Trump, allies tangle with key Democrat; Mueller report is 300 pages

[webfact]

Trump, allies tangle with key Democrat; Mueller report is 300 pages

By Patricia Zengerle and Andy Sullivan

 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) listens during a House Intelligence Committee hearing titled "Putin's Playbook: The Kremlin's Use of Oligarchs, Money and Intelligence in 2016 and Beyond" on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 28, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's Republican allies tangled with one of Trump's most prominent Democratic critics during a chaotic congressional hearing on Thursday and the U.S. attorney general revealed that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia inquiry report is more than 300 pages long.

 

Hours after Trump went on Twitter to demand that Democrat Adam Schiff resign from Congress, Republican lawmakers called on him to quit as chairman of the bitterly divided House of Representatives Intelligence Committee because of his comments about the president's 2016 campaign and Russia.

 

Schiff quickly fired back at a tumultuous hearing and called actions by the president's associates unpatriotic and corrupt. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, defended Schiff and called the actions of Trump and committee Republicans "shameful" and "irresponsible."

 

Attorney General William Barr, empowered by Justice Department regulations to decide how much of the special counsel's report to make public, on Sunday released his four-page summary of Mueller's findings. Barr said Mueller did not establish that Trump's campaign conspired with Russia in the 2016 election.

 

The attorney general informed House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler about the length of the report in a telephone call on Wednesday, a Justice Department official said. Barr also agreed to testify before Nadler's committee, although no date was set, the official said.

 

Republicans in the Senate on Thursday thwarted another effort by Democrats to pass a resolution calling for the Mueller report to be made available to the public and Congress. The House has passed a similar resolution.

 

A Justice Department official said on Tuesday that Barr would issue a public version of the report within "weeks, not months." But top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Barr's delay of the release has "too much of the odour of political expediency to help the man who appointed him, President Trump."

 

Pelosi also demanded the report's release. "No, thank you, Mr. Attorney General. We do not need your interpretation. Show us the report and we'll come to our own conclusions," she said.

 

Republicans have launched a counter-attack against Democrats since Barr released his summary. Trump used an early-morning Twitter post to assail Schiff, whose committee is investigating Russia's influence on U.S. elections.

 

"Congressman Adam Schiff, who spent two years knowingly and unlawfully lying and leaking, should be forced to resign from Congress!" Trump wrote.

 

Trump did not give specifics of his accusations against Schiff, who has not been accused by authorities of leaking classified information.

 

SCHIFF VS. COMMITTEE REPUBLICANS

Republican members of the intelligence panel opened a Thursday session on Russian meddling with an attack on Schiff. They said all nine Republican panel members had signed a letter asking him to quit.

 

Representative Mike Conaway read the letter to Schiff, accusing him of spreading "false information" and saying Republicans had no faith in his ability "to discharge your duties in a manner consistent with your constitutional responsibility."

 

Schiff responded by citing a list of the Trump campaign's contacts with Russians, from Donald Trump Jr. welcoming a Russian offer of "dirt" on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, to former national security adviser Michael Flynn secretly discussing easing U.S. sanctions on Russia with Moscow's ambassador before Trump became president.

 

"You might say that's all OK," Schiff said. "You might say that's just what you need to do to win. But I don't think it's OK. I think it's immoral. I think it's unethical. I think it's unpatriotic and, yes, I think it's corrupt - and evidence of collusion."

 

During his investigation, Mueller brought charges against 34 people, including Russian agents and former Trump aides. Mueller left unresolved in his report the question of whether Trump committed obstruction of justice by impeding the Russia investigation and did not exonerate the president, Barr said. Barr himself concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish that Trump had committed obstruction of justice.

 

Pelosi rallied to Schiff's defence.

 

"They're afraid of the truth. They're afraid of competence," Pelosi told her weekly news conference. "I'm so proud of the work of Chairman Adam Schiff."

 

The House intelligence committee has been bitterly split along party lines for years on the Russia investigation, which was taken over by Mueller in May 2017 after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey.

 

The committee's Republicans wrapped up their investigation a year ago, finding no collusion between Trump and Moscow to influence the vote.

 

Democrats, led by Schiff, blasted the announcement as premature.

