Mueller: Letter to Barr says Summary, “Failed to Capture Context, Nature & Substance” of Report

This is the best post in pages.

While you are very biased (as am I), the reality is that the Democrats (in general) have in response pivoted further left and it has left a lot of apolitical people and moderates in a position where they have to choose between two extremes.

Trump is a scumbag and yes he has even likely done some criminal things.... but we have heard it since the day he came into office and it is all we have heard from Democratic lawmakers. When Trump isn’t pointed out for being a racist POS, we hear idiots like Bernie Sanders telling us that he wants felons, including the Boston bomber to have the right to vote. We hear Elizabeth Warren talking about free college and forgiveness of student loans. We hear about the Green Deal and wonder where the cost for that is going to come from..... a lot of people with families or in small towns or over 35 will look at the options and say, well with the status quo at least everything isn’t falling apart.

The Democrats are not going to get any more mileage out of Trump being a criminal scumbag. Everyone already knows he is. Barr being a less than honest advocate doesn’t surprise people... they expect it from Trump. However, I have yet to hear the Democrats discuss how they are going to improve the economy. How are the Democrats going to help the poor people in places like Michigan or Ohio or Pennsylvania. Forgiving the student loans isn’t going to help the high school graduate working at Family Dollar or the father that works construction 8 months out of the year. Reparations isn’t going to help the Hispanic couple in Ottawa Illinois that has three jobs between the two of them trying to raise three kids.

 

Hey I remember you know. I remember how when Obama was President and General Flynn was **** talking the president about never meeting him or wanting his advice, you were rushing to Flynn's support.

I wonder why Obama fired Flynn?

 

Barr released everything Mueller wanted and more

 

Sessions was a ....Patsy??.... a fall guy for what? That makes no sense at all.

Trump nominated him for the sole purpose of blaming him when Sessions wouldn’t obstruct investigations on his behalf? Trump needed to have Sessions first, then Whitaker, in order to then get Bill Barr who then could use Sessions to cast blame?

What a stupid theory. Why not just hire Bill Barr the first time and avoid the special counsel to begin with?

And regarding the supposed evidence... please list the ample evidence of criminality guys like Andrew McCabe and Bruce Orr have on their record that are chargeable offenses. Did the MAGA Reddit thread you go to dig up some speeding tickets from 98?

These aren’t some consultants for 3rd world dictators or taxi cab grifter lawyers here you are looking to prosecute. The “Deep State” people you are talking about here .... yeah... good luck in that court case. I’m sure you can try them in Alabama or somewhere you can get a jury where every one of them falls asleep watching Hannity and reruns of Everyone Loves Ramon.

Again... a public hanging would probably be better political strategy.

Barr should go for it. I’m sure it’ll turn out well.

 

I didn’t know about this prior but if true it now makes a ton of sense why him and why now.

Do you have a link to that info to take a deeper look?

 

I'm not suggesting it's comprehensive, but information on Barr's conflicts referenced here:

https://www.newsweek.com/so-many-conflicts-so-little-time-1396435

 

lol what evidence is that, and what is the crime exactly.

 

If it helps, the tweet thread follows:

1. In this thread, I'll keep track of things Bill Barr says that aren't accurate.
2. First one comes quickly. He said he would exercise his discretion to release as much of the report as possible. That's false. He redacted to protect the privacy of "peripheral third parties" which is a totally made up category with no basis in law.
3. Barr claims Mueller did not properly identify 6(e) -- Grand Jury -- material. Not sure if this is true or not but seems VERY unlikely.
4. The report is not "lightly" redacted. Nearly 15% of the report is redacted. There is no requirement to redact info related to ongoing cases.
5. Indeed, per Mueller's letter, the introductions and executive summaries contained no 6(e) grand jury material and could have been released immediately. Instead Barr released his misleading 4 page letter.
6. Barr said he didn't understand why Mueller didn't reach a formal decision on obstruction.

THAT IS VERY CLEAR BECAUSE HE'S CONSISTENTLY MISREPRESENTED MUELLER'S REASONING
8. Barr claims he evaluated obstruction versus the special counsel's "analytical framework." That is false. Mueller said the framework could only be applied in this case by CONGRESS not Barr.
9. Barr explains how he took the opposite view of Mueller on obstruction.

Then he says his letter summarized Mueller's BOTTOM LINE CONCLUSIONS

These two statements are in conflict.
10. Barr claims Mueller PERSONALLY TOLD HIM that Barr's original letter was accurate. Will be interesting what Mueller says about that.

