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Atty. Gen. William Barr released the full redacted version of the Mueller Report to Congress today, giving Democrats ammunition to order more subpoenas and conduct more hearings before the 2020 presidential election. Democrats hoped when Mueller released his report to Barr March 22, that the government had proved its case of Russian collusion and obstruction of justice against 72-year-old President Donald Trump. When Mueller said he would not indict Trump on Russian collusion or obstruction of justice, Democrats had their 2020 election strategy upended. Today’s release gives House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerold Nadler (D-N.Y.), House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif) and House Government Affairs and Oversight Committee Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) hope that they can continue to bloody Trump before the 2020 election.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Atty. Gen. William Barr repeated that the Special Counsel’s Report acquitted Trump on the charge that he or his campaign colluded with the Russian government to gain advantage in the 2016 election. On the matter of obstruction of justice, Barr said that Mueller didn’t not find enough evidence to charge Trump with a crime, deferring the matter to Congress. Speaking today, Nadler said he would subpoena the whole, unredacted Mueller Report and its underlying evidence to ascertain whether Trump committed high-crimes-and-misdemeanors. Whether Democrats move ahead with impeachment proceedings is anyone’s guess. Nadler objected to Barr’s characterization that Trump was cleared by the Special Counsel on the obstruction charge. Nadler cited Mueller saying that he could neither charge nor clear Trump on obstruction of justice.

Jumping on the fact that Trump tried to get his former attorney Don McGahn to get Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein to fire Mueller because of “conflicts-of-interests” or get former Campaign Manager Cory Lewandowski to get former Atty Gen. Jeff Sessions to call the Special Counsel investigation “very unfair,” did not rise to the level of criminal obstruction of justice. Mueller concluded on the issue of obstruction that his 23 experienced prosecutors could not make a case for obstruction “beyond-a-reasonable-doubt,” leaving the matter unsettled. But Mueller’s decision, as primary “trier-of-fact,” weighing out all the best evidence, was that he could not charge the president with obstruction. Nadler and Schiff view Mueller’s inability to charge Trump with obstruction as proof that the case must be litigated in Congress. Neither Nadler nor Schiff has been able to build a strong case against Trump.

Democrats point to transcript of Trump’s words when Sessions told him May 17, 2017 that former FBI Director Robert Mueller had been appointed Special Counsel. “Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I’m fu—d,” Trump reportedly said, slumping in his chair. Democrats interpret Trump’s statements as a criminal confession, when it was simply a reaction to the likely interference caused by a Special Counsel to Trump’s presidency. Calling Mueller’s report, “Game Over,” President Trump paraphrased “Game of Thrones” to say the witch-hunt was finally over. Instead of giving a prosecutors thumbs-up or thumbs-down on prosecution, Mueller punted the obstruction issue back to Congress. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Democrats want to “vilify a political opponent,” keeping the obstruction case going beyond Mueller’s final verdict.

Democrats cite Trump’s refusal to testify under oath in the Mueller probe as further proof of obstruction of justice. Yet Democrats-and-Republicans know that criminal defendants typically don’t take the witness stand. Not because they’re guilty because defense attorneys want to control the narrative. Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY.) criticized Barr. “One thing is clear: Atty. Gen. Barr presented a conclusions that the president did not obstruct justice while Mueller’s report appears to undercut that finding,” Pelosi and Schumer said. Both know that Mueller did not have the evidence on obstruction of justice to charge Trump with a crime. Nadler said Mueller’s report “outlines disturbing evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction of justice and other misconduct,” knowing Mueller said there was insufficient evidence to charge Trump with a crime.

Mueller’s strongest case for obstruction involved the May 9, 2017 firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Democrats contend that Trump fired Comey to thwart the counter-intelligence investigation into potential Russian collusion. Yet Comey himself admitted May 10, 2017 that Trump had every right under Article 2 to fire him. Mueller acknowledged in the report that the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts” but said prosecutors “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.” When it came to the infamous June 9, 2016 Trump Tower meeting, Mueller said he couldn’t prove that Donald Trump Jr. and others “had general knowledge that either conduct was unlawful,” weighing against Russian collusion.