Wherein lies the true Collusion and Obstruction?

Watching the news and CSPAN these days, I find myself wondering "Wherein lies the true Collusion and Obstruction?"

Okay, I'll be honest I have not yet had time to read the "Mueller Report" in its entirety.  That being said, I have taken in inputs from multiple noteworthy news and information sources.  My take away from what I have come to understand thus far is the following:

1)  Mueller's primary job was to investigate for evidence of "collusion to interfere in a Presidential Election."  He halfway did this, choosing to ignore evidence on the Democratic side of the equation, namely the origins of the Dossier --provided by Fusion GPS, via funding from Hillary Clinton and DNC, and now we are hearing possibly some funding from President Obama's campaign funds-- where this 'Trump Dossier' was improperly used to obtain multiple FISA warrants on Carter Page and other elements of the Trump Campaign.  Hopefully, the DOJ will pull on these threads to see where this information leads.

2) Mueller's conclusion as to the above was "no evidence of collusion" on the Part of President Donald Trump or his election campaign.  Let me repeat this, because the mainstream media isn't accurately reporting this.  They seem to be spinning the narrative that it isn't over yet, because Congress has further investigations to conduct, which is legally inaccurate.  Robert Mueller and his team of lawyers were tasked to put this matter to rest and they found no evidence of collusion on the part of the President of the United States.  Robert Mueller is the Special Counsel 'hired' to make this determination; Mueller made his determinations and now it's over.  Congress has already conducted numerous independent investigations, none of which turned up any material evidence of a crime.  What does this mean?  It means that after years of ongoing investigation it's about TIME the U.S. Congress finally gets back to the business of legislating!  One wonders, has the U.S. Congress completely forgotten that their primary reason for being is to actually LEGISLATE??!!??

3) "Obstruction" was a secondary aspect Mueller chose to investigate.  That is to say, did the President interfere, with malicious intent, into the investigation into "Russion collusion" in any legally indictable manner ---aside from Trump's being angry at having the start of his Presidency mired under investigation, along with suspicions that his campaign had been spied on.*  Keep in mind, the sole job of the Special Counsel is to indict, in the absence of formal indictment our justice system operates under the assumption of "Innocent until proven guilty."  The burden of proof does not rest with the accused, be he/she a sitting President or just an ordinary citizen, contrary to what many sitting members of the U.S. Congress (Democrats) would have us believe.

*[Evidence has recently come to light which appears to support Trump's suspicions of "being spied one" and Attorney General Barr has vowed to investigate further.]

Had Mueller found clear evidence of obstruction, legally speaking he was obligated to have put forth that claim, along with supporting evidence to back it up in his report.  That was his JOB, but Mueller didn't make this claim.  So to claim now, after the fact, that underlying --necessary!-- criminal  evidence does exists for an "obstruction" charge against the President means one of two things:

Either a) Mueller didn't do his job or b) Partisan Politicians are now choosing to abuse their 'oversight' powers in order to continue their spin-narrative toward the end of delegitimizing the duly elected sitting President, thereby openly attempting to negate the outcome of the 2016 Election and subsequently the "will of the people."

These politicians actually think they know what is better for "We the People."  They basically think  that the collective "we" are too stupid to make valid choices for ourselves.   They mistakenly think that we are too inept to hold them accountable for their abuses of power and lack of producing any meaningful legislation (e.g., meaningful immigration reform legislation) that would actually benefit "We the People."  This egregious behavior should enrage voters on both sides of the aisle!  Because at the end of the day our entire country suffers when our elected representatives chose to serve interests other ours, particularly when they fail to attend to their legislative duties.  This current mentality that if Rules, as outlined in the U.S. Constitution, aren't working for you can just work your way around them is BEYOND SCARY!  Operating from this perspective, one is left wondering can the outcome of any election be manipulated in such a manner moving forward?  Biding time with costly, time-consuming bogus investigations until the next election cycle rolls around.

Image Source

"We The People?"

4) Attorney General Barr did go up to the Hill and testify before the Senate as requested.  His answers were pretty straightforward and to my way of thinking his responses served to dispel many of the mistruths being put forward by the Democrats and dishonest media outlets.  You would have reached a similar conclusion if you had watched the testimony being carried live on a few networks and CSPAN, while the dishonest networks just showed clips that supported their ongoing propaganda narrative that "Trump must be an agent working on behalf of Russia."  One wonders, where were these same vigilant, hard-hitting investigative journalist when President Obama had his HUGE 'hot mic' moment with Prime Minister Medvedev? Maybe it's me, but I'm not seeing any sort of rational balance in reporting these past few years.

