a quick poll about Russia and Donald Trump

otherwise it couldn't be much better for trump, assuming the letter is a fair summary

And that's Barr's conclusion, and he's got an, uh, expansive view of the threshold of executive power.

Barr: "the investigation did not find" that Trump campaign coordinated or colluded.

Mueller: "the investigation did not establish" that Trump campaign coordinated or colluded.

italics mine

this is complicated.

but on the whole couldn't have been better for trump

it gets weird in the middle of the letter, where barr explains that mueller has handed off the consideration of obstruction of justice to DOJ. and then barr simply says that he and rosenstein "have concluded that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is no sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.", and that their determination had nothing to do with the whole "can't indict a sitting president" thing.

oh, ok. not sufficient evidence of obstruction, with trump constantly, privately and publicly, asking/demanding that people squash the mueller investigation? what?

Pete Williams just raised that point.

Cool that Mueller couldn’t even hit him with the shit he said in public

i know that democrats will continue to pursue their own investigations (in the house), and the NY and VA investigations will proceed, but this really takes some wind out of the sails in terms of public support. the actual conclusions of the report (the mueller portion and the details of the part they decided to leave in the air on obstruction of justice, not the barr/rosenstein portion) could quite well be complicated and not at all exonerating. but there will always be that lingering first reaction of "he got away with it" upon reading the headline

upon first reading i thought that when mueller left the obstruction of justice question unanswered, he was intending to leave open the possibility for congress to address it through impeachment. i didn't realize he was teeing it up for barr and rosenstein to smash

hopefully renato is right:

17/ There is no question that lawmakers have a right to find out exactly what evidence Mueller gathered regarding obstruction of justice, and question him regarding his judgment and interpretation of that evidence. After all, obstruction of justice is an impeachable offense.

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) March 24, 2019

18/ I expect no one will rely on Barr and Rosenstein's separate judgment that Trump did not obstruct justice. Barr's memo on the subject, written prior to joining the Trump Administration, reveals his bias on the subject. So expect a fight about obstruction of justice ahead.

— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) March 24, 2019

actually, Mueller does leave open the possibility for Congress to decide obstruction of justice.

take that, Renato!

In light of the very concerning discrepancies and final decision making at the Justice Department following the Special Counsel report, where Mueller did not exonerate the President, we will be calling Attorney General Barr in to testify before @HouseJudiciary in the near future.

— (((Rep. Nadler))) (@RepJerryNadler) March 24, 2019

• President Trump remained quiet at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, but told allies privately that he was a victim of an attempted “coup.”"

https://i.imgur.com/7HJiUFK.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/5gl3OjM.jpg

sorry for large

100% chance he pronounced it like the car

actually, Mueller does leave open the possibility for Congress to decide obstruction of justice.

― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, March 24, 2019 3:21 PM (seventeen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Which leaves the strategic question open of whether there's any benefit to impeachment proceedings that cannot possibly lead to conviction.

I suppose it could further slow some of his agenda. You might argue that impeachment of Clinton helped elect W as well (the whole "restore decency to the office" or whatever), but it's arguable that that would have just as likely happened without the formal proceedings.

Either way I think this has put the Democrats in a shaky position -- they can't just walk away, but they have to think carefully about how and how hard to keep pressing. Trump is going to crow about this in every speech from here until November 2020. He has a cudgel to beat the Democrats with over this, and I don't think hemming and hawing about what the report means or doesn't mean is going to do any good at all without something more concrete.

it'll be interesting to see if it splits the party. i have a feeling most of the primary candidates will continue pressing on the investigations (which they should). the third wayers and more center-right democrats might want to move on.

He has a cudgel to beat the Democrats with over this, and I don't think hemming and hawing about what the report means or doesn't mean is going to do any good at all without something more concrete.

yeah, and plus they have the extra weapon of just lying, saying they're totally exonerated. the real answer is more complicated and doesn't fit in a headline. therefore, that's the new truth for all of them.

it'll be interesting to see if it splits the party. i have a feeling most of the primary candidates will continue pressing on the investigations (which they should). the third wayers and more center-right democrats might want to move on.

M4A is more popular with voters and has tangible benefits than endless investigations that go no nowhere. "We've got him this time" fantasies have run out of road

the third wayers and more center-right democrats might want to move on.

to what

whatever it is that the 27 members of the dog coalition think they're doing, beats me

*blue dog coalition

The leading Dem candidates have not, quite rightly, said much about Mueller or the investigation.

