“He’s guilty AF but you know DOJ rules that we just made up in 1973 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯”
Imagine being on Trump’s staff right now trying to keep him from tweeting you know someone threw themselves on his phone like it was a live grenade in a foxhole. They’re probably keeping him distracted by letting him pull wings off butterflies or take candy from a baby.
JPL
Congress needs to have Mueller testify publicly. Barr’s impeachment should have started already.
TaMara (HFG)
What is this shit, “I don’t want to testify in front of congress, so fuck you?” You know who else didn’t want to testify – Hillary Clinton and yet she did, and did it better than anyone.
TaMara (HFG)
@JPL: This. Fucking this.
Wapiti
If Speaker Pelosi went the impeachment route, Mitch McConnell would do everything in his considerable power to do nothing. Mitch McConnell telegraphed that yesterday, saying that he’d certainly push through a SC nomination if one was available in Trump’s last year.
The constitutional crisis is in the Senate.
Mike in NC
Congratulations to Mueller and McConnell for subverting our democracy in the name of the GOP.
Cheryl Rofer
All respect to John, but lookee here:
I think that two things are possible: 1) Trump has convinced himself that the Mueller report exonerates him and 2) He feels this is the only way he can present himself as a success. Both may simultaneously be operative. We see the same sort of behavior in his tweets about North Korea. It is not possible for Trump to fail.
Bostondreams
@JPL:
His argument is that anything he would possibly say he said in the report and that he has absolutely nothing to add. :/
MazeDancer
Surprised at how much Mueller did say.
But have never felt more acutely the gap between how a wordy, careful institutionalist speaks and how America listens.
Short, emphatic sound bites. People need them.
If Mueller won’t use them, he leaves room for the GOP to prevail.
prostratedragon
It’s Congress’s turn, specifically the House. Let the Senate take care of itself. Looking to the possibility of a Democratic executive after the next election, it’s necessary to have it clear far and wide that at least some of the government is still capable of effective action.
Cheryl Rofer
Jerzy Russian
Has Congress received the full report? If not, bring Mueller in to testify behind closed doors to fill in the missing bits.
Anonymous At Work
Keep Trump distracted by pitching pennies using gold bricks from Fort Knox. Anything less expensive would be too tacky for him.
Eunicecycle
@Bostondreams: I still think having him in person, even if just answering yes and no questions (are your findings in x case that Trump did not obstruct justice?) in front of a Congressional committee would have a great impact.
eclare
@JPL: Abso-fucking-lutely. What, certain people can ignore subpoenas with no consequences? Where do I get my personal Get Out of Jail Free card?
Hopefully he pissed off the House, and they’ll do something.
Mandalay
So Trump tweets:
CNN knuckle dragging pundit Sara Murray just gave her 2 cents on that: “Ya gotta love the president for saying the case is closed. Ha ha ha”.
Mueller gives a 10 minute statement and all she’s got is to be a cheerleader for Trump’s tweet?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Some reactions from elsewhere
Dorothy A. Winsor
rikyrah
Mr. Weeks ?? (@MrDane1982) Tweeted:
If 63M people didn’t vote for Trump,
If 8M people didn’t vote for Third Party,
If 100k people didn’t write Bernie Sanders name in,
If 100M people didnt stay home election day,
Then Trump wouldn’t be in office & Mueller would’ve charged Trump with a crime
Yall protected Trump https://twitter.com/MrDane1982/status/1133759448089079808?s=17
SiubhanDuinne
@Cheryl Rofer:
The case is far from closed in his mind, though. He’ll continue to tweet about it, continue to bring it up in rally speeches, continue to mention it to reporters in helicopter huddles….
Cacti
Meanwhile, MAGA Haberman (NYT-courtier) laments that it’s “unfortunate” people have gotten so “personal” in their criticism of her Hope Hicks (“my job is to lie”) puff piece.
