MUELLER REPORT JUST DROPPED

[_Jersey Girl]

Thought you'd like to know.
:-)

p.s. Get popcorn.

[_EAllusion]

I wonder if it will contain anything juicy like Trump firing the FBI director and telling a journalist it was because of the Russia investigation or asking Russia on live TV to hack Clinton’s emails, which they then got to work on doing.

That would be explosive.

[_Jersey Girl]

I don't think we're going to find out anything that puts Trump out of a job. That's the only prediction I have to offer. The rest is on you political geek types.

[_Res Ipsa]

Lots of popcorn.

Justice department says it does not recommend any new charges.

[_Jersey Girl]

Lots of popcorn.

Justice department says it does not recommend any new charges.

We're never going to hear the end of it from Trump now.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Had you caught me a month ago I would've been incredibly interested in this. Perhaps it's the Democrats signalling or stating outright that impeachment is off the table that's cooled my ardor. Also, there's just so much, so often, that's so unbelievable coming from Trump and his people that other than ensuring people are prosecuted for wrongdoing I can't seem to muster any more disgust for our President or his supporters. I mean, I'll still read it and follow all the commentary online, but unless something insane, and I'm talking piss tape insane comes out of this it's just become informational to me these days.

eta: I would like to see Devin Nunes prosecuted for obstruction of justice, though.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

Democratic leadership knows they can't remove Trump from office through impeachment because Republicans in the Senate have made Trump effectively above the law. There is nothing he could do, besides supporting the Democratic party platform, that could push him from office. I think they ought to impeach because it is the right thing to do and this gives them a chance to lay the case for impeachment to the public. If it fails, at least you have a clearly articulated list of grievances for posterity and so the public can take it into consideration when they vote. We already have ample basis from publicly available information for severe abuse of the public trust on the part of the President. Democrats seem to have calculated that a failed impeachment effort helps Trump more than hurts and don't want that.

They've been using the uncertain timeframe of the release of the Mueller Report to punt the issue down the road. Now that it will actually be released, they no longer have that cover. I guess that's the most interesting political thing. Now what do they say to their voters?

I doubt the report itself is going to do anything more than give a little more of the what we already know in terms of damning behavior. My first post in this thread was both cynical and sincerely pointing out that the most damning information you could hope for already happened in front of our very eyes.

[_Gunnar]

Had you caught me a month ago I would've been incredibly interested in this. Perhaps it's the Democrats signalling or stating outright that impeachment is off the table that's cooled my ardor. Also, there's just so much, so often, that's so unbelievable coming from Trump and his people that other than ensuring people are prosecuted for wrongdoing I can't seem to muster any more disgust for our President or his supporters. I mean, I'll still read it and follow all the commentary online, but unless something insane, and I'm talking piss tape insane comes out of this it's just become informational to me these days.

eta: I would like to see Devin Nunes prosecuted for obstruction of justice, though.

- Doc

I still think that Trump deserves impeachment, conviction and imprisonment for his crimes. But there is no way that the Republicans in the senate will vote to convict Trump no matter what he has done. I agree that surviving impeachment without conviction is more likely to boost his popularity (at least among his core base) than diminish it. And I think that unless Pence is also somehow deposed after Trump's impeachment, instead of becoming the new President, we might be even worse off in some ways with Pence as president than with Trump as president.

I agree that Nunes deserves prosecution for obstruction of Justice. I am both surprised and dismayed that he survived the last election.

[_Maksutov]

SDNY and State of NY are just getting started.

[_MeDotOrg]

AG Barr has said he will try to get this to Congress next week.

Now that the report is coming out, it seems there's a consensus that the report, in and of itself, may be disappointing. It could be that the most legally troublesome aspects will go through SDNY. It will also be interesting to see what other referrals may have been made to other jurisdictions. It feels like the closing of Act I in a play. Act II will be the trials, revelations and hearings. Act III will be the legal consequences of Acts I and II.

Just had to get this one off my chest: Lost in the events of today was Trump's cancelling the sanctions that had been in place against North Korea for precisely one day. When for an explanation, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders simply noted that “President Trump likes Chairman Kim, and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary.”

So never really cared for John McCain, but likes Chairman Kim.