As such, my recommendation to you is that you watch the congressional proceedings on CSPAN for yourself ... DVR them.  That way you can begin to get at a version of truth without the concerted propaganda spin-narrative being presented by the mainstream media.  Because in the absence of accountability for the actions (or lack thereof as the case may be) of our elected representatives and senators --which is underpinned by our access to accurate information, which we used to be able to obtain from our mainstream media-- the "consent of the governed" is basically meaningless.  The job of "We the People" extends beyond merely voting in elections.  We have a duty to remain continually, and moreover accurately, informed such that we can become fully engaged in monitoring the business of government.  Only then can we make meaningful choices, with intentional consequences, when we engage in our political election process.

5) Holding Attorney General Barr in contempt of Congress is really rich, given the fact that Barr has made a nearly non-redacted version of the "Mueller Report" available to members of Congress.  The only condition being that the document has to be viewed at the DOJ, and this is for legal reasons surrounding the release of documents containing Grand Jury testimony.  ***As far as I know, to date, not one single Democrat has taken advantage of the opportunity to go and read this near-non redacted report version currently available at DOJ.***  Furthermore, it is the actual LAW that prevents Barr from releasing a non-redacted version of the report --again given the legally binding confidentially of Grand Jury proceedings/information-- and the Democratic members of Congress know this!  ***If AG Barr gives them what they want he will be breaking the law.  The Democrats are just trying to make it appear as if Barr is trying to hide something in an effort to further their dishonest spin-narrative.***  This type of behavior is actually disgraceful and such a wide deviation from what our Founding Father's intended when they established our representative form of democracy.  It's shameful really to see our politics degenerate to this level of open partisanship and hostility.

Also from what I understand, Barr's refusal to testify before House is due to a deviation from standard procedure.  Members of the House Judicial Committee are supposed to present their questions directly to the Attorney General.  Instead they want to bring in 'legal staff' to ask the questions, likely in the hopes catching Barr in some legal entrapment scenario I guess???  As such, AG Barr is well within his legal rights --and quite frankly common sense rights-- to refuse to appear before the committee.


Bottom line:  Whether or not the current Democratic machinations and spin-narratives actually work --that is can they pull one over on "We the People", which ironically winds up proving their current modus operandi that "We the People are basically stupid" -- will ultimately be up to you and me, "We the People."  So now is the time for all good women and men to be truly informed --from multiple news and information sources, especially CSPAN-- and to embrace a willingness to think outside the box in which they would have us 'safely' contained.

This whole two-plus years of one-sided investigation, where little truly meaningful legislation has been put forward and completed by Congressional initiative has truly left a bitter taste in this Independent's mouth.  As much as I would have had an appreciation for some of the Democratic policies aimed at improving the lives of the less fortunate in the past, I am just not seeing these initiatives being carried out anymore with actual policy implementation.  The Democrats are all talk of late, while President Trump is action, followed up by more action.  Moreover, the Democrats seem to have a complete disregard for the hard-working blue/white collar middle class.  The Democrats seem to have lost all perspective from where I am standing.  Quite frankly, like President Trump or not, any honest person has to admit that  he's getting some pretty important policy implemented across the board and the lives of millions of Americans --not just those at the top-- are improving as result of his efforts. When you stop and think of all that the President has had going against him since election day 2016 --and even before as it may turn out-- it's actually rather remarkable that Trump has been able to accomplish so much. But perhaps some of us have yet to pull our heads out the mainstream media's "acceptable narrative" box in order to see it?


5/9/2019  Apparently President Trump has now invoked "Executive Privilege" --and keep in mind he could have done so at any point throughout this entire process.  President Trump has chosen to prevent Robert Mueller testifying any further before Congress --Mueller has already previously testified.  I say, good for the President!  Maybe this is what it takes to hit the "reset" button and to finally get the U.S. Congress back to the business of legislating on behalf of "We the People."  The President has indulged those in Congress eager unseat him for long enough.  If they can't find their own way to an end to their ongoing delusional trip, then I am perfectly fine with letting President Trump find it for them:  Enough is ENOUGH!  No more distractions, innuendo, lies and letting the pressing business of the country slide.  It's time to get back to doing the business of "We the People" U.S. Congress!

5/12/2019  Over the weekend I saw an interview with renowned legal scholar who holds that Robert Mueller's 400 page report, laced with reams of abject speculation, deviates dramatically from what is the legal norm.  Where the legal norm is to put forth only evidence of indictable offenses for subsequent prosecution.  In the absence of formal indictments, the Trump side of "Russian collusion" and obstruction should be a done deal.  The TIME has come to spend our investigative oversight time and money on looking into the origins of the "Trump Dossier" and abuses by the FBI in weaponizing their investigative mandate during the 2016 Presidential Election, neither of which have been looked into thus far.  Objective balance requires we complete these investigations in order to prevent such abuses from happening in future election cycles.  Maybe the Democrats response to the conclusions drawn by the Mueller report -- namely there were no indictable offenses-- amounts to a shell game (i.e., "Keep looking over here; don't look over there") because they are concerned about where an investigation into the other side of collusion and obstruction will lead?