Tag

#Mueller

9 incidents

Updated May 29, 2019 Rule of Law
Major Abuse of Power

Barr's Mueller Report Summary: Misrepresented Findings, Withheld Report for Weeks

Mueller's investigation documented ten episodes of potential obstruction of justice and concluded that while it could not exonerate Trump, it also could not reach a traditional prosecutorial judgment because of the OLC opinion barring indictment of a sitting president. Barr's summary letter stated 'the Special Counsel did not find that the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with Russia' and that Mueller had 'not established that members of the Trump campaign conspired.' On obstruction, Barr stated on his own authority that the evidence was 'not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense' — an independent judgment Mueller had explicitly declined to make.

Sources
4
BarrMuellerobstructionrule-of-lawfirst-term
Updated December 23, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Roger Stone: Convicted of Seven Felonies, Sentence Commuted, Then Pardoned

Stone was charged with lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his contacts with WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign, when he served as an intermediary between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks regarding the release of hacked Democratic emails. He also threatened a witness — radio personality Randy Credico, whom he called a 'rat' and threatened to harm his therapy dog — to prevent him from contradicting Stone's testimony. The jury of twelve convicted Stone on every count after deliberating for two days. Four prosecutors resigned from the case after the Justice Department overrode their sentencing recommendation of 7 to 9 years with a more lenient one, following Trump's tweet calling the original recommendation 'very unfair.' The federal judge sentenced Stone to 40 months.

Sources
4
StoneMuellerfirst-termrule-of-lawWikiLeaks
Updated April 18, 2019 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Mueller Investigation Obstruction: Witness Tampering, McGahn, Flynn Pardon Signal

The Mueller Report documented a sustained pattern of obstruction. Trump ordered McGahn to fire Mueller in June 2017; McGahn refused and prepared to resign. Trump later ordered McGahn to publicly deny having received this order; McGahn refused. Trump publicly praised associates who did not cooperate and attacked those who did. His private communications with Manafort were described in court filings as reassuring Manafort that a pardon was a possibility, potentially discouraging cooperation. Mueller concluded that Congress, not the Special Counsel, was the appropriate institution to address obstruction given OLC policy against indicting a sitting president.

Sources
4
MuellerobstructionMcGahnManafortfirst-term
Updated February 25, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Firing James Comey: Obstruction of Justice and Attack on FBI Independence

Trump fired FBI Director Comey while Comey's bureau was investigating Trump campaign ties to Russia. Trump's own statements to Lester Holt and to Russian officials — that the firing relieved 'great pressure' from the Russia investigation — directly contradicted the White House's stated justifications. Mueller's report identified ten episodes of potential obstruction and declined to exonerate Trump; it explicitly left open the question of indictment.

Sources
5
obstruction-of-justiceComeyFBIRussia-investigationrule-of-law
Updated May 11, 2017 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

James Comey Firing: Obstruction of the Russia Investigation

The Comey firing followed Trump's request to Comey for 'loyalty' and a request to drop the investigation of Michael Flynn. Comey had declined both. After the firing, Trump told NBC: 'When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.' In a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and Ambassador Kislyak the next day, Trump reportedly said firing Comey had taken 'great pressure' off him. The Mueller report identified 10 instances of potential obstruction; regarding the Comey firing specifically, Mueller found 'substantial evidence' of corrupt intent but did not recommend charges based on DOJ policy.

Sources
4
ComeyobstructionRussiaFBIfirst-term
Updated November 7, 2018 Rule of Law
Major Abuse of Power

Sessions Recusal, AG Firing, and the Mueller Obstruction Pattern

Sessions's recusal created the conditions for the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, since it meant Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein oversaw the Russia investigation. Trump spent 20 months publicly attacking Sessions for his recusal — including in tweets, press statements, and reporting — while his private conduct (documented by Mueller) included repeated instructions that Sessions should 'unrecuse' himself and take control of the investigation. The day after the 2018 midterm elections, Trump demanded and received Sessions's resignation, replacing him with Matthew Whitaker — a move DOJ legal scholars argued was designed to install an acting AG who would not be recused from the Russia investigation.

Sources
4
SessionsMuellerobstructionrule-of-lawfirst-term
Updated November 25, 2020 Rule of Law
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Michael Flynn: National Security Adviser Lied to FBI, Trump Pressured Comey, Flynn Pardoned

Flynn's conversations with Kislyak on December 29, 2016 — the day President Obama announced sanctions against Russia for election interference — were intercepted by U.S. intelligence. Flynn told Pence the conversations had not touched on sanctions; Pence publicly repeated that claim. After the Washington Post reported Flynn had indeed discussed sanctions, Flynn resigned. On January 27, 2017, Trump told Comey at a one-on-one dinner that he hoped Comey could let the Flynn investigation go. Comey did not drop it. Trump fired Comey on May 9, 2017. Flynn pleaded guilty December 1, 2017. His cooperation with Mueller provided significant intelligence about the transition period. Trump pardoned Flynn in November 2020, after Flynn had withdrawn his guilty plea.

Sources
4
FlynnComeyfirst-termrule-of-lawMueller
Updated June 14, 2019 Rule of Law
Significant Democratic Concern

White House Press Briefings: Documented Lies to Press and Public Under Oath Admission

Sanders told reporters in May 2017 that the reason Trump fired Comey was that FBI rank-and-file agents had lost confidence in him — a claim supported by the White House's stated justification for the firing. When Mueller's investigators interviewed Sanders, she acknowledged that statement had not been based on anything, that she had made it up in the moment, and that it was a 'slip of the tongue.' The Mueller Report quoted her directly: the claim was not based on 'any of the things you heard.' Other documented false claims from the briefing room included statements about the Trump Tower meeting, Trump's involvement in drafting a misleading statement about the meeting, and numerous false claims about immigration, trade, and policy matters that fact-checkers documented.

Sources
3
SandersSpicerpress-briefingfirst-termrule-of-law
Updated August 18, 2020 Foreign Policy & War
Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

2016 Russian Election Interference: Mueller Findings and Senate Intelligence Committee

The Senate Intelligence Committee's August 2020 bipartisan report documented that Paul Manafort shared confidential Trump campaign polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukrainian political consultant the committee assessed had ties to Russian intelligence. The report characterized this as 'a grave counterintelligence threat.' The report also documented extensive contacts between Trump campaign officials and Russian nationals. Mueller found the hacking and dumping of Democratic emails benefited the Trump campaign and that the campaign was aware of, and made use of, the releases — but did not find sufficient evidence of criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Russian government.

Sources
4
Russiaelection-interferenceMuellerManafortSenate-Intelligence