May 8, 2019

Mueller Report Blows Up Barr’s ‘No Collusion=No Obstruction’ Canard

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/mueller-report-blows-up-barrs-no-collusionno-obstruction-canard?fbclid=IwAR0qAHXKNnK5pSgxzXu2oNyUbEPRzUNN_vpYBdcSkI2fprIMYU_VrHXKskU
"According to Mueller’s report, the perceived criminal liabilities of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting — where his inner circle met with Kremlin-tied individuals — also may have motivated some of Trump’s allegedly obstructive conduct. Mueller raised that concern specifically when discussing Trump attempts in the summer of 2017 to convince Attorney General Jeff Sessions to unrecuse himself from the Russian probe and his efforts to install a new attorney general who could oversee the probe. Mueller pointed to the public release of the emails disclosing the Trump Tower meeting that directly preceded many of Trump’s actions and how it was “evident that the investigation into the campaign now included the President’s son, son-in-law, and former campaign manager.” Mueller specifically cited comments Trump made about wanting an attorney general like Eric Holder or Bobby Kennedy, who, in his mind, took greater lengths than Sessions to protect their presidents. “A reasonable inference from those statements and the President’s actions is that the President believed that an unrecused Attorney General would play a protective role and could shield the President from the ongoing Russia investigation,” Mueller said. Finally, there was Trump’s desire to protect himself from the obstruction inquiry that may have motivated him to further meddle in it, Mueller said. Trump ramped up his efforts to fire the special counsel after the first public reports of an obstruction inquiry, Mueller noted, and that fear also may have driven his request that Sessions publicly announce that he was narrowing the probe to only future election interference."