 

Thursday's hearing, examining the influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country's wealthiest business leaders, known as oligarchs, continued after the angry exchange between its members.

 

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia used a campaign of hacking and propaganda to sow discord in the United States, harm Clinton and boost Trump's candidacy. Russia denied election interference.

 

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Susan Cornwell and Makini Brice; Writing by Will Dunham, Doina Chiacu and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bill Trott and Grant McCool)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-03-29

[Thainesss]

Shiff is a national embarrassment and Pelosi is only doing cleanup because to out Shiff would embarrass the Democrat party even further. They have forced themselves so far down this "Trump Russia" rabbit hole that there is no way to backtrack without embarrassment and mockery. Only move is to double-down on the same garbage narrative and hope that they can get the full report so they can selectively leak bits of it to the press and continue the smear campaign. 

 

13 minutes ago, webfact said:

"You might say that's all OK," Schiff said. "You might say that's just what you need to do to win. But I don't think it's OK. I think it's immoral. I think it's unethical. I think it's unpatriotic and, yes, I think it's corrupt - and evidence of collusion."

 

And the hypocrisy here is earth-shattering. Clearly, the top minds of the Democrat party think a large enough portion of the US voting base is too stupid to know whats going on, and that the actions of the DNC & Democrats leading up to the 2016 election were perfectly fine as long as THEY are doing it. 

 

So the division continues. 

[helpisgood]

I think the problem is that there is too much focus on this tribal team politics. 

 

In other words, people want to know if there was a Trump collusion (or conspiracy, to use the legal term) with the Russians to throw the election away from Clinton.  It may be a good question - although I personally think the Clinton team bungled winning regardless of any Russian meddling - but that IMHO is not the better place to focus, specifically for these congressional committees. 

 

As the old saying goes, "follow the money."  Mueller's investigation was limited to this "election collusion" concern and some language about matters arising "directly" from such an investigation.  The collusion, or conspiracy part(s), may be hard to prove.  There are problems of interpreting intent and so on. 

 

However, numbers on bank accounts, with the help of financial experts, are clearer forms of evidence.  Plus, it is well known that Mueller is the kind of a person who will go by the book, so I am sure he was very careful about the purview of his assigned investigation.  I understand that he had farmed out some investigations to some US Attorneys (federal prosecutors) likely to be sure he was playing it by the book.     

 

My own view is that Schiff and others should be focusing more on the transfers of money.  I understand that there is already an investigation involving Duetsche Bank.  It's hardly a secret that Trump, over the years, eventually found it more and more difficult to get capitalized.  Meanwhile, there were a number of Russians who very much needed to launder money, and that Trump was very interested in building a hotel (or whatever) in Moscow.  Maybe some conflict of interests issues, Mr. President?

 

Actually, there is so much more.  I keep hearing from the press that there are sixteen investigations ongoing involving Trump.  This includes the Attorney General of New York State's office investigating a misuse of funds in a Trump charity.  Again, it is about following the money. 

 

In short, this Russian collusion in the election story is interesting because it makes for better drama.  However, for Schiff and others, I think the key issues will be the drier financial dealings. 

 

So, this "no collusion" conclusion, or so it is claimed by some, does not mean it is time to open up the champagne.  There's still a lot more down the road for Trump and those he has surrounded himself with and had financial dealings with.

 

PS, we don't know yet if the Mueller Report provides leads to illegal financial dealings.

[Thainesss]

3 minutes ago, helpisgood said:

Mueller's investigation was limited to this "election collusion" concern and some language about matters arising "directly" from such an investigation.

 

"some language about matters arising directly from the investigation" 

 

Thats the part that gave Muller an almost unlimited mandate and why so many people were charged with crimes completely unrelated to Russian interference, which the left holds up on a pedestal so often. 

 

End of the day, your whole post is simply you trying to get Trump, and by any means necessary. Thats apparently the mandate for your post. 

[helpisgood]

1 minute ago, Thainesss said:

 

"some language about matters arising directly from the investigation" 

 

Thats the part that gave Muller an almost unlimited mandate and why so many people were charged with crimes completely unrelated to Russian interference, which the left holds up on a pedestal so often. 

