rmnka447, on 2019-March-30, 19:52, said:
Mueller's main focus was to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians. To wit, the Mueller report quote provided in the Barr summary said "The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its interference activities."(1)
In the footnote Barr further explained --
(1) In assessing potential conspiracy charges, the Special Counsel considered whether members of the Trump campaign "coordinated" with Russian interference activities. The Special Counsel defined "coordination" as an "agreement -- tacit or express -- between the Trump campaign and the Russian government on election interference."
It is interesting to not that Konstantin Kilimnik, whom Manafort passed internal polling data to, Julian Assange, who released the hacked emails, Erik Prince, who met with Rwssians in the Seychelles, or Roger Stone, who may have coordinated with Assange, nor any other Russian cutout are not part of the "Russian government" and thus by Barr's definition coordination by or with them would not count.
Barr went on to further elaborate on what the Special Counsel found on Russian interference activities. He summarized that the Special Counsel found two areas of interference:
1) The Russians attempted to spread disinformation through an entity called the Internet Research Association. Barr summarized Mueller's finding about any Trump campaign involvement (Barr's words) -- " As noted above, the Special Counsel did not find that any U.S. person, or, Trump campaign official or associate conspired or knowingly coordinated with the IRA in its efforts although the Special Counsel brought charges against a number of Russian nationals and entities in connection with these charge."
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2) The Russians hacked and disseminated e-mails from the DNC and various other Democrats. Barr summarized Mueller's finding about any Trump campaign involvement with this (Barr's words) -- "But as noted above, the Special Counsel did not find that the Trump campaign, or anyone associated with it, associated, conspired, or coordinated with the Russian government in these efforts, despite multiple offers from Russian-affiliated individuals to assist the Trump campaign."
Again, notice the quite lawyerly way in which Barr really says nothing - the campaign did not conspire with the Russian government - but not not a word whether the campaign conspired with the "Russian-affiliated individuals".
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Mueller Barr claimed didn't just not "charge" the Trump campaign, but affirmed that the campaign rebuffed efforts by the Russians to get them to "collude" with them. No collusion. No conspiracy. No credibility for the collusion mongers.
FYP
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In any case, the major claim of the left for the past 2 years has been that it was a slam dunk that Trump colluded with Russia. Robert Mueller's investigation has apparently found that those claims were baseless. Fortunately, I think the country may be able to recover from the damage foisting this hoax on our country has done to our democracy.
That would mainly be Hannity's claim about those with whom he disagrees.
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If you want to claim that Barr is misleading the public with his summation, go ahead. Barr impresses me as a very straight shooter who wouldn't tarnish his already illustrious reputation by trying to hoodwink the public about what Mueller came up with when that information will eventually become public.
Then you are really naive if you think Barr is a straight shooter. Do you also believe in an imperial presidency, which is close to what you get if you accept Barr's unitary executive theory, which is the basis for his claim that no obstruction occurred.
It will be interesting to see whether or not Barr's claims are substantiated when we actually get to read the report. For now, though, ask yourself why Barr is refusing to release the entire report to Congress? Congress has a duty to oversee the executive branch, and without the totally unredacted reported, to which they are entitled, including Grand Jury testimony, they are unable to come to any decisions.
Congress can't reach a decision? Perhaps that is the reason Barr is blocking the release.
And it is not "the left" who thinks this stinks. Here is what conservative write Jennifer Rubin says:
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The weeklong, premature victory lap by Trump and his vicious assault on Congress and the press were possible only because Barr made it seem as if Trump had gotten a clean bill of health. Tribe argues that, in his first letter, Barr was “exploiting legalistic formulas — like saying Mueller hadn’t been able to ‘establish’ conspiracy with Russia — to help Trump create the impression that no treacherous collusion took place and that there is no substantial evidence of Trump’s improper coordination with the Kremlin — much of it in plain view.”
When the entire report comes out, both Barr and Trump may appear to have misled the public. Mueller, we know, did not exonerate Trump of obstruction and his report will provide us with hundreds of pages explaining why and, further, enlighten us as to why Trump, for example, hid from voters his attempt to pursue a lucrative deal with Russia during the campaign and why so many in his campaign had so many contacts with Russians, contacts they tried to cover up.
Whatever the temporary political benefits to him and his boss, Barr has permanently stained his reputation and politicized the Justice Department. He adds his name to a long list of people who have tossed away their credibility to protect the most unfit president in history.