Mueller Report - Section by Section Summary - Volume I

[15yds4gibberish]

Been catching up on the threads and based on what people have written it’s pretty clear that nobody here (with one exception) has actually read the Mueller Report. On Wednesday, Robert Mueller III is scheduled to testify before Congress.  Mueller has already told us, the American people, that his report is his testimony, we won’t learn anything that isn’t already in the report, and he encourages everybody to read the report for themselves.

Mueller even already told us why he thinks it’s important for us to read the report for ourselves toward the end of Volume II.  If we don’t, we will miss the forest for the trees – It’s important to see the events not in isolation, but in terms of an overall pattern – That’s where the story is.

 

I wish I shared Mueller’s faith in the American people.  I don’t.  When it comes to the choice between reading  448 pages (700+ pages with amendments) containing a long series of names and confusing roles (although parts of it do read like a spy thriller), and believing a pithy 4 word, but fundamentally incorrect, phrase about the report, I’m pretty sure I know how most American’s are going to choose.

Yet, the Mueller report is one of the more important documents written in our lifetime.   And, if there are life lessons to be learned in sport, one of them has to be about the importance of putting in effort.

So for those reasons, and in preparation for Mueller’s testimony, if time permits, between now and then I plan to post a series of summaries of each of the sections in the Mueller Report.

In the meantime, the report is free and available to everyone to read.  You can find a copy here

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/18/708850903/read-the-full-mueller-report-with-redactions

A quick note about my methodology.  I try to summarize the sections, but I also try to let parts of the report speak for itself by cutting and pasting directly from it.  I often highlight the portion of the passage to complete a thought or sentence I’ve written above it.

[15yds4gibberish]

Vol 1 Section Summary: Introduction to Volume 1:

Barely 2 pages, this section contains several interesting items.  It begins with perhaps the most important line in the report:

I encourage all American’s to take a moment to ponder that statement and think through the ramifications of it -- The most fundamental issue of democracy is the sanctity of our elections…

The report continues…

In the middle of the first page, we learn the origin of the investigation.  It started when…

Sorry Devin Nunes, there’s no mention of the Steel Dossier…

Later down the same page, we begin to learn just how deceptive AG William Barr was in his March 24 letter, when he only extracted the last clause of this sentence in order to make his top line conclusion:

 

Another important sentence necessary to understanding what the report means when it employs the phrase 'did not establish' is this:

Mueller also articulates his understanding of the relationship between the terms ‘collusion,’ ‘coordination,’ and conspiracy.

 

In other words, when AG William Barr said things like the special council ‘found no underlying collusion with Russia,’ Barr was being misleading about both what Mueller examined and what Muller meant when he wrote he ‘did not establish’ or find something.  There is evidence of conspiracy (to be technically correct when speaking about the report, collusion isn’t a thing, so Muller wasn’t looking for it), and what Mueller really provides in his report are his prosecutorial decisions based on that evidence, his interpretation of the law, and within the confines of what he understands to be his jurisdiction.

Mueller concludes the Volume 1 introduction with a brief explanation what is contained in Volume 1 and Volume 2 of the report.  

·         Volume I “describes the factual results of the Special Counsel’s investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and it’s interactions with the Trump campaign.”

·         Volume II “addresses the President’s actions toward the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and related matters, and his actions towards the Special Counsel’s investigation.”

[15yds4gibberish]

Vol 1 Section Summary: The Special Counsel Investigation:

In this section, Mueller clearly lays out how he understood his jurisdiction – Which was both quite limited and which Mueller largely did not seek to expand – Making the Mueller investigation highly unusual in the history of special council investigations.  As matters came to him that pushed the envelope of his jurisdiction, he referred them elsewhere (at the end of the report, there is a list of transfers of 10 investigations begun by the office of the special council, and an additional 14 heavily redacted referrals which Mueller describes as covering “evidence of potential criminal activity that was outside the scope of the Special Council’s jurisdiction.”).  Keep an eye on these (but also note there is now reason to suspect, but not confirmed, Barr may be systematically killing them).

