Mueller report thread - Mueller testimony July 24

[Middle-aged Europe]

Trump: It's entirely Obama's fault that my campaign had contacts to the Russians, he could have stopped it had he wanted to.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1119019875203153921

[Stranger in a strange land]

Mueller report: Sarah Sanders lied about Comey.

A section of the Mueller report says that White House press secretary Sarah Sanders lied when she said people inside the FBI did not like then-FBI director James Comey and that was part of the justification for firing Comey.


The President's draft termination letter also stated that morale in the FBI was at an all-time low and Sanders told the press after Comey's termination that the White House had heard from "countless" FBI agents who had lost confidence in Comey. But the evidence does not support those claims. The President told Comey at their January 27 dinner that "the people of the FBI really like [him]," no evidence suggests that the President heard otherwise before deciding to terminate Comey, and Sanders acknowledged to investigators that her comments were not founded on anything.

— Vol. 1, p. 288, Special Counsel Mueller's report.


To watch CNN discussing this issue, click here: https://us.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/04/18/mueller-report-sarah-sanders-lied-comey-sot-vpx.cnn

The next time Sarah Sanders decides to spew "known and obvious" bulls**t during her press conferences, I hope that some of the reporters ask her "Is what you are saying based on fact, or is it not founded on anything."
The reporters should repeat this over and over again, for the next year and one-half. Just keep pounding her head (and ego) with this.

This should haunt her for the rest of her life, and if this country were even 10% better, the words "not founded on anything" would follow her around for the rest of her career, and she would never work in politics again.

[Cyrusman]

Its scary how detached from reality Fox News and their viewers are.

Every network is bias whether you want to admit it or not. I don’t know why you are only calling out Fox

[Progressive Pessimist]

All this news is making me feel even more foolish about my initial freak-out after the Barr summary. I apologize yet again. Clearly, the only thing I should have taken seriously from the letter was that Barr is a f***ing hack! Why do so many insist on dying on these hills for Donald mother-f***ing Trump? What was to gain from editorializing the report like that? The narrative clearly wasn't going to last. That goes double for Richard Burr.

This report may still not be everything that we Trump opponents wanted, but for Trump and his associates to still continue spinning it as an outright victory for him just because it barely implicated him in a crime, is laughably absurd. Granted, I still don't think this all matters that much in the long-run, even though it should. Trump will not be impeached, and was never going to be even if he was implicated in both counts of the investigation, and the public (that isn't us) will continue not caring as his approval ratings remain stagnant. That said, there is still quite a bit to bludgeon him with from this report, and that's about the best that we can get from it. We won't be able to get rid of Trump until next year, but  the report, and maybe even Mueller's testimony to Congress, if he does so; can be of some assistance with that goal. Hopefully with that, I'm wrong and people will wake up to how abnormal and abominable Trump's actions were during this investigation and be one of the many reasons why he should not be re-elected. His paranoia was ultimately his biggest self-inflicted wound, and he should suffer for prioritizing his insecurity over the rule of law.

All in all, it's good to have the truth out in the open now. Even if it is a messy, redacted truth.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Trump: It's entirely Obama's fault that my campaign had contacts to the Russians, he could have stopped it had he wanted to.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1119019875203153921

He's like a corrolarry to Poe's Law. It's impossible to tell if Trump is an epic-level troll, or a delusional imbecile.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I'm not about to go read all 32 pages of this thread that accumulated while I was working and then at church for Maundy Thurdsday, but its fairly clear this was a bad day for Trump, largely because he and Barr raised expectations so much. Still, most people will be confirmed in their perceptions, so while it was a bad day for Trump, it wasn't a horrible day. The Democrats in the House have a tough road ahead the next few months. They need to investigate enough to be credible, but not so much as to make it look like Trump is being subjected to a witch hunt except to those who will not tolerate any criticism of their god-emperor.

[Nyvin]

Trump won't be impeached regardless of what the House does.   The 47 Dem + indy Senators need to convince TWENTY Republican Senators that what Trump did is impeachable.

No matter what your political ideology is, anyone can see that's flat out impossible.   They'd have a difficult time getting 10 Republican Senators to vote for impeachment.

