Get your popcorn out, the Mueller Report just dropped.

[Mitsu3000gt]

I think what most people don't understand, especially if you are just reading mass media, is that the scope of the investigation was EXTREMELY narrow, and was not prosecutorial in nature. Most people expected this outcome. The report dropping and Trump being impeached the next day was never a likely outcome, but that is how most people thought it would go down one way or the other. All the juicy bits are in the state-level charges and off-shoot investigations that are only just beginning. Barr has not released the report yet, and Barr got his job because he has loudly voiced the opinion that a sitting President cannot obstruct justice. His wording in the summary was extremely careful and oddly specific (Wikileaks/Guccifer). The report also specifically says it does not exonerate the president (contrary to Sanders' tweets LOL), only that for the part of the narrow investigation that Barr summarized so far (he left out a lot), there may not have been enough evidence to meet a criminal standard for one of the main charges Trump was looking at from the investigation. It also may have found that Trump obstructed justice, but it'll be a while before we know that.

Lots still needs to happen, such as the house subpoenaing the report and Mueller.

The Dems will have to wait until 2020 to get rid of him but that was always the expected outcome.

Anyways like I said earlier, it'll be a while before we really know anything, but the news outlets are having fun with the snippet that Barr gave them. The Mueller investigation hasn't mattered for a while now, it's the off-shoot investigations that it triggered that are far more interesting and can't be pardoned because they are at the state level.

[ExtraSlow]

So summary, this wasn't worth popping popcorn? ��?

[Tik-Tok]

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So summary, this wasn't worth popping popcorn? ��?

Popcorn is always worth popping. Unless you have no butter.

[colinxx235]

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So summary, this wasn't worth popping popcorn? ��?

Nope, but NBC made sure to "special breaking news report" it for at least 30 minutes during the middle of the Valspar final. What a treat that was. Thankfully CBS was < 1 minute during the Duke game.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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I’ve never understood the “can’t indict a President”

He’s not above the law. He’s not the King.

He is in the eyes of most Republicans, as well as Bill Barr - which is why Trump nominated him for AG. His other buddy Mitch McConnel also blocked a bill that would protect Mueller from being fired. Imagine if Obama did 1/100th of what Trump has got away with so far, he would be gone the next day.

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So summary, this wasn't worth popping popcorn? ��?

Not really no, as the scope was incredibly small, but a lot of good still came of it and many more important investigations have been launched as a result. 34 people have been indicted (many of those charged/sentenced already), and the Mueller investigation actually made money. He did all this with a team of about 19 lawyers and 40 staff. In contrast, the investigation into Hillary Clinton cost taxpayers around 100 million and resulted in zero indictments. Also Mueller's conviction rate so far is 100%, so I don't think he lays charges without 100% certainty they will stick. Where there's smoke...

When the full report (that hasn't been summarized by Trump's team) surfaces, it'll give us an even better idea. So far the only surprise based on the available info was that the investigation was even more narrow than most people originally thought.

Nobody asked for Barr's 'summary', which he produced in only 2 days (after a 2-year investigation), and he did not even consult Mueller before releasing his own version of the summary. The House voted 420-0 for the full report to be released (less necessary redactions such as grand jury info), and all current signs point to that actually happening which is good. I think people would like to hear the results from Mueller, or some other unbiased party.

Just to give you an idea of how long all this is going to drag out, Roger Stone's trial date isn't even until November 2019. The State charges are the ones to keep an eye on, because Trump cannot pardon himself (or others) from those. There are all kinds of other investigations going on, including his bank fraud with Deutsche Bank, misuse of inaugural funds, campaign finance violations, The Trump Foundation, his business practices, etc. The Mueller Report was the tip of the iceberg and really not that significant with regards to Trump specifically due to it's very narrow scope.

[revelations]

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He is in the eyes of most Republicans, as well as Bill Barr - which is why Trump nominated him for AG. His other buddy Mitch McConnel also blocked a bill that would protect Mueller from being fired. Imagine if Obama did 1/100th of what Trump has got away with so far, he would be gone the next day.



