Category Archive

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO VOLUME I RUSSIAN SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN The Internet Research Agency (IRA) carried out the earliest Russian interference operations identified by the investigation—a social media campaign designed to provoke and amplify political and social discord in the United States. The IRA was based in St. Petersburg, Russia, and received funding from Russian oligarch Yevgeniy Prigozhin and companies he … Read More

It’s out. (searchable version here) This is a bad document for Trump and terrible for Barr who clearly was running interference for Trump. Trump upon learning of Mueller’s appointment: “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m fucked.”: One takeaway throughout is how frequently White House aides lied to reporters. On day of Mueller … Read More

I suggest lowering expectations for the Mueller Report. I expect it to show evidence — evidence — of Trump’s obstruction, but since his motivation is an element that must be proven for an obstruction conviction, and since his motivation rests only in his head (or can at best be inferred, but not proved beyond a reasonable doubt), the report will … Read More

NBC: Some of the more than dozen current and former White House officials who cooperated with special counsel Robert Mueller are worried that the version of his report expected to be made public on Thursday will expose them as the source of damaging information about President Donald Trump, according to multiple witnesses in the investigation. Some of the officials and … Read More

1. To what extent did Americans assist or cooperate with Russians or other foreign agents in hacking Democratic National Committee emails, in trying to break into American voter registration databases, or in efforts to spread “dirt” on President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election opponent, Hillary Clinton? We know from earlier government reports that Russian agents did all three of these … Read More

This is a waste of time and its sad that Fox News tripe is being taken seriously: .@SenatorShaheen asks Barr about reports he's launched an investigation into officials who investigated Trump "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal," he says, echoing baseless right-win conspiracy theories. "I think spying did occur." Shaheen is left speechless pic.twitter.com/G1fcAF2Irh — … Read More

The headline says it all: Yup. And we learn that the report was prepared “so that the front matter from each section could have been released immediately — or very quickly,” according to one DOJ official. “It was done in a way that minimum redactions, if any, would have been necessary, and the work would have spoken for itself.” Mueller’s … Read More

But first, he’s going to redact: (1) stuff required to be redacted under federal rules of criminal procedures;(2) stuff that reveals intelligence community sources and methods;(3) stuff that relates to ongoing matters (like investigations that Mueller farmed out to other prosecutors); and(4) stuff that might embarrass “peripheral third parties” See, it’s that fourth thing… amIrite? But at least the President … Read More

Myth No. 1: Mueller found no evidence of collusion.  (Wrong, wrong, wrong.) Regrettably, “[a]ll three major news networks were consistent in saying that the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between President Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.” Both CNN and MSNBC heralded that “TRUMP CLAIMS ‘COMPLETE AND TOTAL EXONERATION’” on Russia. Fox claimed “MUELLER PROBE FINDS NO PROOF … Read More

Emptywheel: I’ve made this point implicitly a few times, but it bears making explicitly. We have proof that Bill Barr’s memo spins the known contents of the Mueller Report to minimize the complicity of Trump’s flunkies. That’s because we can compare what we know about Roger Stone’s efforts to optimize the release of the emails Russia stole with the language used in the memo. … Read More

I’m seeing an awful lot of hot takes about the Mueller report — winners and losers, who got it most wrong, etc., — and it’s sort of flabbergasting to me that we’re already rolling with these since NO ONE HAS READ THE FUCKING REPORT AND KNOWS WHAT IS IN IT. I’m assuming that is the Republican plan: gaslight us for … Read More

I had a busy weekend so I only read the Barr summary of the Mueller investigation which came down yesterday at 5 pm. Let’s start with one truism: When prosecutors say that an investigation “did not establish” something, that doesn’t mean that they concluded it didn’t happen, or even that they don’t believe it happened. It means that the investigation … Read More