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srobertss's JournalDOJ, special counsel say there is 'no conflict' on Mueller, Barr statements about obstruction inquir
Source: The Hill
The Justice Department and special counsel's office say there is “no conflict” between statements made by Attorney General William Barr and special counsel Robert Mueller about the role that Justice Department guidelines stating not to indict a sitting president played in Mueller’s obstruction inquiry.
“The Attorney General has previously stated that the Special Counsel repeatedly affirmed that he was not saying that, but for the [Office of Legal Counsel] opinion, he would have found the President obstructed justice,” said Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec and special counsel spokesman Peter Carr in a statement issued Wednesday evening.
Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/446077-doj-special-counsel-say-there-is-no-conflict-on-mueller-barr
Oh my. This is how they’re spinning it. And I notice that Peter Carr is identified as Special Counsel spokesman. He’s the same person who denied Michael Wolf’s allegation that there were draft indictments of Trump on Muellers desk.
Voldemort vs Trump
Rowling compared the two and I remembered scoffing a bit. But I just rewatched Deathly Hallows and the first scene with Voldemort with his “cabinet” taking away Malloy’s wand felt resonant. My goodness, he is a clown version of Voldemort!
Interesting how little coverage of Trumps rally in PA focused on treason accusations
I don’t watch news, I get most of it online, so I may be missing something. I saw a lot about getting the crowd to boo Fox News, and people fainting, and Trump saying that he doesn’t like losing. But very little on Trump calling FBI and Democrats treasonous for investigating him and the audience chanting, “Lock them up”. Vox covered it here
https://www.vox.com/2019/5/21/18633879/trump-montoursville-pennsylvania-rally-lock-them-up-bill-barr
But an article from CNN on my Apple news feed listed 40 eye popping moments and it didn’t include this. I went to the network news sites and couldn’t find it either.
I know we’re very jaded, but doesn’t this seem a little strange? Are they clinging to a notion of normalcy? Are they as sick of it as we are? Or is there a propping up of a Republican narrative that he behaves badly, but ignore that so we can keep going in this corporate friendly direction?
Question
I’m pretty new at this, wasn’t here for the 2016 wars, and when I tried to discuss other candidates from a Bernie supporter lens in the primaries forum, it got very acrimonious. I learned my lesson. I ended up deleting the thread. Since we can’t discuss other candidates in this forum, I was wondering if any of you know of any good forums outside of Democratic Underground? I googled “Bernie Sanders message boards” and found some sluggish older places.
Pompeo to meet Putin in Russia amid fears over US-Iran clash
Source: The Guardian
Mike Pompeo is to meet Vladimir Putin in Russia at a time of heightened fears of a clash between the US and Iran, a Moscow ally.
The US secretary of state’s visit on Tuesday will be the first meeting between senior officials from the two countries since the release of Robert Mueller’s redacted report on his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/14/pompeo-to-meet-putin-russia-threat-of-us-iran-clash-rises
Strange that Russia may end up reining in Pompeo’s and Bolton’s lust for war with Iran. These are very strange times we live in.
What Congress Should Do Next
I like to listen to the podcast of Brian Lehrers radio show in New York. In this segment he asks callers from both sides of the aisle to weigh in on what Congress should do next, post Mueller report. Apparently there was a recent Hill-HarrisX poll showing that 54% believe Barrs summary was accurate and over 65% felt further investigation by Congress would just hurt the country.
It was good to get out of my bubble and hear this. But it made me realize even more that I agree with Pelosi and thought she stated it beautifully when she said that we can't impeach for political reasons and we can't not impeach for political reasons.
However, it made me much more open minded towards people who just want to move on to 2020. One caller was really upset that good candidates are bowing out of Senate races, that further hearings aren’t going to make any difference, but not gaining control of the Senate, even if we boot out Trump, is one of the most serious issues ahead of us. He’s absolutely right on the issue of the Senate.
https://www.wnyc.org/story/post-mueller-report-world-call
Graham Asks Mueller if he wants to refute Barr testimony about phone call
Source: CNN
Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham sent a letter to special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday asking whether Mueller felt Attorney General William Barr misrepresented their phone conversation in his Senate testimony this week.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/03/politics/graham-mueller-barr/index.html
I wonder if he’s trying to get ahead of Nadler by framing it as a refutation of Barr.
Bill Barr Absolved Trump of Obstruction Without Having the Slightest Clue What He Obstructed
Marcey Wheeler has a post on the Barr hearing. This is just the beginning of her list of amazing stuff:
“Among the opinions the Attorney General espoused are that:
You only need to call the FBI when being offered campaign assistance by a foreign intelligence service, not a foreigner
It’s okay to lie about the many dangles hostile foreign countries make to a political campaign, including if you accepted those dangles
Because Trump was being falsely accused (it’s not clear of what, because the report doesn’t address the most aggressive accusation, and many other accusations against Trump and his campaign are born out by the Mueller Report), it’s okay that he sought to undermine it through illegal means
It’s okay for the President to order the White House Counsel to lie, even about an ongoing investigation”
There’s more to the list. And then she goes on to say,
“The most amazing thing is that, when Cory Booker asked Barr if he thought it was right to share polling data with Russians — noting that had Trump done so with a Super PAC, rather than a hostile foreign country, it would be illegal — Barr appeared to have no clue that Paul Manafort had done so. He even asked whom Manafort shared the data with, apparently not knowing he shared it with a guy that Rick Gates said he believes is a Russian spy.”
https://www.emptywheel.net/2019/05/01/bill-barr-absolved-trump-of-obstruction-without-having-the-faintest-clue-what-he-obstructed/
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