Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

If Mueller found that Trump had colluded with Russians, govt or non-govt, and it was material, it would have been in the report. And Barr would be batshit crazy to so misrepresent by omission here.

If you trust Barr in this context, you are nuts. First, Barr has a long history. Second, he got the jump by telling Trump, unsolicited, what he wanted to hear about the Mueller investigation. Third, Barr's predecessor lost his job by not doing making the Mueller investigation go away. Fourth, there is no other issue Trump cares about more. Your faith in Barr's probity is ridiculous. Fifth, just read this.

Set Barr aside. On any given day, you cannot pick up the newspaper without finding out that people in the White House lied to make the President look better. As Jeet Heer says, the media has not figured out how to deal with this. (When you mull over the media biases that trouble you, maybe you could spare a moment for this one.) There are no consequences for lying to the press in today's White House. You'd have to be batshit crazy not to do it.

This country is nuts. People are so dug in that even when a final report is in, they must cling to some shred of the narrative... some thin tether to validate their position that, "Trump is bad, dammit! And bad with Russians!"

I'd like to see the final report. Then I'll believe what's in it.

If this had gone the other way, and Barr had issued a letter quoting Mueller finding that Trump had engaged in crimes, you'd be arguing that Barr was a surprisingly non-partisan AG and that the system had worked, and justice had been done. There'd be no trucks to drive through any holes in any letter or report.

Barr is a partisan. When he acts in a partisan way, he is suspect. When he acts against interest, less so. Even you understand that.

But that's not what the facts showed.

You have no idea what the facts showed. You are happy to take Barr's word for it instead.

I didn't ever believe that Mueller would say that the President committed crimes, because of the DOJ policy that a sitting President can't be indicated. I believed that he would put together a comprehensive factual report and pass it up the chain. I also believed -- and we are seeing it -- that the Administration would try to keep it under wraps. I have no doubt that it will be profoundly damaging to the White House and Trump, because I believe that there is a lot that Mueller knows that hasn't been leaked, because he wasn't leaking -- that was being done by defense attorneys and the White House. I also think Barr is going to try to keep it within DOJ, and Republican Senators are going to support him, because when it finally does come out -- and someday it will -- they are all going to want to say, I had no idea.