This is the first in a series of blogs regarding the Mueller Report.
This blog starts with a comparison between the mini-summary of the report that is provided in the first few pages on the report itself, and the summary provided by AG Barr, with commentary on the conclusions reached.
The Mueller Report Summary:
After a paragraph outlining the legal status and obligations of a Special Counsel, Mueller starts his report with the following startling statement, "The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion."
He notes that the FBI began to investigate possible Russian interference in July, 2016. The investigation began following a tip from a foreign government that one of its representatives had been advised by Papadopolous, who was part of the Trump campaign team at the time, that the Trump Campaign had received information that the Russian government could assist it through the release of embarrassing information about Clinton.
After outlining the mandate of the investigation, Mueller outlines how the Russians interfered, and that "...the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities."
Mueller than adds a paragraph about the evidence that the evidence that his team looked at, which ends with this line, "A statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts."
Read with the statement about not establishing conspiracy on the part of the Trump Campaign, the plain meaning of this was that there probably was some evidence of such conspiracy, just not enough to establish - in law - that the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.
Mueller then goes to explain that "collusion" is irrelevant - it is not a crime, and they were looking at possible "conspiracy", with a definition of what would constitute "conspiracy" provided. In essence, to make our "coordination" or "conspiracy" would require that "...the two parties taking actions that were informed by or responsive to the other's actions or interests." Again, and following from the above discussion on evidence, it seems clear that they did find some information indicating coordination and conspiracy.
Regarding possible Obstruction of Justice by Trump, Mueller merely notes in the mini-summary that this is addressed in Volume II of the report.
The Barr Summary:
The Barr summary was released before Barr himself had finished reviewing the Mueller Report, as noted in the Barr summary itself. Barr indicates that his primary purpose in releasing the summary was "the public interest".
Unlike the short mini-summary provided by Mueller, the Barr 4-page summary goes to great lengths to highlight the fact that, "'The investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.'" Barr actually makes this point four times in four pages.
Barr also addresses the Obstruction of Justice issue directly. He notes that Mueller "determined not to make the traditional prosecutorial judgement.", and quoted the report which says, "...while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him."
Barr then personally exonerated his boss - the President - by noting that because Mueller did not decide one way of the other, the task would fall to the Attorney General - i.e. to him.
After consulting officials, including Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein, Barr notes that "I have concluded (with Rosenstein) that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel's investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offence."
Barr then provides a legal rationale for his finding that of no Obstruction of Justice having been committed by Trump.
Commentary:
Mueller's report starts with a warning that the American democratic process had been perverted by America's historic enemy and opponent. Its first few pages subtly suggest that there was evidence of conspiracy between the prime beneficiary of this interference and the Russians, but not enough to establish conspiracy in law.
The first few pages also respond to he suggestion that the investigation was prompted by the Steel Dossier by outlining how it all started, and the first few pages of the report respond to the idiocy of many on the Right about "NO COLLUSION!" by noting that this is a massive red herring - it was never a consideration, nor could it ever be a consideration as it is a concept unknown to law.
Barr's summary is a piece of propaganda, designed to buttress claims of "NO COLLUSION!" on the part of Trump, by noting no fewer than four times in four pages that the investigation did not "find" coordination of conspiracy. The clear point of this in "the public interest" summary was to support Trump's claims. Rather than the public, Barr's summary was clearly released in Trump's interest.
Note - Words mean things to lawyers and are carefully chosen. Mueller said that the investigation could not "establish" coordination and conspiracy, while Barr says the investigation could not "find" it. The use of the word "establish" suggests that they did in fact "find" something, just not enough to move ahead with indictments, as it is possible to find evidence that does not establish a crime. Barr's use of the word "find" in this context suggests that the investigation did not find anything - not necessarily true.
AG Barr also personally exonerated the President of the crime of Obstruction of Justice in his four page summary. This finding had nothing to do with the report, and which again was an act of seeming political propaganda.
In fact, only two pages of the four page summary of the Mueller Report are actually about the report, with the rest about the Attorney General's public exoneration of Trump, replete with a legal rationale for such exoneration.
Please also keep in mind that this exoneration came from a man who noted at the very first part of his summary that, "Although my review is ongoing...." In other words, he exonerated Trump before he had even finished reviewing the report. One is left wondering if Barr wrote the summary, or did Trump's personal lawyers write it for him?
Finally, Trump recently noted that he would accept dirt from a foreign country about his future political opponents if offered, and he would not feel obligated to tell the FBI. (Note - the problem is that information may have been obtained illegally.) He has since retracted - after all, look at how much trouble doing that caused the first time!
Mueller did respond with a letter to Barr complaining that Barr's summary did not accurately reflect the report - the reader is encouraged to read that letter.
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