Not really no, as the scope was incredibly small, but a lot of good still came of it and many more important investigations have been launched as a result. 34 people have been indicted (many of those charged/sentenced already), and the Mueller investigation actually made money. He did all this with a team of about 19 lawyers and 40 staff. In contrast, the investigation into Hillary Clinton cost taxpayers around 100 million and resulted in zero indictments. Also Mueller's conviction rate so far is 100%, so I don't think he lays charges without 100% certainty they will stick. Where there's smoke...

When the full report (that hasn't been summarized by Trump's team) surfaces, it'll give us an even better idea. So far the only surprise based on the available info was that the investigation was even more narrow than most people originally thought.

Nobody asked for Barr's 'summary', which he produced in only 2 days (after a 2-year investigation), and he did not even consult Mueller before releasing his own version of the summary. The House voted 420-0 for the full report to be released (less necessary redactions such as grand jury info), and all current signs point to that actually happening which is good. I think people would like to hear the results from Mueller, or some other unbiased party.

Just to give you an idea of how long all this is going to drag out, Roger Stone's trial date isn't even until November 2019. The State charges are the ones to keep an eye on, because Trump cannot pardon himself (or others) from those. There are all kinds of other investigations going on, including his bank fraud with Deutsche Bank, misuse of inaugural funds, campaign finance violations, The Trump Foundation, his business practices, etc. The Mueller Report was the tip of the iceberg and really not that significant with regards to Trump specifically due to it's very narrow scope.

Im not a trump fan - but with my general disdain of politicians in America - couldn't an investigation like this be conducted on many past sitting presidents - and come up with something similar?

[msommers]

If Andrew McCabe's book about Trump is even remotely true, Trump is guilty of a lot of shit and the FBI knows it. But with any investigation, as even folks here in Calgary can attest to, you need hard evidence to make charges really stick. To further muddy the waters, Trump is notorious for have everyone around him do the dirty work, asking for near Mobo Boss-type loyalty to him.

[Mitsu3000gt]

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Im not a trump fan - but with my general disdain of politicians in America - couldn't an investigation like this be conducted on many past sitting presidents - and come up with something similar?

Perhaps. A similar investigation was done on Hillary Clinton at enormous financial cost which did not result in a single indictment, so even though she was not elected there you had a high profile politician (and presidential candidate) subjected to similar scrutiny and nothing came of it. Trump is extra special in that his entire life has been full of shady/criminal activity, and then you have his ego on top of that. Just look at his tweets haha - and compare that to previous presidents. I genuinely believe that if the Obama's were put under similar scrutiny, for example, there wouldn't be much of anything to dig up.

He's the only president to not show his tax returns (Ford produced a summary, but sort of didn't either), and I believe he's the only president to not leave his personal business to become president. As per usual and speaking in hyperbole he said he "released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics" lol.

Trump brought all this on himself - his personality combined with years of shady business dealings and thinking he was invincible are a recipe for disaster. The 34 indictments so far prove without a doubt he surrounded himself with criminals, and to think he didn't know what any of them were doing is laughable, but might be hard to prove to a criminal standard as he rarely does anything himself. Many argue that people like him who have a long questionable history and lots of money (on paper anyway) would have to be insane to run for president because all your dirty laundry is going to get aired. When he got elected, people close to him all said he was shocked that he won and he never intended to win - just look at his face when he found out haha, it wasn't a happy moment. Melania apparently hates her life now, but it's hard to confirm something like that. His leaked schedules show he spends 60% of his time not working and starts the day around noon. Literally the day after he declared a 'National Emergency' over the boarder wall he went golfing. Pretty much everyone close to him in the Whitehouse has quit, been fired, or been criminally charged.

There is far too much to ever write here but if you want to deep dive into all the connections made between his campaign, his hotels, Russia, the Saudi's, etc. it's almost unbelievable. There are some very good podcasts that dissect it all and the web of connections is pretty wild.

His mistake was running for president. He also said that he was only running because it would be "the greatest publicity stunt ever" for one of his TV shows. Had he just kept doing what he was doing he could have continued to be a rich, shady, sex offender and flown under the radar for the rest of his life. The only reason anyone is looking into him is because he carried over all the shady stuff he's been doing all of his life into the campaign and his presidency.

