{"id":6972,"date":"2019-04-19T01:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T08:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=6972"},"modified":"2019-04-19T01:00:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T08:00:24","slug":"mr-muellers-indictment-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=6972","title":{"rendered":"“Mr. Mueller\u2019s Indictment”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The special counsel\u2019s report reveals a pattern of deceit and dysfunction. What comes next is up to Congress.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Editorial Borad, April 19, 2019<\/p>\n

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So much for \u201ccomplete and total exoneration.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

To the contrary, it turns out that Robert Mueller and his team of prosecutors and investigators found \u201csubstantial evidence\u201d that President Trump broke federal law on numerous occasions by attempting to shut down or interfere with the nearly-two-year Russia investigation.<\/p>\n

In addition to pointing to possible criminality, the report revealed a White House riddled with dysfunction and distrust, one in which Mr. Trump and his aides lie with contempt for one another and the public. Some of the president\u2019s efforts to interfere with the investigation failed, the report concluded, only because \u201cthe persons who surrounded the president declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Put another way, Mr. Trump may survive, thanks to advisers who chose to refuse or simply ignore his demands to do what the former White House counsel Donald McGahn at one point referred to as \u201ccrazy shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump \u2014 referred to repeatedly by aides as \u201cthe boss\u201d \u2014 is shown as so attentive to covering his tracks that at one point he scolds Mr. McGahn for taking notes during a meeting. \u201cI never had a lawyer who took notes,\u201d Mr. Trump is quoted as saying. Mr. McGahn responded that he was a \u201creal lawyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the public release of a redacted version of the special counsel\u2019s report on Thursday, Americans also at last got a clear answer for a central question raised by the terse \u2014 and now clearly misleading \u2014 summary offered four weeks ago by Attorney General William Barr: Why did Mr. Mueller decide not to make a finding about whether President Trump obstructed justice?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe determined not to apply an approach that could potentially result in a judgment that the president committed crimes,\u201d the report explains, because \u201cfairness concerns counseled against potentially reaching that judgment when no charges can be brought.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, Mr. Mueller felt his hands were tied. Longstanding Justice Department policy prohibits the indictment of a sitting president, and it isn\u2019t fair to make accusations without giving the president a legal forum in which to respond.<\/p>\n

A bit further on, the 448-page report says, \u201cIf we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the president clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what now? Although Mr. Mueller was unable to bring criminal charges against the president himself, his report lays a foundation for investigation by Congress, which has the authority and the responsibility to check the executive branch and hold the president accountable. \u201cThe conclusion that Congress may apply the obstruction laws to the president’s corrupt exercise of the powers of office accords with our constitutional system of checks and balances and the principle that no person is above the law,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

It is up to Congress to decide whether the behavior described in this report meets an acceptable standard for the country\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In order to adequately conduct such an investigation, Congress must have access<\/a> to a fully uncensored version of the report and all its underlying materials. Congressional leaders are right to subpoena the full report, as the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Jerrold Nadler, said he would do on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The public also has a right to hear Mr. Mueller testify before Congress at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n

Descriptions in the public version of the report of the ways in which the president used, and abused, his powers challenge the dignity of the presidency and the free and fair function of the justice system. The special counsel investigated 11 incidents<\/a> in which the president may have obstructed justice, the same offense facing Richard Nixon during Watergate and Bill Clinton during his impeachment.<\/p>\n

The report notes that the president engaged in \u201cpublic attacks on the investigation, nonpublic efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation.\u201d That the president\u2019s norm-shattering behavior has become so flagrant and familiar doesn\u2019t make it right.<\/p>\n

Little wonder that Mr. Trump, when notified that a special counsel had been appointed to scrutinize his behavior, reportedly slumped in his chair and said: \u201cOh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I\u2019m fucked.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to indicting, convicting or securing guilty pleas from 34 people, the special counsel\u2019s office made 14 referrals<\/a> for further investigation of potential criminal activity outside the purview of the investigation\u2019s mandate. Twelve of those referrals remain secret.<\/p>\n

The report is more definitive when it comes to the extensive interference by Russian spies and hackers in the 2016 election, a campaign of disruption it calls \u201csweeping and systematic.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n