Mueller’s narrow, and favorable to Trump, interpretation of his jurisdiction will be most apparent in the introduction to volume II.

Continuing in this section, Mueller reviews his entire staff, including 19 attorneys at its peak, but there’s no word about their party affiliation much less their anger level.

One of the more important paragraphs in this section is this:

 

 

In other words, the Mueller probe was a criminal probe only.  The report doesn’t answer counterintelligence questions.  This means that where the report concludes that someone didn’t engage in a conspiracy, don’t confuse that with answering the question of whether there is counterintelligence risk associated with that person.  If you ever decide to read this report, keep asking yourself this question:  ‘If I were an FBI counterintelligence agent and I knew this material, how concerned would I be that this individual is compromised?’

 

 

 

[15yds4gibberish]

Vol 1 Section Summary: Russian Active Measures Social Media Campaign:

This section of the Mueller Report is about the first form of Russian influence on the campaign conducted principally from the Internet Research Agency (IRA).  The discussion of the Russian social media campaign is the most exonerating of Trump and his campaign.  When Mueller writes:

“Did not identify,” is stronger language than “did not establish.”

Nevertheless, the IRA was able to reach tens of millions of Americans using dummy social media accounts.  It was able to trick prominent people into engaging with and promoting dummy accounts, including a series of contacts with Trump affiliates, getting Trump figures – including Trump himself – to engage with and promote social media content that came from a hostile power’s covert effort to influence the American electorate.  Mueller writes:

While members of the Trump campaign weren’t active partners in this scheme, they were suckers.

Sidebar note: This section includes a couple of memes – And I’m not really sure, but I think one of them might have shown up on this blog.

This section really describes a big problem we have with Social Media – Some of the responsibility falls on the companies that need to better police their platforms, but some of the solution has to come from us citizens, particularly our leaders.  We must be willing to take more care about sharing on social media, most especially when we aren’t certain about the source…This obviously includes the President, his family members, and campaign staff.

[15yds4gibberish]

Vol 1 Section Summary: GRU Hacking Directed At The Clinton Campaign:

If the active measures section of the report is exonerating of Trump and his campaign, this section is not.  While Mueller does not appear to have developed evidence that the campaign was involved with the hacking campaign itself, it wasn’t for lack of trying. 

There are multiple threads in this section, but comments here are limited to two of them.

 

Coordination with WikiLeaks

How much did Trump personally know about Russian efforts to assist his campaign and when did he know it?  A very heavily redacted section of the report provides hints, including this:

While Muller found ‘insufficient evidence’ to charge a criminal conspiracy, by late summer 2016 it’s clear that the campaign was keeping a close eye on Russia-linked hacking and leaking efforts, planning a press communications strategy around the WikiLeaks releases, and Trump himself may have been getting a heads up about what WikiLeaks had planned – A long way from ‘no collusion.’  Keep an eye on ratfucker Roger Stone’s trial as between redactions the Mueller report describes the direct engagement between the GRU and Stone (I half think Trump may try to pardon Stone ahead of trial, but obviously I don’t know).

 

The Search for Clinton’s ‘Missing’ emails

At a July 27, 2016, campaign rally, Trump said: “Russia if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.” Two things happened afterward.  First the GRU acted in iterative interactive fashion, launching a phishing attack within 5 hours of Trump’s remark:

As noted above, in his written answers, Trump insisted he was joking in that speech.  But a second thing that happened after the comment was Trump’s private orders which mirrored his public call, repeatedly telling his campaign staff to go find the e-mails.  This indicates Trump wasn’t just joking:

 

At Trump’s request, Flynn reached out to a Republican Senate staffer and a party operative who worked separately to obtain the e-mails.  The operative raised money to support the project, which he marketed as “coordinated with the Trump campaign,” and told others he was in communication with Russian hackers who had access to emails he believed were Clinton’s.  But Mueller “did not establish” that the operative had actually made contact with any real Russian hackers.  And while the staffer obtained e-mails, an effort funded by a businessman close to the campaign found that they were not really Clinton’s.