I’d say she should stuffed into a bag of snakes and tossed into the Hudson, but it would be cruel to harm innocent snakes.
Dorothy A. Winsor
rikyrah
Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) Tweeted:
Sgt. Franklin Richardson had just returned from a 9-month deployment in the Middle East when he and his wife Jennifer went for a holiday picnic at a Kampgrounds of America in Mississippi. Then this white woman pulled a gun on them: “You don’t belong here.”
https://t.co/1DMksZH2tG https://twitter.com/keithboykin/status/1133743355362455552?s=17
Cheryl Rofer
I missed this in Mueller’s statement. He did tell Congress the ball is in their court now.
NotoriousJRT
It’s go time.
mrmoshpotato
@Cheryl Rofer: I think as long as he’s not being led away in cuffs, he thinks everything’s fine.
“I can continue doing crimes? How shall I violate my oath of office today?”
MJS
Forget for a moment what Trump obviously did. Can’t an impeachment inquiry be started on what he refuses to acknowledge, and therefore refuses to do anything about, i.e., Russian interference in our elections?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Is this a change in Booker’s position on impeachment?
Aleta
Cheryl Rofer
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It is a change. Booker had been on the fence about impeachment, although he backed investigation.
Raven
Mueller was never gonna save your crybaby asses.
raven
It’s significant that Mueller did NOT say he won’t testify before Congress, only that he won’t go beyond what’s in the written report.
Frankensteinbeck
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
And large sections of the report, undoubtedly the worst for Trump, have not been given to Congress yet. This is far from a statement that he won’t help.
Kay
@Cheryl Rofer:
“Insufficient evidence” is hysterical though. Quite the walk back from “I’m totally exonerated!” there. Also, there’s the obstruction that led to the “insufficient evidence” which is why we have “obstruction”.
rp
Reposting from below: I don’t know if this is going to move the needle much, but it seems like a fairly big deal to me. He (a) put his report back on the front pages, (b) said very clearly that he didn’t exonerate Trump — and having him say it out loud is different from putting the words on paper, and (c) said very clearly that bad guys interfered with the 2016 election.
Waynski
In which article of the Constitution can I find DOJ guidelines?
jonas
Shorter
PilateMueller: Quod scripsi, scripsi.Jamey
Subpoena the motherfucker. Bring in Mueller to testify before the House.
Then go after the unreacted report with newfound purpose. Plenty of cards to play before throwing down the impeachment Ace.
James E Powell
@Wapiti:
No, with respect, it’s throughout the whole nation. It isn’t Trump & the Republicans, it’s the people who voted for them and will continue to vote for them. Also too, it’s the indolent and ignorant masses who do nothing. It’s the Bernie Bros and the Naderites and the Susan Sarandons. The crisis for the constitution is that nobody who matters really cares about the constitution.
MomSense
@MJS:
Yes! Somehow what qualifies as impeachable has been turned into the eye of a needle.
MazeDancer
Let Mueller read the report on TV. Let him start every answer with “as stated in the report…”.
Mueller seems to want to fight the reality people won’t read.
His job requires him to communicate the results. Unless they can watch it on TV, Americans will not receive the results. Mueller fighting reality is not going to help. Do not understand why Mueller doesn’t grok how essential his live testimony is.
Kay
We had a county sheriff’s deputy kill himself last weekend because he was charged with perjury re: testimony to a grand jury.
Everyone else has to testify and everyone else gets charged when they commit crimes. We really cannot maintain a justice system if there’s an entire class of people who aren’t subject to it. It has no credibility.
They’re so desperate to retain these institutions and norms they are discrediting them. Admit it’s failing -failed- and fix it, or don’t, and lose it. They’re going to find they have nothing to protect.
Aleta
a few days ago, (said to be) quotes from clapper’s book
Mnemosyne
@rp:
And to also repeat myself from the thread below: yes, the political junkies like us are dissatisfied, but I think this will move the needle for folks who are less plugged in. When Chuck fucking Todd is calling for impeachment hearings …
burnspbesq
The Senate was designed to be anti-democratic, and McConnell is playing it to perfection.
