WHY IT’S GOOD NEWS THAT MUELLER IS WRAPPING UP HIS PART OF THE INVESTIGATION (IF HE IS)

Recent NBC News reporting, and today’s leading article by CNN, makes it increasingly likely that the long-awaited, much anticipated “Mueller report” will be submitted soon to AG William Barr. 1/33

The #Resistance appears, almost without exception, to be in a state of high alarm or depression about this. This reaction is unjustified. The fact (assuming it is a fact) that Mueller is ready to wrap up his investigation is actually good news. 2/33

As I have opined for months (including in a short thread last night), Mueller will submit a report AS SOON AS HE HAS ENOUGH TO NAIL TRUMP — not any sooner, and not any later. 3/33

At this point, it’s all about Trump — not Manafort, not Stone, not Corsi, not Kushner, not Don Jr. or anyone else in the investigation’s crosshairs. 4/33

It is also essential to understand what kind of investigation the Mueller probe is. It is first and foremost a COUNTERINTEL investigation, rather than a criminal investigation. That is clear from Rosenstein’s authorization letter of 17 May 2017: 5/33

The Rosenstein letter authorized the special counsel to conduct the investigation confirmed by Comey in testimony before the House INTELLIGENCE Committee, not a judiciary committee — underlining again that Mueller’s has been, above all else, a counterintel investigation. 6/33

It has never been sufficiently appreciated that the FBI and the DOJ are charged by statute to protect the national security interests of the country. The National Security Division of the DOJ has this responsibility. 7/33

(See an amusing exchange about this in a fascinating interview of Mueller, beginning at 6:45, and especially at 8:45, explaining that all his past experience had been as a prosecutor, not in national security investigations.) 8/33

The distinction is important because it means that the upcoming Mueller report is going be different — and will be treated differently — in significant ways from either the Jaworski Watergate report or the Kenn Starr report. 9/33

Those previous investigations and reports were essentially CRIMINAL investigations about domestic issues. The Rosenstein letter did not authorize a similar investigation, although it did include a remit for prosecutions if the special counsel deemed that to be appropriate. 10/33

The second important point is that Mueller is almost certain to follow DOJ guidelines according to which a sitting president cannot be indicted. (Once he is removed from office or otherwise out of office, he can be.) 11/33

There has been a lot of scholarly legal discussion about whether the existing guidelines have gotten the law right, but it still seems unlikely (whether they are right or wrong) that Mueller will disregard them. 12/33

And what that leaves wide open is the question of IMPEACHMENT. 13/33

So here’s the bottom line: 14/33

We know from the Rosenstein letter that Mueller signed on as special counsel to an investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, 15/33

and of any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign [and it goes without saying, Donald Trump himself]. 16/33

We also know that what REALLY interests the public (and most members of Congress) is whether TRUMP was a conspirator, and we also know that for Mueller this boils down to the question whether Trump committed IMPEACHABLE offenses. 17/33

Now: Was there a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the election, and did Trump know about it and approve of it and authorize it (especially through Manafort, who first arranged and managed the collusion?), 18/33

and in a way that violated 18 USC § 371 (and no doubt lots of other statutes)? 19/33

Of course he did. If you are uncertain about this, you haven’t been paying attention to the news or following my Twitter feed. 20/33

That is why it is actually good news that we are apparently going to be getting fairly shortly the *bottom line* Mueller report that we have all been waiting for. The rest is just details that Mueller can leave to others to follow up on. 21/33

Mueller, as I’ve said all along, doesn’t need to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. That could take others in federal law enforcement a couple of years to complete. But Mueller clearly doesn’t have years to complete his special task, nor does he need them. 22/33

Significantly, parts of the CNN article today confirm this point, in the section entitled “Life after Mueller”: 23/33

“While the Mueller investigation may soon come to a close, there continue to be court cases that will be handled by other federal prosecutors.In addition, Mueller has referred certain matters that fell outside the scope of the Russia probe to other US Attorneys to pursue. … On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday last week, special counsel’s office employees carried boxes and pushed a cart full of files out of their office — an unusual move that could foreshadow a hand-off of legal work. … Even with these signs of a wrap up, the DC US Attorney’s office has stepped in to work on cases that may continue longer than Mueller is the special counsel. … That office has joined onto some of the Mueller’s team’s casework, including the cases against Stone, a Russian social media propaganda conspiracy, and in an ongoing foreign government-owned company’s fight against a grand jury subpoena. Mueller and his prosecutors are still reporting to work as frequently as ever … but also visiting them more often than ever before are the prosecutors from the DC US Attorney’s Office and others in the Justice Department who’ve worked on the Mueller cases.”

(Pretty much as I have been predicting would happen (minus the details) for months — even if I do say so myself.) 24/33

One final remark about the concern that the Department of Justice has about publicizing “derogatory” information about uncharged individuals. 25/33

I don’t see this as a problem for Barr. First, there are already unsealed indictments against many of the principal actors who have been targeted by the investigation. 26/33

It is true, of course, that none of the indictments so far have involved charges of conspiracy or collusion, but Mueller probably has enough evidence at this point to charge those individuals with collusion or conspiracy, 27/33

and might issue indictments that have hitherto been under seal when he releases his report — or at least as many of these as he needs to nail Trump himself. 28/33

And most importantly of all, this is not an issue that will be a concern for Mueller (or Barr, in my estimation) in issuing his report so far as TRUMP is concerned, because this is about IMPEACHMENT, not indictment. 29/33

When it comes to impeaching the President (or any other officer of the federal government, including judges and justices of the judicial branch) “derogatory” information about uncharged individuals is what it’s all about. 30/33

So: Is Mueller wrapping things up (assuming he is) because he’s found nothing, or is it because he’s found enough to justify Trump’s impeachment?

Of course it’s the latter. We’ve already had enough in the public domain for months to know that. #MuellerReport 31/33

So, people, not to worry. Instead of holding a wake, the #resistance should be prepared to hold a celebration — 32/33

and probably prepare to mobilize (including taking to the streets if necessary) if that is what is needed to get the Republican-controlled Senate to remove Trump from office after he has been impeached by the House. 33/33

THE END

PS1/ In all the above, by the term “Mueller report” I mean, of course, the report that AG Bill Barr will submit to Congress (and thus to the American public). It will be based on the confidential report that Mueller will submit to him.

PS2/ A lot of people seem to worried about this, but frankly, I am not. Some of the guidelines and laws are perfectly defensible (designed to protect the innocent, for example).

PS3/ But more to the point in question, Barr’s a good friend of Mueller’s, so we can expect, I believe, that Barr will release enough of the actual Mueller report to accomplish OUR purpose— which I’ve already said, is to end the Trump presidency.

PS4/ In fact, I imagine that this is Mueller’s desire as well. Can you imagine how you would feel about Trump if you knew everything that MUELLER knows about him? It’s amazing the guy can even sleep at night.