5. Trump Is A Bully Who Has No Problem Prevaricating For Political Gain, And Encouraging Others To Do So. With all of this said, the report is humiliating for President Trump. He acted embarrassingly repeatedly with regard to Russia during the 2016 campaign – he defended Vladimir Putin, he lied about the Trump Tower in Moscow, he praised Wikileaks – and then he acted even more embarrassingly and immorally in order to avoid the consequences of his original activity. Thus, he instructed Donald Jr. to lie to the press in his statement about the Trump Tower meeting; he tried to push Don McGahn to lie to the press regarding Trump’s desire to fire James Comey; he tried, via Corey Lewandowski, to push Attorney General Sessions to talk about his innocence and constrict the scope of the Mueller investigation; he tried to pressure Sessions to “unrecuse” himself and publicly browbeat him to do so; he tried to get McGahn to fire Mueller based on nonsensical accusations of conflict of interest. All of this is immoral, wretched, terrible behavior. But, according to the Mueller report, each of these instances only hints at violation of obstruction of justice; none of these incidents are dispositive.
6. Trump’s Team Has Prevented Him From Following Through On His Worst Instincts. Repeatedly. McGahn stopped Trump from firing Sessions and Mueller; he refused to comply with Trump’s order to lie about the Mueller incident in a statement to the public. Jeff Sessions refused to unrecuse himself. Chris Christie refused to facilitate bizarre phone calls with James Comey. Rick Dearborn refused to threaten Jeff Sessions, and James Comey didn’t end his investigation of Mike Flynn. As the report notes, “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”
7. Trump Probably Wasn’t Trying To Cover Anything Up. He Was Just (Rightly) Pissed. This is Barr’s point, and it happens to be true. Take, for example, Trump’s reaction to Mueller’s appointment. According to the report, Trump “slumped” in his chair and then shouted, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m f*cked.” Trump then added, “Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won’t be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.” Note he didn’t say he was upset that Mueller might find something. He was worried about the time suck. Trump routinely expresses his anger that the Mueller investigation kept going; he was angry at James Comey for failing to publicly declare he wasn’t under investigation (which would have been true); he was enraged at Jeff Sessions for failing to limit the scope of the investigation. Again, there was no underlying collusion to cover up. This was Trump lashing out, his aides stopping him (or, in too many cases, lying to the public but not the investigators), and Trump tweeting his rage at the universe. That’s not corrupt intent. That’s immature but understandable rage combined with ignorance about the nature of the presidency and the legal system.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/46163/8-things-you-need-know-about-mueller-report-ben-shapiro
6. Trump’s Team Has Prevented Him From Following Through On His Worst Instincts. Repeatedly. McGahn stopped Trump from firing Sessions and Mueller; he refused to comply with Trump’s order to lie about the Mueller incident in a statement to the public. Jeff Sessions refused to unrecuse himself. Chris Christie refused to facilitate bizarre phone calls with James Comey. Rick Dearborn refused to threaten Jeff Sessions, and James Comey didn’t end his investigation of Mike Flynn. As the report notes, “The President’s efforts to influence the investigation were mostly unsuccessful, but that is largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.”
7. Trump Probably Wasn’t Trying To Cover Anything Up. He Was Just (Rightly) Pissed. This is Barr’s point, and it happens to be true. Take, for example, Trump’s reaction to Mueller’s appointment. According to the report, Trump “slumped” in his chair and then shouted, “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I’m f*cked.” Trump then added, “Everyone tells me if you get one of these independent counsels it ruins your presidency. It takes years and years and I won’t be able to do anything. This is the worst thing that ever happened to me.” Note he didn’t say he was upset that Mueller might find something. He was worried about the time suck. Trump routinely expresses his anger that the Mueller investigation kept going; he was angry at James Comey for failing to publicly declare he wasn’t under investigation (which would have been true); he was enraged at Jeff Sessions for failing to limit the scope of the investigation. Again, there was no underlying collusion to cover up. This was Trump lashing out, his aides stopping him (or, in too many cases, lying to the public but not the investigators), and Trump tweeting his rage at the universe. That’s not corrupt intent. That’s immature but understandable rage combined with ignorance about the nature of the presidency and the legal system.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/46163/8-things-you-need-know-about-mueller-report-ben-shapiro
