Regarding the Mueller Report:

[guillaumeb]

Many times now, Trump has publicly demanded and insisted that the Mueller Report be released in its entirety, and he claims that the report exonerates him,
but at the same time he could be privately ordering Barr to do the exact opposite.

This strategy would allow his millions of credulous followers to claim that the Report does indeed exonerate Trump, while insuring that the Report is never seen by the media and the general public.

This strategy would, of course, require Trump and his Administration to lie to the American people.

[bluestarone]

1. Privately ordering Barr. ( i believe this)

Now THAT would be one of the first questions BARR needs to answer under oath!

[guillaumeb]

2. And if I thought of it,

I am certain that many in Congress have as well.

But could Barr refuse to answer under a claim of Executive privilege?

[Volaris]

9. I'm spitballing...NO, because isn't the DOJ supposed to operate independatly of the Executive Office

[guillaumeb]

17. But the DOJ is a part of the Administration.

So I disagree.

[Hoyt]

3. Graham said today that Barr would release report as soon as any info that might impact

one of the other investigations could be removed. How long that will take, or whether LG is lying is anyone’s guess. GOPers will say No, we’ll say Yes. This circus will keep going on and obscuring important national concerns and the upcoming election.

I don’t think Barr can sit on it too long, though, especially with Congressional hearings coming up including Mueller.

[guillaumeb]

4. I trust Graham as much as I trust Trump.

Now the burden is on the House to exercise actual oversight function after 2 years of GOP obstruction and inaction.

[uponit7771]

13. Moscow Mitch is voting to block release of full report, their going to bury the report

[Hoyt]

15. Actually, if you read what he said, it's the same as Graham -- needs to be redacted for info on

other info.

That report is going to come out, there is no way for them to do anything but stall. I suspect, we'll read it and say there is plenty to condemn trump for, GOPers will say he's cleared, and a bunch of true Independents will say -- you fools have gone on 3 years in a chitshow where not one person has changed their mind on trump's guilt, while healthcare, taxes, economy, education, etc., has been all but ignored.

Everyone -- even GOPers -- have watched trump obstruct for two years and it's clear his campaign aides and his kids welcomed any dirt on Clinton from the Ruskies, and may have outright colluded with them. Yet the GOPers -- who would have to convict trump in the Senate -- haven't cared. trump being involved in that was seriously hurt a few weeks ago when it became known that the phone calls by his kids after the meeting were not to trump.

Now, what I do really want to hear is the FBI's assessment of whether trump is compromised. That might be interesting.

Other than that, I'm convinced trump isn't going to be removed from office prior to the end of this term (he should be, but it isn't going to happen at this point). If we find some dirt on him, it isn't going to change anyone's opinion. I think we are better office pursuing the investigation, but keeping it rather low key, while getting GOPers on record voting against healthcare, tax reform, education, etc. Instead, I fear we'll end up next year with the same junk going on, and getting nowhere in public opinion.

We need to demand the report -- which I don't think Barr will get away with withholding. But we need to move on and just keep saying saying, "We all know trump is guilty despite what his handpicked AG believes, trump was elected with Russian help, trump is the worst Prez imaginable, he has avoided seeking key legislation to help the average American (healthcare, education, and the like), etc."

[FakeNoose]

20. I believe Rod Rosenstein said the same thing

The report contains names and other identifying info of private citizens that all must be redacted. But DOJ will release a redacted version, because they know this will never be over until they do.

[uponit7771]

21. What I'm NOT hearing is a rush of KGOP to release the report and this is the first tell they don't

... want it released.

It goes without saying to release it smartly, I don't see the democrats saying release the report in the dumbest way possible.

Hearing red don and Sanders hedge on the release lately (putting it on Barr) still leads me to think Barr is bold faced lying and there's too much in the report that the KGOP doesn't want people to see.

[Downtown Hound]

5. I think that is their strategy

They're hoping that the Barr synopsis will put Americans to sleep and they will move on, and they will never have to release the full report. I have zero doubt that they will try and foist a heavily redacted version on us at some point in the near future, and claim that much of it is kept secret due to "national security." But they will now fight tooth and nail to keep the full report from the American people in an attempt to frame any future investigations of Trump as a politically motivated witch hunt.

I can accept that Mueller found no direct evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia, not because Trump is not guilty, but because he simply had the underlings do all the dirty work for him. But I do believe very strongly that Trump obstructed justice, and that somewhere in the details of this report, there is proof of it. And that is what they are going to try and hide, not only because obstruction itself is a crime, but because the obstruction itself will point to collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, even if there is no direct link to Trump himself proven.

I also believe that Mueller found massive evidence of financial crimes, and we will still see those come to light. I believe that this charade is meant to throw doubt on those as being the result of a continuing Democratic witch hunt. They're going to basically try and say, "It's over. Move on, losers."

It's imperative that we don't let them get away with it. Don't listen to anybody who tells you to shut up and move on. Do neither.

[guillaumeb]

6. An excellent summary.

I agree.

[Volaris]

10. And, if it IS blocked, my guess is someone will leak it.

[Downtown Hound]

11. Maybe, but even if they don't

The Democratic House will be able to get quite a bit of what is in the report through hearings and subpoenas. This is far from over.

[Volaris]

12. Yep.

[uponit7771]

14. Yep, I pinned an OP on this TPM this morning (link)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211953199

[radius777]

19. Agree. It's about winning the narrative for 2020.

Mueller's investigation is a legal construct that is constrained by a narrow set of rules, that career criminals like Trump (and Putin) know how to navigate around, to avoid indictment and legal consequence.

But we the public are not constrained by such rules, we can decide on any/all available info, what democracy is about, why it's so important for the House to get the full report and push for their own investigations.

[spanone]

7. don't forget, trump lies most of the time.

[guillaumeb]

8. We know that,

but the US corporate media apparently does not.

And Trump voters either do not know, or do not care.

[Catherine Vincent]

16. I agree

Guiliani says Trump wants the full report released. I don't believe him.

[guillaumeb]

18. Both lie constantly.

It seems almost reflexive.