The last big hurrah...

[kentuck]

Of course, this is just my opinion.

It was born of desperation. Donald Trump felt the hammer was about to fall. He had to do something. He wanted his AG to end the Mueller investigation. About that, there is little doubt.

He knew AG Barr's position on obstruction by a President. Barr didn't think it was possible for a president to obstruct justice. That was why he was hired, after he wrote his 19-page memo explaining himself.

Mueller was getting real close to finishing his investigation. And it didn't look good.

Mueller knew that there was a Justice Dept guideline that stated that a sitting President could not be indicted. His only choice was to turn over the results of his investigation to his superior, the Attorney General. He couldn't indict, because of DoJ guidelines, but neither could he exonerate.

That is when AG Barr became Donald Trump's long-sought after Roy Cohn. He made the decision to summarize the investigation and to clear Trump of all charges. But then, why did he put into his letter that the Special Counsel could not "exonerate"? Perhaps Rosenstein assisted him with the conclusions and that was his two-cents worth? That is speculation. All the words were not Barr's.

Trump had a PR blitzkrieg planned for the event. The media were quick to jump into line. After a day or two had lapsed, it began to look very suspicious. Trump went into a predictable distraction mode. He was going to throw millions of people off their medical care and he wanted his Secretary of Education to cut the funding for Special Olympics. It was a master stroke of distraction.

But, the Democrats and the American people were not so quick to jump on board. The majority did not believe the summary within the Barr letter. Suddenly, Barr and McConnell, no doubt doing the bidding of Donald Trump, decided to block the Mueller Report from Congress and the American people. They began to stonewall the request for transparency.

More and more, it began to look like a huge scheme to deceive the media and the American people. Democrats began to press for the entire report. Trump and Barr balked.

Where does it go from here? Probably we will see subpoenas from Congress and claims of "executive privilege" from the White House. In the end, we may be headed to the Courts?

It is a battle for the rule of law.

[malaise]

1. Great post

Get thee to the greatest page

[Wounded Bear]

2. Almost predictable how it is playing out...

Hopefully the 'Deep State' wins and Trump goes down.

[Scarsdale]

3. McConnell is showing

his true colors in this fiasco. He should not have this much power. Taxpayers saw the Starr report in all its' cringeworthy detail. We should DEMAND transparency. This is NOT Russia or N. Korea. We are supposedly a DEMOCRACY. We have a sleaze in the WH, protected by other sleazy politicians. McConnell is NOT the grand master, allowed to hide the truth from taxpayers. There obviously is something in that report that will end tRump's reign.

[Mister Ed]

4. "It is a battle for the rule of law."

Thank you for a very well thought out and very plausible synopsis.

[forgotmylogin]

25. Right. Mueller knew if he indicted it would be all about the rules instead of the content.

And he probably knows there's enough material in the un-summarized report that will char 45's stupid long tie.

[The Blue Flower]

5. Good analysis

I also think that the extra helpings of cruelty--cancelling ACA and defunding the Special Olympics--is his way of getting revenge on the large majority of Americans who want to see the report and who believe he is corrupt and compromised.

[lagomorph777]

23. The bigger the problem, the more insane the disctractions.

I think you're right.

[watoos]

6. If getting out the Mueller report,

goes to the SC, we are f**ked.

[Catherine Vincent]

9. I agree. nt

[Kurt V.]

7. K&R i think the courts will decide this

[Catherine Vincent]

10. Hopefully not the Supreme court. nt

[kentuck]

22. The "Courts" are only a temporary measure in this battle.

The people will make the final determination. But they must have the facts.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. Yes

I knew the healthcare thing was a deflection. I believe the full report will never get released.

[Ponietz]

19. Right, healthcare?

Pukes can’t do anything in the House, and the Senate will block anything the House proposes.
Who agrees that is, or should be, the agenda focus, now? Not I.

[FailureToCommunicate]

11. Sounds about right. But the battle is also for the heart and soul of the American ideal...

and that's not looking too healthy these days.

If the various challenges go to the Supreme Court, well the Republicans have stacked that now in their favor.

Elections have consequences.

[Cosmocat]

15. Yeah

its pretty bleak.

Honestly, I don't think the country at large has the spirit to fight it.

Coin flip if we can actually get him out of the White House, even then, it would take a 10+ year run progressive run to get things straightened out, and the country just can't stop itself from indulging right wing fuck wittery.

It seems so long ago, but in a six year span the country went from a big mid term defeat for the Rs in Ws last term, electing BHO, and instead of giving us a chance to make real progress, the very next mid term ushered in the Tea Party loons in a massive wave who now run the show, because they threw a massive fit over the Ds passing THEIR GD form of health care reform.