The entertainment value is off the charts though, so there's that. Daily shows don't even bother writing satire anymore, they just report on the actual news because it's more ridiculous. The list of ridiculous things he's done is endless - he saluted a North Korean general (you know that is on all their propaganda now LOL), he dodged the military draft with "bone spurs" (something that is often brought up every time he insults the military) and the doctor who vouched for it was living in one of his dad's buildings, he wrote his own doctor's letter for his presidency, he sent letters to schools he attended threatening them to not release his grades, etc. It's just a never ending supply of ridiculousness.

I think if he gets charged with anything, it will be obstruction of justice, or something from one of the many state-level investigations into his business / campaign dealings. There's lots of stuff to unpack still, I am behind on my news and legal podcasts.

[revelations]

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Perhaps. A similar investigation was done on Hillary Clinton at enormous financial cost which did not result in a single indictment, so even though she was not elected there you had a high profile politician (and presidential candidate) subjected to similar scrutiny and nothing came of it. Trump is extra special in that his entire life has been full of shady/criminal activity, and then you have his ego on top of that. Just look at his tweets haha - and compare that to previous presidents. I genuinely believe that if the Obama's were put under similar scrutiny, for example, there wouldn't be much of anything to dig up.

He's the only president to not show his tax returns (Ford produced a summary, but sort of didn't either), and I believe he's the only president to not leave his personal business to become president. As per usual and speaking in hyperbole he said he "released the most extensive financial review of anybody in the history of politics" lol.

Trump brought all this on himself - his personality combined with years of shady business dealings and thinking he was invincible are a recipe for disaster. The 34 indictments so far prove without a doubt he surrounded himself with criminals, and to think he didn't know what any of them were doing is laughable, but might be hard to prove to a criminal standard as he rarely does anything himself. Many argue that people like him who have a long questionable history and lots of money (on paper anyway) would have to be insane to run for president because all your dirty laundry is going to get aired. When he got elected, people close to him all said he was shocked that he won and he never intended to win - just look at his face when he found out haha, it wasn't a happy moment. Melania apparently hates her life now, but it's hard to confirm something like that. His leaked schedules show he spends 60% of his time not working and starts the day around noon. Literally the day after he declared a 'National Emergency' over the boarder wall he went golfing. Pretty much everyone close to him in the Whitehouse has quit, been fired, or been criminally charged.

There is far too much to ever write here but if you want to deep dive into all the connections made between his campaign, his hotels, Russia, the Saudi's, etc. it's almost unbelievable. There are some very good podcasts that dissect it all and the web of connections is pretty wild.

His mistake was running for president. He also said that he was only running because it would be "the greatest publicity stunt ever" for one of his TV shows. Had he just kept doing what he was doing he could have continued to be a rich, shady, sex offender and flown under the radar for the rest of his life. The only reason anyone is looking into him is because he carried over all the shady stuff he's been doing all of his life into the campaign and his presidency.

The entertainment value is off the charts though, so there's that. Daily shows don't even bother writing satire anymore, they just report on the actual news because it's more ridiculous. The list of ridiculous things he's done is endless - he saluted a North Korean general (you know that is on all their propaganda now LOL), he dodged the military draft with "bone spurs" (something that is often brought up every time he insults the military) and the doctor who vouched for it was living in one of his dad's buildings, he wrote his own doctor's letter for his presidency, he sent letters to schools he attended threatening them to not release his grades, etc. It's just a never ending supply of ridiculousness.

I think if he gets charged with anything, it will be obstruction of justice, or something from one of the many state-level investigations into his business / campaign dealings. There's lots of stuff to unpack still, I am behind on my news and legal podcasts.

Literally, Bill Clinton and Bush Jr. would fir the same level of sillyness and outright corruption. You dont become president by playing it nice.

[95EagleAWD]

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Literally, Bill Clinton and Bush Jr. would fir the same level of sillyness and outright corruption. You dont become president by playing it nice.

Possibly, yes, but the difference is that Trump has these corrupt dealings with powerful people on what is, very outright, an unfriendly nation.

