Justin Amash Hits Trump WH and Allies for ‘Trying to Excuse’ POTUS’ Efforts to Obstruct Investigation
Congressman Justin Amash, the lone Republican to express support for beginning impeachment proceedings, posted another lengthy Twitter thread today, this time on the difference between Attorney General Bill Barr‘s summary letter and what the Mueller report actually said.
Amash has stood by his assessment of Trump’s actions in the midst of criticism by fellow Republicans.
The congressman himself acknowledges he “initially fell for” Barr’s summary letter and made objections based on the AG’s skewed framing:
As you can see from the attached tweet, I initially fell for Attorney General Barr’s March 24 letter of principal conclusions—but then I read Mueller’s report. https://t.co/cBuatwNInE
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Mueller’s report describes acts of obstruction by President Trump, and it clearly says Mueller chose not to decide whether Trump had committed a crime because Mueller was prohibited from actually charging him.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Mueller explains that prudential concerns and an official DoJ opinion prevented him from indicting the president, and then, because it would be unfair to accuse the president of a crime without actually charging him, Mueller declined to decide whether Trump had committed a crime.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Note that my March 24 tweet doesn’t even mention obstruction. That’s because Barr’s letter falsely implies Mueller looked at the evidence and simply could not decide whether Trump should be indicted because of legal and factual issues regarding whether his actions were criminal.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Barr doesn’t even mention that, because of the DoJ opinion, Mueller believed that charging a sitting president with a crime was not an option; Barr only cites the DoJ opinion in a footnote when describing his own analysis, not Mueller’s analysis.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Because it was unclear why Mueller chose not to decide whether to charge the president with a crime, I was unhappy about this line from Mueller, quoted by Barr: “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Here’s the tweet expressing my displeasure: https://t.co/IRLnon6v14
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
But in context—which Barr fails to provide—Mueller’s declaration makes more sense.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
It’s not that Mueller couldn’t make up his mind, chose not to make a decision, and then said Trump wasn’t exonerated; rather, Mueller had decided that it was inappropriate to make a determination as to whether Trump had committed a crime, and he sought to make that fact clearer.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Mueller wrote that it would be improper for him to conclude that Trump should be charged, given that he could not actually charge him, because it would put a criminal accusation over the president’s head, with no opportunity for a formal defense.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
Amash also called out the Trump administration for how it reacted to Barr’s summary letter vs. what Mueller’s report said:
The White House’s reaction to Barr’s letter is also telling. Trump had long been harshly critical of Mueller and his investigation, calling him “totally conflicted” and “disgraced and discredited,” and the investigation “illegal” and a “rigged witch hunt.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
When Barr’s letter came out, the White House abruptly changed its tone. Trump said “the Mueller report was great” and that Mueller had acted honorably, and he touted the report as a “total exoneration.” Kellyanne Conway referred to the investigation as “the gold standard.”
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
But, as we later found out, Mueller’s report is damning for the president. If Barr’s letter had accurately reflected the report, the White House would not have reacted positively.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
And with Mueller’s report now out, the White House no longer has anything positive to say about Mueller and his team.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
The president and his allies are instead trying to excuse Trump’s efforts to obstruct the entire investigation into Russian election interference by alleging problems with elements of it and claiming, without basis, that they undermine Mueller’s obstruction analysis.
— Justin Amash (@justinamash) June 7, 2019
[image via screengrab]
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