Gossip has been delightfully trashy this week, so I haven’t had the time or interest in covering a lot of the shenanigans in the political world. Just because I don’t talk about something, doesn’t mean I’m not worried about it though. So what’s worrying me this week? Tons of sh-t. Like how Donald Trump has finally secured a team of mafia-like loyalists at the Justice Department and it almost seems like those Trumpers are attempting to steamroll the Mueller investigation:
Justice Department officials are preparing for the end of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s nearly two-year investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and believe a confidential report could be issued in coming days, according to people familiar with the discussions. The special counsel’s investigation has consumed Washington since it began in May 2017, and it increasingly appears to be nearing its end, which would send fresh shock waves through the political system. Mueller could deliver his report to Attorney General William P. Barr next week, according to a person familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations.
Regulations call for Mueller to submit to the attorney general a confidential explanation as to why he decided to charge certain individuals, as well as who else he investigated and why he decided not to charge those people. The regulations then call for the attorney general to report to Congress about the investigation.
CNN first reported Wednesday that Mueller could send a report to Barr as early as next week. A spokesman for Mueller declined to comment, as did a Justice Department spokeswoman.
How detailed either Mueller’s report and the attorney general’s summary of the findings will be is unclear. Lawmakers have demanded that Mueller’s report be made public, but Barr has been noncommittal on that point, saying that he intends to be as forthcoming as the regulations and department practice allow. He has pointed, however, to Justice Department practices that insist on saying little or nothing about conduct that does not lead to criminal charges.
I really just… do not understand what’s happening. As many pointed out, in January, Mueller asked for a six-month extension on the grand jury. The general feeling was that everything Mueller has done has been utterly methodical, and that he makes sure that all of the cases are in order before he even makes an arrest or hands off a case to another jurisdiction. Don Jr. and Jerome Corsi haven’t even been indicted yet. Is all of this sh-t really going to be done in a week??
Also worrying me this week: A Coast Guard lieutenant and neo-Nazi named Christopher Paul Hasson has been arrested for stockpiling a cache of weapons and ammo and planning to carry out mass assassinations of prominent journalists, Supreme Court justices and Democrats. He is a white supremacist and he had a list. It was actually in spreadsheet-form. This is one of the most disturbing stories I’ve heard since the last Trump-supporting lunatic also had a cache of weapons and a kill list.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Avalon Red.
I think they are trying to force mueller’s Hand by leaking that he’ll be done in a week. OR, since Barr is new they’ve asked for a status report…..for the new boss. And then are billing it as THE report because that’s how they roll. I detest these people.
Good luck if they are try ing to push him. Mueller has faced down some of the biggest crimes families in the world. So could luck bone spurs on shaking him up on timing.
I have read theories that people keep saying “Mueller is about to wrap it up” just to placate the Toddler-In-Chief, to keep him from doing anything rash like firing Mueller.
That close up of Trump is just pure evil and hate summed up in a picture.
I agree! It’s what nightmares are made out of.
I’ve only had two or three nightmares in the last year or two and he’s been in them. Just terrifying and then you wake up and realize we’re still stuck with him.
Yeah….if it IS about to be released, I hope everyone braces for this and adjusts their expectations accordingly. Remember that this report is confidential and that we are essentially relying on AG Barr to make it available to Congress and the public. I saw that Dems are introducing legislation to require that the report is published, for all the good it will do.
I don’t know. I just can’t get excited about Mueller. I do, however, have my eyes on the multiple SDNY investigations.
I just hope that Mueller’s report has evidence of collusion and more, mainly to shut up the Glenn Greenwalds and Aaron Mate crowd on Twitter.
What people aren’t realizing, even if something is found. There will be NO charges. If those happen they will be much later. It will basically be a reading of a finding of an investigation.
Agreed. I think a lot of people will be left feeling let down. Sigh.
I think Mueller has always been prepared for the possible outcome of his investigation being shut down/ findings being withheld and has purposefully moved part of the investigations out to the SDNY so that they continue, unimpeded by Justice Dept or Mango Mussolini.
This isn’t over with Mueller. He’s teed some of this off so even when he is done, others are still investigating.
Yes that was so critical what Mueller did in terms of moving it to SDNY. Still, the news from earlier this week that Trump tried to have acting AG Whitaker to put political crony Jeff Berman in charge of the Cohen probe shows how far this man is willing to go to protect himself. We all need to remember that there is no such thing as a bridge too far for Trump. He will continue to do everything within his power to cover up his crimes.
Does the DOJ have some oversight over SDNY or is it completely autonomous?
