Robert Mueller, Total Disgrace by Larry C Johnson

Robert Mueller is a fool and a liar. He is not worthy of being described as honorable. He is a disgrace to the Marine Corps.

The justice system in the United States is based on the principle that you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The government and its prosecutors do not have the right to accuse someone of a crime or criminal behavior without providing proof and presenting that evidence in a public trial.

Remember the justifiable outrage that in the aftermath of Jim Comey's boneheaded press conference in July 2016, when he implied Hillary Clinton was guilty and then said there was no case to be brought. That was wrong. Today, Robert Mueller did the same damn thing. He had one job--gather evidence and indict or say nothing. 

I have written extensively on the failings of the Mueller report. Hell, not just failings, complete dishonesty (see Glaring Omissions and Misrepresentations in Mueller's Report and The Malevolent Farce that is Mueller and the Russia Hoax). This is the behavior of a prosecutor from a third-world shithole. Certainly appears that the United States is headed in that direction.

 

Comments

[MP98]

Mueller LOOKS the part - the serious unsmiling official above reproach.
Actually, he's just another swamp creature.
The report (by his staff of Clintonistas) was no surprise and this last ditch attempt to jumpstart impeachment is no surprise.
The swamp rats are not going to go easily - if they go.

[David Habakkuk]

All,

In April 2017, a piece by Anatol Lieven appeared in the ‘National Interest’, under the title ‘Is America Becoming a Third World Country?’ The subheading read: ‘Conspiracy theories about Russia suggest that the awful prospect for the USA is of a global superpower with the domestic politics of the Philippines or Argentina.’

(See https://nationalinterest.org/feature/america-becoming-third-world-country-19050 .)

I would strongly recommend the piece to members of this ‘Committee of Correspondence.’

Do not, incidentally, make the mistake of thinking that because its author is born and bred in Britain this is a case of ‘Brit’ arrogance.

There seems to me little reason to believe that Lieven thought his native country was in a less parlous state than he suggesed you were. (I certainly don’t!)

Part of this is to do with what I am tempted to call a ‘Cassandra complex.’

The Lieven brothers – Anatol and his elder brother Dominic – are among the very best British commentators on international affairs.

This may be partly because their origins are not actually British. On the father’s side, they were Baltic German servants of the Tsars, on the mother’s, Catholic Irish servants of the British Raj (hence the balance of names – Dominic for the first son, Anatol for the second.)

The background provides a useful introduction to some of the complexities of modern history – and also, ironically perhaps, may have helped both brothers absorb some of the better elements of British culture (unlike most American ‘Rhodes Scholars’, who seem often to absorb the worst.)

But the result appears to be that, as with Cassandra, people do not listen to them. So, Anatol teaches in Qatar.

His brother, after spending many years in the thankless task of trying to educate ‘political scientists’ at the London School of Economics, is now back in Cambridge.

However, Dominic’s – brilliant – summation of large elements of his life’s work on the centenary of the October Revolution was not delivered, as in a rational world it might have been, at Chatham House, or Brookings – but at that year's Valdai Group meeting.

(See http://valdaiclub.com/a/highlights/revolution-war-and-empire/ .)

[Eric Newhill]

Mueller is a weasel. However, by pouring some gas on the impeachment fire, he's only going to help Trump in the long run. The Senate has made it clear that they will not back impeachment. Also, Trump will just go after Mueller's pals in the IC, FBI and DOJ that much harder. Obstruction of justice allegations will be moot in the light of high crimes and misdemeanors committed by the swamp denizens. In fact, obstructing such people will end up looking totally justified and correct.

[Peter VE]

I was SO hoping he was going to announce that he had come to an agreement with the US attorney for DC, and will plead Guilty to lying to Congress in the Iraq run up, and will have a sentence similar to Michael Cohen's.

Rats. Foiled again.

[BlahblahDanBlah]

The Mueller Report was the biggest joke of a letdown, obvious political document since the Steele Dossier itself. It seemed designed to justify and give cover to intelligence community wrongdoing, to pretend that there were legitimate issues that demanded investigation early in the 2016 campaign. On numerous topics it used weasel words to create clouds of smoke, or obscure simple answers to their conspiracy theories.

I had expected more of Mueller, based on just some vague notions of who he was, but I should have realized from the very weak earlier indictments about Russian hacking and meddling that his team was no better than the rest of Trump's enemies.