Congress has passed lots of sanctions on Russia, and Trump has refused to implement any of them. That raises eyebrows because of his "business" dealings with Russia. He's had closed door meetings with Putin, where nobody is allowed access. He's had a meeting wiih Putin in the Oval Office, with only a Russian press agent, nobody else.

It's like death of a thousand papercuts... Until otherwise outright proven, it's very hard for me to believe that there isn't some strange reason why the President of the USA is acting the way he is.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Mitch McConnel just blocked the 420-0 vote to make the report public - he is honestly a bigger POS than Trump, and arguably has more power because he decides what even makes it to a vote or to Trump. So it looks like it will be a while before we see anything as other avenues will have to be taken (such as a House subpoena and reading it aloud into public record, or interviewing Mueller).

To the best of my understanding, Mueller laid out the evidence on both sides of the ledger, both what incriminates Trump and what does not (or lacks evidence). An obstruction charge rests on Trump's subjective intent, and Mueller passed that decision onto the AG (Barr), who is Trump's buddy. Barr got his job because A) He has the opinion that a sitting president can't be indicted and B) he has always been vocally against the Mueller probe. With Mueller passing this decision onto Barr due to the DOJ 'policy' against indicting a sitting president, Trump gets exactly what he wants. It's also possible to have evidence of obstruction, but not know exactly what was obstructed, and not be able to pursue it - I wouldn't be surprised if there was a lot of that going on.

I think the best thing now is to hope that the report, or enough of it, becomes public before 2020 so the public can make an informed decision. There will be lots more drama coming as everyone tries to get the report and influence how much is released. Far more troubling than anything Trump has done individually is that there are tens of millions of people in America who will still vote for him and support him blindly. Due to his protections as a sitting President, he has every incentive to run again and keep doing what he's doing. He's also super unhealthy and old, so who knows what can happen.

Trump has announced he will be launching his own investigation into his "evil enemies" (LOL), which will probably bring even more unwanted attention onto him - he just can't help himself.

As an outsider it seems almost incomprehensible that he hasn't been charged yet with all the stuff he's done with Russia, the Saudis, and through his own business dealings. He literally said he trusts Putin more than the CIA/FBI. He meets with Putin without anyone present (he uses Putin's translator and dismisses the American translator). Most of his family is on record lying to the FBI / Congress. He has done things like going over everyone's head to get Kushner top security clearance, someone who has a history of meeting with other countries and using non-secure communications. When his family isn't in power anymore, they will still know all kinds of things relating to national security and will be even more happy to share than they are now. Trump seems to be very good at keeping his hands *just* clean enough, and getting other people to do all his dirty work (almost everyone he has worked with or been close to is in jail or awaiting trial) - that is where a possible RICO case comes in but it's just talk at the moment. One of the scariest things is the precedent this sets - future Presidents know what they can get away with now.

[HiTempguy1]

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Mitch McConnel just blocked the 420-0 vote to make the report public - he is honestly a bigger POS than Trump,

If only you took the same stance on Trudeau.

[revelations]

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Possibly, yes, but the difference is that Trump has these corrupt dealings with powerful people on what is, very outright, an unfriendly nation.

Congress has passed lots of sanctions on Russia, and Trump has refused to implement any of them. That raises eyebrows because of his "business" dealings with Russia. He's had closed door meetings with Putin, where nobody is allowed access. He's had a meeting wiih Putin in the Oval Office, with only a Russian press agent, nobody else.

It's like death of a thousand papercuts... Until otherwise outright proven, it's very hard for me to believe that there isn't some strange reason why the President of the USA is acting the way he is.

I mean fuck, Bush Sr. and Jr. both had business dealings with the Saudis - who were directly involved in 9/11 - the Bin Ladin family.

No doubt Trump is doing some shady shit (and acting like a petulant child), but I dont see it being any worse than the 2 aforementioned presidents - and when you compare it to what the Clintons have been involved with ..... not quite as bad IMO.

[01RedDX]

.

[Mitsu3000gt]

The funny thing is that the people involved, more than any other, know exactly how it's going to end and they know exactly what powers the 'opponents' have to get what they want. It's hard to think of another group of adults in the world more easily compared to a bunch of children than the current group of Republicans. The more they resist the more guilty/shady they look, and the harder the other side is going to fight to reveal everything.