 

End of the day, your whole post is simply you trying to get Trump, and by any means necessary. Thats apparently the mandate for your post. 

 

The word used is "directly."  Lawyers would not use such language if there was an "unlimited mandate." 

 

Plus, why is it that Mueller farmed out other investigations?  Why is the NY AG pursuing a Trump investigation? 

 

 

[Thainesss]

1 minute ago, helpisgood said:

The word used is "directly."  Lawyers would not use such language if there was an "unlimited mandate." 

 

I said "almost unlimited mandate". Please read what Im typing for you. 

 

2 minutes ago, helpisgood said:

Plus, why is it that Mueller farmed out other investigations?  Why is the NY AG pursuing a Trump investigation? 

 

Your point? 

[metisdead]

A repetitive troll post has been removed as well as the bickering replies. 

[helpisgood]

15 minutes ago, Thainesss said:

 

I said "almost unlimited mandate". Please read what Im typing for you. 

 

 

Your point? 

Seriously?

 

An "almost unlimited mandate" does not include those "directly" related to the election collusion, which is why Mueller farmed out those other investigations.  There's a reason why a lawyer would insert the word "directly." 

 

Mueller did not pursue the other investigations because they were outside the scope of his assignment, as he apparently saw it.

 

There is also reasons why there are other ongoing investigations involving Trump.

[Tug]

1 hour ago, Thainesss said:

Shiff is a national embarrassment and Pelosi is only doing cleanup because to out Shiff would embarrass the Democrat party even further. They have forced themselves so far down this "Trump Russia" rabbit hole that there is no way to backtrack without embarrassment and mockery. Only move is to double-down on the same garbage narrative and hope that they can get the full report so they can selectively leak bits of it to the press and continue the smear campaign. 

 

 

And the hypocrisy here is earth-shattering. Clearly, the top minds of the Democrat party think a large enough portion of the US voting base is too stupid to know whats going on, and that the actions of the DNC & Democrats leading up to the 2016 election were perfectly fine as long as THEY are doing it. 

 

So the division continues. 

Does Devin Nunes come to mind oh the hypocrisy lol that’s rich lol and if the report is only 300 pages it should have been released allready 

[Thainesss]

16 minutes ago, helpisgood said:

An "almost unlimited mandate" does not include those "directly" related to the election collusion, which is why Mueller farmed out those other investigations. 

 

Weird. If Mullers mandate was to only go after those cases that are "directly" related to election collusion (as you just put it) then explain to me how almost ALL of the indictments handed down by Mullers team to US citizens have nothing to do with election collusion with the Russian Government. 

 

6 minutes ago, Tug said:

Does Devin Nunes come to mind oh the hypocrisy lol that’s rich lol and if the report is only 300 pages it should have been released allready 

 

Yeah, The right is taking its time with its 300 pages. You know, unlike the left, where James Comey went through 650,000 emails in a span of days and decided there was nothing there. 

[lannarebirth]

1 hour ago, helpisgood said:

I think the problem is that there is too much focus on this tribal team politics. 

 

In other words, people want to know if there was a Trump collusion (or conspiracy, to use the legal term) with the Russians to throw the election away from Clinton.  It may be a good question - although I personally think the Clinton team bungled winning regardless of any Russian meddling - but that IMHO is not the better place to focus, specifically for these congressional committees. 

 

As the old saying goes, "follow the money."  Mueller's investigation was limited to this "election collusion" concern and some language about matters arising "directly" from such an investigation.  The collusion, or conspiracy part(s), may be hard to prove.  There are problems of interpreting intent and so on. 

 

However, numbers on bank accounts, with the help of financial experts, are clearer forms of evidence.  Plus, it is well known that Mueller is the kind of a person who will go by the book, so I am sure he was very careful about the purview of his assigned investigation.  I understand that he had farmed out some investigations to some US Attorneys (federal prosecutors) likely to be sure he was playing it by the book.     

 

My own view is that Schiff and others should be focusing more on the transfers of money.  I understand that there is already an investigation involving Duetsche Bank.  It's hardly a secret that Trump, over the years, eventually found it more and more difficult to get capitalized.  Meanwhile, there were a number of Russians who very much needed to launder money, and that Trump was very interested in building a hotel (or whatever) in Moscow.  Maybe some conflict of interests issues, Mr. President?

