Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary of
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report set off wild end zone celebrations by President Trump and his supporters. The President claimed, falsely, “complete exoneration” in light of Barr’s report that the Special Counsel hadn’t found “collusion” by Trump with the Russians in interfering in the 2016 election, and that Mueller wouldn’t decide if enough evidence existed for an obstruction of justice charge against Trump. Barr, despite acknowledging Mueller didn’t exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice, went ahead and did it himself. Trump surrogates hit the airwaves, using Barr’s proclamations in claiming the investigation was “over” and it was time the country “moved on.”
Regrettably, the media egged on these touchdown dances by asking political figures (usually Democrats) if they “accepted” Barr’s conclusion that no one in the Trump campaign “colluded” with the Russians in their election interference. Quite frankly, we’re ready to throw a flag and call a penalty on this excessive celebrating and the questioners facilitating it. It’s premature if only because no one outside the Justice Department and the Special Counsel’s office has actually seen the Mueller report. How can anyone “accept” a conclusion without any knowledge of what led to that conclusion?
Mueller’s Charge
We think it useful that we recall exactly what the Justice
We think it useful that we recall exactly what the Justice
Department asked of Mueller. In his May 17, 2017, Order appointing a Special Counsel, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein gave Mueller three tasks: investigate and prosecute (1) any “links or coordination” between the Russian government and the Trump campaign; (2) matters that arise or may arise directly from that investigation; and (3) crimes related to the investigation committed within the scope of a federal statue covering perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and witness intimidation.
This narrow charge affected what we could ever have expected from the Mueller probe. Rosenstein’s Order specifically gave Mueller prosecutorial authority. The Special Counsel focused, therefore, on charging and prosecuting criminal offenses, not just uncovering the bad acts of Trump and his associates. Mueller certainly might have found evidence of “links or coordination” between the Russians and the Trump campaign, though that evidence wouldn’t support criminal indictments provable beyond a reasonable doubt. To date, we don’t know if Mueller found such evidence because Barr hasn’t released the full report. Mueller might intend that Congress examine Trump’s conduct, even though criminal prosecution wasn’t in order.
We also note Rosenstein tasked Mueller with finding things that “arose or may arise” from investigating the Russia
“links.” Mueller found significant corrupt conduct by Trump and his colleagues that doesn’t concern election interference. Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, for example, will spend several years in prison for lying to Congress about when Trump’s Moscow tower project cratered, a lie that could only benefit Trump during the 2016 campaign. Cohen also arranged, at Trump’s behest according to the indictment, hush money payments to women who allegedly had affairs with Trump. Mueller turned such matters over to other federal prosecutors, especially in the Southern District of New York. We don’t know what else Mueller’s report contains that might suggest wrong doing by Trump and his aides that doesn’t concern Russian election interference. Barr’s terse letter didn’t mention those things and without the report, no one knows if evidence of such misdeeds exists. We think it worth noting that Barr’s summary, according to one cable host, quotes not one complete sentence from Mueller’s actual report.
The Game is Not Over Until It’s Over
The Game is Not Over Until It’s Over
Trump’s celebrating ignores two basic facts. First, the Southern District of New York and other jurisdictions continue their probes into such matters as the president’s campaign finance violations, his business dealings, and his inaugural committee’s fund raising and spending practices. Second, his actions remain subject to Congressional investigation and oversight. House Democrats, even if not all of them articulated the limits of the Barr letter as we’d have liked, should know they still have a major job facing them regarding the Trump scandals. At least the leadership apparently understands Barr’s carefully crafted spin job isn’t the last word, however much Trump and his supporters tried making it so. The chairs of six key House committees called for release of the full Mueller report by April 2, with the threat of subpoenas lurking if Barr doesn’t comply. They also want testimony from both Barr and Mueller.
The American people paid for the Mueller report and should
see it. The House of Representatives, in an unusual show of bi-partisanship, voted 420-0 for the report’s release. That report isn’t a four-page press release written by a Trump appointee who’s already decided a president can’t commit obstruction of justice. The report consists of all Mueller’s findings and the underlying documents that support whatever he found. Until we see that, no political leader or citizen can or should “accept” anything. The reporters who ask such questions should bone up on their logic skills.
Football has rules against excessive celebrations during games. In a democracy, politics has rules, particularly the rule of law. In this game, democracy v. Donald J. Trump, it’s time for a flag on the play. Let the games continue.
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