[Flavius]

He couldn't go without picking at the scab he and his handpicked crew of political partisans spent 2 years in forming. Once he realized that his 'friend', Bill Barr, intended to plumb the trap to determine the legal and prudential sufficiencies behind what is coming into focus as a mix of witting and unwitting political jihad, to include the Bob Mueller act itself, he couldn't leave without pissing into his 'friend's' well by inflaming the Congressional Democratic moronocracy and siccing it on him. His scab-picking will have no other practical effect than to obstruct Barr, and Mueller knows it.
Like his pal Comey's, the man's behavior is disgraceful. Had this claque of smug bureacrats merely said that they welcome Barr's investigation, the reputations of their Agencies might have started on their way to recovery. It looks like for Barr's investigation, it will have to be slash and burn for it to get anywhere. The Bureau and the Agency will be looking way worse before they look better, if they ever do.

[Bill H]

I like that, "Congressional Democratic moronocracy."

[catherine]

''Today, Robert Mueller did the same damn thing. He had one job--gather evidence and indict or say nothing.''

I think Mueller did his job well. He gathered evidence, indicted the wrong doers on who he did have enough evidence. As he said, the Justice Department policy does not allow the indictment of a sitting President even if the evidence warranted it. I think he made clear he didn't find definitive evidence of Trump collusion with Russia but did find 'signs' of possible obstruction.
Bottom line he did his job, turned his report over to the AG and only spoke today to correct Barr's 'incomplete' representation of his conclusions...that's it.
Whatever congress does with Muller's findings is up to congress.

[edding]

If Barr really wishes to pursue his investigation he does have the resources of the NSA, which, presumably, has archived literally every communication sent over the airwaves, and he could invoke the procedure promulgated under Obama, allowing the NSA to share its information with other agencies investigating criminal activity.

Mueller had the same opportunity, but instead cherry picked the NSA's resources, and ignored the rest, when it came to the alleged Russian hacking of the DNC. Had he followed through in conjunction with the Binney/VIPS forensics, he could have put an early nail in the coffin of the imaginary Guccifer 2.0 and the Russian interference canard.

It was a crappy politicized investigation that, unfortunately, will only further damage the credibility of our justice system.

[English Outsider]

Watched the Mueller statement. Looked decidedly nervy at the start as if he knew he was going to set the cat among the pigeons. And he did. So Trump will have to go after the originators of it all, as you say, "that much harder".

When rogues fall out, honest men come by their own. I hope in this case some dishonest ones do as well.

[akaPatience]

Hear, hear!

[walrus]

Mueller allegedly said: ““If we have confidence the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.”.

If this is true, and I’m not misunderstanding the context, then Mueller is either an idiot or a rat. By definition, the above statement is a meaningless truism. NO ONE can say “with confidence” that a crime has not been committed because negative evidence cannot be turned into positive evidence. To translate Mueller: “we couldn’t find any evidence he did it, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t!” - the presumption of innocence was developed to protect suspects from exactly this sort of biased speculation.

Mueller has fed Congress exactly what the Democrats wanted; meaningless speculation and innuendo with no apparent basis in fact. To put that another way, Democrats can now say:”this report raises more questions than it answers”. Thanks for nothing Mueller.

[Fred]

Walrus,

Since the Senate is the body responsible for any trial that would result from impeachment Senator Graham can cut to the chase and subpoena Mueller and all the members of his team and start asking questions. I suggest they involve things like just what is spelled out in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments and how did each lawyer there comply with those constitutional requirements. Oh, and who was is they talked/emailed/tweeted/etc. to at the NYT/WAPO etc. Under oath and in public, since we would hate to have a 'constitutional crisis' that would requiring denying the right to public trials! But of course we now live in an America transformed by Barack Obama and the new legal term everyone is looking for is "Presumption of Guilt".

BTW I can't wait for the Senate impeachment committee to subpoena Barack to ask him just what he told his people to do and when he told them to do so.

[Rich S.]

“This is the behavior of a prosecutor from a third-world shithole. Certainly appears that the United States is headed in that direction.”

Sure looks that way. Deep State totalitarianism. We have FBI SWAT teams kicking in doors in the middle of the night and dragging out senior citizens for process crimes in a phony criminal investigation. You have high-profile Trump supporters being set up and secretly videotaped at massage parlors. You have Chinese business people and Trump donors being investigated and subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in The Swamp (https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/article230946518.html).