 

Actually, there is so much more.  I keep hearing from the press that there are sixteen investigations ongoing involving Trump.  This includes the Attorney General of New York State's office investigating a misuse of funds in a Trump charity.  Again, it is about following the money. 

 

In short, this Russian collusion in the election story is interesting because it makes for better drama.  However, for Schiff and others, I think the key issues will be the drier financial dealings. 

 

So, this "no collusion" conclusion, or so it is claimed by some, does not mean it is time to open up the champagne.  There's still a lot more down the road for Trump and those he has surrounded himself with and had financial dealings with.

 

PS, we don't know yet if the Mueller Report provides leads to illegal financial dealings.

 

Good post!

 

I think too many people have their personal identities mixed up with the outcomes of news events and political outcomes. The media conditions them in this way and of course they give them an enemy to hate and feel superior to.

 

Those disappointed in the Mueller Report will have their day, but hopefully, until that day comes, they'll have time to reflect on how badly used they were.

[helpisgood]

44 minutes ago, Thainesss said:

 

Weird. If Mullers mandate was to only go after those cases that are "directly" related to election collusion (as you just put it) then explain to me how almost ALL of the indictments handed down by Mullers team to US citizens have nothing to do with election collusion with the Russian Government. 

 

 

I really have to explain this?

 

In brief, Manafort was, for a time, Trump's campaign manager and was charged with crimes having to do with a Ukrainian govt. and/or politicians backed by Russia. 

 

In other words, Mueller went after those, like Flynn, Trump had chosen to surround himself and his presidential campaign with.  As has been said on this forum and often in the press, prosecutors start with the smaller fish and try to next work their way to the top.  Thus, all of this talk about "flipping." 

 

Although we are yet to see the report, perhaps Mueller had finally decided that the smaller fish would not, or did not, reveal strong enough proof, if any, that the top guy was guilty of some sort of election collusion or conspiracy.  Still, this does not take Trump off the hook, so to say, for other misconduct.

[metisdead]

A troll post has been removed. 

[usviphotography]

7 hours ago, helpisgood said:

 

My own view is that Schiff and others should be focusing more on the transfers of money.  I understand that there is already an investigation involving Duetsche Bank.  It's hardly a secret that Trump, over the years, eventually found it more and more difficult to get capitalized.  Meanwhile, there were a number of Russians who very much needed to launder money, and that Trump was very interested in building a hotel (or whatever) in Moscow.  Maybe some conflict of interests issues, Mr. President?

 

Trump actually owns major properties in the UK. Not just thought about building or purchasing- he did the deal. Why no interest in that? This whole charade is nothing but the perfect synergy of anti-Russian bigotry coupled with Trump Derangement Syndrome. Russia doesn't seem to have done much of anything outside the norm in terms of "meddling" in our election and there was no evidence of collusion whatsoever. Meanwhile, on the other side we know for a fact that Hillary hired a former British Spy who colluded with members of the Ukrainian Government to come up with the phony dossier that was then used by the Obama Administration to spy on Trump and launch this entire investigation. We do have clear evidence of collusion and foreign meddling, it just wasn't done by Russia and didn't involve Trump. 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

Tump demands Schiff resign on the basis of a letter that has no more standing than Trump’s phony medical report.

 

The truth will out!

[Redline]

10 hours ago, Thainesss said:

Shiff is a national embarrassment and Pelosi is only doing cleanup because to out Shiff would embarrass the Democrat party even further. They have forced themselves so far down this "Trump Russia" rabbit hole that there is no way to backtrack without embarrassment and mockery. Only move is to double-down on the same garbage narrative and hope that they can get the full report so they can selectively leak bits of it to the press and continue the smear campaign. 

 

 

And the hypocrisy here is earth-shattering. Clearly, the top minds of the Democrat party think a large enough portion of the US voting base is too stupid to know whats going on, and that the actions of the DNC & Democrats leading up to the 2016 election were perfectly fine as long as THEY are doing it. 

 

So the division continues. 