Mueller is one of the best so he would have plans in place but the level of rot of this admin & GOP is unparalleled. Too bad he didn’t just say the heck with it and release the report to the media (he won’t, but I wish he would).
I believe one option for making the report public is for a House committee to subpoena it and literally read it into the congressional record. Speech by senators and representatives in congressional session is immunized by Article I, Section 6 of the Constitution, which frees them from strictly concealing information marked as classified if they judge that there is an overriding public interest. (I mean, congressional immunity would apply to their speech even if they were doing it for petty reasons, but I think most sitting committee chairs still take protecting classified info seriously.)
I really have no expectations at this point, because there’s just such an incredible amount of variations that could come into play. It seems impossible to predict. I think we are in the total dark about what Mueller knows and is planning.
In my heart of hearts, I DO hope that the Trump family gets called out for how they have sold our gov’t to Russia and Saudi Arabia for their own personal enrichment, but at the end of the day…about 60 million of my fellow Americans looked at these grifters and thought they’d “be best” at running our government. I will NEVER forgive them for such misjudgement, and I will never trust them again. Even if we get Trump out of office, they’ll probably vote for another crook at the next opportunity.
If ANY accountability or consequences befall Trump or his family members, I am going to celebrate. Any kind of consequence will be a victory…by my cynical heart doesn’t have much hope. I have been day dreaming about when he leaves office, because one way or another that will happen. And it will be wonderful. I will breathe easier.
I am very concerned too, and no reading emptywheel doesn’t make me feel better. Something is wrong, and I don’t have to be an acknowledged so called expert to smell it. Experts are almost always overrated. In my lived experience on this earth, they just are.
Mueller is way more intelligent than Trump and he now has the House behind him.
Even if Trump tries to block the report it will be released fully.
The report will not be fully released. There will be sources and methods to protect, as well as other potential cases still pending. AG Barr will send a summary report to Congress and they may choose to release it – or not. But the full Mueller report will not be public, I don’t believe.
I suspect that you’re right. Dems are introducing legislation to have the report published, but Senate won’t approve and 45 will veto.
We’ll have GOP on record for voting against transparency, but does it even matter anymore? I mean, seriously. Look at what just happened with Harris in NC. These people know they’re the Party of No Ideas and that their shit is thoroughly unpopular. It’s why they continue to lie, cheat, steal and cover up. Because they don’t CARE and they know that their base doesn’t either.
It’s just so hard to hang onto hope these days when you’re stuck with a government that reminds you every single day that nothing matters. Norms don’t matter, laws don’t matter, storied institutions don’t matter, the will of the people doesn’t matter, the CONSTITUTION doesn’t matter. Sigh. Everything sucks all the time in Trump America.
Pray for moral whistleblowers and real journalists.
Eh….all it takes it for one state to go rogue and Burr won’t have bit of control over it.
Both Jerry Nadler (D-NY) who is the head of the House Judiciary committee and Adam Schiff (D-CA) head of House Intel committee, have said that if push comes to shove, they will subpoena Mueller to their committee and will have him read his report in its entirety so that it will be in the official congressional record. . .whether they actually do that. . .we’ll see.
This is going to be a VERY bloody battle. Those corrupt toadies will do anything and everything legal and not legal to block this and themselves from going to jail. We’ll see how this shakes out though. . .
It’ll be interesting how much info Congress and we as the American people get officially – it’s up to Barr how much is released. Although I’m sure somebody will leak details, but who knows how much we’ll learn from official channels. Trump is sucking up so hard to Barr.
Lots of theories out there that Mueller has been releasing his report all along through court filings. He’s also ensured that the case lives on outside of the special counsel investigation by referring matters to the SDNY and DC/Virginia jurisdictions.
I believe Mueller is a believer in the rule of law, in due process, and in the Department of Justice. I think he is going to hand a lot of it off and say “Do your job.”
How can he believe that though? THIS justice department has been stocked with trump cronies to do his bidding. Are there no patriots willing to go to the wall for their country?
They just started dealing with Roger Stone, so, no, I am not believing this. Plus the wiggle sentence “as early as next week” wiggles like a baby tooth clutching a sliver of gum.
It makes me nervous, too. I still trust that Mueller is being strategic with this leak, using it to cause something else to fall into his lap. My guess is that he’ll drop a bomb next week, but not the full report.
I’m waiting on getting too excited about this until it is in fact “breaking news”. There have been people saying that it’s wrapping up, we could know soon, etc for months. I’ll get excited when it’s rrslly done.
Not sure I believe this, we’ve been hearing various things like “it’s almost done” for a while now, and Mueller doesn’t acknowledge any of that, just keeps going. It’s done when it’s done.