‘Collusion’ has no legal definition.  But if the term means working behind the scenes with Russian actors to obtain hacked information damaging to Mrs. Clinton, then this section of the report describes just that – Collusion took place at Mr. Trump’s request.  It just wasn’t successful.

[15yds4gibberish]

Vol 1 Section Summary: Russian Government Links To And Contacts With The Trump Campaign:

This section documents the investigation regarding Russian contacts and links with the Trump campaign.  It’s well over 100 pages long which should give you some idea how many contacts between Russia and the campaign there were.  This section is complicated and confusing, so I’ll only dive into a few aspects and provide some overall impressions.

Sharing Polling Data

It’s important to remember that only 107,000 votes in three states, MI WI & PA, decided the election.  

While managing the campaign, campaign chairman Paul Manafort told his deputy Rick Gates to share ‘internal polling data’ private to the campaign with a Russian Konstantein Kilimnik  -- Whom according to the report “the F.B.I. assesses to have ties to Russian intelligence” and whom Gates believed to be a “spy” – So Kiliminik could share it with Ukrainian oligarch and a Russian oligarch.  Gates sent the data regularly, deleting the WhatsApp messages after he did so.  In an in-person meeting with Kilimnik:

 

Gates told the special counsel that Manafort believed sharing the polling data with Kilimnick, who passed it to Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripska, would help resolve a financial dispute between Manafort and Deripaska.  The report also states that Manafort hoped his campaign work would help him recover money he was owed by other oligarchs.  Yet…

We don’t know why Manafort was sharing internal polling data with Russians, specifically discussing the battleground states that swung the election.  This remains one of the more troubling loose ends in the report.  What we do know from the report is that part of the reason Mueller couldn’t find out is because of the use of encryption apps, and because Manafort believed he would be pardoned by Trump if he lied – so he lied.  This is further discussed in Vol 2 obstruction.

 

The Trump Tower Meeting

The Trump Tower meeting is one of the most damning single episodes discussed, since the campaign’s senior staff took a meeting with Russian representatives having been promised dirt on Clinton as part of the Russian government’s support of Trump.  But this is a very long topic, with a significant number of unanswered questions, much of it has already been reported in the press, so maybe this is a discussion for another time.  A couple of new points in the report:

·         Don Jr. “declined to be voluntarily interviewed by the Office.”  This is followed by a redaction for Grand Jury information.  Given that a subpoena would normally resolve the problem of such a refusal, it’s reasonable to speculate that Jr. may have asserted his 5^th Amendment rights.  At the end of the day, Mueller’s team was left without a full account of Jr’s. conduct.

 

·         In one of the more humorous passages, Mueller writes the following about Jr breaking the law:

Translation: Mueller thinks Jr. is too stupid to conspire.  The meeting was illegal, but Jr. didn’t know he was breaking the law, so Mueller gives him a pass.  More on this also in Vol 2. 

Trump Tower Moscow

It’s now well known that the negotiations for TT Moscow extended well into the summer of 2016.  The investigation makes clear that Trump – who spent the campaign insisting he had “nothing to do with Russia” – was lying through his teeth the whole time he was in fact seeking Russian presidential support for his business deal.  But it’s not illegal to have contacts with Russians, including Putin’s immediate staff, to try to build a building.  And it’s not obvious how this sort of ‘collusion’ could amount to conspiracy on concurrent Russian interference in the election.

 

The Big Story In This Section

In summary this section does tell a big story and it is the following:

·         Trump was willing to do business with, and seek favors from, the Russian state at the same time the Russian state was attacking our country – the presidency of which Trump was seeking – and Trump was willing to lie about doing so.

