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As the world knows, the Mueller report, lightly redacted, was released in its entirety today.  I’m a very fast reader–occupational necessity–and have finished roughly 70% of it. The complete report may be found here.  Briefly, my initial 26 impressions:

1) DOJ rules prevent the establishment of a special counsel without first establishing a specific crime or crimes to be analyzed.  If there is no crime attributable to a specific person, prosecutors have nothing to do.  This was not done; it was a fishing expedition from start to finish, which the law, and DOJ rules were designed to prevent.

2) The legal issues in this report could easily have been covered in perhaps 40-50 pages.  The rest is an entirely political document filled with innuendo, double, triple and more hearsay, character assassination, and wild supposition.

3) Put aside for the moment the indisputable fact the Mueller investigation was, from the very beginning, a coup attempt, Robert Mueller had only one job: to examine reports provided him by the FBI to determine whether crimes were committed–crimes should have been identified before he was ever appointed–and whether there was sufficient evidence to justify an indictment and a trial.

4) Mueller–where President Trump was concerned–had only two issues before him: did Mr. Trump “collude” with the Russians, and did he obstruct justice?

5)“ Collusion” is not a crime.  If I speak to you and we agree to go to lunch, we have colluded.

6) If there is no underlying crime, there can be no obstruction of justice.  Mueller, up front in the report, admitted there was no underlying crime.  Go here for an excellent explication on obstruction.

7) Mueller admitted that no one associated with Mr. Trump–nor Mr. Trump himself–colluded with the Russians.  Obviously, no collusion, which essentially means no contact, no conspiracy to commit a crime, which was never identified prior to, or after, the establishment of the special counsel.

8) Ethical prosecutors investigating any crime–and remember, Mueller wasn’t investigating a crime, he had a man and was trying to find one to pin on him–either produce an indictment, or shut the hell up.  They don’t slander innocent people.

9) To be fair, police officers and prosecutors regularly look into people they are sure committed crimes, but can’t find sufficient evidence for indictment/trial.  That’s part of the job.  In either case, they shut the hell up and try to do better next time, but unlike in the Mueller case, they had a crime to investigate in the first place.

10) Mueller and his Democrat partisans/Clinton donors, indicted Republicans for flimsy process crimes, had much more substantial evidence on Democrats, and ignored their crimes.

11) Mueller likely only admitted there was no collusion because not only was there no evidence of it,there was damning and overwhelming evidence to prove there wasn’t.  Oh the wailing, rending of garments and gnashing of teeth that must have provoked among his mad dog associates!

12 ) Mueller weasel-worded his comments on obstruction, refusing to do his job, to give Democrats ammunition with which to pursue impeachment.  He either had evidence of obstruction or he didn’t.  Because there was never a prosecution of an underlying crime, there was nothing to be obstructed. Such evidence was sufficient to justify an indictment or it wasn’t.  That’s a prosecutor’s job, but he refused to do it and instead, went over to the dark side of a political operative.

13) The best evidence there was no obstruction is we can all read the report.

14) President Trump has the express constitutional power to fire anyone in the executive branch, including the FBI and DOJ, yet he allowed Mueller to finish his work.  Where is the obstruction in that?

15) It is not obstruction of justice to criticize a prosecutor or to talk among one’s associates about that prosecutor and related issues.  In America, we call this free speech.

16) Mueller cannot point to one action on the part of President Trump that in any material way so much as hampered him.

17) Oh boy was Mr. Trump right in firing James Comey.  Comey actually said FISA warrants were absolutely valid because judges wouldn’t approve them if they weren’t.  He neglected to mention the small matter of FBI agents and DOJ lawyers lying to FISA judges about the information they used to obtain those warrants.  This is, by the way, a real and serious crime.

18) No president may be charged with obstruction for exercising his express constitutional authorities.  Such exercise is, by definition, lawful.

19) There are a number of wild accusations in the report about supposedly intemperate comments Mr. Trump made–in private–about these issues.  One would be wise not to believe a word of it, but to whatever degree one chooses to give such gossip credence, so what?  Mr. Trump got angry when falsely accused–for two+ years?!

20) Why would such unverified gossip appear in a prosecutor’s report?  It has nothing to do with any potential crime.  In my police days, I would never have written such juvenile blather, my superiors would never have allowed it, and if they did, it would have destroyed my reputation in the criminal justice system.

21) Mueller’s deputies were supposed to be accomplished and highly competent prosecutors.  Their report reads like a high school gossip sheet. It’s embarrassing, not that any of them are likely capable of embarrassment.

22) Mr. Trump spoke obscenities about Mueller, Democrats, and other bottom dwellers besieging him? That’s why he was elected–he’s not afraid take on America’s enemies.

23) Mueller claimed Mr. Trump’s written answers to Mueller’s questions were “inadequate.”  This means only that Mr. Trump didn’t confess to crimes he didn’t commit, and did not write anything that would allow Mueller to catch him in an unethical perjury trap.

24) Mr. Trump, like all citizens, retains an absolute Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. No one is obligated to speak to the police about anything.

25) Mr. Trump provided unrestricted access to his employees, every document requested, and did not once assert executive privilege. Contrast this with the Obama Administration.

26) AG Barr is being called a partisan for Mr. Trump because he is actually following the law and acting as a non-partisan AG should.  Democrats aren’t used to that.

I doubt I’ll be writing much more at this particular stage of this, the worst actual political scandal in American history.  This was, gentle readers, a coup attempt.  Democrats will continue to wail and moan, and the media–their propaganda arm–will gladly publish any droppings they leave, but the coup attempt is, for all intents and purposes, over.

One final thing is clear: unless AG Barr fully investigates this attempt to turn America into a banana republic, we will be on a steeper downward path to civil war.  There are almost certainly hundreds, not only in the FBI and DOJ, but Congress, the Obamites, including Mr. Obama, and various other Democrat organizations, that are surely legally culpable.  Each and every one must be identified, indicted and tried, but only for actual offenses.  The integrity of our republic requires it.

UPDATE, 04-19-19, 1650 CST:  I’ve completed the Mueller report.  Volume two, some two hundred pages, is nothing but a hearsay filled opposition research document.  No professional prosecutor should have so much as thought of writing something so devoid of any relation to the law or any competent investigation of any crime. It was written to allow Democrats to continue to scream “obstruction” and in so doing, distract from their own culpability in the attempted coup.

The moment Mueller was aware there was no collusion, he should have immediately reported that and closed up shop.  If there was no collusion–which isn’t a crime–there could be no crime, and if there was no crime, there was nothing for Mr. Trump or anyone else to obstruct.  Mueller is not a man of integrity, a honorable prosecutor.  He’s a willing Democrat operative who enabled Democrats, for more than two years, to pursue a coup that might have been successful.  He caused enormous damage to this nation, which may never be repaired.