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90/ This is incorrect. We were waiting on *Mueller* to tell us if there was a provable criminal conspiracy in the collusion we know about, and *are* waiting on *20 other investigations* to tell us if there were *other* impeachable crimes in that collusion.https://twitter.com/brianbeutler/status/1118891268929617921 …
91/ And the way Barr has framed the Mueller Report, it's *certain* we won't even get a *complete* answer on whether there was a criminal conspiracy in the collusion we know about—as Trump's collusion with Russia was part of a *multinational* conspiracy Mueller didn't investigate.
92/ The reports we've had from the NYT, Washington Post, ProPublica, and others have established that Trump's collusion with Russia was part of a broader "grand bargain" involving at least 6 countries—yet we heard *none* of those countries but Russia named by Barr in his presser.
93/ So in speaking carefully today, we must say that, *at most*, what we will learn in an hour is how much evidence there is that Trump or his circle engaged in *one* type of conspiracy with *one* type of co-conspirator (Russian government officials, and *perhaps* their cutouts).
94/ MAJOR BREAKING NEWS: Mueller Report Released Link: https://www.justice.gov/storage/report.pdf … More coming very soon...
95/ NOTE: I am only going to focus on *new* information in the Report that readers of this feed do not already know. More coming very soon...
96/ The Executive Summary to the Conspiracy Section (Volume I) seems to suggest that Mueller believes the first report to U.S. intelligence about Russia came from the Australians in July, regarding Papadopoulos' May 2016 meeting with Downer (in an earlier typo, I said "April").
97/ To be clear, though, I don't want to draw conclusions from the Executive Summary—especially as counterintelligence information from our Western allies may have been redacted. So let's proceed with caution, and simply put a pin in the Papadopoulos-Downer meeting in May 2016.
98/ "The investigation also identified numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign." Barr didn't note *that*.
99/ You will hear many today distinguish, quite rightly, between "did not establish [beyond a reasonable doubt]" and "no evidence" of conspiracy (or "coordination," which Mueller apparently defined identically as "conspiracy").
100/ The report *explicitly says* that "did not establish" does *not* mean "there was no evidence." Wow. Mueller anticipated the Trump-Barr line of political rhetoric and fully defused it in the first *two pages* of his Report. That's something *else* we never heard from Barr.
101/ CONFIRMED: Mueller says he looked only at the crime of "conspiracy," not at other crimes (besides obstruction, of course).
102/ Wow—Mueller's summary of the Report's content does *not* say he looked at conspiracy with anyone but Russian government officials. That means that Barr *may* have misrepresented the Report in saying just minutes ago that it looked at conspiracy with *all* Russian nationals.
103/ The first redaction is "Harm to Ongoing Matter" and involves the Russian propaganda campaign. Already find myself thinking that what was redacted would be *incredibly* enlightening. And this is just the *first* redaction.
104/ The second redaction appears to be that Roger Stone began telling the campaign in *June 2016* that WikiLeaks would be releasing damaging information. Stone's name is what is likely (based on other info) what is redacted. Who did Stone tell? The evidence points to Trump here.
105/ What it says, however, is simply "senior campaign officials." I find it odd Mueller would think to note "Trump later said" his "Russia, if you're listening" comment was "sarcastic." That's not exculpatory—as that it was said *after* Trump was told his comment was a problem.
106/ Things get sticky very early on: Mueller says he looked at "individuals with ties to the Russian government," but then concludes no conspiracy provable beyond a reasonable doubt "with the Russian government." Which is it? The government, or government *plus* those with ties?
107/ Early indications are that Mueller's report may not include Trump-Russia ties from before 2015. We'll see, but that's the early indication.
108/ Mueller's early Papadopoulos summary does *not* include the allegation from Trump adviser John Mashburn that Papadopoulos told the campaign what Mifsud told him about the Kremlin having stolen Clinton emails. I'm not sure why; this was Congressional testimony from Mashburn.
109/ I'm hoping this early summary is bare bones, because it's certainly very credulous—saying that Page went to Moscow "in his personal capacity" when it's clear the campaign knew of the trip, approved it, and afterward was debriefed on it (because Page met a Kremlin official).
110/ Mueller sets the date for U.S. intel hearing from Australia on Papadopoulos/Downer as between July 22, 2016 and July 29. Moreover, it cites Papadopoulos as telling Downer the Kremlin "could assist" the Trump campaign—that's new information about how Papadopoulos phrased it.
111/ Wow—Mueller says the Trump campaign's data-sharing with a man tied to Russian intelligence (Kilimnik) began MONTHS BEFORE August 2016 and continued for MONTHS AFTER. which is *crazy* because Manafort (the Kilimnik contact) was fired in mid-August. How did the sharing happen?
112/ The Report is so far at great pains not to name *George Nader*. But he is definitely referenced. Far bigger news: Kushner *passed a Russian sanctions plan approved by Putin* to Bannon and Tillerson. It's hard to imagine he hid it from Trump. This was during the transition.
113/ I find it odd that the summary doesn't mention Trump (and Flynn's) August 17, 2016 classified briefing on Russia. It's one of the biggest moments in the timeline, legally speaking, and it hasn't appeared yet.
114/ Holy crap! "Trump told advisers it was the end of his presidency" when Mueller was appointed. Was he simply whining, or is that consciousness of guilt? Jesus Christ what a thing to say! And this is just the Executive Summary!
115/ Mueller has now confirmed a major topic of dispute (pg. 9): He *simply* concluded *insufficient evidence* to convict beyond a reasonable doubt on conspiracy. That's a *totally* different result than "no evidence."
116/ I want to be clear that I am moving through this document *methodically*. I am not going to skip pages, as it may lead to *inaccurate analysis*. I don't care if others are doing so. Bear with me and we will get to *everything*.
117/ In his charging section, the 3 collusive crimes Mueller says he looked at were: (1) FARA (2) Campaign finance crimes (3) Conspiracy This is a pretty narrow window into which Mueller looked, though it *does* seem to cover Illegal Solicitation of Foreign Campaign Donations.
118/ I am not going to talk much of Mueller concluding there was no chargeable hacking conspiracy, as—to be very clear—*no one ever alleged that*. It's no surprise what Mueller found.
119/ Wait—why does Mueller say he only charged "some" of the lies Trump campaign staff told to Congress and law enforcement? *By definition* any such lies are crimes, if you're calling them "lies"—rather than merely accidental omissions. We better get *some* explanation of this.
120/ Every Trump-Russia expert says we still have uncharged lies told by Trump aides to Congress and law enforcement. Mueller has now CONFIRMED it. The question is, were these lies not charged because these individuals are now cooperating in other prosecutions or investigations?
121/ Note the difference between "established" and "did not establish." So, Mueller says he "established" (determined) that the Mayflower interaction between Kislyak and Trump aides was non-substantive. But it "did not establish" (couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt) that...
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