I have high expectations that it will detail way more crimes than we could have imagined, low expectations that we’ll see all of it, and even lower that Congress will do anything about it.
I can’t imagine that Dems would be rushing to introduce legislation to promote transparency of the Mueller report if there wasn’t some truth to the idea that tit will be released soon. Unless they’re just trying to get way ahead of the game, which I suppose is possible.
Possibly trying to get ahead of the game in case someone along the line has the ability to shut it down in some way. I’m on the fence about all of it, honestly. I’m leaning towards lucy2’s list of expectations… but I’m also pretty jaded overall, and feel like it’s probably going to be at least somewhat disappointing.
this is all speculation; nobody knows what mueller is doing. his team does not leak.
As usual a lot of people who don’t know what they’re talking about are talking a lot.
Anyone who thought Don Jr or Ivanka would be indicted was setting themselves up to be disappointed.
Why? It’s okay to lie under oath and to congress if you are the president’s offspring?
It was only a few weeks ago that the House committee was able to send certified transcripts of dozens of witness testimonies to Mueller, which are needed for legal action on perjury charges even though he has had the unofficial transcripts for longer. The Republicans bought about a month’s delay by gee-whiz oopsie neglecting to assign their share of the committee members.
It’s quite possible that Mueller is just going to be bringing the new AG up to speed. We can only hope that Barr isn’t thoroughly corrupt and will be convinced by the evidence that the investigation is valid. That weird essay he sent earlier criticizing the investigation was so weird, I don’t know what to think about him. Part of me hopes he wrote it to convince Trump to hire him but actually plans to protect Mueller….
I’m worried that Rosenstein is leaving. But maybe he knows something we don’t. Trump has blocked release of important documents to Congress before, but Pelosi is in charge of the House now. It may not be so easy as under spineless Ryan.
Regardless, House investigations will continue because Trump and his minions have no control over that. The Democrats have enough of a majority on committees that there are limits on how much the Republicans can do to derail the investigations. Witnesses will be called and subpoenas will be issued. The question will be if the Department of Justice will have anybody left not in Trump’s pocket and what kind of damage will be done to the FBI’s ability to operate.
The big difference between this and Watergate, besides the much greater seriousness of the activity, is that the Republicans back in Nixon’s time were a better bunch in general. There is something so terribly wrong with key Congressional Republicans today. Blackmail or just plain old corruption? Or incredible stupidity? Why are they doing this to us? What is wrong with McConnell in particular?
Sounds like we have a bona fide expert in the house. Mueller is that you?
Give us the inside scoop!
LOL I was thinking same.
Really cute. I guess if you can’t be attractive or clever, you’ve got to be something, kitten.
Jr committed several offences first by lying to congress, at a minimum, and he admitted that he colluding with Russian agents months ago in his emails. Mueller is keeping him for close to the end because Dump will go apeshit when he’s charged. And he will be. There’s no immunity for being a dumbass.
Ivanka isn’t as directly involved in the Mueller inquiry, but she is tied into the SDNY investigation into the Dump Org and Foundation.
I’m not holding my breath. I’ve lost any and all faith in our so-called system and its so-called servants and citizens.
Sadly I’m with you, Mabs. I simply don’t expect justice anymore, for any of these people.
Obviously I hope I’m wrong, but absolutely nothing that’s taken place over the past few years has given me faith that anyone will do the right thing anymore.
Mueller may be expected to give a preliminary report on obstruction charges related to Emperor Zero and perhaps a few other individuals (Individuals 2-11).
Remember that the SDNY has a cache of Mueller sealed indictments (some claiming they number in the 20s).
Not even remotely worried about any musings by so-called legal experts/reporters nor especially condemnations from EZ’s clan of goons (Dershowitz, et al.).
Thanks, I needed this. May be delayed gratification, but that is better than nothing.
And tomorrow is Friday. I have a feeling Mueller will drop a bomb tomorrow, something big. And it will shut down all of this “he’s almost done” talk that, let’s be honest, is originating from the AG.
i have no expectations regarding mueller, considering that he played a significant role in making sure jeffrey epstein never faced proper justice.
in 2004, i really believed there was *no way* bush 2 would be elected, even with the feckless john kerry as his opponent. boy was i wrong.
i will not be surprised if trump is re-elected and finagles a way to stay in power indefinitely because he seems to be getting more (unsettlingly) comfortable with the role and the power that comes with it. with his freaking family in on it. truly a banana republic.
Que sera sera and all that. I always expected 2020 to be our chance to get him out simply because the federal investigation is limited in what it can do. I no longer pretend that I can predict what’s to come.
Didn’t Mueller have darker hair when he started this investigation? Talk about stress!