Folks,
I am seeing a lot of upset and disappointment in the wake of Trump AG appointee Barr’s summary of the Mueller report. There is a lot to be disappointed about. The last stint Barr served as AG in the Bush 43 administration, his job was to obstruct the Iran-Contra investigation. He was brought back to do more of the same. I would have hoped he would put country before party or ideology, but I am not surprised. Some thoughts:
The summary admits Russia interfered with our elections. Our country and political system are under attack from outside. Barr and Mueller clearly acknowledge this. We must defend ourselves, respond, and hold those who collaborate with them responsible.
Mueller knew from the outset that his investigation was vulnerable. At any time during the last 22 months, he could have been fired, and Trump several times came very close to doing so. Together with a large team of very qualified prosecutors and investigators, he has worked from the outset to ensure at every step of the way that as much of his investigation as possible would survive his appointment. He referred as many prosecutions as possible to other DOJ districts, primarily SDNY and EDVA. In the indictments that he himself issued, he put much of what might otherwise be in his report into lengthy “speaking indictments” which told much more of the narrative released into the public view. These narratives already form his report.
Even taking everything Russia-related off the table, Trump & circle have committed criminal and impeachable offenses. Forget Russia for a moment. Pretend it didn’t exist. Think of all the other crimes Trump and his have committed: Payoffs to women who had affairs with Trump, agreements with the National Enquirer to bury stories, massive grift and graft surrounding the inauguration, Hotel emoluments, Trump Foundation, tax and bank fraud, to name a few. In another administration, any one of these, on its own, would have riveted the nation’s attention. In another media environment, any one of these could be grounds for impeachment. As they still are.
We have been over-focused on the publication of his report. It would have been better if we had put our attention to the much more substantive and easier to prove wrongdoings of Trump and his circle that have since emerged, some as subsidiaries to Mueller’s investigation, others on their own. Our mainstream media, and especially MSNBC, have done us no service by returning nightly for the past two years to the Russia trough for eyeballs, while not giving the other stories enough oxygen in the national conversation.
We have been over-reliant on Mueller as a national savior. If our is so degraded that our national fate hangs in the balance of one man, we are well and truly lost. Mueller is not superhuman. He is a very smart man, who assembled a team of very smart people to carry out his mission. But he could only do so much, and he is not a spotless individual. His record as FBI director is mixed. At the end of the day, he is and remains a Republican, perhaps (hopefully) one of the dwindling few who put country, duty, and the rule of law over party. I feel like many of us were expecting some gratifying national catharsis upon the release of his report. We wanted to see Trump and all his kids perp-walked out of the White House in dramatic fashion. We wanted a clear triumph of Good over Evil. Reality is more complicated than that.
It’s not over. Trump and his family are still subject to indictments in SDNY, EDVA, DC Federal Court and the NY State Attorney. Now that the investigation is complete, Congress has much more latitude to interview and subpoena Mueller and all of his team, and many more relevant records, to build a case for impeachment. This moment is but one step along the way, it is neither the beginning nor the end.
I personally am not surprised at this outcome. Frankly, I had expected that Mueller would be fired with the investigation still incomplete. This is one small skirmish in the battle to take our country back from fascism. Our greatest forces have not yet been mobilized. there is much we each can do.
This is no time for despair.