Mueller is finished. Cool. So now what?
While I never thought Mueller would indict Trump himself for collusion, I’ll admit that I really wanted to see Trump’s sons indicted. It’d be fascinating to read the details of the report in that regard – particularly since the public information alone concerning the Trump Tower meeting would seem to meet the legal standard for collusion. Unfortunately, I suspect that level of detail will never be made available to the public.
In retrospect, however, there is one very good argument to be made for not indicting Don Jr. or Eric. Frankly, neither of them are nearly bright enough to have substantially colluded with anyone to do any real damage. They may have been unwittingly courted and used by Russian actors but, sadly, being stupid isn’t itself a crime.
Mueller’s decision to punt on any obstruction of justice charges is the thing that I find most odd. Again, there would seem to be more than enough proof of obstruction in just the public record. While I’m loathe to agree with Rudy Giuliani about anything, I actually do in this one case. Mueller’s decision not to make a prosecutorial call one way or the other in regards to obstruction certainly looks like a major cop-out – and Mueller doesn’t seem at all prone to timidity.
Certainly, the reason given for the Attorney General’s subsequent decision to forego any obstruction indictments is ludicrous. Obstruction crimes are completely independent of any underlying crime and a lack of indictments after an investigation doesn’t make impeding that investigation okay. If the AG didn’t want to issue indictments, he should have been smart enough not to use a legal rationale that even I can dismantle.
The full report would shed light in numerous arenas and no politically curated summary will ever be sufficient. I do hope someone will decide that the country’s interests would be best served by the release of the full report – regardless of the content. I’m just not holding my breath.
In the meantime, after constantly backing Mueller’s integrity and independence, Democrats have no choice now but to accept the outcome. And they should. They should demand the full report, but accept the findings reported to-date. In addition to charging multiple people in Trump’s orbit with serious Russia-related crimes, Mueller did find a ton of evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 election (which had been denied by Trump). Mueller did considerable good in any case.
Politically, though, Trump scored a huge win with the released summary. Other large shoes might well drop, but there’s no denying that Trump got a significant boost from what we know thus far. In fact, had the GOP handled things with just a bit of finesse, it could have been really bad for Democrats. But, well, we’re talking Trump & Company. Finesse isn’t a strong suit.
Rather than simply basking in the victory by claiming that the process worked and that Trump was cleared of the collusion he’d denied all along, Trump and the GOP went on the offensive on multiple fronts. They’re going after any Democrat that backed the process, they’re threatening to open investigations about the investigations, they’re claiming Mueller colluded with Obama (for some strange reason), and – most surprisingly of all – they’re trying to completely change the narrative.
Rather than keep the focus on the report’s findings, Trump has shifted attention to the issue of healthcare and his very unpopular desire to eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions. His administration followed that by nominating someone widely believed to be unqualified to the Federal Reserve Board simply because the guy thinks Trump walks on water. And then Betsy DeVos announced that the administration wants to eliminate funding for the Special Olympics.
Thanks, DT!!
Now the Democrats just have to be smart enough to let the narrative change. But, again, I’m not holding my breath.