Now that the redacted 448-page Mueller report has been released to the public, people on both sides of the aisle have been madly poring over the results of the special counsel’s 22-month Russia probe.
Prosecutors closely examined whether Donald Trump or members of his 2016 campaign conspired with Russia to release emails which were damaging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC, and/or any involvement with the Kremlin’s social media disinformation campaigns.
The investigation also covered whether Trump associates operated as unregistered Russian (and in one case Israeli) agents, and whether the infamous June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Russian attorney violated campaign finance laws as a “thing-of-value” offered by foreign governments, or crossed any other legal boundaries.
At the end of the day, Mueller and his team did not find that any Trump campaign associates were operating on behalf of a foreign government in connection with the 2016 election. Mueller did, however, find Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and his deputy Rick Gates guilty of crimes connected to their work for the Ukrainian government prior to their involvement with Trump.
There are a mountain of pages and footnotes to go through, but here are some takeaways so far:
- Mueller was unable to establish that Trump committed any underlying crimes.
“Unlike cases in which a subject engages in obstruction of justice to cover up a crime, the evidence we obtained did not establish that the president was involved in an underlying crime related to Russian election interference,” the report reads.
- Mueller considered pressing charges in connection with the Trump Tower meeting.
The special counsel’s office considered prosecuting the Trump Tower meeting as a campaign-finance violation, however declined because they didn’t have “admissible evidence” likely to prove that Trump officials “wilfully” acted, or that the information offered by the Russians exceeded the threshold for prosecution.
Interestingly - the Mueller report completely omits the involvement of Fusion GPS in the Trump tower meeting - as the Russian attorney involved in it, Natalia Veselnitskaya, was a Fusion GPS associate and met with founder Glenn Simpson before and after the Trump Tower meeting.
The report also notes Veselnitskaya's work for Prevezon, which was charged with money laundering and sanctions violations, yet fails to note that Clinton campaign contractor Fusion GPS was working for her and Prevezon on that issue. How does a collusion investigation miss that? pic.twitter.com/aepx2Zih5X
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) April 18, 2019
Also noteworthy is that the Trump Tower meeting investigation “did not identify evidence connecting the events of June 9 & the GRU’s hack-and-dump operation.
BREAKING: Buried in a footnote, Mueller Report crushes last remaining MSM "collusion" hopes centered on June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr: "The investigation did not identify evidence connecting the events of June 9 & the GRU's hack-and-dump operation."
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) April 18, 2019
- Mueller looked at charging Trump aide George Papadopoulos as an agent of Israel.
Whoa — the investigation into Papadopoulos was into whether he was an Israeli agent pic.twitter.com/HUN5Z6nv4z
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) April 18, 2019
In June 2018, @simonamangiante told me that investigators had threatened to charge @GeorgePapa19 as an agent of Israel. I didn't know what to make of it at the time, but Mueller report backs it up. https://t.co/CcZHeJEJqC @dailycaller
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) April 18, 2019
Let’s summarize the Mueller report:
He states that warrants were targeted at me during my time before and after I joined the campaign because of my “high level connections to Israel.”
Translation: Obama illicitly spied on me with a FISA because I was a top energy advisor.
— George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) April 18, 2019
- Trump worried that the Special Counsel investigation would end his presidency.
According to the Mueller report, when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions let Trump know about the appointment of a special counsel, Trump replied: “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fucked,” adding “How could you allow this to happen, Jeff?”
Trump goes on to say: “Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won’t be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
- Former White House attorney Don McGahn threatened to resign.
McGahn was ready to hand in his resignation as White House counsel in June 2017 when Trump directed him to tell Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein that “Mueller has to go,” per the report.
“In response to that request, McGahn decided to quit because he did not want to participate in events that he described as akin to the Saturday Night Massacre,” during the Nixon administration. McGahn would stay on as White House counsel for for another 16 months.
