A careful reading of the Mueller Report makes it clear that a Justice Department rule that the President may not be indicted for crime while in office was the major factor in why Mueller could not indict President Trump.
As a solid "rule of law" guy, that left Mueller with the problem of listing all the things he has found so far against the President so that Congress and the American people could look at the list and decide whether or not the President was a criminal.
Ordinarily, Special Counsels take several years to do an investigation. The Watergate case was not finished until two years after President Nixon resigned. In this case, it appears that when Attorney General Barr took over, the investigation was halted before Mueller could finish. There are many unanswered questions because so many of the witnesses lied or had destroyed evidence.
Proving someone has lied takes a long time. With the Mueller probe shut down, it is likely that there are some things we will never know.
All that aside, there are some things we do know. So many details in the Mueller report should leave everyone, not just the Democrats, unsettled. The Mueller Report opens with the stark statement that Russia interfered with and influenced the 2016 election. And so far, while every American (and major international) agency related to intelligence gathering has said the same thing, the President has done nothing about it it. He believes Russian President Vladimir Putin who has denied Russian interference. And there is no serious effort by the Trump administration to do anything about it. What is worse, every major intelligence officer with expertise in the Russian interference in the FBI has been fired or taken off the case.
Russia used their computers to "invade" America and Europe, stirring up old prejudices, stealing information, manipulating voter registrations, and spreading misinformation. Who benefitted? The Republicans did. President Trump did. It is no wonder they do not want to have Mueller continue his probe into the Russian influence.
Without firing shot, Russia has gotten NATO to be weaker, the international climate accord disrupted, American allies facing tariff wars that weaken both American and their economies, and have threatened the dissolving of partnerships and alliances that have kept peace in the western world for seventy five years.
And they have left America so divided that we may never recover, at least not in our life time. And the Republicans will blame, not the Russians, but the Democrats. And the Democrats cannot straighten things out on their own. Even if the 2020 election is overwhelmingly won by the Democrats, there will still be Republicans who will never believe the Russians did it. Never.
So sad. So very sad.