Mandalay
@Mnemosyne:
Because ratings, not because he has an opinion.
RinaX
I do not have an issue with Mueller. No one individual can save us from the fact that we have a broken Congress.
Kay
I read our gross corrupt hack of an AG is going out for interviews. So bookmark that upcoming spectacle in the decline and fall curve. The President’s defense attorney will be making some cable appearances.
He lied. He should be removed from office. It’s not fair to subject the public to him as a prosecutor. He’s not credible, which means nothing he does is credible.
dww44
@Jamey: Nope, impeachment now or never. The time for gentleness and tiptoing thru the tulips has long past.
Mandalay
@Kay:
Meanwhile:
If you rape and murder a child you go to the slammer, but even then the government doesn’t get to seize your assets. Yet our justice system is not only imprisoning Manning, but also financially destroying her because it can, while the powerful just raise their middle fingers at being held accountable.
Kay
@Mandalay:
It’s true. You won’t find me denying it. Denying it just means they won’t fix it. It really shouldn’t require all this play acting, honestly. If the thing had credibility and integrity we wouldn’t need 5000 people insisting it does, while it crashes and burns around them.
cain
I wish McConnell would get abducted by aliens (hello alpha centuri are you listening ) experimented upon and a unredacted report given on why be is a colossal asshole. They can keep him and put him in a zoo.
Steve in the ATL
@Cheryl Rofer:
Clearly the orange moron doesnt’t read Balloon Juice, or anything else, where we have reminded everyone that the legal system in our “Country” never finds anyone “innocent.” The choices are “guilty” or “not guilty,” where “not guilty” can mean anything from “totally innocent” to “guilty AF but the evidence doesn’t meet the legal standard to convict in a court of law.”
Brachiator
@dww44:
Impeach. Impeach. Impeach. Impeach.
rikyrah
https://twitter.com/MrDane1982/status/1133754963547570178
O. Felix Culpa
@jonas: Quid est veritas? Also applies here.
Mai Naem mobile
My sister who is not a political nerd said when Mueller said he was wrapping up the investigation a few months ago that Trumpov/Barr had threatened Muellers family. Don’t forget Mueller has a disabled kid( spinal bifida or cerebral palsy). It wouldn’t shock me if they did.
Anyhow the fact that he didnt say Trumpov was innocent pretty much means Trumpov is guilty.
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
I’m very satisfied with Mueller statements.
He went over Barr head in a very diplomatic and intellectual manner.
Mueller stands by his investigation report, not the Barr summary.
Mueller put Hillary Clinton stolen election on front page.
Mueller stated Russia did it all.
— Mr. Weeks ?? (@MrDane1982) May 29, 2019
Martin
@Cheryl Rofer:
Keep in mind that Trump announced at a rally that he could shoot someone on 5th avenue and not lose any votes. He knows he is untouchable. He knows Republicans will never hold him accountable for anything. That may well be the only reason he’s a Republican.
He can do whatever he wants without repercussions. That’s what the GOP electorate has declared. He’s heard it loud and clear.
Steve in the ATL
In re: impeachment
Some reps are saying impeach now, other reps are saying finish the investigation then impeach.
Is it reasonable to assume that this split of opinions is not Democrats in disarray, as suggested by the MSM, but a coördinated media effort by Democrats in array to fire up both sides?
jimmiraybob
… pacifying him with sweet lullabies about migrant parents and children being separated. And denying desperate migrants water in the desert so that they can just die and no longer be a problem to be solved. Sweet dreams dear prince.
Chief Oshkosh
@raven:
But how can Mueller think he can get away with this? Certainly Congress can ask about several things that aren’t in the report. For instance, what was the reasoning for interviewing some people but not others? Why were some people not indicted when it appears there was evidence to support such?
