Thread by @jentaub

“I was surprised by something that was missing from the Mueller Report. Nowhere does Mueller invite Barr to shut down the obstruction investigation into Trump. Yet that is exactly what Barr did.”
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“Yet that is exactly what Barr did in the four-page letter he sent to congressional leaders nearly one month ago, in which Barr made it seem like Mueller kind of gave up at the end and deferred on whether to press charges.”

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”The report shows that this is clearly not the case. Mueller gathered substantial evidence that while in office, Trump obstructed justice. The report treats the obstruction fact-finding as a first step, not a conclusion.”

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”And while Mueller revealed that he felt bound by the OLC guidelines that consider indicting or prosecuting a sitting president to be impermissible, he asserts that obstruction statutes apply to presidential conduct, and appears to contemplate future legal action.”
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“As an alternative to an immediate indictment, the Mueller report suggested two paths: While in office, the ‘constitutional process’ would be impeachment.”

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”But, Mueller writes, ‘while the OLC opinion concludes that a sitting president may not be prosecuted, it recognizes that a president does not have immunity after he leaves office.’ Given that ‘a criminal investigation during a president’s term is permissible,’”

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”the report also stated that due to ‘the strong public interest in safeguarding the integrity of the criminal justice system, we conducted a thorough factual investigation in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials available.’”

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“That does not sound like an invitation for Barr to take it upon himself ‘to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.’”

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”This report does not exonerate the president. Far from it. This apparently criminal conduct will not suddenly disappear if Trump is not re-elected and the statutes of limitation have not yet run out.”

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