Lawfare’s Benjamin Wittes, etc, evaluate Attorney General Barr’s letter concerning Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign:
The brief letter sent by Attorney General William Barr to congressional leaders on Sunday afternoon summarizing Mueller’s findings is a complicated document. In key respects, it contains very good news for President Trump about a scandal that has dogged his presidency since before he even took office. The determination of just how good the news is—whether it amounts to the exoneration Trump claims on these points or whether we’re dealing with conduct just shy of prosecutable—will have to await the text of Mueller’s report itself. But for those who quite reasonably demanded a serious investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and of cooperation and coordination with it on the part of the Trump campaign, it has to be significant that Mueller, after the better part of two years of investigating, has not found that anyone associated with the Trump campaign knowingly conspired with Russia’s efforts.
In other respects, however, Barr’s summary of Mueller’s report is ominous for the president. While Mueller did not find that Trump obstructed his investigation, he also made a point of not reaching the opposite conclusion: that Trump didn’t obstruct the investigation. Indeed, he appears to have created a substantial record of the president’s troubling interactions with law enforcement for adjudication in noncriminal proceedings—which is to say in congressional hearings that are surely the next step.
Which is to say, the President may have committed criminal acts when it comes to obstruction of justice, but Mueller did not feel he had the freedom to prosecute those in view of DoJ policies. He leaves that to Congress to consider.
If you’re depressed Trump wasn’t marched away in handcuffs, it’s worth recalling that we have, on record, an amazing collection of falsehoods and braggodocio which should eliminate him from consideration for a second term – even if his base continues its insane love affair with him. We have indications of character defects, crimes committed prior to his election to the Presidency, and many other defects.
But, perhaps most importantly for the health of the Republic, is the Lawfare conclusion:
Whether this proves the beginning of the end of L’Affaire Russe or the prelude to a series of additional disclosures about activity on the part of the Trump campaign and the president himself that are disturbing but happen to fall just short of criminal activity, it is important not to lose sight of the significance of the investigation having been completed. That Mueller was able to complete his probe into a sitting president without having his investigation blocked—despite ongoing presidential braying against the probe and menacing of the Justice Department’s leadership—is no small thing.
That Mueller was able to write his report, to document his findings in a fashion that can allow for transparency and, if necessary, accountability, is of immense value. The question of what to do with the record Mueller has compiled will ultimately fall to Congress.
It’s not an impregnable Presidency. Names such as Manafort & Gates will ring forth as emblematic of a sick, corrupt campaign that has led to one of the most corrupt and swamp-driven Administrations in a very long time.
I also liked Wittes’ approach in another post:
The end of a criminal investigation is thus a funny moment. While the subject will generally claim vindication, it actually does not mean that you cannot judge her conduct morally. It does not mean that she cannot be held accountable in myriad non-criminal fashions. She can be ridiculed. You can campaign against her on the basis of the unindicted conduct. You can write histories of the scandal that denounce her behavior. You might even be able to sue her successfully. The end of the investigation only means that the state will not punish her using the specific instrumentality of the criminal law. It means only that the we won’t “lock her up.”
This is another post well worth reading.
