04.18.2019 11:50 AM

The unvarnished truth

The Mueller Report is out! Thank you, President Donald Trump, for being unafraid to let us know the truth!



40 Comments

  1. Gord Tulk says:

    Note that there were no redactions requested by the White House. They have nothing to hide.

    The left can go bananas all it wants – there is nothing that we didn’t already know.

    Trump did not collude – that is a fact.

    Trump did not criminally obstruct – that is a fact.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Gord,

      If there is absolutely no chance of proving obstruction, then why did Mueller deliberately pass that ball to Congress?

      • Gord Tulk says:

        Andy MacArthy has talked and written quite a bit about that. One theory is that Mueller was pissed that trump refused to testify – and rather than say there was nothing (like he did with the collusion accusations) – he left it unresolved yet provided no evidence to go further.

    • The Doctor says:

      Trump did not criminally obstruct because the people whom he ordered to carry out his plans to obstruct refused to do so. What a resounding vindication.

      • Gord Tulk says:

        Firing mueller would not be criminal obstruction – trump is Mueller’s boss. Just as the Saturday night massacre was not a criminal act.

        President Trump is not a lawyer. There are lots of times where a client wants to do something that would be illegal – does not see it and their counsel advises against it .

        • Obstruction of Justice is almost always doing something that would otherwise be legal for the purpose of obstructing an investigation.

          The Saturday Night Massacre was one of the things Nixon would have been impeached for. After he resigned he was pardoned, preventing any prosecution.

          • Gord Tulk says:

            Wrong. The Saturday night massacre happened October 1973. Nixon resigned August 1974. Congress didn’t lift a finger to impeach based on it because it was perfectly legal.

          • Ronald O'Dowd says:

            I would want a SCOTUS ruling on such a matter before I took a definitive position. Right now, I tend to side with Gord but I also have serious doubts.

        • The Doctor says:

          Gord, I’m a lawyer. So is Warren. It is an extraordinary event and a massive red flag when a lawyer refuses to follow a client’s instructions. It usually means that the client is extremely scummy and dishonest. Think on that.

  2. Daryl Gordon says:

    The more the Democrats keep beating this dead horse, the path to Trump’s reelection gets more traction.

    Don’t forget, coming soon to a courtroom near you, are criminal referrals of corrupt FBI and intelligence officers which will lead to the legal airing of high ranking Democrat misdeeds. There is real evidence right now pointing right to the upper echelons of the Obama administration. The Republicans and the DOJ are now rightfully highly motivated to bring the actual wrongdoers to justice for creating what is now the greatest scandal in US history.

    A booming economy, the grudging affirmation of tax cut benefits and the immigration crisis by left leaning media and some politicians plus steadily increasing approval ratings for Trump all bode well for 2020.

    If the Dems are serious about winning back the WH, best get their own act together. Unify internally, find a credible candidate and then focus on the real issues concerning Americans. Digging a deeper hole only benefits Trump.

  3. The Doctor says:

    So Trump wanted to obstruct justice, and the only reason that he didn’t commit the crime of obstructing justice was because people that he ordered to obstruct justice refused to carry out his orders.

    Wow, what a total exoneration.

    And of course a big nothingburger.

    • Joe says:

      To copy the Trudeau excuse from Greenspan; they (Trump et al) were just having “collegial discussions”. 🙂

    • Fred from BC says:

      “So Trump wanted to obstruct justice”

      No, he didn’t. He asked for something to be done, people who knew it was wrong said, no, and he *didn’t pursue it further*. He could have…he didn’t.

      (that’s where Meuller’s “no conscious wrongdoing” came from)

      “And of course a big nothingburger.”

      Absolutely it was… and right from the very start. People who paid close attention to the ‘story’ knew this all along…why didn’t you?

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Fred,

        I don’t know about you but I won’t shut the lid until the 3-4 SD investigations are dispositive or not.

        • The Doctor says:

          14 referred prosecutions are disclosed in the Mueller report. Then there are the Congressional investigations, which are just getting started. Then, as you point out, there’s the Southern District of New York.

          And guys like Gord and Fred claim that it’s all over, just move along, nothing to see here. It amuses me.

          • Fred from BC says:

            “It amuses me.

            Not as much as it’s going to amuse me to see you eat crow. Again. 🙂

          • The Doctor says:

            Eat crow about what Fred? We already know that Trump attempted to obstruct justice on multiple occasions. And the only reason he didn’t pull it off is because some me people who believe in the rule of law and democratic institutions refused to follow his bidding.