I believe another thing the House can do is get Mueller to tell them if there were any dishonest redactions (hopefully Mueller and/or his team are part of that process but I don't know how it will work yet).

It's honestly ridiculous that anyone is using Barr's 4-page summary (done in his own words, no less) to come to any conclusions. It took him less than 2 days to summarize 2 years worth of investigations from an entire team of lawyers and investigators, and he used such specific wording at times that made it all the more obvious he was being deliberately coy. Stories on the report are already drifting out of the media, so the damage is done and Trump supporters have heard all they want to hear and can go back to ignoring every single fact that doesn't fit their narrative, sponging up everything they can from Fox News and Trump's Twitter account.

Anyways like I said, this is the tip of the iceberg, so there will be much more to come. The contents of the full report (which will likely prompt further investigation into an obstruction charge) and all the state charges are all in the queue. New York hates Trump and they are spearheading a lot of the additional charges. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also posed an ingenious specific question to Cohen during his testimony to the congressional committee that should allow them to look into Trump's taxes.

[95EagleAWD]

And then there's always the "well if he's innocent, lets see it!"

[Mitsu3000gt]

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And then there's always the "well if he's innocent, lets see it!"

I think that is kind of the big "WTF" to the report being blocked. If it "TOTALLY CLEARS THE PRESIDENT. THANK YOU", why not show it. They don't want to though, but it will eventually come out. Fighting it just makes people work harder to get it and look closer when they do get it. My understanding is that also a legal motion can be filed to have some grand jury information declassified, so that it is easier to get access to the report.

It's honestly a circus - the report specifically says it does not exonerate the President (one of the few verbatim quotes Barr took from it), and Sarah Sanders tweeted "The findings of the Department of Justice are a total and complete exoneration of the President of the United States.”

Trump is (apparently) in support of the report being made public, but he probably also thinks his team has control over what gets redacted. He also said he would release his tax returns and Mexico would pay for the wall, so we always take what he says with a grain of salt. He might have even told McConnel to block it so he could keep Tweeting that he wants it released in relative safety. That would be a similar tactic to the one he used for the boarder wall - he did nothing for 2 years, waited for the Democrats to take the house, and THEN all of a sudden goes gung-ho on the wall, but "sorry guys, the Dems won't let me do it, not my fault it's theirs", saving himself from the embarrassment of his own party rejecting his wall plans. He has a long track record of setting up other people to blame for promises he can't deliver on. He also knows it's going to be released anyway, so him saying that he wants it released just gives him that to fall back on later.

Either way I think the people will get what they want. If they get the report and too much is redacted, they can subpoena Mueller to talk about it. They can also read the report aloud in the House which to my knowledge puts it in public record (likely minus grand jury info).

[Tik-Tok]

Trump's lawyers want to review and edit Mueller's report before it's out. William Barr said there's no way he'll allow that.

https://www.businessinsider.com/will...ew-edit-2019-1

Or will he?

The White House will get the Mueller report before the public does in case it wants to make redactions, Barr says

https://www.businessinsider.com/barr...vilege-2019-3?

[04Terminator]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/vi...tributors.html

The witch hunt is over. Can we get on with finding orangutan's real crimes now? Enough ridiculous conspiracies.

[SportEL]

You can't just release the report to the public. Classified information and Grand Jury Testimony needs to be redacted first, or else it would be illegal to do so. Of course, Liberals and Media won't tell you that just like that ongoing lie that just because Republicans had the House Senate and Executive for 2 years, they could have passed anything they had wished. No, it takes 60 votes to pass laws through the Senate and the Democrats had 9 votes. And no, Trump can't obstruct from something he was never guilty of. Even in the report, it said that Russians tried to collude, and Trump said no.

What a ridiculous 2.5years and $50 million plus wasted on absolutely nothing based off a fake dossier funded by the DNC and Hillary themselves, propped up by the shameless left wing propoganda media arm of the Democrats and liars saying they absolutley know there is collusion. They were the actual ones colluding with the Russians. Time to look into the FISA abus, illegal spying, and all the crimes of the Democrats. Oh wait, the Left gets away with anything just like the Jussie Smolett fake hate crime hoax.