·         Trump campaign senior leadership was eager to benefit from Russia’s efforts to provide dirt on his opponent and was willing to meet with people it knew to represent that country in order to receive such information.

·         Multiple campaign staff and advisers engaged in conduct in relation to Russia that legitimately gave rise to a counterintelligence investigation.

·         Multiple campaign staff and advisers lied to investigators about their dealings with Russian officials and intermediaries.

I suppose it all adds up to this.  In Clinton, and Democrats, and liberals, the Trump campaign saw such an irreconcilable enemy that it looked at Vladimir Putin and saw a partner.  I guess under current law this doesn’t rise to the level of a crime, but at a minimum, it is a very deep betrayal.

[15yds4gibberish]

Vol 1 Section Summary: Prosecution and Declination Decisions

This section describes the rationales, the specific language, Mueller uses to charge or not charge people.  With a whole bunch of law citations, it’s not a section I’m going to try to summarize.  It’s there for anybody who is interested to read for themselves – But do note, if you have some question about the law and how and why it was applied the way it was in Volume 1, this is a good place to start.

 

END OF VOLUME 1.

[Bormio]

If you actually think anything is coming of this, you are more of an idiot than I already think.

[zulu1128]

I’m so sorry this is happening to you. 

[Horsefly]

5 hours ago, Bormio said:

If you actually think anything is coming of this, you are more of an idiot than I already think.

One who makes their opinions based on depth of information, as presented here,  is not an idiot. 

He already stated he didn’t have faith the public would read in depth but instead rely on sound bites 

 

[NotBigdaddybloom]

Pretty much sums up this entire farce fabricated by assholes in their infant stages of a temper tantrum over his election victory !

[I AM IRONMAN]

3 minutes ago, NotBigdaddybloom said:

Pretty much sums up this entire farce fabricated by assholes in their infant stages of a temper tantrum over his election victory !

What you wrote is just as good as the meme itself!

[I AM IRONMAN]

They'll get him next time!!!

[NotBigdaddybloom]

2 hours ago, Sportsnut said:

Very dumb.

Special ed was and is your place.

The truth is the writing in the report.

I knew you and the others would dispute the report. 

Mueller will clarify further.

Denial will persist.

IDIOTS.

 

[15yds4gibberish]

9 hours ago, Drummer61 said:

By late 2017, Muller knew that there was no collusion..

I know that Gym Jordan thinks this is a devastating argument.  It really isn't, it's just evidence that he didn't read the report as there are already multiple reasons in the public domain that make it clear the assertion is false.  Gym J will be embarrassed if he actually tries this (and he'll have to filibuster his time away to try to save face).

I'd list the reasons why for you, but I'm not going to be the one doing all the work here.  I encourage you to read the Introductory Note to Appendix C in the Mueller Report to see just one of a number of reasons.  If after that you still wonder if the above assertion has merit, I ask you to cut and paste the Introductory Note to Appendix C into this thread, and I'm sure I or someone else will point out the problem (I will have sporadic time at best in the coming days to post). 

[I AM IRONMAN]

12 minutes ago, NotBigdaddybloom said:

 

Perfect for Scott's nuts!

[Bormio]

This is a typical DC dog and pony show - they have been having things like this for years.  The script is written, oh there might be a twist or two, but the result is known.  Mueller is trapped - he already said he was not going to add to the report or go further than it.  If he does, it will look political and false.  You think that reading the report will change everyone’s mind.  But the basic conclusions are known, there is a reason the media has packed it in on impeachment for the last 2 months.  They know the report failed to make a persuasive case for impeachment - and you could post something the length of War and Peace and it would not change that fact.  But enjoy your delusion.  You can always drink heavily afterwards - or scream at the sky.

