Unsatisfying As It May Be

To say that the Mueller Report as summarized by Attorney General Barr is not very satisfying to anyone who wants to know the truth would be understating the situation. Regardless of the feckless gloating by right wing buffoons, however, Mueller did not say Trump was innocent. At best, it can be said that Mueller did not find definitive evidence that Trump conspired with the Russians in regard to the election. In regard to obstruction of justice, Barr even said that although the Mueller report “does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” According to Barr Mueller left it to Barr and the Justice Department to determine whether the evidence Mueller provided is enough to conclude that Trump committed a crime, and that he (Barr) concluded that Trump did not commit the crime of obstruction of justice because there was no underlying crime! Which is to say there was no obstruction because there was no conspiracy Trump needed to conceal. The problem is that if Trump was not trying to hide something, why did he lie about his contacts and dealings with Russians? Why did so many of the people involved in the Trump campaign, including Jeff Sessions, lie about their contacts with Russians? And why does Trump still act like Putin's man ho?

There is obviously more here than meets the eye. This goes beyond mere smoke; this is the paint on the walls blistering from the heat! But the first thing we must remember is that Mueller's assigned task was narrow, and he, Mueller, handed off many matters to be investigated by other DOJ offices and state courts. We should also bear in mind that even the question of coordination between Trump and Russia during the election is not necessarily closed.  There is also a very strong possibility that Trump is guilty of even greater crimes that have yet to be discovered.  That was certainly true of Nixon during the Watergate scandal. In his book Chasing Shadows, University of Virginia Press, 2014, Ken Hughes wrote that President Nixon covered up and obstructed the investigation of the Watergate break in because he was afraid that the investigation would uncover a plethora of other crimes, which included Nixon's interference with peace talks that would have ended the Vietnam War prior to the election that put Nixon in the white house. In other words the acts that caused the downfall of Richard Nixon did not involve his personal and prior knowledge of the break in at the Watergate, nor did all of the impeachable offenses brought against him rise to the level that our legal system defines as crimes. I find it hard to believe that anyone can look at the evidence against Trump and conclude that his matter, this investigation of Trump should now end.  There are simply too many questions (some of which involve our national security) that demand answers!  

One of the major problems with what has been released thus far is that it is Barr's work product rather than Mueller's! We do not know how accurately Barr's letter characterizes the evidence Mueller gathered or any of the conclusions Mueller stated. All we know is that Barr stated his own conclusions. Furthermore in evaluating Barr's conclusions we must bear in mind that Trump fired Attorney General Sessions because he thought Sessions should have protected him,Trump, from Mueller's investigation! And that Trump appointed Barr to Replace Sessions as Attorney General because Barr had sent to the Justice Department an unsolicited letter criticizing Mueller's investigation and stating an absurd definition of obstruction of justice that would make it almost impossible for the president to be charged with obstruction of justice. So in regard to the Mueller investigation and/or Trump's guilt or innocence Attorney General Barr is the turd on the lawn; he is out of place and smells to high heaven! This is why congress has to be provided with the full Mueller report and all of the supporting evidence! It is also why there has to be public hearings with testimony from Mueller, Barr and others. The people of this nation demand and deserve no less than a full disclosure of what has been found thus far, a full investigation of other possible wrong doing, and a credible process!