OBSTRUCTION, CORRUPTION, ABUSE OF POWER, DISHONESTY

Call it what it was. THE MUELLER REPORT established criminal obstruction conclusively, -- supported by facts, witnesses and objective proof. Much of it on film, or directly from first-person witness accounts and documents. All you have to do, as I did, is READ IT. Volume 2. That Mueller/ DOJ elected not to CHARGE Trump, per DOJ guidelines (no indictment or arrest of a sitting president), is not relevant to the issue of whether or not there was obstruction. They referred it for Congressional oversight. If Trump is impeached and removed from office, or when he leaves office, then the government may charge / prosecute. They may not. I cannot say.

But the Mueller Report was clear. It established, essentially:

I am a retired, board certified trial lawyer. I read Volume 2 of the Report, word for word. Neither Mueller, nor Rosenstein  said there was no obstruction established.  They said Trump was not being charged. That's a world of difference.

The Mueller Report itself set out several (10 at least) delineated and supported cases of criminal obstruction. Several of those instances are prosecutable, on their face. Mueller also referred 14 other criminal cases out to other jurisdictions for prosecution.

Notwithstanding the myriad of improper, suspicious and already criminally charged connections with Russia, before, concerning and during the election… and notwithstanding Trump's virtual war on his own DOJ, NSA, intelligence agencies, his using social media to denigrate and stymie the investigation, his labeling the investigation as a corrupt, partisan hoax, and imprinting those charges with the authority and influence of his office, his illegal misuse of his office to exert influence over the investigation, using employment and promises of position to corruptly influence the investigation, his attempts to influence / derail the investigation through lies, media false releases, etc., using social media to interfere and undermine, Mueller did not charge, but rather, as he must, sent the facts to Congress to deal with.

Here is the basic sketch of federal obstruction, applied to the Mueller Report facts and witnesses.

Trump, if at all, will be charged after leaving office, or he could be charged after a Senate vote on impeachment charges, but the Senate will not do that. So he may walk. That does not mean, in any way, that he did not commit ongoing and criminal obstruction of justice. 

Trump was also, in the Report, demonstrated to be unhinged, unethical, pathological, without a moral or ethical compass, delusional and unfit to be president.

Technically speaking, the elements of federal obstruction are well established. The facts of Trump's behavior met those elements, in several documented instances.

They referred 14 other criminal cases to various US Attys. We only knew of 2 of them, so far. Some will result in charges / indictments.

I read the witness statements. I watched the events, like Comey firing and Trump's own voice, as it unfolded. Trump spent two years obstructing the Mueller Russia probe. He completely didn't give a shit if there had been a serious breach and attempt to undermine our election system. That wasn't even an issue for him. That, alone, is astonishing.

He lied to officials, to media, to his executive agencies. He coerced and tried to force others to lie. He interfered with witnesses in a criminal case. He tried to destroy the probe via public opinion. He used his ability to hire and fire to try and undermine.  He undermined the investigation and his own executive branch agencies in public discourse.

This aside from the bank fraud, payoffs and chaos of his day-to-day operation.

Any ordinary citizen would have been indicted. He was protected by the DOJ policy of not charging a sitting president and, as Mueller stated, the fact that Congress must first address the misconduct through impeachment.

Since the Senate will not vote to convict if he is impeached, Trump may get away with it. But it's there. All the way.