Justice Dept. memo exposes shameless deceit of Mueller’s RussiaGate probe

In a final blow to the credibility of RussiaGate special counsel Robert Mueller, a newly released 2019 memo shows he was blowing smoke in pretending that, even though the whole Russia-collusion case was utterly baseless, then-President Donald Trump could still be prosecuted for obstruction of justice over how he dealt with the investigation. 

Naturally, the media have greeted the memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel with dead silence. 

When Mueller finally testified publicly about his findings, he turned out to be sadly diminished from his salad days, enormously challenged in even explaining the work he’d supposedly supervised for nearly two years. It was evident he’d simply served as a figurehead for the partisan Democrats who actually did the investigation — which, he admitted, found zero serious evidence of Trump-Russia collusion.

But he still hedged, saying that if his office “had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.” 

In other words, they couldn’t prove a negative (not that they wanted to). And that’s basically what the 2019 memo said: Mueller’s minions not only didn’t have evidence to support obstruction charges, but “certain of the conduct examined by the Special Counsel could not, as a matter of law, support an obstruction charge” — meaning they were trying to treat completely legal Trump actions as obstruction.

Then-Attorney General Bill Barr duly announced as much, and was pilloried by the Trump-hating press as covering for Orange Man.

Mueller’s staff delivered their report to Barr (contrary to his request) in such a way that he couldn’t immediately release it to the public; he had to have his staff take days to redact various confidential information. And that delay, too, fed the “Barr coverup” hysteria.

The newly released memo reveals that the whole investigation was utterly weaponized against Trump: Mueller’s minions came up empty-handed, yet still tried to paint him as a crook.  

All part and parcel of the overall RussiaGate insanity, where democracy, we were told, was at stake. Out the door went the normal rules of journalism and justice, as insiders leaked “scoop” after empty scoop to eagerly gullible “news” outlets — only for all of it to evaporate on contact with reality. 

Recent months have brought an avalanche of revelations wrecking every major prop of the RussiaGate claims. The Steele Dossier was bunk based on nothing but speculative gossip among a “researcher” and his pals.

And the FBI and Justice Department knew it, but acted on the bogus information anyway — moved in part by the hysteria the media were creating on the basis of deceitful leaks from Democratic government insiders. 

Democracy was at stake, but the press and relevant parts of Justice were on the wrong side. No wonder no one (except the willfully deceived) trusts them anymore.