A Conclusion Without a Report

By Marc Ash, Reader Supported News

25 March 19

ttorney General William Barr stood before reporters and beside Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 15th and said with unqualified certainty that the president’s Declaration of an Emergency at the U.S./Mexican border was not only constitutionally legal but absolutely justified by the circumstances there. It seemed a statement tailored to support the conclusion Trump sought and the political outcome Trump wanted.

Sunday’s carefully worded summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report by Attorney General Barr seems to pursue the same outcome.

The attorney general’s summary does a far better job of supporting Trump’s assertions and talking points than shedding any real light on the substance of the special counsel’s actual report.

If the attorney general’s objective was to preempt that spin cycle and create political ammunition for the White House in advance of the actual report being made available to Congress or the public, this summary seems ideally suited to for that express purpose.

What does Mueller’s report actually say? We are still not permitted to know. Mueller’s report is still the same mystery, the same enigma it has been for two years.

Congress and the public must be allowed to view the special counsel’s report, in its entirety. Not an avowed Trump loyalist’s interpretation of the report.

The Mueller Report: There is no substitute.

Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.