Taibbi is an idiot for this article.
Why doesn't he accept the notion that Trump colluded and got away with it?
Why doesn't he accept the notion that Trump colluded and got away with it?
Russiagate is this era's WMDs - A catastrophe for the reputation of the news media
- Thread starter FAH1223
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Stone Cold
Superstar
:weebaynanimated:
Rod Rosenstein Didn’t Even Clear Trump on All the Topics He Hired Mueller to Investigate
March 25, 2019/74 Comments/in 2016 Presidential Election, Mueller Probe /by emptywheel
As I have noted, the William Barr memo everyone is reading to clear Trump and his flunkies of a conspiracy with Russia actually only clears the Trump campaign and those associated with it of conspiring or coordinating with the Russian government in its efforts to hack into computers and disseminate emails for purposes of influencing the election. The exoneration doesn’t even extend to coordinating with WikiLeaks, as Roger Stone is alleged to have done (though that, by itself, is not a crime).
More significantly, it is silent about whether Trump and his flunkies conspired with Russia in a quid pro quo trading election assistance and a real estate deal for policy considerations, the very same kind of election year shenanigans Barr has covered up once before with Iran-Contra.
And that’s important, because it means Barr and Rod Rosenstein haven’t even cleared Trump of what Rosenstein hired Mueller to investigate.
Jim Comey first described the investigation to include:
When Rosenstein appointed Mueller, he referenced Comey’s statement, but specifically mentioned just bullets 2 and 3 in his mandate, combining those two bullets into one that (unlikely Comey’s original statement) was limited to just the Russian government, not Russia’s efforts generally.
- The Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election
- The nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government
- Whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia’s efforts
Significantly, in May 2017 when Rosenstein hired Mueller (and, according to public reports, through November 2017), the investigation into the hack-and-leak remained elsewhere at DOJ (significantly, but not entirely, in Pittsburgh and San Francisco).
- any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
When the FBI raided Paul Manafort on July 27, 2017 — a raid Rosenstein almost certainly approved personally — they were looking for evidence (among other things) on the June 9, 2016 meeting in support of among other things an investigation into accepting campaign contributions from a foreign government or a conspiracy to do so; there was no mention whatsoever of probable cause that Manafort had helped Russia hack Hillary Clinton. Six months after that raid, Mueller would learn that two months after the June 9 meeting, on August 2, 2016, Manafort shared Trump’s polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik at a meeting where he also discussed a Ukrainian peace deal that would amount to sanctions relief. Manafort lied about what happened at that meeting. In Andrew Weissmann’s opinion, he lied in hopes of getting a Trump pardon.
When the Mueller Report states, “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” it does so after Manafort refused to explain why he shared that polling data, or whether he knew who Konstantin Kilimnik was sharing it with, and significantly, whether he had reason to believe that either Kilimnik himself or Oleg Deripaska — neither themselves part of the Russian government but Deripaska unquestioningly with close ties to it — would share the data with the GRU hackers who were still hacking Hillary Clinton.
And yet the only “links and/or coordination” that Barr and Rosenstein addressed involved an, “agreement–tacit or express–between the Trump Campaign and the Russian government on election interference.”
Because of Trump’s obstruction, we don’t know whether Manafort entered into an agreement with Kilimnik to trade sanctions relief for election assistance, but even if he did, it would not qualify as “coordination with the Russian government.” It would qualify as coordination with a cut-out for the Russian government.:shakingdamn::weebaynanimated:
Likewise, we know if Don Jr agreed to revisit sanctions relief after Natalia Veselnitskaya and the Agalarov family offered dirt on Hillary. But Don Jr wasn’t even officially part of the campaign, and while Veselnitskaya and Agalarov both have almost inseparable from the Russian government, they are not the Russian government and therefore would not qualify under this standard.:weebaynanimated:
The nature of Manafort’s links to the Russian government via Kilimnik and Don Jr’s links to the Russian government via Veselnitskaya and Agalarov are squarely within Mueller’s mandate as laid out by Rosenstein. And those links are pretty fukking sketchy and possibly criminal, but quite possibly for reasons distant from the hack-and-leak. But by limiting the evaluation of the memo to whether the campaign coordinated directly with Russia on the hack-and-leak and not whether the links to Russia that Mueller discovered were criminally suspect, Rosenstein, with Barr, is not addressing one part of the job he hired Mueller to do.
That’s all the more true given the way that Barr, in consultation with Rosenstein, determined that Trump did not obstruct justice. An explicit part of Mueller’s mandate was to investigate the links between his campaign and Russia, including the link through Kilimnik to Deripaska and through him the Russian government. According to Weissmann, Trump’s actions led Manafort to refuse to explain those links.
In “conspiring” with Barr to give Trump the all-clear, Rosenstein didn’t address a significant part of the job he gave Mueller.
Trump's own team comparing this to Geraldo opening Al Capone's vault is amazing, considering although there was nothing in the vault, they're directly comparing Trump to a fukking mob boss responsible for thousands of crimes.
Trump flat out did obstruct. He did it so much people forgot what normal behavior is. Don’t forget his behavior was so outrageous he FORCED an investigation.
He himself asked for Russian hackers to attack an American political party’s servers, which we know they started doing next day
He himself asked for Russian hackers to attack an American political party’s servers, which we know they started doing next day
This is outrageous. All of the indictments filed are legit, everything the Special Counsel team charged, was a a solid case. That is all true. That is all real. Is there an indictment on the sitting president for conspiracy? That was never going to be a likely outcome. This kind of opinion is so dangerous and sensationalized.
Wargames
One Of The Last Real Ones To Do It
Yes, there could be tons of evidence pointing at collusion that just stops short because the key people involved are hiding in Russia, or murdered. Even more likely while they have back ties to Russia that can be pointed out aren’t officially on the Russian Government payroll.
As for the testimony these guys are liars and they want to go back to doing evil in the short term (like last summer) the motherfukkers have immediately gone after healthcare to change the story.
Formerly Black Trash
Philosopher, Connoisseur, Future Legend
He’s a Republican and a Trump pick...so yes
AnonymityX1000
Veteran
You think Mueller would just sit quiet if his report summary was inaccurate?
Stone Cold
Superstar
& Muellers best friend :Mjhigh2:
Formerly Black Trash
Philosopher, Connoisseur, Future Legend
Yes
It isn't in terms of the media framing of it.
You can't create this type of hype (watergate) for this and then be like when the report comes out with a wimper 
But honestly this really isn't all over, but dems are really going to have to fight for this cause the right/rethugs has shown that they're not going to throw trump in the bushes.
im negging you for posting this.
its in no way equal to the scope of the iraq war, which is essentially what the title is saying