So the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, report has finally been released. After two long, hard and stressful years, the report states, contrary to Attorney General Robert Barr’s spin, that President Donald J. Trump has not been vindicated. In his report, Mr. Mueller, clearly and deliberately, states that if there was evidence to exonerate Mr. Trump he would have recommended exoneration, he does not say Trump is exonerated either. Mueller does not provide evidence that there was no collaboration of collusion by Mr. Trump. He just states that he has no evidence to compel a recommendation for exoneration. In a criminal trial when a defendant gets acquitted that does not prove he or she is innocent. It just means that there was not sufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. It also usually leaves the door open for another trial if additional and new evidence is secured.
For two years we have listened to Trump and his cronies state that there was no collusion and that he (Trump) would be totally and fully exonerated. For two years we have listened to Trump and his cronies malign and belittle anyone believing the contrary. And, for two years we have listened to Trump and his cronies label the mainstream [news] media as fake news.
Yet, Trump and his cronies have been proven to be liars, or at the minimum truth twisters or withholders (you figure that statement out), thieves and scoundrels.
Lets recap some of what has happened in the two years since Trump’s swearing in as the 45th President of the United States:
MICHAEL COHEN: Trump’s former personal lawyer pleaded guilty, in August 2018, to crimes including orchestrating hush-money payments to women in violation of campaign laws before the 2016 election.
MICHAEL FLYNN: Trump’s former National Security Advisor, pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia during Trump’s presidential transition.
PAUL MANAFORT: Trump’s former campaign chairman, was found guilty, in August 2018, by a jury of his peers, in a Virginia Court, on several counts of bank and tax fraud and was sentenced to 47 months in Prison. In a plea deal announced in September 2018, Manafort agreed to cooperate with Mueller. This agreement resolved a separate case in Washington alleging money laundering and failing to report foreign bank accounts, among other charges.
On Feb. 13 2019, a judge ruled that Manafort breached the plea agreement by lying to prosecutors about matters material to the Russia probe and nearly doubled his sentence to 7 1/2 years.
RICK GATES: A former deputy Trump campaign chairman, pleaded guilty, in February 2018, to conspiracy against the United States and of lying to investigators.
GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS: Trump campaign foreign policy adviser was sentenced, in the District of Columbia, to 14 days in prison. Prosecutors said Papadopoulos caused irreparable damage to the [Mueller] investigation after repeatedly lying in an interview in January 2017, which resulted in the FBI missing an opportunity to effectively question a potential key witness.
KONSTANTIN KILIMNIK: A former employee of Manafort’s firm, was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice for allegedly attempting witness tampering during the Manafort investigation.
ROGER STONE: Trump confidant charged on a federal indictment that outlined efforts by Trump’s 2016 campaign to seek Democratic Party emails hacked by Russia. Stone had direct contact with Wikileaks.
According to the indictment Stone had numerous conversations with high-level Trump campaign officials about WikiLeaks’ plans to release the stolen emails after obtaining them from Russian military intelligence officers.
ALEX VAN DER ZWAAN: Dutch attorney pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts with Rick Gates and an unnamed person in Ukraine. He served 30 days in jail and was deported from the United States.
RICHARD PINEDO: A California man who ran a website selling dummy bank accounts to eBay and Facebook was sentenced to six months in prison for identity theft.
SAM PATTEN: pleaded guilty to failing to register as a lobbyist for Ukrainian clients while working with Kilimnik, helping a client get around restrictions on foreign donations in order to get tickets to Trump’s inauguration, and misleading congressional investigators.
Served 30 days in prison for lying to investigators.
BIJAN KIAN and SKIM ALPTEKIN: Two former associates of Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security were charged with conspiracy to violate federal lobbying rules for their work on behalf of a Turkish campaign to expel a rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Alptekin was also charged with lying to investigators.
This list does not include allegations against Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser and husband to Ivanka Trump, Scott Pruitt, Former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Wilbur Ross, Commerce Secretary, Ryan Zinke, Former Interior Secretary, Tom Price
Former Health and Human Services Secretary, Mick Mulvaney, Acting White House chief of staff and Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Ben Carson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, Treasury Secretary, Brock Long
Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator, Elliott Broidy, Former Republican National
Committee deputy finance chairman, Carl Icahn, Former special adviser to Trump on regulatory reform, and Carter Page, Former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser.