Barr is trying to drive some kind of distinction between not accurately summarizing and lying
11. First, Barr won't state if Mueller objected to any redactions. Says that "objected" has different definitions. Acknowledges there were some different opinions. Then says he's "not aware" of objections.
12. Barr says he was "surprised" Mueller was going to let him decide on obstruction. This can't be true. Mueller was clear he did not leave it to Barr to decide.
13. Barr's first reason Trump did not obstruct justice is that there was no underlying crime, which he then quickly admits is not actually a requirement.
14. Barr never offered any other explanation
15. Barr admits that trying to get a witness to lie violates obstruction of justice. And Mueller found that's exactly what Trump did with respect to Don McGahn.
16. Barr now contradicting McGahn's own interpretation of Trump's order. Barr says Trump really just wanted to bring up the issue of conflict with Mueller. McGahn and Mueller explicitly found the opposite.

Barr quickly pivots to attacking the New York Times.
17. Barr says it's "not a crime" to instruct your lawyer to lie about you and your instructions.

This flatly false and he's having trouble defending it.
18. Barr says there is a difference between saying "fire Mueller" and "have Mueller removed"

THIS IS THE ENTIRE BASIS OF BARR DECIDING THERE WAS NO OBSTRUCTION
19. PANIC. An aide just passed Barr a note. His staff realizes this is going off the rails.
20. Yes, this is going very badly
21. Barr says that if Mueller found evidence sufficient to constitute obstruction of justice he would have said so.

MUELLER SAYS THE EXACT OPPOSITE IN THE REPORT
22. Here is Mueller explaining why he would not state Trump obstructed justice no matter what evidence he found
23. Barr is now defending himself from allegations of perjury by saying he didn't know what "members" of the special counsel's staff a Congressman's question referred to

Basically, Barr says he gave a false statement because he didn't understand the question
24. Leahy now going after Barr's false claim that Trump fully cooperated with the investigation.

Barr says there is nothing wrong with telling former aides not to cooperate and dangling pardons if they comply
25. Barr repeats there is no conflict with Trump telling staff not to cooperate and Barr's statement that Trump fully cooperated.
An obvious lie. Shameless.
[26 is a tweeted video clip]
27. Instead, Cornyn asking about Obama. Time for a snack.
28. If this thread is too much to keep up with and you want all the highlights summed up in one piece, that'll be my newsletter tomorrow and hit your inbox at 7AM.
29. Barr now criticizing the FBI for not telling the Trump campaign that it was investigation the Trump campaign
30. Durbin asking Barr why he didn't disclose Mueller's letter when Christ asked him about dissatisfaction with his summary in the special counsel's office

Barr has absolutely no response.
31. Barr now explaining why his letter "summarizing" the Mueller report was not a "summary." Good grief.
32. Barr refuses to say whether Don McGahn should be able to testify. Claims, unpersuasively, that his voluntary testimony to Mueller did not constitute a waiver of executive privilege
33. Barr said Putin had nothing on Trump. But the Mueller report reveals that Trump was pursuing building a tower in Moscow for the duration of the campaign with the assistance of the Russian government and was covering it up.
34. Hey @LindseyGrahamSC. Would it kill you to have a lunch break?
5. This is just the 7th Senator to ask questions out of 22. I'm not sure I have the stamina for this. Pray for me.
36. Barr has no explanation for why he didn't release the March 27 Mueller letter to Congress until this morning, despite explicit questions about Mueller's views weeks ago.
37. Barr, who issued a 4 page summary of the Mueller report, says he didn't release the actual summary of the report because he wasn't interested in summaries
38. You might not realize this from watching but Barr is supposed to represent the American people and not Donald Trump
39. No one puts Bill's baby in the corner
40. Barr says "spying" has no pejorative connotations. lol
41. Barr is a bad liar, part infinity
43. Ending this thread with an absolutely devastating clip of Barr lying to Congress at least twice

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1123595832685678592.html

 

Whether or not Trump is impeached, they should look at possibly impeaching Barr.

Barr and the Whitehouse knew he was horrible today. That's why he won't be back tomorrow. What an embarrassment. Barr was shown to be exactly what Trump's critics claimed he was.

 

Ok......

And this has ....what?...to do with what you quoted?

 

It may help the college graduate, or even someone with loans that did not graduate that works at the family dollar or serves/bartends because they can’t find a job. At least they can use their meager salary for something else besides a school loan. I mean the was the military budget just increased enough in a single year that could have taken care of the loans? I’m not sure, but I may have read that.

 

The exact same? You know this....how?

But lets assume for the sake of argument you're right and they did, how does that exonerate the previous admin from NOT informing Trumps team about the specific incursions they suspected?

Who knows? Maybe. Maybe not. What difference does it make? Are they supposed to be clairvoyant or something?

How does that explain away (or excuse) what the Obama admin DIDN'T do?

This one.

https://republicans-intelligence.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final_russia_investigation_report.pdf

 

Forgiving college loans for all will substantially increase the number of folks with a degree would it not? And anytime you flood the market with more of the same thing, it drives down the value of that thing does it not? I can think of nothing that hurts degree holders more than increasing the competition for the same jobs once you complete that education.