More takeaways:
BREAKING: Mueller Report reveals it could find no documentary or other evidence indicating Papadopoulos shared Mifsud's claim that Russia had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton in the form of emails with any other Trump campaign official — the alleged predicate for opening investigation
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) April 18, 2019
Reminder that BuzzFeed stood by their report even after it was directly disputed by Mueller's team. https://t.co/9x19ViZlPD
— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) April 18, 2019
NEW: special counsel Mueller's report directly contradicts BuzzFeed's bombshell story
BF: Cohen told Mueller "the president personally instructed him to lie"
Mueller: Cohen said "the President did not direct him to provide false testimony"https://t.co/nx9eGj7DGr
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) April 18, 2019
Mueller found "little corroboration" of Jerome Corsi's claims that Roger Stone asked him to contact WikiLeaks on day of Access Hollywood tape release. This allegation from Corsi has created bad blood b/w him and Stone pic.twitter.com/olKtQ08kig
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) April 18, 2019
via zerohedge
Mark Levin was just on Fox & Friends a few minutes ago, and he pointed out that Vol 2 of the Mueller Report, is nothing but toilet paper (my words). Sources are not cited, and there’s no indication any of it contains sworn testimony, which could be used as evidence in a court of law.They indicate their disappointment in Trump’s written answers, because they weren’t able to use them as a perjury trap, the way they could have used his answers in a face to face interview. Unlike Vol 1, which is redacted because it contains grand jury and national security evidence, Vol 2 is hearsay, not admissible as evidence in a court or law. Not to mention the whole investigation was triggered by the “Dossier”, which was a lie, to begin with, making the whole investigation unnecessary and, probably, illegal, in the first place.
I agree…..but now the real investigations should begin……!!
Fox and Friends says it all; pure propaganda from the most bias news source in the world.
You’re obviously confused. Your reference should read CNN and MSNBC. Their combined viewership and ratings have been exceeded by those of FNC for 67 consecutive months. FNC is the most trusted and watched cable news source and it’s not even close. MAGA!
Of course you mean after CNN, MSNBC, ABC, AND NBC also known as the democratic news networks. I mean they have reported all along the absolute opposite of what the true story is, and each time they did a story you could almost see them salivating at the specter of Trump being guilty of something. Let’s see how well the outcome when the investigation turns to the true crime family, the Clinton’s. I wonder how all that will be reported
WWG1WGA
The real investigation should begin ASAP and we will find out that the Democrats are the Colluders and Obstructers. They have prevented and obstructed President Trump from doing his Job for the Real American People!
The Mueller report does not exonerate Trump; it provides a road map for the House to follow.
Au contraire. The entire Mueller-Rosenstein episode was and is a total hoax and fabrication generated by the opposition in the personage of the DNC and HRC campaign. It had no legal basis from the get-go. The embarrassing data released from the DNC servers was an inside job, done by jump-drive transfer and not outside hacking as e-forensics have shown. The whole Russian hacking charade was developed to cover the DNC and HRC embarrassment for the insider release. Remember the DNC wouldn’t allow the FBI to examine their servers after the so-called “Russian hacking.”
Personally, I hope the House Demo_rats aggressively pursue further investigations and impeachment. The negative fallout and blow-back will be HUGE. And, it will dramatically illustrate what unamerican political hacks and Socialists they really are. MAGA!
stop listening and parroting MSNBC Maddow
Tommy you are Very ignorant. Can you even fog a mirror. No prosecuted in any exonerated anyone for anything. It is totally binary, guilty or not guilty, Period. By the way, what were the charges? Have you seen any charges leveled on POTUS? No. You also can’t obstruct a non-criminal event, period.
Though I agree with your initial comments, your point about no possibility for Obstruction absent an underlying crime is incorrect. Scooter Libby was indicted and did prison time for both perjury & Obstruction of Justice in the Valery Plame affair years back. You’ll recall the leaker of her Security CIA Status, Richard Armitage, was not charged.
Millions of tax dollars spent on a Democratic directed investigation that turned up nothing illegal and Democrats just can’t handle it. The POS Democrats from California and New York can’t handle the fact they wasted countless millions on attorney fees for who know how many lawyers just to find no collusion and no charges for any Trump campaign personal. I would love to see the President file liable and slander lawsuits against those that started this and tried to destroy the President of the US.
they are not CNBC nbc MSNBC
The dems cant read maps
I should have thought of this earlier…my belief is that the report will remain inconclusive.
Neither side can remain objective. Both serve to emphasize their personal subjective positions, for which by definition they have no awareness. Investigation after investigation will produce no
objective information…it is all so useless, nay, worthless. One’s intyerpretation is as good as another’s Let’s get on with solving the nation’s existential problems, and start with immigration.