[ProudModerate2]

Don't you guys find it unusual (or hilarious) that certain blue avatars haven't said a thing in this thread about the release of the report?
What a bunch of cowards.
Especially those that have previously claimed that they "consistently point-out trump's controversies and idiocies in many/most threads."
I guess if the thread isn't about bashing Islam and certain Muslim congress people, then they would rather stick their head in the sand and pretend it didn't happen.

[Hindsight was 2020]

I don’t know if it’s funny or downright scary the amount of Trump troll activity on social media claiming vindication.

[Crumpets]

Trump won't be impeached regardless of what the House does.   The 47 Dem + indy Senators need to convince TWENTY Republican Senators that what Trump did is impeachable.

No matter what your political ideology is, anyone can see that's flat out impossible.   They'd have a difficult time getting 10 Republican Senators to vote for impeachment.

Well, technically the House is the sole body reponsible for impeachment, while the Senate decides whether or not to convict/remove from office. At the very least, the House can prompt everyone in the Senate to get their name on the record.

[Koharu]

Trump won't be impeached regardless of what the House does.   The 47 Dem + indy Senators need to convince TWENTY Republican Senators that what Trump did is impeachable.

No matter what your political ideology is, anyone can see that's flat out impossible.   They'd have a difficult time getting 10 Republican Senators to vote for impeachment.

Impeachment only requires the House. Removal from office requires the Senate. Clinton was impeached, but not removed from office. It's an important distinction.

Trump should have been impeached immediately after his inauguration, but since that wasn't going to happen, the Democratic House needs to move now. They said they had to wait for Mueller. Here is Mueller, explicitly reminding them of impeachment. Time to get to work.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I don’t know if it’s funny or downright scary the amount of Trump troll activity on social media claiming vindication.

Must be a busy night in St. Petersburg.

[HisGrace]

Its scary how detached from reality Fox News and their viewers are.

Every network is bias whether you want to admit it or not. I don’t know why you are only calling out Fox

Maybe because they're the one who are currently shilling for a President who is blatantly abusing his power in a way we haven't seen since Nixon. And doing so in a dishonest way that goes beyond "bias" and drifts into propaganda. The "everyone is biased" defense is just a false equivalency to defend bad journalism.

[Virginiá]

It's pretty depressing to see how little roughly 30 - 35% of the country cares about a president brazenly obstructing justice, and instead so concerned about defending their guy that they will embrace absurd constitutional theories that basically insulate any president from any obstruction claim involving staffing decisions of the executive branch, simply by virtue of them being president.

If only Trump was a Democrat, then they would see how dangerous that road is to go down.

[Yank2133]

Trump won't be impeached regardless of what the House does.   The 47 Dem + indy Senators need to convince TWENTY Republican Senators that what Trump did is impeachable.

No matter what your political ideology is, anyone can see that's flat out impossible.   They'd have a difficult time getting 10 Republican Senators to vote for impeachment.

True, earlier today I thought they might go down that route. But it really doesn't make sense if you can't actually remove him.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Angry Trump reiterates his ultimate "right" as president to fire anyone who's investigating him, thus quickly approaching "when the president does it then it's not illegal" territory:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1118990550235877376

1) The report makes it clear he does not have the right to fire indiscriminately, particularly regarding his own abuse of office. And,

2) It also makes it very clear that Trump did both want and choose to fire the Special Counsel, but was prevented from doing so by babysitters subordinates.

[HisGrace]

It's pretty depressing to see how little roughly 30 - 35% of the country cares about a president brazenly obstructing justice, and instead so concerned about defending their guy that they will embrace absurd constitutional theories that basically insulate any president from any obstruction claim involving staffing decisions of the executive branch, simply by virtue of them being president.

If only Trump was a Democrat, then they would see how dangerous that road is to go down.

Well, I think the Democrats are eventually going to get their own Trump so maybe they'll learn then.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Don't you guys find it unusual (or hilarious) that certain blue avatars haven't said a thing in this thread about the release of the report?
What a bunch of cowards.
Especially those that have previously claimed that they "consistently point-out trump's controversies and idiocies in many/most threads."
I guess if the thread isn't about bashing Islam and certain Muslim congress people, then they would rather stick their head in the sand and pretend it didn't happen.

