So, after having seen the report, I’m actually pleasantly surprised at how unredacted it is.
I don’t think that the Dems should spend too much effort trying to get the unredacted version. It sounds like the only redactions that Congress won’t get to see is those regarding the grand jury. These are relatively small in number and short in length, so it seems unlikely that they hide the smoking gun, particularly given how much damaging information was left unredacted. Also, regarding the Grand Jury testimony, the law might be on Barr’s side. If the Dems fight hard for the full report and lose, or fight hard and it turns out that the portions have nothing substantial to add, it think it weakens the Dems case.
Finally from a purely Machiavellian point of view: the redactions are like lingerie. Leaving a little bit to imagination can be enticing. What people speculate was in the 18 1/2 gap in the Nixon tapes is probably much more nefarious than what was actually there.
The Oval Office is vacant. Nobody is in charge. Executive decisions are being made by self-interested, unelected political operatives who are accountable to nobody.
The more I read, the more it seems clear that yes, Barr was extremely and almost certainly purposefully misleading about the findings of the Mueller report. I don’t know why anyone would be surprised about this possibility, considering all the blatant lies of the administration over the past couple of years.
There’s no reason for Congress not to ask for it. And if they get it, that’s for Congress, not necessarily for the public. There’s plenty of juicy stuff to get into and investigate while it works its way through the courts.
Thank you for the cite on this. I’d been looking for one. Of the new information we’ve learned today via the Mueller report, this was one of the most disappointing to me.
The language of that quote is from the report’s first pages, it says “We applied the term coordination in that sense when stating in the report that the investigation did not establish that the Trump Campaign did not coordinate with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” It’s explanatory.
And I’m just swiping through the report, giving it a quick skim, stopping at parts that catch my interest. Nothing earth-shattering that I didn’t know, at leas not yet, but some details that are interesting and , yes, amusing.
Like how Cohen’s contacts with Russian business interests were delayed because he sent an email using the extension gob.ru instead of gov.ru. And how a few weeks after the infamous “sexual harassment*” Comey dinner, Trump had a Valentines Day meeting with Chris Christie and told him to call Comey and let him know Trump really really liked him. Christie said he would but didn’t because he knew how weird it was.
*i think of that Comey dinner thing as the sexual harassment dinner because that’s such a classic sexual harassment technique. The executive invites his target to a dinner party, she lets down her guard and goes because she thinks it’s a party with other people and stuff, and she ( or he) gets there only to realize she’s the only guest and she’s stuck alone with the guy she’s been trying to avoid.
And I’m still convinced that Trump had a boy crush on Comey at first solely because he’s really tall. And that goes a long way with Trump. Who is shallow.
The report basically says because they already had enough information to show that he obstructed justice that it wasn’t worth the hassle and protracted legal battle.
Maybe I’m rushing headlong into things, but I’m beginning to feel that we may want to at least consider thinking about possibly putting together a timetable for not giving William Barr the benefit of the doubt anymore.