredibly suspicious but he's too dumb to prove he was malicious. I don't know. That's me recalling an NPR story I probably wasn't even paying attention to

Pretty much. "Conspiracy" in the legal sense requires there to be an underlying crime; you can't conspire to do something that isn't illegal. The report then goes on to say why Mueller wasn't confident that they could prove all the elements of the underlying foreign-interference crime, and your summary of that is basically right as well. The statute in question requires a "knowing and willful" violation, meaning those involved would've had to have known that it was illegal. Not just that, of course, but prosecutors would have to prove that they knew, and that's pretty difficult.

am_Unition  ·  1805 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I think 'bl00 has said it before, but this really is the Hanlon's Razor presidency.