We won’t know what really went on in the Mueller Russian investigation until Congress receives an unedited copy of Robert Mueller’s final report. But that doesn’t stop us from speculating as to what may be in the report and how it compares to the 4 page summary issued by Attorney General Barr; and if Barr and Mueller may be trying to pull off some kind of clever cover-up.
There are many ways to try to pull off a cover-up and sometimes it can be done by making it look like it’s not that at all. If there are any canny politicians who could do it, it is these two who have done just that in the past.
As we await that report, that Barr is already trying to suppress, let’s speculate as to what may be going on here. Based on Barr’s convoluted 4 page summary it would seem that Mueller has given Trump more or less of a free pass on collusion with Russia and has punted the issue of obstruction of justice down the field for House Democrats to address. If that’s the case, and it seems to be, then this looks like it could, in fact, be some kind of cover-up.
Could it be that Mueller, for various reasons, caved in to some kind of immense pressure and was, in some way, compromised to present a report that largely vindicates Trump of any wrongdoing?
What bothers a lot of Americans, and certainly myself, is the fact that over the past two years we have seen Mueller spend the lion’s share of his time going after a group of Trump associates, charging them with various white collar crimes such as tax evasion and money laundering. Some were charged with one or more crimes and some face prison time.
While there were no revealing leaks that came out of Mueller’s team of investigators there is this feeling that Mueller was concentrating almost all his efforts on Trump’s associates and little on Trump himself. I know that this is pure speculation but that’s the impression that many Americans get from this investigation. The longer this investigation went on the more Americans doubted that it was valid.
Didn’t Mueller see or hear of the interview that Trump had with Lester Holt of NBC in which this president clearly stated that he fired James Comey because of the Russian investigation that he didn’t want initiated? Is that not clear obstruction? Didn’t he happen to see any of the tweets or hear Trump’s ongoing public proclamations saying that this investigation was a hoax, a witch hunt, a fake, and must be ended?
Now as we look back at all these Trump tirades, when he should have just kept quiet, it seems that he might have known exactly what Mueller was doing; and his never ending attacks on Mueller were just an act.
When the fully unedited Mueller report is sent to Congress we may find out a lot more or, maybe not. We may find out that Mueller simply did a terrible job and should have charged the president with obstruction or that it looks like he was in some way compromised to look the other way.
One more thing about Mueller that most Americans probably don’t know a thing about. This is the same Robert Mueller who, in the aftermath of the 911 tragedy was, as head of the FBI, highly criticized for releasing deceptive documents that were a part of a cover-up of a prominent Saudi family’s connections to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
This Saudi family that lived in Florida was reported to have direct ties to the 911 attackers. But, apparently, our government and Mueller, as head of the FBI, had reasons to try to protect this family from any involvement in the attack. So statements which served to do just that were issued by the FBI in Miami and Tampa, indicating that agents had found no connection between that family and the attackers.
This apparent cover-up by Mueller and FBI agents was, in the end, successful and this entire investigation just went away as Congress had been misinformed, believed the FBI conclusions, and did nothing further. While Mueller came under blistering criticism from the press nothing more came of the affair.
Now, let’s turn to Attorney General William Bar who, back in 1992 during the Iran-Contra investigations, was referred to as “Cover up-General Barr” by William Safire of the New York Times. He was called by this derogatory name because of his role in burying evidence of George H.W. Bush’s involvement in that investigation.”
Right now Attorney General Barr has attempted to use his 4 page summary to try to reduce expectations of what the Mueller report will reveal. He doesn’t seem intent on making this investigation one that is of critical importance to this country. Based on his cover-up reputation it’s very likely he will try to limit the content and conclusion of this report so that it is never presented in its entirety so that Congress and the American people are not fully informed.
So we know that Barr has a questionable past and is is known for having to do various things to try to cover up Republican presidents’ highly questionable acts and behavior. Check out Thom Hartmann’s article which goes much deeper into Barr’s cover-ups.
Hartman is reminding us that Barr has a history of being a lackey and a fixer for Republican presidents who were about to get into deep trouble. In this article he says.” back in 1992, the last time Bill Barr was U.S. attorney general, iconic New York Times writer William Safire referred to him as “Cover-up-General Barr” because of his role in burying evidence of then VP President and later President George H.W. Bush’s involvement in “Iraqgate” and “Iran-Contra.”
In the matter of Iran-Contra a special investigation was being conducted by Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh into the roles of President Ronald Reagan and VP George H.W. Bush, as well as the defense secretary Casper Weinberger. William Barr was, at the time, Bush’s attorney general. Walsh was zeroing in on Weinberger and Bush as things were heating up and some serious charges were being prepared against the two and a few others.
At that point Barr, who had already been covering up for Bush, Weinberger and others in the previous Reagan administration, told Bush that he should pardon Weinberger and several others, which Bush did. And that was the abrupt end of the investigation. Independent Counsel Walsh’s main subjects for being responsible for the Iran-Contra affair could not be brought to justice.
Next let’s talk about Barr’s involvement in the Iraqgate investigation in which Bush had sold WMD’s to Saddam Hussein. AG Barr took charge of the situation and rejected the House Judiciary Committee’s request to name an independent counsel to investigate potential crimes by the Bush administration.
Barr, the master of cover-ups had, once again, been quite successful and any possibility of an extensive Iraqgate investigation simply disappeared.Just how will this current Mueller investigations work out? Are we seeing Barr, the master of cover-ups at work again in order to somehow thwart Democrat’s attempts to delve deeply into the Mueller report and find out exactly what did or did not happen? If he is trying for another cover-up it may end up as his undoing.
Trump is really riding high after the Barr report, reveling in his supposed victory and ready to make the Democrats pay dearly for trying to take him down. But what we are seeing is only chapter one in this important matter and soon we may see him stop laughing and start crying as all the facts come out.
And what of Mueller whose report is now becoming more and more suspect and that could be an indication that he is involved with some kind of cover-up. We don’t know all the facts, that’s for sure; but what we do know tells us that he concentrated heavily on tax evasion and money laundering and not much at all on Trump’s collusion and obstruction.
We are hearing that he is packing up his things and is ready to head out the door of the Justice Dept., wasting no time. So the jury is out on him and his investigation. But he should know that he will be at the center of this Congressional investigation, along with AG Barr for some time to come.
And let’s say this about both Barr and Mueller. Something about each of their behavior and actions relative to this investigation just doesn’t pass the smell test. If they are, in fact, engaging in some kind of dual cover-up relating to this investigation to keep the truth away from the House Democrats and the American people they will find that they will also go down together.
In any event we will just have to wait and see what really happens. And I sincerely hope that in my speculation about this matter I am entirely wrong about Robert Mueller.
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