            We already know that his campaign gladly accepted assistance from a hostile foreign power. Which is pretty ironic and hypocritical when the standard mantra of Trump supporters is that they’re “patriots”.

            And we already know this before any of the other ongoing investigations are completed.

            So Fred, if your idea of victory is the fact that Trump just happens to stay out of jail for the next few years, go ahead and give yourself a big pat on the back. Maybe he’ll manage to do that. Those of us with properly functioning brains and moral compasses know what needs to be known: Trump is scum. And no amount of furious spinning by you and your fellow travellers is going to change that.

          • Fred from BC says:

            “Eat crow about what Fred? ”

            Being wrong again about bringing down Donald Trump.

            ( I’m sorry…was I unclear?)

            “We already know that Trump attempted to obstruct justice on multiple occasions. ”

            No we don’t. Obstruction requires intent; Mueller himself said “no conscious wrongdoing”.

            “We already know that his campaign gladly accepted assistance from a hostile foreign power. ”

            We already know Hillary Clinton’s campaign actually paid for (illegally, no less…funneled through a third party to avoid detection) a guy to try and dig up Russian collusion that didn’t exist. We know that illegal FISA warrants were issued to enable this and other baseless smears…and we know that this is now being investigated, too.

            “And we already know this before any of the other ongoing investigations are completed.”

            Uh-huh. Get back to me when you have some actual evidence.

            “So Fred, if your idea of victory is the fact that Trump just happens to stay out of jail for the next few years”

            Nope. Don’t give a rat’s ass about Trump one way or the other (I’m not a big fan of Democrats…especially the ones from New York)…I just enjoy calling out the people who are so obsessed by him that they feel an inescapable need to lie about him and attack anyone who might dare to [gasp!] point out those lies.

            “And no amount of furious spinning by you and your fellow travellers is going to change that.”

            Truth requires no spin, Doc. You should try it some time.

            Donald Trump is going nowhere. He’s not resigning, he’s not being impeached. The quicker you and *your* fellow travelers
            accept that fact, suck it up and start planning how you intend to beat him in an ACTUAL ELECTION, the quicker we may all be rid of him.

  4. They are headed into a full-blown constitutional showdown that Trump can’t win, even if Mueller was technically a Justice Department employee.

    Congress has broad subpoena power and will not settle for anything less than a national security and/or sources and methods redaction. Besides, even that won’t work in committees, as they can go into classified session to read the report completely unredacted.

    • Gord Tulk says:

      The longer the Dems continue to bark up this tree the greater the likelihood trump gets re-elected. Americans aren’t interested in this and don’t thing there is anything there.

      • CanadianKate says:

        The likelihood trump gets elected is high enough now that not barking up this tree won’t change a thing.

        It will be four more years. I can’t see any path otherwise. And if God intervenes and takes out trump, I still see four more years of Republicans.

  5. Fred from BC says:

    Unfortunately, funny picture notwithstanding, Donald Trump personally had no part in deciding what specifically would be redacted. Attorney General William Barr made those choices, with the help of Special Counsel Robert Mueller himself:

    ————————-

    Barr has vowed to make public as much of Mueller’s report as possible. He told lawmakers in an April 9 hearing, “I am relying on my own discretion to make as much of it public as I can.”

    He cited four types of information that would require redaction, with each category to be blocked out in a different color. They include:

    (1) Secret grand jury material;

    (2) Information that might compromise intelligence community “sources and methods”;

    (3) Material that could affect other legal matters, including those referred by the special counsel to other offices; and

    (4) Information that would violate the privacy or harm the reputation of “peripheral third parties.”

    ———————–

    Given the recent antics of some of the Democratic members of Congress and the Senate, they are lucky that they get to see any of the report. Classified information, you say? They would leak it IN A HEARTBEAT if they perceived some political gain (read: embarrassment to Trump or anyone around him) to be had. AOC, to name just one, probably couldn’t even be trusted with the CIA’s phone number, never mind sensitive information.

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Fred,

      If Democrats leak classified, they should go to jail, period.

      • Fred from BC says:

        Agreed, Ronald…Democrats *or* Republicans.

        I vaguely remember something back in the Reagan days (I think?) where the press or the Opposition was hounding the government for information that was technically classified. The government caved…the information was released…people DIED as a result.

      • Joe says:

        Political party members who leak confidential or classified material go to jail? Ha ha ha.

