What's all the fuss about? ...Just kidding of course.
After 675 days of investigating and 34 indictments, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has finally issued his report to Attorney General William Barr, and now as the AG pours through we are all left to wait. To that end, most all agree that the entire report should be made public as both Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), chair of the House judiciary committee, and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) agreed. Too much anxiety and time has been invested on the part of the American people that denying being able to read what the findings are is simply untenable.
In terms of the report itself, Mueller's office announced that there would be no further indictments stemming from the special counsel's investigation, but Republicans and Trump loyalists who now say he is vindicated shouldn't be spiking the football just yet, to borrow a phrase from Kristen Welker today. Having worked with Mr. Mueller, fmr. federal prosecutor Chuck Rosenberg said that Mr. Mueller would be thoroughly describing in the report what happened and not characterizing the finding. This is key because what that says is something we've always known, which is that Mr. Mueller is a process, policy and rules-governed individual. Justice Department policy is that you can not indict a sitting president so the findings of the Mueller report may state that the president did have knowledge of collusion with the Russian government. That's speculation of course as is the possibility that the report fully exonerates the president, which is also a possibility. The point is that it is still too soon to tell. Politically, that's another story due to the fact that it is already baked into voters' minds whether or not the president is guilty of illegal activity. And speaking of which, there are still several investigations going on at present into Mr. Trump business dealings.
Again, the full report should be made public.
Much of the discussion also centered around whether or not the president obstructed justice, which again Mr. Mueller wouldn't indict a sitting president based on justice department guidelines. However, the president is guilty in plain sight of obstruction of the investigation. There's the pressuring of fmr. FBI Director James Comey to drop the investigation into Michael Flynn, his firing, the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, investigation witness tampering and the president's Twitter feed, which called the investigation a 'witch hunt' 183 times, to name a few. As fmr. Congressman Carlos Curbelo stated, it's certainly not a witch hunt. Thirty-four people have been indicted and many of those were Russian operatives who executed various measures in trying to influence the election, something that the president himself refuses to acknowledge.
And though there are no more indictments coming from the special counsel's office, which is good news for the president, politically it is suspect that the report will be all good news. There will be some political damage most assuredly. NBC's Ari Melber mentioned the possibility that administration officials, including the president, could have financial entanglements with foreign governments that played a role. To circumvent this, the White House may claim executive privilege, but given the intense public interest in the report, the House and also the Senate perhaps may override it if the chambers conclude that the White House is covering up anything illegal through that declaration. As Congressman Nadler said, if Congress cannot override that then it in essence put the president above the law, and no one in the United States is above the law.
In other news, it goes without saying that Mr. Trump's personal attacks on Senator John McCain are beyond the dignity of any American, let alone the President of the United States. To trample on the deceased, especially a war hero, shows a classlessness that shouldn't be expected from even someone as self-obsessed as Donald Trump. This column has criticized policy views of Mr. McCain in the past and didn't endorse his presidential run in 2008, but to say anything short of Mr. McCain being a devoted family man and a genuine American hero would never happen here. And that Mr. Trump's base supporters cheer when he says these things just illustrates how so many Americans have lost their way in terms of what this country is all about.
Fmr. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) explained it as 'beyond weird' that the president would denigrate the memory of an American war hero but then turn around cancel sanctions on a dictator that starves his people and executes members of his own family. And speaking of North Korea, the Treasury Dept. said it would be instituting more sanctions against the regime only to have the president cancel them. As Senator Rubio speculated, something must have gone on between the time that Treasury issued the statement and the president changing his mind. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the president 'likes' Chairman Kim. Well, isn't that special? Mr. Rubio went on to say that that is not how it is normally done. Simply put, this requires so serious oversight because this is just another instance of President Trump making a mockery of the United States' foreign policy.
Panel: Fmr. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO); Kristen Welker, NBC News; Dan Balz, The Washington Post; Fmr. Congressman Carlos Curbelo (R-FL)
One more thing...
We're still not commenting on Democratic presidential candidates or the race in general except to say this about today. Ms. McCaskill is correct that Beto O'Rourke needs to start putting some 'meat on the bone' in terms of substance of policy. And... the one thing that Democrats need to show if they want to win is strength. Stop apologizing...
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