They have not yet had their marching orders beamed into their brains via FoxNews or Sinclair.

It often seems to take about 24 hours for the all-Right / Russian troll muppeteers to get the muppets their new routine after something shifts.

[ProudModerate2]

Kellyanne Conway's husband calls for Congress to remove 'cancer' of Trump.

George Conway, husband of top White House aide Kellyanne Conway, called for Congress to remove President Donald Trump from office following the release of the redacted special counsel report.

"White House counsel John Dean famously told (President Richard) Nixon that there was a cancer within the presidency and that it was growing," Conway wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Thursday night. "What the Mueller report disturbingly shows, with crystal clarity, is that today there is a cancer in the presidency: President Donald J. Trump. Congress now bears the solemn constitutional duty to excise that cancer without delay."

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/18/politics/george-conway-trump/index.html

[Badger]

Lester Holt and the NBC team are currently discussing the report "falling with a thud" for Democrats.

Of course, the opposite of the Atlas Forum

I was watching NBC a few minutes ago. I did not get that impression at all.

https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/kyle-drennen/2019/04/18/disappointed-nbc-mueller-report-falling-thud-democrats

There's the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_7zCmW6k1o

2:06:00 onward is Lester Holt and the gang. First off, the coverage started almost immediately after the report was released. So they were still reading during the coverage. But secondly, this coverage isnt  "democrats are disappointed, the report isn't serious". They make multiple mentions of congress and impeachment. So, your really grasping at straws here.

Don't bother. Naso is a borderline illiterate who will never read the report, and believes all sorts of things that aren't true.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Nadler subpoenas the full unredacted report, including grand jury evidence.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

It's pretty depressing to see how little roughly 30 - 35% of the country cares about a president brazenly obstructing justice, and instead so concerned about defending their guy that they will embrace absurd constitutional theories that basically insulate any president from any obstruction claim involving staffing decisions of the executive branch, simply by virtue of them being president.

If only Trump was a Democrat, then they would see how dangerous that road is to go down.

Disappointing but not surprising.

Nobody cares about the constitution, right or left. Or if they do, it's secondary to their actual concerns, which are really just culture wars and identity (in the broad sense of the word, not the "identity politics") issues.

Trump is popular because he's trying to deliver the goods. He's shouting about players kneeling at the anthem, he's inflicting cruelty on immigrants, he's making it easier to mine coal. Impeaching him for some loser like Pence, when that 30% of the country is as distrustful of the Republican establishment as it is, is the best way to threaten their progress.

So what is the incentive for them to actually care about the constitution? The constitution isn't (to the average voter) how to get what they want - in most cases it's actually a barrier. Nobody cares about it. So it's not surprising that people jump to defend an obviously impeach-worthy President.

[Badger]

It's pretty depressing to see how little roughly 30 - 35% of the country cares about a president brazenly obstructing justice, and instead so concerned about defending their guy that they will embrace absurd constitutional theories that basically insulate any president from any obstruction claim involving staffing decisions of the executive branch, simply by virtue of them being president.

If only Trump was a Democrat, then they would see how dangerous that road is to go down.

Disappointing but not surprising.

Nobody cares about the constitution, right or left. Or if they do, it's secondary to their actual concerns, which are really just culture wars and identity (in the broad sense of the word, not the "identity politics") issues.

Trump is popular because he's trying to deliver the goods. He's shouting about players kneeling at the anthem, he's inflicting cruelty on immigrants, he's making it easier to mine coal. Impeaching him for some loser like Pence, when that 30% of the country is as distrustful of the Republican establishment as it is, is the best way to threaten their progress.

So what is the incentive for them to actually care about the constitution? The constitution isn't (to the average voter) how to get what they want - in most cases it's actually a barrier. Nobody cares about it. So it's not surprising that people jump to defend an obviously impeach-worthy President.

This is a simultaneously spot-on and utterly depressing post.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1118920717460836352

[Nyvin]

https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1118920717460836352

Oh there's plenty in that report that is most definitely criminal.   The only reason the Special Council didn't submit charges is because the OLC has policies against indicting a sitting president.