Thread by @charsachson

I finished reading/listening to the Mueller Report. With the footnotes and redactions, it didn’t take a long as I thought it would. One cannot come away from reading this document without an understanding of Trump’s misconduct.
justice.gov/storage/report…

Here are some excerpts:

From Volume 2, page 131: “With respect to Manafort, there is evidence that the President’s actions had the potential to influence Manafort‘s decision whether to cooperate with the government. ... Those statements, combined with the President’s commendation of Manafort for being

a “brave man” who “refused to ‘break’,“ suggested that a pardon was a more likely possibility if Manafort continued not to cooperate with the government.… The President’s public statements during the Manafort trial, including during jury deliberations, also have the potential to

influence the trial jury. ... And the President’s statements during jury deliberations that Manafort “happens to be a very good person” and that “it’s very sad what they’ve done to Paul Manafort” and the potential to influence jurors who learned of the statements, which the

President made just as jurors were considering whether to convict or acquit Manafort.”

From page 132: “Evidence concerning the President’s conduct towards Manafort indicates that the President intended to encourage Manafort to not cooperate with the government. ...”

“... the evidence supports the inference that the President intended Manafort to believe that he could receive a pardon, which would make cooperation with the government as a means of obtaining a lesser sentence unnecessary.“

Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress re Stormy Daniels. From Volume 2, page 145: “In congressional testimony on February 27, 2019, Cohen testified that he had discussed what to say about the payment with the President and that the President had directed Cohen to say

that the President ‘was not knowledgeable… of [Cohen’s] actions’ in making the payment.”

From page 154: “After it was reported that Cohen intended to cooperate with the government, however, the President accused Cohen of “making up stories in order to get himself out

of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?),“ called Cohen a “rat,“ and on multiple occasions publicly suggested that Cohen’s family members had committed crimes. The evidence concerning this sequence of events could support an inference that the President used inducements in

the form of positive messages in an effort to get Cohen not to cooperate, and then turned to attacks and intimidation to deter the provision of information or undermine Cohen’s credibility once Cohen began cooperating.“

Under the “Intent” heading, the Special Counsel concluded “there is evidence that could support the inference that the President intended to discourage Cohen from cooperating with the government because Cohen’s information would shed adverse light on the President’s

campaign-period conduct and statements.”

The Special Counsel discussed whether an underlying crime is required to prove an obstruction case. He concluded at page 157 that “proof of such a crime is not an element of an obstruction offense. ... The injury to the integrity

of the justice system is the same regardless of whether a person committed and underlying wrong.”

(Personal note: ANYONE in the government or the media who claims that there must be an underlying crime to prove obstruction is full of it.)

From p. 157: “If the likely effect of the acts is to intimidate witnesses or alter their testimony, the justice system’s integrity is equally threatened. ... Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law-enforcement

investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations.“

On p. 158, Mueller discusses some of Trump’s attempts to obstruct justice: “For instance, the President attempted to remove the Special Counsel; he sought to have Attorney General Sessions

unrecuse himself and limit the investigation; he sought to prevent public disclosure of information about the June 9, 2016 meeting between Russians and campaign officials; and he used public forums to attack potential witnesses who might offer adverse information and to praise

witnesses who declined to cooperate with the government.”

Mueller also addresses all of the President’s legal defenses, and finds that they are without merit. He discusses the concept of corruption and states that “an established definition states that ‘corruptly’ means

action with an intent to secure an improper advantage ‘inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others.’“ Ballentine’s Law Dictionary 276.”

Trump’s answers to the written questions posed by the special counsel also appear at the end of the report.

The answers are non-responsive and vague. Trump claims not to remember much. Mueller explained that the additional time and effort that would have been necessary to secure the actual testimony of Trump would not have been worth it. I must agree.

If you haven’t already, read the report. Or listen to the free audio version.

muellerreport.libsyn.com/website?utm_so…

The problem with seeing these bits and pieces of the report is that we have all heard about it in the news already over the last several years, and we are no longer shocked. However, reading the report and seeing all of the conduct laid out in a chronological and logical way

leaves one with an undeniable conclusion that this president tried his damndest to thwart the investigation, get Mueller fired, and get people to lie to the press and Congress. He also dangled pardons in exchange for covering up illegal acts and engaged in witness intimidation.

Read. Listen. Make up your own mind.