So, while the Mueller report says that there was not sufficient evidence that Trump Colluded, it goes on further to say that it does not mean no crimes have been committed. One must remember the boundaries with which Mueller had to work. After all, Robert Mueller was not a special prosecutor as was Ken Starr during the [Bill] Clinton scandal. Mueller is an employee of the Justice Department whose boss is Robert Barr, the man he had to turn the report over to. Mueller had no authority to bring charges against anyone nor to recommend and course of action. His job was simply to gather information which the Attorney General, Robert Barr, would then scrutinize to determine what course of action, if any, was appropriate. Therein lies the problem. Former AG Jeff Sessions recused himself, one could assume that he did not want to be a party to Trump’s lies and corruption, hence he was fired. Barr was appointed strictly because he is a Trump yes man. Barr did the exact opposite of what he swore he would do when accepting the position of AG.
While just two weeks ago, when Barr released his four page synopsis of the Mueller report in which he stated that there was no collusion, Trump was declaring total vindication. Trump was dancing in the streets, so to speak, with the joy that he had been exonerated, so he thought. Then two hours before the report was to be released Barr held a press conference in which he reiterated that Trump was cleared of wrong doing. Unfortunately, everyone, except maybe the Republicans and Trump’s blind followers, knew what this was. It was Barr putting his spin on the report before the world. Usually reports are issued to the House and the media before the press conference, even if they would be instructed to not discuss the details until after the AG holds a press conference. In this instance, not the House nor the media were given copies of the report before hand.
The AG press conference was a farce since the media would not be able to ask intelligent questions. It was one sided, Barr had full knowledge of the report’s contents and everyone else did not. In his press conference, Barr practically exonerated the President but the redacted report indicated otherwise. While there was not sufficient evidence to recommend an indictment (which Mueller could not do anyway), there also was not sufficient evidence to exonerate. There is one oversight mechanism left and that is the House’s own investigation. In his report Robert Mueller indicated 10 points were wrong doing was found. These wrong doings require further looking into but Barr swept them away. The House, which happens to be controlled by the Democrats, has the constitutional responsibility to explore this further. Of course the President, his cronies and the Republican Party are crying foul. They are making a big fuss and going to the media (the same media that Trump has been accusing of fake news for the past two years) pleading to the American public to demand an end to this “witch hunt.”
On CNN news on Sunday April 21, 2019 Trump personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani actually said that during a presidential campaign it is OK to accept information from any source INCLUDING from a foreign source, including from a sworn enemy to the United States. So Trump changed his pitch of two weeks ago. Then he praised Robert Mueller for doing an outstanding job but when the reality of the report hit him he stated that the contents of the report were BULL SHIT. Can you imagine the uproar by Republicans and conservatives if it was Obama using such language? Can you imagine the scandal if it was Obama that was in Trump’s position?
I really do not understand how reasonable people can actually think that Trump is a good president. He has been lying and eroding our political system, ignoring our constitution and making the U.S. look like fools on the world stage. He does this while he and his cronies line their pockets with money. For Trump and many conservatives and republicans its about money and not service to the nation.
Of course I personally wish that we could make Trump go away, but to talk about impeachment is, in my opinion, the wrong course of action. Why do I say this? Well while the House, that conducts and then recommends the impeachment, and it is Democrat controlled, the Senate, which actually issues “the sentence” is republican controlled. Does anyone actually think that this republican Senate will vote to impeach? So if the democrats elect to go the impeachment route all it would serve to do is divide this country even further than Trump has already divided it. If the democrats elect seek impeachment in the end Trump would win. For me the better option is to try to defeat him at the polls in 2020. Then once he is out of office go after him for all the criminal acts he has committed. While “we can’t arrest a sitting president” we can arrest a former president. Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
This is my opinion and I’m sticking with it. What do you think? Leave your comments below.