This is my opinion and not the representation of Saintel Daily, LLC.
When the Mueller Report was provided to U.S. Attorney General William Barr in March, he indicated that the report exonerated Trump when it came to collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. This week, we got to see the report, albeit, a redacted version and we now know that while the investigation didn’t establish a direct connection between Donald Trump and any crimes, it also didn’t exonerate him. So what did the report say? Well, it painted a picture for the American people that the president took steps to control the investigation, but also indicated that he didn’t fully cooperate with the probe.
Of course, Barr focused largely on the idea that Trump didn’t have any participation in election meddling. According to Barr:
The “investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or co-ordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.
William Barr, U.S. Attorney General
What really made me laugh today was the tweet that Trump posted after Barr’s statement. It looked like a Game of Thrones image, but on top of the image were the words “GAME OVER”. Of course Trump blames “radical left Democrats” for the probe and even the outcome. While I could understand Trump celebrating this, as the report itself doesn’t conclusively say that Trump did something wrong. But it also doesn’t let him off the hook. Which means, any one can interpret this to mean that he’s got something to hide. Trump’s legal team, however, feel that he is in the clear and released a statement indicating that this is a “total victory for the president”.
Damn. If that’s a victory, I want to live in the world that Trump is in. That level of confidence is unreal. If I handed in a project, and my boss came to me afterward and said – well, it’s not bad, but it’s not great either. I certainly wouldn’t parade through the office suggesting that it was a total victory. In fact, I’d want to know more about where I stand with the project and what went wrong. Or what was good. And, in Trump’s case, status quo is a victory, but I wouldn’t be celebrating if I were him. But we also have to take into consideration that Rudy Giuliani is one of Trump’s lawyers, and he has already gone on record saying some things that definitely make Trump look guilty. So who can we believe?
One of the big takeaways that I think we were all looking forward to hearing about was this infamous meeting that took place at Trump Tower in June 2016. Mueller’s report indicated that Trump directed aides numerous times not to disclose emails about that meeting with a Russian lawyer who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. The meeting was attended by his son, Donald Trump Jr. and his son-in-law and current White House advisor, Jared Kushner. The report also indicates that there was no documentary evidence that Trump knew that Trump Jr. and Kushner were taking this meeting.
No documentary evidence existing isn’t the same as innocence. But that’s what Trump believes. Congress, on the other hand, is a different story. There are still inquiries in Congress, which include the entire Trump organization and finance allegations around how campaign money was spent.
Throughout the investigation Mueller brought charges against 34 people, including six Trump aides and advisors, and revealed a sophisticated, wide-ranging Russian effort to influence the 2016 presidential election. Twenty-five of those charged were Russians accused either in the hacking of Democratic email accounts or of a hidden but powerful social media effort to spread disinformation online. Even if this report doesn’t lead to any action against Trump himself, it does paint a picture about the lengths that he is willing to go to cover up his improprieties.