RedDirtGirl
@Wapiti: I do not understand why so many people are running for the presidency when the Senate is so important. I mean, I know it’s ego, but still…
jimmiraybob
That was Judge Napolitano on Fox News Business after Mueller’s statement.
Host Stuart Varney was a bit stunned and asked, “Is it that bad?”
To which I say, why yes, yes it is. I’m glad you asked.
TenguPhule
So there truly are no good Republicans left.
Every last one of them is a shithole.
TenguPhule
@Cacti:
Do you have any idea how long it took to clean up the Hudson river the last time?
khead
@khead:
Chief Oshkosh
@TenguPhule:
With respect, I think it’s more accurate to say that every last one of them is a shitHEAD. They want force the rest of us to live in a shitHOLE.
JDM
@TaMara (HFG):
Yes, but she had two massive advantages:
1. She wasn’t guilty
2. She’s intelligent
It appears there is no one in the White House at present, and few Republicans in Congress, who you can say that about.
TenguPhule
@Mandalay:
Point of order, the family of the child gets a chance to seize them via civil court proceedings.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the ATL:
Coordinated media should have been your first clue.
The Moar You Know
@Raven: No, but he’s just given the backers of any doomed impeachment effort more gasoline to fuel that juggernaut. Not helping, Bob.
Take that bait and Trump’s a two-term president. And Dems will have no one to blame but themselves, although we will blame everyone but ourselves.
Hoodie
@The Moar You Know: He’s given fuel for at least two different journeys, the Dems have to be smart in choosing which one to take. The comments about Russian interference give a clearly legitimate basis for bringing Mueller before the intel and judiciary committees to talk about how that was done, which will likely bring up questions about contacts of Russians and Russian cutouts with the Trump campaign. Alternatively, the obstruction comments give a basis for an impeachment inquiry. I’d go with the first route first, as the Russian involvement will be more likely to further sour the public’s perception of Trump more than technical arguments about obstruction. Leave impeachment for the spring of 2020.
PJ
@RedDirtGirl: Sure, there’s ego, but, as a liberal, it is easier to get elected President by the entire nation (since the vast majority of voters prefer liberal policies) than to get elected Senator in a red or even purple state. That’s why Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg are running – there is little chance either one would win an election to statewide office (or the Senate) in their states.
James E Powell
All of the institutional responses to Trump and the radicalization of the Republicans have been inadequate. The same applies to the institutional responses to the Bush/Cheney selection and the Tom Delay Republicans. For reasons that I will never understand, the Democratic leadership team of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi did not take appropriate actions when they had the chance. I am afraid that this right-wing disease will continue to dominate and will not run its course until after I’m dead. This isn’t going to stop me from doing something. I will be volunteering and doing what I can. But I see no reason for optimism in the short run.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
Sorry, I don’t buy the “impeachment is doomed!” story. Republicans were so “damaged” by impeachment that they successfully stole the 2000 election for their guy.
They don’t want Democrats to impeach because it will make Republicans look bad. Throw me in that briar patch.
Frankensteinbeck
@James E Powell:
How’s this one? The Supreme Court by a 5-4 margin would have decided that everything evil Bush and Cheney did was constitutionally legal, and among other things Trump would now be having everyone who could possibly be described as an enemy combatant tortured to death. The odds of the Roberts court convicting Bush and Cheney for political decisions were remote, the odds of that court making things much worse was high, and it absolutely would go straight to that court.
Duane
@Jerzy Russian: Mueller still needs to testify before the House, in public and private. If he says the same thing fine but the short notice about his statement was sneaky. It needs maximum exposure.
