Trump and Putin, behind the scenes

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Mr. Mueller makes explicit what Mr. Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on: Russia secretly manipulated the 2016 presidential election. The investigation ultimately found no evidence that anyone from Mr. Trump’s campaign participated in that effort, but the report reveals in stark detail the many suspicious interactions that had the F.B.I. so worried. Many of those have been reported, but the report amounts to a compendium that helps explain the origins of the F.B.I. investigation, known as “Crossfire Hurricane.”

For instance, it has long been known that George Papadopoulos, a young campaign aide, was told that the Russian government had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails. But the report goes much further, revealing that Mr. Papadopoulos suggested an explicit offer by the Russian government to work with the Trump campaign to sabotage Mrs. Clinton.

Mr. Papadopoulos indicated that Russia wanted to coordinate with the Trump campaign.(Vol. I, Page 89))

The Mueller Report Is 448 Pages Long. You Need to Know These 7 Key Things. - The New York Times

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A Justice Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that special counsel Robert Mueller expressed “frustration” to Attorney General William Barr in late March over the lack of context in the attorney general’s four-page memo describing his investigation’s findings. Mueller “expressed frustration over the lack of context and the resulting media coverage” of his obstruction inquiry in a phone call following the release of Barr’s four-page letter, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said in a statement to The Hill. Kupec said Barr called Mueller after receiving a letter in which, according to The Washington Post, the special counsel wrote that Barr’s March 24 memo did not "capture the context, nature, and substance" of his findings.

Mueller expressed 'frustration' to Barr over lack of context in letter | TheHill

But Barr doubled down in his bizarre PR hours before the report was released anyway..

It's only one of many ways Trump is shielded:

• Barr setting the tone, mischaracterizing the Mueller report. Imagine if the Starr report (which was published in full with all the supporting materials as well) was kept in the dark with Janet Reno (Clinton's AG) only giving a few page summary.
  
• Trump evading being questioned by the Grand Jury, despite arguing numerous times he wanted to do that.
  
• His written answers are full of holes and numerous times he "couldn't remember" despite claiming to have the best memory in the world.
  
• Dangling a pardon in front of Manafort, who kept lying to Mueller despite agreeing to cooperate.
  
• The determination of Republican's in Congress to look the other way.
  
• The fact that Mueller only didn't indite the President for obstruction of justice because it's DoJ practice not to indite sitting Presidents.
  

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It was of a piece with Barr’s behavior throughout the investigation. His public summaries of Mueller’s report — in a memo and a subsequent press conference — could most charitably be described as “not technically false.” He quoted misleading sentence fragments, took words out of context, obfuscated the legal issues at hand, and mischaracterized the investigation’s key conclusions. In doing so, he created the impression that the president had been cleared of wrongdoing.

Mueller said no such thing. In reality, he found that the Trump campaign welcomed Russia’s interference; that the president had made more than a dozen attempts to obstruct the probe; that he avoided more serious criminality largely because no one followed his orders; and that he had repeatedly abused his power to protect himself and his friends. Barr’s misdirection served only to blur these conclusions and protect his boss. It was canny politics and lamentable public service.

Barr Testimony Points to Larger Failure of Politics in Trump Era - Bloomberg

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In 2017, Donald Trump Jr. told congressional investigators that in June 2016 he had informed just two people about his upcoming meeting with a Russian government emissary during which Trump Jr. hoped to obtain incriminating information about Hillary Clinton: his brother-in-law Jared Kushner and Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort. But special counsel Robert Mueller’s report revealed a different story, noting that the president’s eldest son boasted of his efforts during a meeting of campaign staff attended by his brother Eric and sister Ivanka, among others. This apparent contradiction—and concerns that Trump Jr. also was not forthright about his knowledge of the Trump Organization’s pursuit of a Trump tower in Moscow during the 2016 campaign—led the Senate Intelligence Committee to subpoena Trump’s eldest son, according to Senate sources.

Why the Senate Intelligence Committee Subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. – Mother Jones

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Justin Amash has become the first Republican in Congress to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump, recommending lawmakers pursue obstruction of justice charges against the president. The Michigan representative set out the case with a lengthy Twitter thread, arguing Mr Trump had “engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behaviour that meet the threshold for impeachment”. Mr Amash said the Mueller report into Russian election inference and related matters “identifies multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice, and undoubtedly any person who is not the president of the United States would be indicted based on such evidence”. The congressman also attacked William Barr, saying “it is clear” the attorney general intended to mislead the public about the Mueller report in both his written conclusions and congressional testimony.

Justin Amash becomes first Republican to call for Trump’s impeachment | The Independent

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The Russians who interfered in the 2016 US presidential election are still at it — and this time, they’re trying to ignite racial violence in America and a partial collapse of the United States. According to secret documents obtained by a Russian opposition group, hackers have discussed plans to stir up racial resentment in the United States in hopes of tearing American society apart. The operatives are apparently associates of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the man who set up a troll farm and was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for his role in 2016 meddling.