 

Maybe. I do know a lot of tech companies hire people from outside the country because they can not find qualified personal to fill those positions.

 

I would accept this if Barr isn't digging deeper among charges of lying.

 

Excellent post.

 

The House republican report? The devin nunes House republican report?

 

WSJ Editorial Board this morning:

A Real Attorney General
Bill Barr gets smeared for refusing to duck and cover like Loretta Lynch.
By
The Editorial Board
May 1, 2019 7:11 p.m. ET

Washington pile-ons are never pretty, but this week’s political setup of Attorney General William Barr is disreputable even by Beltway standards. Democrats and the media are turning the AG into a villain for doing his duty and making the hard decisions that special counsel Robert Mueller abdicated.

Mr. Barr’s Wednesday testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee was preceded late Tuesday by the leak of a letter Mr. Mueller had sent the AG on March 27. Mr. Mueller griped in the letter that Mr. Barr’s four-page explanation to Congress of the principal conclusions of the Mueller report on March 24 “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of the Mueller team’s “work and conclusions.” Only in Washington could this exercise in posterior covering be puffed into a mini-outrage.

Democrats leapt on the letter as proof that Mr. Barr was somehow covering for Donald Trump when he has covered up nothing. Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, the Democratic answer to Rep. Louie Gohmert, accused Mr. Barr of abusing his office and lying to Congress, and demanded that he resign. The only thing she lacked was evidence.

Mr. Barr’s four-page letter couldn’t possibly have covered all the nuances of a 448-page report. It was an attempt to provide Mr. Mueller’s conclusions to Congress and the public as quickly as possible, while he took the time to work through the entire document to make redactions required by law and Justice Department rules.

This is exactly what he promised to do in his confirmation hearing. Even Mr. Mueller’s complaining letter admits that Mr. Barr’s letter wasn’t inaccurate, a fact Mr. Barr says Mr. Mueller also conceded in a subsequent phone call. The Mueller complaint, rather, was that there was “public confusion about critical aspects” of his investigation.

Translation: Republicans were claiming vindication for Donald Trump, and Mr. Mueller was taking hits in the press for not nailing the worst President in history. Having been hailed for months as a combination of Eliot Ness and St. Thomas More, Mr. Mueller and his team of prosecutors seem to have been unnerved by some bad press clips.

Mr. Barr told the Senate Wednesday that he offered Mr. Mueller the chance to review his four-page letter before sending it to Congress, but the special counsel declined. Mr. Mueller worked for Mr. Barr, and that was the proper time to offer suggestions or disagree. Instead, Mr. Mueller ducked that responsibility and then griped in an ex-post-facto letter that was conveniently leaked on the eve of Mr. Barr’s testimony. Quite the stand-up guy.

Mr. Barr has since released the full Mueller report with minor redactions, as he promised, and with the “context” intact. Keep in mind Mr. Barr was under no legal obligation to release anything at all. Mr. Mueller reports only to Mr. Barr, not to the country or Congress.

Mr. Barr has also made nearly all of the redactions in the report available to senior Members of Congress to inspect at Justice. Yet as of this writing, only three Members have bothered—Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and ranking House Republican on Judiciary Doug Collins. Not one Democrat howling about Mr. Barr’s lack of transparency has examined the outrages they claim are hidden.

Democrats are also upset that Mr. Barr concluded that Mr. Trump did not obstruct justice regarding the Russia probe. But in that decision too Mr. Barr was behaving as an Attorney General should. Mr. Mueller compiled a factual record but shrank from a “prosecutorial judgment.” Mr. Barr then stepped up and made the call, however unpopular with Democrats and the press.

***
Contrast that to the abdication of Loretta Lynch, who failed as Barack Obama’s last Attorney General to make a prosecutorial judgment about Hillary Clinton’s misuse of classified information. Ms. Lynch cowered before the bullying of then FBI director James Comey, who absolved Mrs. Clinton of wrongdoing while publicly scolding her. That egregious break with Justice policy eventually led Mr. Comey to re-open the Clinton probe in late October 2016, which helped to elect Mr. Trump.

All of this shows again the risks of appointing special counsels. They lack the political accountability that the Founders built into the separation of powers. Mr. Mueller, in his March 27 letter, revealed again that like Mr. Comey at the FBI he viewed himself as accountable only to himself.

This trashing of Bill Barr shows how frustrated and angry Democrats continue to be that the special counsel came up empty in his Russia collusion probe. He was supposed to be their fast-track to impeachment. Now they’re left trying to gin up an obstruction tale, but the probe wasn’t obstructed and there was no underlying crime. So they’re shouting and pounding the table against Bill Barr for acting like a real Attorney General.
​

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-real-attorney-general-11556752279?mod=hp_opin_pos1

 

The barrier to complete higher education should not be money but academic success.