The Mueller Report is Delivered

But the measure of the investigation’s success or failure was never to be whether it brought down Donald Trump. It was not whether it indicted Trump’s children. And it was emphatically not whether it vindicated any individual person’s assumptions about what must have happened—including, by the way, my own.

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The measure of success for the Mueller investigation was always whether the matters handed to it were investigated thoroughly and completely and prosecuted fairly and justly, and whether the counterintelligence concerns that gave rise to the probe were addressed seriously. The end of the investigation is thus, first and foremost, an occasion for relief that this has apparently taken place to the satisfaction of one Robert Swann Mueller, III. This is no small democratic accomplishment, and it was not a foregone conclusion in an environment in which the president has repeatedly sought to smear and frustrate the investigation—and even sought to remove Mueller from its helm.

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The end of a criminal investigation is thus a funny moment. While the subject will generally claim vindication, it actually does not mean that you cannot judge her conduct morally. It does not mean that she cannot be held accountable in myriad non-criminal fashions. She can be ridiculed. You can campaign against her on the basis of the unindicted conduct. You can write histories of the scandal that denounce her behavior. You might even be able to sue her successfully. The end of the investigation only means that the state will not punish her using the specific instrumentality of the criminal law. It means only that the we won’t “lock her up.”

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There are also prudential factors that can lead to declinations—for example, the unwillingness to declassify material to bring a case. I have no reason to believe such factors are at work here. My point is simply that to say that Mueller is not recommending further charges does not tell you all that much unless you know why he’s not recommending further charges. Yes, it is possible that Mueller has concluded that the president is innocent, that there was “NO COLLUSION” and that there’s nothing to see here and we should all move on. But it’s also possible that he has concluded that the president is guilty as sin but he can’t prove this without outing a particular intelligence channel that NSA senior leadership would lie down in traffic to prevent him from discussing in court—and that even if he could blow that capability, the president can’t be indicted anyway and would have a good argument that his conduct was lawful. These scenarios are both consistent with Friday’s news.

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WFFaithful said:

oksure.gif

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PhDeac said:

If I remember correctly, the day after Trump fired Comey, he hosted three Russia oligarchs to the Oval Office with no US media present and disclosed classified information to them. And he reported told everyone he ended the Russia investigation by firing Comey.

And tintin thinks Comey is the crooked one?

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Highland Deac said:

It's pretty amazing at how casually conservatives claim that liberals are "crazy" for even suggesting that Trump, or at least many people around him, may have had dealings with Russia in 2016 and after, given all of the connections shown between Trump, his minions like Cohen and Manafort, and Russian businessmen and government officials over the past few years, yet these same "rational" conservatives are convinced that this entire investigation was the product of a nefarious deep state conspiracy attempt at a coup, possibly because Comey was just pissed that he got fired. LOL.

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tintinisahottie said:

TLDR; comey was getting pushed out because he’s a weak fucking joke as agreed upon by both sides, appoints his best friend and mentor to try to push out the guy pushing him out, best friend and mentor still can’t uncover shit. Coup failed. Happily ever after for Americans who like having jobs and earning a living

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JManslow said:

Not oligarchs, government officials.

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PhDeac said:

sailor, no one was as obsessed with Hillary’s emails on these boards as you were. They were the central issue in the election for you. Russian state actors hacked her emails in an effort to swing the election toward Trump.

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sailordeac said:

half of the world probably hacked Hillary's and Podesta's e-mails

prove that the Russians hacked these e-mails and then prove that they used them successfully to swing the election to Trump

Hillary broke the law and lied about it, the DoJ refused to prosecute her for these crimes, those are facts, pointing facts out to people in denial for political convenience is not an obsession, if anyone is obsessed, it is you and your fellow lubes in denying the reality of what Hillary, the Dems, and high-ranking members of the Obama administration did, most likely at least in part with Obama's approval

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The indictment says that the Russians hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the campaign of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

The Russians are also accused of releasing stolen Clinton campaign emails on the internet in the months before the election.

Here is the indictment that was filed in Washington D.C.

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