According to Prof. Luke Johnson, America became an empire around the time of Teddy Roosevelt (putting global concerns above nation). IMHO, the empire will end shortly after Trump leaves office. Whether it ends with a whimper or bang is the question. And our vassal states in Europe (most have been hollowed out because of globalism) will fall faster and harder.

Katy bar the door.

[Patrick Armstrong]

I would also highly recommend Dominic's book https://www.amazon.ca/Russia-Against-Napoleon-Battle-Europe/dp/0141009357/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=lieven+napoleon&qid=1559200563&s=digital-text&sr=1-1-catcorr
A real eye-opener for those who think that it was only General Winter that defeated Bonaparte.

[joanna]

catherine, I understand he simply wanted to tell, I did my best for two years but other then finding people don't always follow the rules, I have nothing more to say.

In other words, is maybe our collected wisdom not solidly usable enough? Which one way or another influences how we read and interpret it?

******
9/11 triggered a lot of activities expanding the duties of the US services into the cyberwar-cyberprotection space.

Now , what again was it, about the needle and haystack?

Today close to 20 years later we come back and choose to decide maybe its better to decide based on our basic instincts? Our political alignment?

[Christian J Chuba]

Karma. The chickens are coming home to roost. Our lawless behavior in casually undermining and overthrowing govts in other countries while braying that we are upholding international norms makes it acceptable to do the same here.

There is an irony that the deep state (permanent neocon bureaucracy) is blaming the Russians while they are the ones doing it here. As much as I hate the Mueller's, I hate their minions in the MSM even more. Shouldn't THEY understand that people do not have to be exonerated by Prosecutors? Our MSM echoes whatever their handlers tell them to say whether it's about Venezuela or about elected officials.

[AnthonyHBA]

Agree, fascinating material from Dominic L at Valdai site.
I had seen Anatol articles at commencement Ukraine coup but was ignorant of Dominic.
Thanks for the post

[Diana C]

I just never expected anything else coming out of a swamp rat.

It's sad for me, a person who grew up so very proud of our country. I know now, after growing more wise, that there has always been a rat presence in our government, but it seems to have really gotten out of control lately.

I can still hope that out here in fly over country there are enough people to make the D C swamp creatures irrelevant in every national election cycle until the swamp is drained at bit and fumigated.

But, unfortunately we'll have to first eliminate the rats that have gained some control of our state offices.

[Tidewater]

You're not paying attention.

[Andrei Martyanov (aka SmoothieX12)]

Agree, Anatol is one of those people who does produce sober accounts. I remember his superb piece in Foreign Affairs some years ago about non-linearity of history. It was a revelation in the midst of still raging "The End of History" euphoria, or, rather, pseudo-scientific delusion.

[Factotum]

JFK unionized government workers. Big government employee unions have amassed huge political war chests and disciplined rank and file GOTV ground troops on election days. DNC is nothing but a front for the big government unions.

You can measure the decline of America political discourse from that point forward. When SEIU spends nearly one billion dollars to get Obama elected in 2008, everyone needs to follow the money and understand how the power of big government union member dues plays such a deciding role in our rapidly devolving political climate.

Who even suspects the teachers unions are the primary beneficiaries of open borders, filling their classrooms with endless supplies of new students and preserving their own jobs perks and benefits. Such is the incestuous web we have now woven in our oountry and its highly polarized political debate.

Follow the money - much of it leads right back to the expanding self-interests of the big government employee unions.

[Mark Logan]

Walrus,

That comment of Mueller's has been yanked out of context.

Mueller believes he was and is not at liberty to either indict or accuse a sitting POTUS. This is the established policy of the DOJ (his employer).

In that view the only branch of government that has the power to enforce the law against a sitting POTUS is Congress, through their Constitutional power of impeachment.

[Alves]

Mueller`s latest statements were pretty weird. A press conference where he does not actually take questions and blow the impeachment flames using contradictory legal reasoning (why investigate in the first place if he can not indict?).

I would say one of the objectives is to mud the watters on the investigation that Barr is pushing on the start of the Russia conspiracy probe.

[Fred]

Mark,

"...or accuse a sitting POTUS."
That is just what he did at this press conference. Nothing prevented him from reccomending a Trump be indicted except the lack of evidence of a crime. "In that view...." we wasted two years because Mueller really couldn't do anything, oh, wait, the Republicans held the House two years ago and they were not about to have an impeachment hearing even with all the never Trumpers in office at the time.