I believe DT said he didn’t know any Russians, or do business with Russians?   Hmmmm, why did he say that?  Trump is a pathological liar, so it will catch up with him.  Why didn’t he and his buddies help with the investigations?  Because they committed crimes ????.  More to come-stay tuned...

[Baerboxer]

13 hours ago, Thainesss said:

Shiff is a national embarrassment and Pelosi is only doing cleanup because to out Shiff would embarrass the Democrat party even further. They have forced themselves so far down this "Trump Russia" rabbit hole that there is no way to backtrack without embarrassment and mockery. Only move is to double-down on the same garbage narrative and hope that they can get the full report so they can selectively leak bits of it to the press and continue the smear campaign. 

 

 

And the hypocrisy here is earth-shattering. Clearly, the top minds of the Democrat party think a large enough portion of the US voting base is too stupid to know whats going on, and that the actions of the DNC & Democrats leading up to the 2016 election were perfectly fine as long as THEY are doing it. 

 

So the division continues. 

 

"that the actions of the DNC & Democrats leading up to the 2016 election were perfectly fine as long as THEY are doing it."

 

You've summed up the attitude of all the left-wing, liberal, PC political parties and politicians world-wide.

 

Everything they do is o k as long as it's them doing it! Add that to their intolerance of any opinion but their own.

[Baerboxer]

3 hours ago, Redline said:

I believe DT said he didn’t know any Russians, or do business with Russians?   Hmmmm, why did he say that?  Trump is a pathological liar, so it will catch up with him.  Why didn’t he and his buddies help with the investigations?  Because they committed crimes ????.  More to come-stay tuned...

 

Yeah sure because those "honest" Democrats who cheated to get Hilary nominated over Bernie and never said a word when Bill had an airport tarmac meeting with the AG when Hilary was being investigated, would never lie or cheat would they?

[IAMHERE]

15 hours ago, webfact said:

Show us the report and we'll come to our own conclusions," she said.

Why wait, tell us your conclusions now. ????

[Thainesss]

7 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The truth will out!

 

Id love to know what "truth" you think that will be? 

[Tug]

17 minutes ago, IAMHERE said:

Why wait, tell us your conclusions now. ????

Well we shure know yours lol did any of you watch mr Shiff respond?all he had to do is replay Donald’s greatest hits so to speak he absoulity spanked the republicans just spanked his response will be a page in history after this administration is history

[Redline]

3 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

Yeah sure because those "honest" Democrats who cheated to get Hilary nominated over Bernie and never said a word when Bill had an airport tarmac meeting with the AG when Hilary was being investigated, would never lie or cheat would they?

If he did something wrong, investigate and prosecute-end of story-no crying- that’s how it works 

[Redline]

1 hour ago, Tug said:

Well we shure know yours lol did any of you watch mr Shiff respond?all he had to do is replay Donald’s greatest hits so to speak he absoulity spanked the republicans just spanked his response will be a page in history after this administration is history

It was pretty nice “on the record “.   Like he’s going to quit because other people did the wrong thing-pretty funny 

[thaicurious]

22 hours ago, Thainesss said:

"some language about matters arising directly from the investigation" 

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/3726408-Rosenstein-letter-appointing-Mueller-special.html

 

In America, you don't call in the cops to investigate a child abuse case, have the cop enter the home where the offense allegedly took place, have him walk past the crack pipe in the living room, the stash of drugs half flushed down the toilet, the mutilated grandmother's body in the guest bedroom, ignore all that and then just because he fails to establish well enough to a grand jury a child abuse case in the house worthy of prosecution, all the other items are simply ignored because, well, they weren't individually pre-specified in Mueller's mandate.

 

Liberals as well as those honorable conservatives who are not Russian-complicit would actually want these other items investigated and charged as well, whether or not they were noticed by the cops on purpose or by happy coincidence.

 

Pathological liar Trump is his own worst enemy. Thinking anyone would want "to get him" is like thinking anyone would want to unclog a toilet. Be assured this isn't anything anyone wants to be dealing with. Some problems requires distasteful remedy.

 

Even through all the smoke, Fake45 clearly is compromised and the majority of his GOP clearly complicit.

 

Why bother to impeach; just imPEAR!