ETA: As plenty others have said I see.
donnah
Jerry Nadler came out in his press conference and flat-out called Trump a liar. He is also outlining the findings by Mueller, explaining how Mueller’s hands were tied in regards to charging the president. So the House is going forward, but Nadler hasn’t committed to immediate action to impeachment proceedings.
artem1s
it’s time to put pressure on the GOP leadership. None of them are going to jail for this boob. I say start with impeaching Barr, subpoena, Session and the rest of the half dozen AG’s who decided to bow out of the circus; and then go after Lindsey. someone will blink – they have no moral compass or spines and aren’t going to get one anytime soon.
time for a pool on who decides to be the Kingslayer and what will trigger it. who do you think is likely to go full metal John Dean?
Mnemosyne
@James E Powell:
You forget how many Democrats were implicated in the Iraq War, and I don’t mean Hillary Clinton or John Kerry, who made a couple of bad votes at worst. I mean people like Jane Harmon, who was very powerful in the House.
And let me take this moment to once again give a hearty “fuck you!” to the purity ponies who just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for John Kerry and therefore EXTENDED the war they claimed to hate so much.
Punishing Democrats was MORE important to them than stopping the war they claimed was illegal and immoral. That why I can’t take a single one of them seriously.
Cacti
Hmmm…what was going on in 1973 that would make the DOJ say that it couldn’t indict a sitting President?
A criminal cover-up by a Republican POTUS you say?
And the AG was a co-conspirator?
Well that doesn’t seem like an entirely self-serving policy by the principals at the time. Good thing we kept it around.
geg6
@The Moar You Know:
And what evidence do you have that this is what will happen? If you’re looking at 1998, you’re looking at two completely different situations. I don’t believe that what happened then is what will happen now.
Basically, you don’t have a clue as to what will happen and neither does anyone else. But I do know one result will definitely be that no one will ever be able to try to hold a president responsible for anything ever again if we don’t at least attempt impeachment.
Another Scott
Popehat at TheAtlantic:
Eyes on the prize…
Cheers,
Scott.
Mandalay
@TenguPhule:
That’s completely irrelevant. It has absolutely nothing to do with the government stripping you of your assets just because you won’t do what the government wants.
Philbert
@The Moar You Know: Personally I think the Clinton impeachment failed at tyhe immediate task, but in the longer run won for Bush and Trump.
burnspbesq
@khead:
Imagine that as a scene from “The Matrix.”
James E Powell
@Mnemosyne:
No, I don’t and probably never will. But I wasn’t talking about Iraq, though there were issues there that had nothing to do with Democrats. I’m talking about the corruption, the US Attorney purge, the economy, etc. January 2009 was the time for a vigorous attack on the Republicans, in ideology and in practice. It was time to attack but they decided to go kumbaya. That worked out great.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Mandalay: The government can levy fines as part of a conviction and often do in white collar crimes. There’s also civil asset forfeiture prior to conviction. But that’s not what’s going on here, the judge is imposing a cost to Ms. Manning choosing not to testifying. Our justice system doesn’t work if folk are free to testify if the “fell like it”.
Mandalay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Sure, but Manning is already facing a huge penalty for refusing to testify – she’s in jail, and is unlikely to ever get out unless she does testify. The daily fine is in addition to being jailed.
That sure seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me.
Canadian Shield
Maybe there’s a 3rd way (I’m sure others have already articulated this strategy). The House continues the investigations into the Presidents finances etc. but makes the ‘Big Focus’ on the Russian Interference. Publicly detailing the ways it happened in 2016 and the measures taken and that need to be taken to prevent it in 2020. That way the Trump ‘historic EC victory meme’ gets demolished and he doesn’t get the impeachment he’s looking for (it would suck up all the oxygen while Dem candidates are trying to make their names to only die in the Senate so he can crow ‘no collusion, no obstruction, the swamp is trying to take me down!’). I would like to see impeachment slow walked all the way to the next election unless the polling turns >50% (and/or many more Repubs jump on it). 2020 is winnable with a slow and steady approach, abandoning slow and steady (Clinton, Obama) is what got you guys in this crap hole in the first place. #Bernie #Jill #Etc. Just my opinion.