"We've got him this time" fantasies have run out of road

How about instead of Democrats using investigations as an avowed means to impeach, they use them simply to expose the activities of his administration that are broadly unpopular or directly illegal. So far, several Cabinet members have quit after being nailed for petty corruption. Successful impeachment and conviction has always been a long shot.

Maybe use the findings from Mueller as a lever to improve the security of US elections?

US elections will not be secure until the plutes are gone

teach chuck schumer to use email in the meantime, sure

One Dem campaign, after seeing that "campaigns are panicking" tweet, points out that the candidate took 30 Qs this weekend from voters. Questions about Mueller? Zero.

The "no collusion" finding is unambiguously good for Trump. But if you think Dems were betting 2020 on this...

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) March 24, 2019

that's this tweet

It’s fair to assume there is a significant degree on panic setting in this afternoon at the DNC, Democratic primary campaigns across the country

— Josh Lederman (@JoshNBCNews) March 24, 2019

ask the plutes real fucking nice-like, im sure they wont escalate any win or draw.

time is...oh fuck it

the DNC, Democratic primary campaigns

v hardworking comma splice

^^ important Supreme Court case imo

lol

The summary of Robert Mueller’s report, given to Congress by Attorney General William Barr, asserts that President Trump engaged in a number of actions that impeded the investigation. At the same time, it concludes that Trump’s campaign did not criminally conspire with Russia during the 2016 campaign. Barr seizes upon the latter point – no criminal collusion – to dismiss the former point. While Mueller punted on whether Trump broke the law, Barr decided to deem his conduct not a crime. “The absence of such evidence bears upon the President’s intent with respect to obstruction,” write Barr. No underlying crime, he argues, means no obstruction.

Barr’s logic is upside-down. He is saying the finding of no criminal collusion undermines the findings that Trump obstructed justice. In fact, the obstruction undermines the findings of no criminal collusion.

no maaaaan, this whole WORLD is upside-down. but for real, it is.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/if-trump-obstructed-justice-he-cant-be-exonerated.html

i assumed that pelosi downplayed impeachment proceedings with possible “turn” in the event crim malfeasance was alleged. Non-crim stuff would be tactical decision. Aaaand nothing has really changed

This show has bad writing overall; Trump has too much plot armor

lol

The hot take I haven't seen yet is that Dems will be better off w Mueller wrapped up; some candidates have vented to me (in the past) about heading into TV studio to talk DACA or health and instead getting Russia/impeachment Qs. https://t.co/udisI7eLFP

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) March 24, 2019

I mean it sucks but Russia feels like a 2017 story to me, the Pres has been implicated in like 50 more crimes since Mueller was appointed

Worth the read.

As Brian goes on to say, because Mueller had every intention to adhere to DOJ rules that the president can’t be indicted, he was on a fact-finding mission. The remedies for Trump’s misconduct are political, not legal. Until see Mueller’s actual report we simply don’t know what he learned, and a brief summary obviously intended to put the most favorable spin on the report leaves plenty of open questions.

Finally, this has been a persistent theme around here, but as Matthews says Mueller was never going to “save us,” simply because there was never going to be anything in the report that would compel Senate Republicans to remove him. To the extent to which the report reduces pressure on House Dems to initiate counterproductive impeachment proceedings this is a good thing.

1) Will it stop pressure to impeach from those most vocal?

2) I worry how this will affect congressional committees (and elections). It's a lot easier for Republicans to call Dems time-wasters as they continue their investigations now that this report finds nothing damning (that we know of).

Let's stop concentrating on impeach. The point is to investigate and never letting them relax.

While this happens, the candidates can keep hammering on health care, the threat to abortion rights, the effect of climate change, etc.

fwiw I genuinely don't think any campaign is "panicking" right now, bc everyone either found it to be a burden or would have figured out by now that it was unlikely to be explosive. It's really more the gallery that was kept in suspense.

yep

mueller is punting to politics, it's time to really play politics. impeachment should be the objective, even if unstated, because if you cant beat this guy at it, you will not get the reforms you want and we need any time soon anyway. tide will go out. also ppl will think you suck and we will deserve this pubeclod president's competent fash successor.

1 its possible to get a perpetually and exclusively self-interested with a grift-only philosophy and record to actual dismissal, I believe it.

2 he is an actual danger in ways that go beyondbuild the wall horseshit, belee that

Who is Dave Weigel and why do I suddenly see his tweets everywhere and all the time

He used to write for Vox, now writes for WaPo, and has a lot of access with the Dem primary campaigns. Not sure why it's sudden for you in particular.

He has good takes