Treason Season??

[robkelk]

Reuters: Mueller report details 'inadequate' Trump answers, attempts by president to end probe

DISCLAIMER: This is based on the news article. I have not yet read the 448-page report.

"It is clear there was no criminal wrongdoing. Nothing withheld; nothing concealed; nothing deleted; nothing destroyed; and nothing bleached," his lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Jay Sekulow, Jane Raskin and Martin Raskin said in a statement.

Let's take that apart.

"Nothing withheld":

The president never sat for an interview with Mueller during the nearly two-year investigation, despite indicating on several occasions his willingness to do so.

Mueller's 448-page report said Trump's written responses to submitted questions by the special counsel were "inadequate," though it was ultimately decided not to issue a subpoena to force Trump to give an interview to the special counsel because it would have created a "substantial delay" at a late stage in the investigation.

"nothing concealed":

The report indicated that Trump directed aides numerous times not to disclose emails about a controversial June 2016 meeting in New York with a Russian lawyer who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton, which was attended by his son Donald Trump Jr. and his son-in-law and current White House adviser Jared Kushner.

Mueller said there was no documentary evidence that Trump knew his son, son-in-law and others were taking the Trump Tower meeting until after it occurred.

Elsewhere, Mueller wrote, "there is evidence that could support the inference the president intended to discourage [MIchael Cohen] from co-operating" with the investigation, referring to the president's former personal lawyer, who will begin a three-year prison sentence next month.

"nothing deleted":




"nothing destroyed":

This one appears to have held up. Assuming of course that any evidence for destruction has not been redacted as shown above.


"and nothing bleached":

Barr subsequently concluded that Trump had not committed obstruction of justice, but Mueller's report concluded it could not clear him of that charge, appearing to defer to the U.S. system of checks and balances in government to grapple with that question.

The legal team got one out of five right. And with all the redactions, there's no way to know whether there was or was not "criminal wrongdoing."

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CBC News: Obstruction or not, Mueller report shows Trump's panic during Russia investigation

According to notes quoted in the report, when Trump first learned a special counsel had been appointed in 2017, the president slumped back in his chair and said: "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I' m f---ed."