Mueller's report could revive attempts to impeach Trump

[Celerity]

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/04/muellers-report-could-revive-attempts-to-impeach-trump/

We always knew the full 400-page report from Special Counsel Robert Mueller probing possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia during the 2016 election would be a lot dicier for the president than Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary. Barr’s letter to Congress, released earlier this month, was in many ways his own interpretation of Mueller’s investigation. And in the AG’s own telling, Trump was free and clear: no collusion with the Russians and no actions which would rise to the standard of an obstruction of justice offence. Trump, who has called the entire 22-month Mueller inquiry a hoax, witch-hunt, and con-job from the very first day Mueller was appointed, declared a “complete and total exoneration.”

Now Americans and indeed the world can read the actual report (or at least the sections that haven’t been redacted) for themselves. It’s a doozy of a story that puts the president in a far more conflicting light. At times, you almost feel sympathetic for Trump’s naiveté and inexperience in how Washington works. As Barr explained during his short press conference before the report’s disclosure, Trump was undergoing unprecedented strain from the moment he stepped into the White House. He was like a caged animal being poked with a stick by federal prosecutors with unlimited resources and a wide mandate.

Trump comes across as somebody with terrible judgement. When White House chief political strategist Steve Bannon learned about the president’s January 27, 2017 dinner invitation to FBI Director James Comey in the White House residence, Bannon tried to convince Trump not to meet with him alone. Trump declined and decided to go ahead with the dinner, which would lead to the infamous loyalty-pledge. One doesn’t have to be a career bureaucrat in Washington to understand that meeting with the top law enforcement investigator in the country and talking about the target of an active FBI investigation (in this case, Trump’s own national security adviser at the time) would be an idiotic and legally perilous thing to do. Trump, however, took the chance anyway. Left unsaid in the report is the president’s motivations in reaching out to Comey; Trump probably believed he could butter up his FBI director into dropping the investigation and letting Michael Flynn off the hook.

We learned about Trump’s desperate attempts to persuade former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to unrecuse himself from the Russia investigation, including tasking his White House Counsel Don McGahn to forcefully make the case. Trump viewed the Attorney General as his own personal protector from legal jeopardy rather than America’s chief law enforcement officer. Sessions told McGhan he was sticking with the recusal. And Trump was livid, harassing Sessions until the day the exhausted and abused AG resigned.

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[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. Which is why MSNBC IS providing EXCELLENT analysis on the Mueller Report.

With its excellent panel from Glenn Kirschner, Neal Katayal, Jeremy Bash, Nicole Wallace, Ari, Melber......

Donald Trump is not out of the woods. Former White House Counsel, Don McGhann gave Mueller evidence important to the obstruction claim.

[BeyondGeography]

2. Good read

We learned that Don Jr., Trump’s eldest son, has about as much sense as a rich lady walking in a crime-ridden neighbourhood with a Dolce and Gabbana handbag. How else to describe someone who chooses to interact with Julian Assange’s Wikileaks in the heat of a presidential campaign? Again, this shouldn’t be hard stuff to avoid.

[SummerSnow]

3. Maxine Waters is smiling right now