Here’s an interesting question: if Donald Trump and his aides in the White House are claiming total exoneration from the Mueller report, why are they refusing to release the report that supposedly exonerates them?
And here’s an equally interesting answer: because the Mueller report does NOT exonerate Donald Trump, but actually contains evidence of collusion and obstruction of justice.
In fact, a careful reading of the four-page summary written by Attorney General William Barr shows that it in effect ADMITS that the Mueller report contains evidence of Trump collusion and also Trump obstruction of justice.
Barr Said That the Mueller Report Does Not Exonerate Trump on Obstruction Charges
Point number one is that Barr’s letter clearly emphasized that the full Mueller report did NOT exonerate Trump on obstruction of justice. Why would the Attorney General reveal that there was doubt on part of the U.S. government that the president has complied with the law? The only possible answer is that the evidence indicates that he did NOT comply with the law.
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In such situations the logical approach is to present all the evidence in a courtroom (or in a congressional hearing) for a judgment to be made about the president’s guilt. That may yet happen, if House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler is able to obtain the Mueller report and underlying evidence so that he can begin holding hearings.
Barr Said There Was Evidence of Collusion But Not Enough to Prove It ‘Beyond a Reasonable Doubt’
When Barr said in his four-page letter that the government could not establish the existence of a conspiracy he meant that it could not establish it ‘beyond a reasonable doubt” which of course is the standard to find guilt in a criminal trial.
But on the flip side, he is also saying that there is plenty of evidence of conspiracy between Trump and Russia. If there was no evidence at all Barr would have said that, but he didn’t. All he said is that there wasn’t ENOUGH evidence to prove conspiracy in a criminal trial.
Yesterday we reported that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said that there was definitely collusion, and he can prove it. This is why Donald Trump and other Republicans are trying to get rid of Schiff and are demanding that he resign.
The Fox News Legal Analyst Agrees
Yesterday there was also an article in The Daily Beast which seems to confirm the existence of evidence of collusion in the Mueller Report. The article quotes Judge Andrew Napolitano, Fox News legal analyst, as saying the same thing.
According to Napolitano:
“We saw on Sunday a four-page summary of a 700-page report which is a summary of two million pages of documents, of raw evidence.”
“In the 700-page summary of the two million pages of raw evidence, there is undoubtedly some evidence of a conspiracy and some evidence of obstruction of justice, just not enough evidence—I’m thinking the way I believe Congressman Schiff is thinking—according to Attorney General Barr, not enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the standard.”
Napolitano went on to state that:
“If there were no evidence of conspiracy and no evidence of obstruction, the attorney general would have told us so, but he didn’t so there is something there that Democrats and Trump opponents want to see. And they’ll have a field day with it.”
“On the conspiracy charge…Mueller, Rosenstein, Barr are on the same page.There is something there, but it is not enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Then he added:
“On the obstruction charge, Mueller did what a lot of prosecutors do—they kick it upstairs. Let the boss decide this. The evidence is equivocal. There is evidence of obstruction. There is evidence of no obstruction. They’re equivocal.”
A Race To Uncover the Truth
There is now a race to see who can get the truth out first. House Democrats will subpoena the Mueller report, subpoena Robert Mueller himself, and subpoena William Barr. Adam Schiff will use his position as Intelligence Committee chair to get the truth out about collusion.
At this point there is no reason to believe William Barr when he proclaimed there was ‘no collusion.’
As Attorney General, Barr might even have prevented Mueller from bringing collusion or conspiracy charges, which would add an entirely new angle to the investigations
The American People Also Believe There Was Collusion
Polls taken this week all show that large majorities of Americans do not believe William Barr or Donald Trump. The polls show that most voters believe there WAS collusion and also that there WAS obstruction of justice. And 84% of Americans surveyed want the entire Mueller report released.
Donald Trump has not yet been cleared of any charges, and has not been vindicated in any way. In fact, his day of reckoning will come at some point in the near future. And when it does, America at long last may be able to get a new president and put this dark chapter of American history behind us.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