The stupid in this country just wins out more often than not.

[gordianot]

12. Could it be Mueller decided to wear the wire himself?

I know wishful magical thinking but Trump is someone who should never be given rope, sharp objects or money.

[Silver Gaia]

13. You have written pretty much what I have also concluded.

I don't think he will win. The American people are on to his tricks, at least most of us are. The rule of law will win.

[PatSeg]

16. And unfortunately for him,

he chose distractions that do not endear him to his base. He should have stuck with some dangerous immigrants spiel. He's getting more and more careless with his distractions. It is like any old distraction will do, as long as the media and the public is looking "over there".

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. And I think his minions think the full report will exonerate him

I'm talking about Joe the Plumber type folks, not Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell. I think there will be pressure from both sides of the general public to publish the whole thing, just like the Clinton investigation, just like 9/11 and Watergate. The taxpayers paid for Mueller's investigation and they have a right to see it in its entirety, subject to any necessary redacting for issues of national security.

[ancianita]

14. If it were only the last battle. If capitalists buy enough lawmakers, democratic law is out,

replaced by capitalist law.

Capitalist government uses capitalist values to run a corporate campus that runs on money as speech. Next comes the "reform" of the constitution, in which supermajorities become the new law.

It used to be called fascism. Now it's just a "government" that controls all known weapons, machinery, messaging and humans. No one ever hears what happens to "fringe" resisters.

The war for the rule of law becomes just another paragraph in human history.

-----------

Ever since the Kochs joined up with James McDill Buchanan in the 70's, capitalists have weaponized their money through PragerU, George Mason's various programs, to train and disseminate their message and further training in their foundations. Now that they've almost won, they've moved out from behind their "free speech" curtain, shown their goal to stigmatize democracy as an outworn socialist/communist system that keeps people weak and dependent.

Capitalists have set up their personal fictionhoods to outlast all our merely mortal lives. They are organizing the future without care for how many humans die. Their corporate body's values will live on.

Winning this battle is not winning the war.

[ewagner]

18. Excellent points...as usual....n/t

[bigbrother05]

20. Someone from the Deep State will step up and leak the report

Much if not all of the data backing Mueller's report has already passed to other offices for further action.

Just as Nixon tried to block the Pentagon Papers, this will come to the public somehow.

It will likely be the last person anyone would suspect, think Deep Throat, but someone that puts country ahead of power.

[GeorgeGist]

21. We need a patriot...

like Daniel Ellsberg

[DallasNE]

24. Same Conclusion

Occurred to me. Trump needed Rosenstein's name attached to the summary and the price was the "does not exonerate" edit. Grim best case scenario.

[KPN]

26. Exactly. I would add one thing. Whittaker and possibly Barr pressured Mueller to wrap the

investigation up. Remember Whittaker's communication prior to being appointed Acting that he would force the investigation to wrap up by cutting the money and resources. Ergo, no interview with Trump himself, no subpoena, only written responses to some questions; and a report on an incomplete, not yet finished investigation (e.g., as we learned yesterday about investigation is still robustly ongoing).

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

27. I'm beginning to think Barr shut Mueller down before he was finished.

There seemed to be at least another six months' worth of investigations to complete - among other things, the grand jury's term was extended and Flynn, Cohen and Gates are still cooperating. While those matters will continue, whatever new information they might offer won't be part of the OSC report. And have a look at the Roger Stone indictment: https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-indictment-roger-stone It's about his contacts with Wikileaks and the stolen DNC emails. Is any information from the huge volume of data seized from Stone when he was arrested included?

Maybe Barr's job was not only to try to keep the completed parts of the OSC from seeing the light of day and to mischaracterize its findings, but to try to prevent further investigation of the "collusion" question from continuing into the upcoming election year, where it could be more damaging?

I hate it when I find myself jumping to paranoid conclusions, but this whole business gets stinkier by the day.

[kentuck]

28. I think you are probably correct.

I don't think he was finished.

The first week or two that Barr was in office, there was a rumor that his report was "imminent". The OCS had to go public to say that wadn't true.

[Mike Niendorff]

29. Spot-on.

I think this is precisely what we're seeing unfold.

(* Even down to the level of a "PR blitzkrieg" and a mass-distraction campaign)

Very, very good analysis here.

I hope Congressional staff is paying attention to this thread.


MDN

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

30. I want to know why Barr thinks that a president cannot commit obstruction of justice. n/t