Russian secret documents show plot to stoke US racial violence - Vox

Various bills promoting election security have been proposed in the Senate, but according to an in-depth report by Vox’s Li Zhou, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has no interest in bringing them up for a vote. Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri explained McConnell’s opposition last week, saying, “I think the majority leader just is of the view that this debate reaches no conclusion.” And according to Zhou, McConnell’s decision is driven, in part, by “Trump’s aversion to the subject, which the president sees as too closely tied to questions about the outcome of the 2016 election.” Zhou goes on to say that “McConnell’s unwillingness to tackle election security” is not only “sending a political message,” but also, “has massive consequences.” And because of McConnell’s inaction on election security, Zhou asserts, the U.S. Senate “is now effectively promoting a do-nothing approach to a subject that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and countless national security officials have raised as a serious threat that requires additional action.”

New report shows how Trump and Mitch McConnell have teamed up to thwart efforts to secure U.S. elections – Alternet.org

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Russian President Vladimir Putin was more prepared for his first meeting with President Donald Trump than the US president was to meet Putin. The encounter ultimately placed the US at a diplomatic disadvantage, according to former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recollection of the events. Tillerson gave an account of the 2017 G-20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, during his seven-hour, closed-door testimony before Congress on Tuesday, aides said in a Washington Post report. The Trump-Putin exchange was reportedly expected to last 45 minutes, but it ended up dragging on for more than two hours as the Russian president ran circles around Trump on matters of global significance.

Trump and Putin's first meeting embarrassed the US, Rex Tillerson says - Business Insider

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Donald Trump has denied that Russia helped elect him president, less than an hour after he admitted Russia did help to elect him president. In a flurry of tweets lashing out at people and concepts including the special counsel Robert Mueller, “fake news media” and “this phony crime”, Trump for the first time said Russia aided his 2016 presidential win. “Russia, Russia, Russia!” the president tweeted on Thursday morning. “That’s all you heard at the beginning of this Witch Hunt Hoax...And now Russia has disappeared because I had nothing to do with Russia helping me to get elected.” For a president who has previously denied Russia interfered in the 2016 election at all – despite the conclusions of US intelligence agencies – the admission of Russian help was startling. But soon after Trump’s statement, he did a prompt about-turn. “Russia did not help me get elected. You know who got me elected? You know who got me elected? I got me elected. Russia did not help me at all,” Trump said during a White House press conference.

Trump says Russia helped elect him before quickly backtracking | US news | The Guardian

LOL

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Mueller said, and he sketched out briefly what his investigation alleged: that Russian intelligence officers “launched a concerted attack on our political system,” and released information in a scheme “designed and timed to interfere with our election and to damage a presidential candidate.” Meanwhile, “a private Russian entity engaged in a social-media operation where Russian citizens posed as Americans in order to influence an election.” He added, “The matters we investigated were of paramount importance.” Quinta Jurecic: Mueller counted on institutions to grapple with his report. They didn’t.

A few minutes later, as he finished up, Mueller returned to the theme. He said it even after thanking members of his team (and, in what truly did sound like a rebuke to the president, noting, “These individuals who spent nearly two years with the special counsel’s office were of the highest integrity”). For his final public words in a decades-long life in government, he chose to say this: I will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments that there were multiple, systematic efforts to interference in our election. And that allegation deserves the attention of every American. Thank you. Thank you for being here today. In Muellerese, this closing was something akin to screaming at the nation, Are you people paying any attention to the work that my team did? The answer, for the most apart, appears to be no.

Mueller’s 'Central Allegation' Is Being Widely Ignored - The Atlantic

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• President Donald Trump is under fire after he said he would receive information about 2020 candidates from foreign actors. [ABC News / Lucien Bruggeman]
  
• In an ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos, Trump said he may not alert the FBI if he were to receive damaging information about his 2020 competitors. [The Washington Post / Colby Itkowitz and Tom Hamburger]
  
• Trump justified his answer by saying that information does not equal interference. In addition, he said that calling the FBI might be pointless because they don’t “have enough agents to take care of it.” [USA Today / Rebecca Morin]
  
• During a congressional testimony last month, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that he would want to know if there’s any foreign meddling during elections. During the interview, however, Trump flat out said, “The FBI director is wrong.” [NYT / Peter Baker]
  
• Trump tried to run to damage control this morning, comparing receiving information from foreign actors to diplomatic calls and meeting with the Queen of England. He’s also resorted to his handy excuse: blaming the media. [Politico / Andrew Restuccia]
  
• Now probably isn’t the best time for Trump to float the possibility of working with foreign informants: Although the Mueller report said there was insufficient evidence to prove a conspiracy between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, investigators did document extensive contact. The president’s remarks to ABC were in defense of Donald Trump Jr.’s involvement. [Vox / Andrew Prokop]
  
• House Democrats have responded to Trump’s comments by announcing plans for a new package of election security bills that would make it illegal for candidates to accept information from foreign actors. But not much can be done while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shows little enthusiasm even for election bills with bipartisan support. [Vox / Ella Nilsen]
  

Vox Sentences: “Nothing wrong with listening,” Trump says - Vox