“Based on what we have seen to date, going forward on impeachment is not worthwhile at this point. Very frankly, there is an election in 18 months and the American people will make a judgement.”
— House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), quoted by CNN, affirming the House leadership’s strategy to avoid impeachment proceedings.
Asha Rangappa: “It’s clear that Attorney General Barr obscured and mischaracterized the bases upon which Mueller declined to reach a prosecutorial decision on whether President Trump committed the crime of obstruction.”
“He did so based on two unsettled legal questions: First, current DOJ policy not to charge sitting presidents, and second, Trumps’ lawyers’ asserted defense that a president cannot legally obstruct justice (which happens to exactly mirror Barr’s own legal theory, which he sent in an unsolicited memo to DOJ one year ago). Since either of these theories might preclude the president from rebutting the evidence in an adversarial process, Mueller believed a fairness principle constrained him from accusing the president in the form of recommended charges.”
“Notably, the report extensively challenges the legal basis of the DOJ policy as well as Trump’s (i.e., Barr’s) Article II defense. It also makes an affirmative case for Congress’ authority to investigate obstruction of justice by the president and observes that the president could be exposed to criminal liability once he leaves office, thereby justifying a full investigation and gathering of evidence. In doing so, Mueller makes clear that his findings were intended for independent evaluation by Congress, or by future prosecutors — not by Barr himself.”
The Atlantic: “The redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report released on Thursday runs 448 pages. But its most important implication can be summarized in a single sentence: There is sufficient evidence that President Trump obstructed justice to merit impeachment hearings.”
“A basic principle lies at the heart of the American criminal-justice system: The accused is entitled to a fair defense and a chance to clear his name. Every American is entitled to this protection, from the humblest citizen all the way up to the chief executive. And that, Mueller explained in his report, is why criminal allegations against a sitting president should be considered by Congress and not the Justice Department. The Mueller report, in short, is an impeachment referral.”
The Mueller report notes that Attorney General Jeff Sessions “offered his resignation letter after Mr. Trump lashed out at him following Mr. Mueller’s appointment, and the president ultimately rejected it. But the public attacks on Mr. Sessions did not stop,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The report says the they apparently became so taxing on the attorney general that he prepared another resignation letter and for the rest of the year carried it with him in his pocket every time he went to the White House.”
The Mueller report states that the FBI “believes that Russian hackers were able to breach ‘at least one’ Florida county government through a spearphishing campaign targeting local election officials,” Politico reports.
“Last August, then-Florida Sen. Bill Nelson faced criticism for saying cryptically that the Russians had accessed his state’s voter data.”
“Richard Quinn Sr., a legendary South Carolina Republican consultant, was indicted Thursday by a state grand jury on a dozen charges of perjury and obstruction of justice,” The State reports.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) called for the resignation of Attorney General William Barr, after Barr’s news conference before releasing the Mueller report, MSNBC reports.
Said Swalwell: “He’s lost the credibility of the American people…he’s embedded deeply in to the Trump team and that affects the credibility that the attorney general must have.”
After a grand jury indicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, Manafort told Gates that it was stupid to plead because he had spoken to the president’s personal attorney and they were “going to take care of us,” the Washington Post reports.
Gates, who cooperated with Mueller, told investigators that Manafort told him that he thought they should “sit tight” and “we’ll be taken care of.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders admitted to special counsel Robert Mueller that she made statements to the media that were not based in fact, CNN reports.
Specifically, Sanders said her assertion in response to a question about FBI agents supporting Comey wasn’t “founded on anything.”
She claimed that her comment was a “slip of the tongue” made “in the heat of the moment.”
The Mueller report says that President Trump directed Gen. Michael Flynn to embark on an effort to find Hillary Clinton’s deleted emails in the summer of 2016, enlisting the help of a Senate staffer and a longtime GOP donor, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump “asked individuals affiliated with his campaign to find the deleted Clinton emails,” according the special counsel report. Mr. Flynn “recalled that Trump made this request repeatedly, and Flynn subsequently contacted multiple people in an effort to obtain the emails.”
The Mueller report clearly states that attempts by President Trump to obstruct the investigation failed because others refused to “carry out orders or accede to his requests.”
From the report: “Comey did not end the investigation of Flynn, which ultimately resulted in Flynn’s prosecution and conviction for lying to the FBI. McGahn did not tell the Acting Attorney General that the special counsel must be removed, but was instead prepared to resign over the President’s order. Lewandowski and Dearborn did not deliver the President ‘s message to Sessions that he should confine the Russia investigation to future election meddling only. And McGahn refused to recede from his recollections about events surrounding the President’s direction to have the special counsel removed, despite the President’s multiple demands that he do so.”
“Consistent with that pattern, the evidence we obtained would not support potential obstruction charges against the President’s aides and associates beyond those already filed.”
The Mueller report cites notes from a Justice Department aide stating when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions told President Trump that a special counsel had been appointed, Trump “slumped back in his chair and said, ‘Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked.'”
The Mueller report clearly states that the special counsel’s team did not believe “collusion” — which President Trump has incessantly insisted he did not commit — to be a legal term. For that reason, prosecutors did not assess whether Trump’s campaign “colluded” with Russia, the Washington Post reports.
They said they instead examined whether anyone associated with the Trump campaign “coordinated” with Russians, as defined by conspiracy law, which required “an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference.”
Mueller’s team noted that an agreement requires two parties taking actions “informed by or responsive to the other’s actions or interests.”
“Special counsel Robert Mueller’s team referred 14 investigations to other US attorney’s offices, including the prosecution of Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen and Greg Craig, the Skadden Arps attorney who was indicted for lying to DOJ about work he had done for the Ukraine Ministry of Justice,” CNN reports.
“The other 12 investigations are redacted.”
“With respect to whether the President can be found to have obstructed justice by exercising his powers under Article II of the Constitution, we concluded that Congress has the authority to prohibit a President’s corrupt use of his authority in order to protect the integrity of the administration of justice.”
— The Mueller Report, on why the special counsel did not make a determination on whether President Trump obstructed justice.
The special counsel team wrote in the newly released report that President Trump stated more than 30 times he “does not ‘recall’ or ‘remember’ or have an ‘independent recollection’ “ of information investigators asked about, the Washington Post reports.
But they wrote that they chose not to pursue a subpoena because of the “substantial delay” that such a step would cause. They also decided they have “sufficient evidence to understand relevant events and to make certain assessments without the President’s testimony.”
The Justice Department released a redacted version of the Mueller report.
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.