Sunday, April 21, 2019

Do they care that they've ruined their reputations?

It is amazing the number of individuals who have shipwrecked their good names on the rock of Trump. Take just a moment to consider a few of the folks who have absolutely ruined their reputations working for and/or defending the current occupant of the Oval Office:  Michael Flynn, John Kelley, H.R. McMaster, Rex Tillerson, Jeff Sessions. Each one of these folks enjoyed some measure of success and respect in their respective fields prior to joining Trump's team and has left the White House with their reputations in tatters.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, the most precipitous falls from grace have been reserved for two individuals who are still with Trump:  Rudy Giuliani and William Barr. After the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, Giuliani was acclaimed as America's Mayor. According to Gallup, the number of Americans who have a favorable opinion of him has fallen to about 32% https://news.gallup.com/poll/236030/rudy-giuliani-favorable-ratings-hit-new-low.aspx ! Likewise, as the former Attorney General for Bush, Barr enjoyed a reputation as an institutionalist and was widely respected among the rank and file of both parties. After the Mueller Report, not anymore! One has to wonder, do they care that their personal reputations have been destroyed as a consequence of their association with Trump?  

Thursday, April 18, 2019

The Mueller Report on Obstruction of Justice

Why didn't Mueller make a determination on whether or not Trump obstructed justice?

On pages 1 and 2 of his introduction to Volume II of the report (the portion dealing with obstruction):
"We first describe the considerations that guided our obstruction-of-justice investigation, and then provide an overview of this Volume:
First, a traditional prosecution or declination decision entails a binary determination to initiate or decline a prosecution, but we determined not to make a traditional prosecutorial judgment. The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has issued an opinion finding that 'the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions' in violation of 'the constitutional separation of powers.' Given the role of the Special Counsel as an attorney in the Department of Justice and the framework of the Special Counsel regulations, this Office accepted OLC's legal conclusion for the purpose of exercising prosecutorial jurisdiction."
"Second, while the OLC opinion concludes that a sitting President may not be prosecuted, it recognizes that a criminal investigation during the President's term is permissible."
"Third, we considered whether to evaluate the conduct we investigated under the Justice Manual standards governing prosecution and declination decisions, but we determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes."
"Fourth, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."  

The Mueller Report on Collusion with the Russians

On page 33 of the Mueller Report:
"The investigation identified two different forms of connections between the IRA" (Internet Research Agency - The Russian Company based in St. Petersburg that intervened in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election) "and members of the Trump Campaign. (The investigation identified no similar connections between the IRA and members of the Clinton Campaign). First, on multiple occasions, members and surrogates of the Trump Campaign promoted - typically by linking, retweeting, or similar methods of reposting - pro-Trump or anti-Clinton content published by the IRA through IRA-controlled social media accounts. Additionally, in a few instances, IRA employees represented themselves as U.S. persons to communicate with the Trump Campaign in an effort to seek assistance and coordination on IRA-organized political rallies inside the United States."

On page 66 of the Mueller Report:
"IV. RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT LINKS TO AND CONTACTS WITH THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN
The Office identified multiple contacts - 'links,' in the words of the Appointment Order - between Trump Campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government."
To be fair, Mueller does go on to state that the investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russians with whom they were in contact.

On page 191 of the Mueller Report:
"The Office determined that certain individuals associated with the Campaign lied to the investigators about Campaign contacts with Russia and have taken other actions to interfere with the investigation."