Robert Mueller May Not Be The Savior The Anti-Trump Internet Is Hoping For

[riversedge]

I try like mad not to get my hopes up too much.





Robert Mueller May Not Be The Savior The Anti-Trump Internet Is Hoping For


http://www.npr.org/2017/08/17/543905241/robert-mueller-may-not-be-the-savior-the-anti-trump-internet-is-hoping-for


August 17, 20175:00 AM ET
Carrie Johnson 2016 square




http://www.npr.org/2017/08/17/543905241/robert-mueller-may-not-be-the-savior-the-anti-trump-internet-is-hoping-for

........"Bob Mueller understands and I understand the specific scope of the investigation and so, it's not a fishing expedition," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told Fox News Sunday earlier this month.

Three months into the job, however, it's not clear what, if anything, investigators may uncover about the president, who has repeatedly denied any improper contacts with people in Russia and has called the special counsel probe "a witch hunt."

"They're investigating something that never happened," Trump told reporters last week. "There was no collusion between us and Russia. In fact, the opposite. Russia spent a lot of money on fighting me."

Moreover, even if authorities uncover damaging information about Trump or anyone else in the White House, there are serious questions about whether that material will ever be made public, short of an indictment or impeachment.

Regulations governing the special counsel say that at the conclusion of his work, he "shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions." Then, it's up to the attorney general to determine whether releasing some information would be in the public interest. (Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recused himself from the Russia investigation because of his association with the Trump campaign; Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein is overseeing the investigation.)

Another complicating factor: Mueller is using grand juries in Alexandria, Va., and Washington, D.C., and grand jury information is rarely made public.....................

[spanone]

1. these articles are useless. 'three months into the job' and quoting trump....really?

took two years for watergate

[SHRED]

2. It all should be made public

We have a right to know.

[Not Ruth]

3. If it turns out as expected, we will see a 9/11 Commission style report within 10 years

[leftynyc]

4. This whole article is nothing but pathetic whining

that it's taking too long and Mueller isn't like Ken Starr who met with reporters every morning in his driveway. Financial crimes are incredibly complicated and accounting forensics takes a very long time.

[Not Ruth]

7. Legal guilt vs factual guilt

Trump has been in the dirtiest industry in the country, real estate, for his entire life. Major banks in real estate have been hit with millions in fines on a regular basis. Real estate almost destroyed America a few years ago. Trump certainly factually guilty. But his attorneys will attempt to evade justice by makings it impossible to prove legal guilt. Mueller's job is to find factual guilt, which gets you halfway there at best.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=9358555

[leftynyc]

10. LMAO - It's not hard at all to prove

legal guilt when the evidence is there, which it is. Forensic accounting is incredibly complicated but he has the best of the best on the job. Donnie will be lucky to escape jail.

[uponit7771]

5. I don't think anyone is expecting Mueller to railroad Benedict Donald, if there's nothing there and

... Mueller tries to gen something up then Red Don wins.

[procon]

6. What a nonsensical nothingburger!

This misleading journalistic perfidy is nothing short of Fake News.

Of course we don't know 'what the investigators may uncover about the president', because they aren't finished.

No, there aren't any 'serious questions about whether that material will ever be made public' (ps, OP, the added Bolding is laughably superfluous), it's only one of many possibilities.

'...grand jury information is rarely made public', yes, and that's normal, not even a factor.

[SharonClark]

8. If the information is not made public then why is Mueller bothering with an investigation?

[cheyanne]

9. There is something called presentment that can overcome grand jury confidentiality

There is an explanation on the JustSecurity site.

That said, congressional interest in impeachment could provide a special reason for presentment and for conveying the grand jury’s decision to Congress. The Watergate special prosecutor legal team highlighted that the precedent for using grand jury presentment to inform potential impeachment proceedings dated back to the early 1800s. In the case of Richard Nixon, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed Judge Sirica’s order transmitting a presentment report from the grand jury to the House Judiciary Committee. Ordinarily, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) imposes secrecy on any “matter occurring before the grand jury” with a few exceptions. Judge Sirica found that Rule 6(e) aimed to do no more than codify the “traditional practice of secrecy” of the grand jury, a practice which the judge found to be narrow but not inconsistent with the disclosure to Congress for purposes of impeachment. Haldeman v. Sirica, 501 F.2d 714 (D.C. Cir. 1974). Other federal courts have also held that courts have the inherent authority to order disclosure of grand jury materials even outside of the constraints and exceptions of Rule 6(e). (For more on this topic, see our earlier analysis at Just Security.)

https://www.justsecurity.org/44252/untold-option-mueller-grand-jury-presentment-alternative-indicting-trump/#more-44252