“We don’t, at this stage, know anything about what information the Mueller Report contains. We don’t know what form the document takes. We don’t even know how many pages comprise it. We don’t know when we will learn what Mueller has found. ” Benjamin Wittes , LAWFARE

The redhats have gone on an orgy .. repeating the Trump mantra ..”No collusion.”  Now the world waits.

What we know so far: There are no sealed indictments, which means Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner are home free. But Mueller’s work isn’t finished; there still are pending cases and sentencings in the prosecution pipeline.

The redhat mantra is a clever way to sidestep a fact: the charge to Mueller was never to prove collusion

Muller was charged with  determining whether the Russians undermined the election.  The issue of collusion is only one part of the question.  From what we have already learned, there were criminal interactions between Manafort and Flynn and the Russians during the election. There is certainly reason to suspect that Kushner and Donald Junior were also involved.  The fact that these family members were not indicted at most tells us there is not enough evidence to indict them but the report should tell, us whether the lack of evidence to convict means they were innocent.

Whatever Muller found, Justice Department policy says that they can not indict Trump.  He may well be guilty but not indictable.  Even if the report proves there was no collusion, the investigation has already shown that Mr. Trump lied to the public, claiming he had no business dealings with the Kremlin.  He did and those dealings were underway while Trump was running for election.  We also know that members of his campaign were involved with the Russians.  At a minimum Trump is guilty of incompetence.

Finally, the Mueller report, whatever it shows, was never designed to prove that Trump should be impeached.  Impeachment and indictment in a court are different matters,  Nixon was not impeached. Johnson was not impeached. Both were all too guilty of major crimes.

Unveiling report: will it lso tell us where did the investigation lead?

First there is the primary charge to Muller.  Did he confirm and extend the evidence that Russia, with or without Trump, interfered in the election?  Did the investigators find evidence of other interactions with Ameicans?

Second, the charge authorizes Muller to follow leads coming from the primary charge.  Did Muller access Trump’s tax returns?  Did this lead to questions outside of his charge to investigate Russian interference?

Third, how did Trump behave during the investigation?  Interfering with an investigation for nay reason, even if you are innocent, is still obstruction of justice.

READMORE ANALYSIS AT LAWFARE

 Sign Julián Castro’s petition before midnight to demand Trump release the report!