Totally agree with everything you said Jeanne. Barr is stalling and lying. The truth will come out and it will be devastating to T and others. More leaks coming.
From the Washington Post
The Times reports that some of Mueller’s investigators “have told associates” that Barr “failed to adequately portray the findings of their inquiry,” and that they were “more troubling” for Trump than Barr’s letter indicated. Those Mueller investigators believe Barr “should have included more of their material.” It’s not clear from the Times report how exactly these investigators thought Barr’s letter oversimplified their findings.
But The Post’s account adds substantially to this portion of the story. Barr’s letter stated that Mueller’s report details evidence on “both sides” of the question of whether Trump committed criminal obstruction of justice, and said Barr stepped in to conclude that Mueller’s findings were “not sufficient” to establish that criminality. The Post report, however, says this:
Members of Mueller’s team have complained to close associates that the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant.
“It was much more acute than Barr suggested,” said one person, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s sensitivity.
Meanwhile, The Post also reports that Mueller’s team had prepared summaries of their conclusions. Critically, one official says this was done so these summaries could be shared with the public, as opposed to the public being informed by "the attorney general’s summary of their work, as turned out to be the case.”
All of that is not just a direct indictment of Barr’s process decision to summarize the findings as he did. In effect, it also says that his summary has, through omission, misled the public about the gravity of those findings.
In light of the leaky boat vision that KB posted here on 3/26, I had to laugh today when I read a newly released WAPO article that used the analogy.
The leaky boat vision as KB posted it after watching an obviously talented psychic, was that Trump was asked to choose between two boats. One boat would enable him and his family to get away safely. The other boat would enable him to stay but it had a little leak She said Trump picked the leaky boat that stays because he had confidence he could get away with it. He won't. The leak will sink him, but we have to be patient.”
This article just landed in my inbox from the Washington post: "The message from Mueller's team, whether deliberate or not, seems to be: Stay ... The previously leakproof Mueller team is suddenly sprouting leaks,..."
Many people, including myself, had predicted that the loyal and justice-seeking FBI (loyal to their leader) would not allow the Administration to cover up their many months of work. But the leaky boat analogy is here now.
Jeanne, if the problem is exactly what you say it is, here is a good solution: Arrange to have Robert Mueller make all the redactions with no involvement or supervision by William Barr or anyone associated with the White House. If Robert Mueller does the redactions and not William Barr, we then know it really is Robert Mueller's report. Perhaps the U.S. House committees should seek a court order taking William Barr completely out of the redaction process.
The law gives the Attorney General the right to control the report and do with it as he sees fit. The House has voted to subpoena the report but they haven't issued the subpoena yet. It will probably end up in the courts, but although it pains me to say this, Barr is legally in charge of the contents of the report. Perhaps someone else here would know what kind of latitude the House would have over the report. At the moment, the Republicans are claiming they have no latitude, but that's how the Republicans behave about everything. Our Constitution provided for the Congress to act as a check on theExecutive. So the House should have the right to see the report. In fact, I would think that the Freedom of Information Act would entitle anyone to see the report except for portions that are classified.
Richard Nixon did not have these kinds of protections. He didn't have the press covering up for him. The 1972 Congress was controlled by the Democrats. He was alone. Today we are in almost the opposite situation. But there are other factors involved. The State courts are going after Trump and the Feds have no power over them. Then there is the court of public opinion, which could swing against Trump as more leaks out.
I've strongly felt that Mueller was impeded in the last few months. Barr now seems to be creating a narrative that almost blames Mueller for not arriving at a conclusion, implying that he (Barr) had no choice but to finish the job for him. I sense that Mueller wanted this report in the hands of Congress, so they could take any action that might be warranted. Besides needing to see the entire report, Congress really needs to hear from Mueller. I sense that will happen. I also sense that this won't be ending any time soon.
I think Barr forced Mueller to finish the investigation early, but Mueller prepared for this day all along. I remember someone on the site said last year that Mueller would be farming out pieces of his findings to various courts. The scary part is how the GOP is rushing new court appointments. If this goes to the Supreme Court, I hope they will back due process of law in this.
Chris Cuomo: President Trump may think he's gaming the system by giving Democrats less of Mueller's report, but the less that's disclosed, the more a cloud will hang over his head. "Clarity comes with transparency. The less there is, the more there will be legitimate questions" about wrongdoing. https://cnn.it/2TYdbl9
Just wanted to pipe in as a lawyer here. First, I agree that Barr forced Mueller to end the investigation early. He's keeping him on so he can have control over him. This was a 3 fold takedown - 1. shut down the investigation early 2. hide the findings thus far 3. overrule the legal interpretations of Mueller on what can be prosecuted and prevent them from finding info that might fill the gaps.
Re the farm out, please remember that as AG, Barr can shut down any and all investigations in any office. Just because Mueller farmed it out doesn't mean Barr can't shut it down or Trump can't fire the attorneys there. Remember the firing of Preet in SDNY? Barr has ultimate authority over all federal prosecutions. The only thing he can't control are prosecutions at the state and local level, such as the state of NY or the Manhattan DA.
These other offices might resist, but I wouldn't put it past Barr to fire them and condition it being reported as a resignation to get their silence. SDNY can resist, but only for so long unless they don't mind being fired by Barr. Leaking is more likely going to protect us.
Just today, there was a negative Court of Appeals decision re the release of grand jury testimony and the S Ct is mostly R. At this point, we could be seeing the R packing of the courts saving Trump and Barr in the federal courts.
I do think the info will come out but I think it is not going to be protected as many have predicted. I've been thinking this since Barr was first nominated but kept my mouth shut, hoping I was wrong. What's going to save us is action by the people or action in state court. I want to be wrong about this but if Barr is doing what I think he's doing, he's probably undermining all the other pending federal cases too.
Reply to mb. I'm no lawyer. If what all you say is true, the situation is even worse than most of us imagined. You are basically saying that the Mueller investigation was all for naught because the Trump supporters have everything rigged thru their control of the White House, the Senate, and the courts. It's sad that so many of our leaders have no morals or ethics. It's all about raw power and money at any and all costs. I think America faces a very dark future if Donald Trump cannot be held accountable for any wrongdoing that is proven to exist.