The history of the Trump-Russia scandal has already been rewritten. The way it's discussed now—even in so-called "liberal" media—bears *absolutely no relationship* to what the Mueller Report says or what it found. Historians will eventually get it right—but it'll take many years.
PS/ For instance, Mueller was *perfectly clear* that he was kept from getting a good deal of the information he needed by a variety of deliberate obstructions, many of them—including lies, refusals, destruction of evidence, assertions of privilege and more—from Trump's top aides.
PS2/ Mueller also told the *full story* of how Trump used direct and indirect means to keep Manafort from cooperating with federal law enforcement—in the context of a report (the Mueller Report) that positioned Manafort as *the* key witness in uncovering Trump-Russia malfeasance.
PS3/ Robert Mueller also made perfectly clear that he did *not consider* whether Trump (or his team) could have be said to have "colluded" with Russia—a charity to the president, as his Report established with *blinding accuracy and clarity* that in fact such collusion occurred.
PS4/ Mueller's analysis of *criminal* charges establishes a) he came so close to charging Don Jr. with a felony that *many* legal analysts known for objectivity say he got his legal analysis wrong, and b) he couldn't prove conspiracy at the highest possible level of proof (cont.)
PS5/ ...but was trying to prove the conspiracy *through the very witness who lied to federal law enforcement* and *specifically lied to protect Trump* and *did so after Trump used various means to tamper with him*: that is, Paul Manafort.
Trump *ensured* no crime would be found.
Trump *ensured* no crime would be found.
PS6/ But most who hear about the Mueller Report have *no idea* Mueller found all this—and was blocked in these criminal ways to prevent him uncovering crimes at the highest level of proof—let alone that he detailed *10 felonies by Trump* for the House to consider for impeachment.
PS7/ The worst part: two of the parties most responsible for confusion about the Mueller Report are parties presumed to have been invested in its findings—the media and House Democrats, the latter of whom decided it'd be bad politics to impeach Trump... for felonies he committed.
PS8/ House Democrats learned what GOP senators have since learned (and yeah—I know—both groups really *already knew it*): let Donald Trump off the hook for federal felonies (House: obstruction; Senate: bribery) and he'll simply declare victory and keep committing federal crimes.
PS9/ Upshot: Historians will spend many thousands of hours revisiting and reframing the Mueller Report, because what it says—and high-level legal analysis and critique of the many ways it bent over backwards for Trump—needs a serious look untouched by the politics of the moment.