        Look at all the leaks from Team Trudeau.

        • Fred from BC says:

          Well, yeah…they have to be actually caught doing it. As I said above, there are at least couple of people there who might just be dumb enough (or arrogant enough?) to implicate themselves while doing so. We’ll see.

  6. Daryl Gordon says:

    Unvarnished truth and lyin’ Brian Williams don’t belong in the same narrative.

  7. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    I’m pretty much on Doc’s page. Congressional oversight trumps Executive Privilege. That’s settled law by the SCOTUS. So it was with Nixon, so it will be with Trump.

    As to Daryl’s comment: if his allegations can be proved, people will likely go to jail. Yes, even Democrats. But Trump isn’t and won’t be out of the woods until legitimate congressional oversight has been completed. Pelosi has made it clear: there will be no fishing expeditions on her watch.

    • Pat says:

      Trump is out of the woods. No conspiracy with Putin. That’s the headline.

      It’s over.

      Two years of a batshit crazy partisan media frenzy to discover third rate interference by the Ruskies.

      Statistical noise.

      It’s over.

  8. Al in Cranbrook says:

    Couple of points…
    1) Name another president in our lifetimes who entered that office with zero political experience, of any kind?
    2) I do not doubt for one second, were the records of conversations/directives with/to staff of any previous president revealed, there would also be many, many instances where said staff ran interference to keep the POTUS in check. That’s their job.
    3) Of course he wanted this Mueller investigation to end. He knew from the onset it was predicated upon contrived BS. He also knew it would suck all the oxygen out of his first years of office, which in large part it accomplished.
    4) Heads formerly from very high up places in the FBI/DOJ etc., are going to roll before this is over…right into prisons.
    5) Those of CNN and MSNBC in particular are right out of their everlovin’ skulls, absolutely consumed with hatred in their refusal to accept that Clinton lost in 2016. Such networks never, ever darken my living room with their mindless, bigoted crap.
    6) Congressional Dems are in even worse shape, with outright Marxist radicals now becoming the public face of their party. Something inconceivable in US politics only a few short years ago! This party, IMHO, is courting political implosion of epic proportions!
    7) Meanwhile, a crisis of unprecedented proportions goes on at the southern border. Watched a recent interview with one of the boots-on-the-ground commanders down there, in which he stated that in the previous week (or was it month? doesn’t matter) they had apprehended illegals of 50 nationalities. Think about this: 50!!! I don’t even want to imagine who might be coming across into the US, nor their intentions…especially in light of the s***kicking ISIS has recently taken. This goes sideways, the Democrats are going to wear this…ALL of it…to their political graves!

    • Ronald O'Dowd says:

      Al,

      With respect, most illegals show up at bonified ports of entry, seeking legally mandated asylum, which Trump refuses to give. The Wall and the endless hordes crossing illegally there is a well-crafted Trump red-herring. But like you said, it works cause the average American is more than willing to swallow it. Play on fear and you ALWAYS win in the US of A! Trump knows that better than anyone else.

  9. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Here’s another interesting wrinkle: What if Trump is potentially guilty of a high crime? Would a prosecutor proceed once he left office, or simply turn the page?

    My money is on the latter unless Trump shoots somebody.

    • Fred from BC says:

      I believe that incoming Presidents issue sort of a blanket pardon to the outgoing ones, don’t they? Rings a bell, anyway…

      • Ronald O'Dowd says:

        Fred,

        Ford was on the record saying that pardoning Nixon was necessary for the good of the country. I have my doubts but I wasn’t president. I have the highest respect for his decision and self-sacrifice. He knew it would probably cost him the election but he did it anyway.

        In my book, Pence is no Ford. If he ever becomes president, the only thing top of mind will be his own re-election.

        • Fred from BC says:

          “In my book, Pence is no Ford. If he ever becomes president, the only thing top of mind will be his own re-election.”

          I know very little about him, except for his strong religious beliefs and his refusal to be alone with a woman who is not his wife (which, these days, is probably a wise decision).

          What a strange office, VP. No real power, mostly ceremonial…but anything happens to the President and BAM: you’re suddenly the most powerful man in the world.

          • Fred,

            Truman is by far the best example. Of all of them, he came the closest to equaling FDR’s star. Truman said he dropped the two bombs on Japan and didn’t lose a night’s sleep. (Bullshit.) But he was one touch SOB for a haberdasher. Wouldn’t have wanted to cross that fella.

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