Susan Wright on the Right
So on Wednesday evening I wrote about a report from The New York Times regarding comments from some members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe team. A number of investigators involved with the nearly two year old probe felt recently seated Attorney General William Barr had diminished their findings, when he gleaned a mere four pages from what was a report that compiled over 300 pages of work.
By “diminished” I mean he downplayed the severity of the report and put a narrative of an “innocent” President Trump out into the public, while withholding the bulk of the report back.
What Barr submitted suggested that there was not enough evidence to indict on the charges of conspiracy.
That would be “collusion” to all of you who got caught up on that word.
In the case of potential obstruction of the investigation, however, he was quite vague, writing that Mueller had not made it clear, “one way or the other” as to if Trump’s actions rose to the level of obstruction.
In fact, he said that Mueller had not exonerated Trump.
We’ll overlook Trump and his lunatic fringe’s gleeful cries of “TOTAL EXONERATION!”
Some reports now suggest that AG Barr is a bit miffed with how Mueller left the report, giving no firm directive as to what he found. He apparently wanted a clear and concise “innocent” or “guilty” declaration from the former FBI boss.
That being said, earlier reports of Mueller’s feelings on the matter claim that he always felt it was up to Congress to look at his findings and make the determination on where to go with it. He simply passed it on to the Justice Department because of certain sensitive items that needed to be cleared before passing it on to the House.
Barr chose to break the Mueller team’s voluminous work down to a 4 page summary. This is why the fight to get the full report into the hands of Congress has become so important.
Those investigators with Mueller’s team who are speaking out now have genuine concerns about Barr releasing a summary in the way he did, creating a false narrative of total innocence on Trump’s part.
They’re right to be concerned. Without the shadow of the Russia probe hanging over him, Trump has become emboldened, and he’s sending out the MAGA flying monkey brigade to declare the kind of revenge-motivated insanity that you normally only see in despotic, third world tyrannies.
They’re targeting “political enemies” and anyone involved with the lawful probe into the suspicious activities of the Trump campaign team.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post released a story on Thursday morning that appears to confirm the Wednesday reporting of The New York Times.
The Washington Post has backed up the New York Times report from late Wednesday that some members of Robert Mueller’s team have said the special counsel report is much worse for the president than was suggested by Attorney General William Barr. In its report, the Post goes a step further, claiming some members of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that they gathered “alarming and significant” evidence of obstruction by President Trump. “It was much more acute than Barr suggested,” one source is reported to have said.
Nobody who has followed this with even the most elementary level of interest can deny that President Trump was on a mission to shut down the Russia probe.
His constant, public attacks on then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from all things Russia related were just the tip of the iceberg.
President Trump made it clear he wanted someone to intervene, and several leaks from the White House over the past year suggest that he had to be talked out of firing Mueller by those around him, lest he really make himself appear to be hiding something.
“There was immediate displeasure from the team when they saw how the attorney general had characterized their work,” said one official. Summaries were reportedly prepared for different sections of the report, which Mueller’s team thought could be released immediately without redaction.
Pay attention to that part.
The people who actually worked on the report did their own summaries for each section. They made it easy for Barr, but he apparently chose to go his own way and make his own summary.
As it now stands, the attorney general has promised Congress will have the report by mid-April. The Democrat-led House is not content to wait, however, and the concern may be that Barr is passing the report through the White House filter before it gets to them.
That absolutely should not happen.
Still, there is fear that the damage may be done, and the notion of an “innocent” Trump may be settled in.
Let me go ahead and ease those concerns now.
Those who support Trump, either in Congress or the streets of the United States do not care if he is innocent or completely guilty. Politicians base their views on party loyalty and MAGA has risen to cult status. What they believe about right or wrong hinges on the central figure of their adoration.
It’s up to the rest of us to try and regain some sanity in this situation.
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