Why, Why, Why did they Lie, Lie, Lie<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is the President, he\u2019s staying the President, and he\u2019ll get re-elected President Presidential Senior Advisor Kelly-Ann Conway \u2013 4\/19\/19<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Donald J Trump is a cancer on the Presidency \u2013 George Conway, Kelly-Ann\u2019s husband<\/em>\u2013 4\/19\/19<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the end of my Presidency, I\u2019m f**ked! \u2013 Donald Trump, 4\/17\/17, the day Mueller was appointed <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n President Trump is a victim. As he said at the release of the Mueller Report, \u201c\u2026no President should have to go through this.\u201d Attorney General Bill Barr continued this \u201cvictim\u201d theme in his pre-release press conference, characterizing the President as: <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026<\/em>frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks.\u201d<\/em> Barr legally excused the President\u2019s continuing acts of obstructing justice because of this frustration. Let\u2019s hope that doesn\u2019t become a more general criminal standard: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Defendant \u2013 \u201cI didn\u2019t file my tax returns because I was frustrated, your honor.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Judge \u2013 \u201cOh, you were frustrated, then you can go home, have a good day!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And Donald Trump Jr, is ignorant. I\u2019m not trying to be insulting, I\u2019m simply stating what the Mueller Report said. Mueller determined that he couldn\u2019t charge Junior with conspiring with the Russians at the June 9th<\/sup>meeting, because Donny didn\u2019t know working with the Russians to get stolen material to use against Hillary Clinton was wrong. The legal term is mens rea<\/em>, \u201cthe intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime.\u201d If he didn\u2019t know it was wrong, he can\u2019t be convicted. So much for \u201cignorance of the law is no excuse,\u201d go ahead and run a Presidential campaign, you don\u2019t need to know the law, in fact, knowledge will get you in trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the overarching theme of the Mueller Report is that the Trump Campaign was in almost constant contact with Russian sources, and that the members of that campaign, led by the President himself, have lied over and over again about what they did. Which begs the question: why, why, why did they lie, lie, lie?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If they were truly \u201cvictims\u201d as their bedtime story goes, of Federal agents who plotted a \u201ccoup\u201d to overthrow the duly elected President: it they were truly \u201cinnocent,\u201d then why did (and do) they continue to lie about what happened?\u00a0\u00a0The short answer is \u201cmens rea<\/em>\u201d once again, they really thought what they did was wrong, whether Mr. Mueller could prove it or not.\u00a0\u00a0They acted guilty because they thought they were guilty, and but for the lying of defendants who anticipate a Presidential pardon, destruction of evidence (where did all the Bannon\/Prince texts go) and obstruction of justice, they might well have been charged.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Cohen said it best as quoted in the report: the Trump campaign was a \u201cbranding exercise\u201d that went tragically wrong. They weren\u2019t supposed to win, winning exposed the Trump organization to the legal scrutiny that the Trumps had spent generations trying to avoid. The Mueller report is just the first step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mueller Report is a road map for other Federal Prosecutors. It is also a road map for Congressional Impeachment, with the second volume on Presidential obstruction of justice laying out ten separate charges. Mueller himself felt constrained by Justice Department policies: he couldn\u2019t indict a sitting President and he felt a \u201csealed\u201d indictment to be opened after Trump leaves office was \u201cunfair.\u201d The Special Counsel felt that if you deny a defendant their \u201cspeedy trial\u201d and day in court by sealing the indictment for an extended period of time, you deny them justice. And, as Julian Assange can attest to, sealed indictments don\u2019t always remain sealed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But all of the actions of the Trump organization weren\u2019t within the narrow scope of investigation that was Mr. Mueller\u2019s charge.\u00a0Mueller didn\u2019t look into the loans from Deutsche Bank, and whether the Russians, or the Saudis, or the Qatari\u2019s have an undue influence over the President through the money he owes them.\u00a0Mueller couldn\u2019t look, but the Congressional committees and the Federal prosecutors in New York can.\u00a0\u00a0The Mueller investigation made over a dozen sealed referrals to other prosecutors; the conclusion of the Muller investigation is not the conclusion of problems for Donald J. Trump.\u00a0\u00a0Maybe that\u2019s why they continue to lie, lie, lie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"