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Reading is fun. Reading is educational.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO VOLUME I
RUSSIAN SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN
[... pg 15 ...]
Post-2016 Election. Immediately after the November 8 election, Russian government officials and prominent Russian businessmen began trying to make inroads into the new administration. The most senior levels of the Russian government encouraged these efforts. The Russian Embassy made contact hours after the election to congratulate the President-Elect and to arrange a call with President Putin. Several Russian businessmen picked up the effort from there.
Kirill Dmitriev, the chief executive officer of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, was among the Russians who tried to make contact with the incoming administration. In early December, a business associate steered Dmitriev to Erik Prince, a supporter of the Trump Campaign and an associate of senior Trump advisor Steve Bannon. Dmitriev and Prince later met face-to-face in January 2017 in the Seychelles and discussed U.S.-Russia relations. During the same period, another business associate introduced Dmitriev to a friend of Jared Kushner who had not served on the Campaign or the Transition Team. Dmitriev and Kushner's friend collaborated on a short written reconciliation plan for the United States and Russia, which Dmitriev implied had been cleared through Putin. The friend gave that proposal to Kushner before the inauguration, and Kushner later gave copies to Bannon and incoming Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
On December 29, 2016, then-President Obama imposed sanctions on Russia for having interfered in the election. Incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn called Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and asked Russia not to escalate the situation in response to the sanctions. The following day, Putin announced that Russia would not take retaliatory measures in response to the sanctions at that time. Hours later , President-Elect Trump tweeted, "Great move on delay (by V. Putin)." The next day, on December 31, 2016, Kislyak called Flynn and told him the request had been received at the highest levels and Russia had chosen not to retaliate as a result of Flynn's request.
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Reading is essential. (Here’s some more background detail on “envoy” Kirill Dmitriev.)
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME II
[... pg 213 ...]
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) has issued an opinion finding that "the indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions" in violation of "the constitutional separation of powers."[1] Given the role of the Special Counsel as an attorney in the Department of Justice and the framework of the Special Counsel regulations, see 28 U.S.C. § 515; 28 C.F .R. § 600.7(a), this Office accepted OLC's legal conclusion for the purpose of exercising prosecutorial jurisdiction. [...]
Second, while the OLC opinion concludes that a sitting President may not be prosecuted, it recognizes that a criminal investigation during the President's term is permissible.[3] The OLC opinion also recognizes that a President does not have immunity after he leaves office.[4] [...]
Reading is what Bill Barr doesn’t want us to do. Trump neither. Move on already. Nothing to see here.
[pg 214]
Third, we considered whether to evaluate the conduct we investigated under the Justice Manual standards governing prosecution and declination decisions, but we determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the President committed crimes. [...] The ordinary means for an individual to respond to an accusation is through a speedy and public trial, with all the procedural protections that surround a criminal case. An individual who believes he was wrongly accused can use that process to seek to clear his name. In contrast, a prosecutor's judgment that crimes were committed, but that no charges will be brought, affords no such adversarial opportunity for public name-clearing before an impartial adjudicator.[5]
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Fourth, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards, however, we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President's actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.
If Donald Trump was cleared of obstruction of justice — “we would so state.”
Given the Office of Legal Counsel constraints, Mueller decided not to indict — not because Trump was innocent, but for a variety of other legal reasons, consistent with the Rule of Law, and ensuring a “fair and speedy trail for the accused” ...
Mueller decided to do the next best thing instead (of Indicting Trump):
Given those considerations, the facts known to us, and the strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of the criminal justice system, we conducted a thorough factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials were available.
[pgs 213-214]
Mueller laid out the case, the roadmap for Trump’s Impeachment by the House, a co-equal branch of government, not subjected to the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) rules.
Or for Trump’s future Indictment, by the next DOJ — when Trump is no longer protected by the constraints of the OLC, and no longer protected by his cover-up Lieutenant, now running the DOJ.
It’s a binary choice for enforcing the Rule of Law. Either now, before MORE laws are broken, and MORE Executive power is abused … OR later, when the Lawless one is no longer shielded by the trappings of the High Office, which he now trashes with his every action and mean Tweet.
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The Special Counsel’s Office DID NOT exonerate Trump — otherwise “we would so state.”.
Those simple ideas and summary statements are what that Bill Barr desperately tried to bury.
Tried to get us not to read.
Tried to get us just to “move on already” …
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Trump has finally found his “Roy Cohn”.
And the people have finally gotten a snapshot of Trump’s constant and corrupt Abuse of Power.
What the people do with it, will set precedents for decades to come, if not longer.
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