[15yds4gibberish]

2 hours ago, Bormio said:

This is a typical DC dog and pony show - they have been having things like this for years.  The script is written, oh there might be a twist or two, but the result is known.  Mueller is trapped - he already said he was not going to add to the report or go further than it.  If he does, it will look political and false.  You think that reading the report will change everyone’s mind.  But the basic conclusions are known, there is a reason the media has packed it in on impeachment for the last 2 months.  They know the report failed to make a persuasive case for impeachment - and you could post something the length of War and Peace and it would not change that fact.  But enjoy your delusion.  You can always drink heavily afterwards - or scream at the sky.

I prefer to think of it as posting something more like Don Quixote than War and Peace thank you.

Just so my "delusion" is clear ahead of tomorrow.  I don't think there will be any new revelations (at least for anybody who has read the report).  I don't think as a general rule, Bobby Three-Sticks is a dynamic speaker.  I don't like the format, because I think most congress people use their time to grandstand, don't know how to ask questions properly, and then when they actually do get an answer with an interesting tidbit, they don't know how to follow up.  They also don't coordinate across questioners, and they should have deferred to a single questioner as happened with Watergate, but everybody wants their camera time.   I don't like the timing - two days before the August recess - It is designed to make it go away -- Unless American's are vocal over the recess.

As for the limiting  the scope of his testimony , not a fan, but it also cuts both ways.  It means that most all the Republican conspiracy nonsense talking points -- the role of Strzok and Page, the Steele dossier, the FBI's use of informants, Carter Page FISA application, are also mostly outside the scope of the report -- With a notable exception of the pee tape (Do you know what the report says about the pee tape?).

Where I disagree with you is  that I don't think the basic conclusions are known -- I think quite the opposite.  The president committed crimes that fundamentally undercut democracy and for the most part American's either don't know or don't care.  Barr's whitewash worked.   

[noonereal]

3 hours ago, Bormio said:

 the report failed to make a persuasive case for impeachment - 

You are too smart to believe this, yet your bias allows you to. 

I love psychology. 

In the end it's always the same. Man is an emotional mess, a failed species, if you will. 

[concha]

7 minutes ago, noonereal said:

In the end it's always the same. Man is an emotional mess, a failed species, if you will. 

 

Exhibit 1:  Nooner

 

[Horsefly]

1 hour ago, 15yds4gibberish said:

I prefer to think of it as posting something more like Don Quixote than War and Peace thank you.

Just so my "delusion" is clear ahead of tomorrow.  I don't think there will be any new revelations (at least for anybody who has read the report).  I don't think as a general rule, Bobby Three-Sticks is a dynamic speaker.  I don't like the format, because I think most congress people use their time to grandstand, don't know how to ask questions properly, and then when they actually do get an answer with an interesting tidbit, they don't know how to follow up.  They also don't coordinate across questioners, and they should have deferred to a single questioner as happened with Watergate, but everybody wants their camera time.   I don't like the timing - two days before the August recess - It is designed to make it go away -- Unless American's are vocal over the recess.

As for the limiting  the scope of his testimony , not a fan, but it also cuts both ways.  It means that most all the Republican conspiracy nonsense talking points -- the role of Strzok and Page, the Steele dossier, the FBI's use of informants, Carter Page FISA application, are also mostly outside the scope of the report -- With a notable exception of the pee tape (Do you know what the report says about the pee tape?).

Where I disagree with you is  that I don't think the basic conclusions are known -- I think quite the opposite.  The president committed crimes that fundamentally undercut democracy and for the most part American's either don't know or don't care.  Barr's whitewash worked.   

You're not delusional, you made your point and expectations ahead of the testimony very clear the first time you posted.

its obvious some didn't read what you posted yesterday.  But I'm not surprised, this is the group where some show an understanding of topics that doesn't extend too far beyond  sound bites such as:

"lock her up!"

"build the wall!"

"send her back!"

just sayin'

[NotBigdaddybloom]

Remember sunshine 🌞 ...just because you want it to be true so bad you can taste it, doesn’t make it so!

[HSFBfan]

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2019/07/23/the_mueller_reports_footnotes_to_contradictory_119658.html