#FREE Penthouse, Part IX, The Obstructionist.

https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/benmiedema/

Trump -Russia, The Betrayal of America

Why is it that President Trump throws up a Wall of Obstruction when ever a Russian connection is mentioned. President Trump, relying on his gut and President Putin’s denial in contrast to the expert researched and verified opinions of seventeen (17) different US government intelligence services stating the t Russian agencies interfered with the 2016 election? And to follow up he is welcoming the intelligence of any friendly or adversarial foreign agency, that will help his re-election in 2020?

Let us dive deeper and take a look at what Robert Mueller wrote in his report:

“Our investigation found multiple acts by the President that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations, including the Russian-interference and obstruction investigations,” Mueller wrote. “The incidents were often carried out through one-on-one meetings in which the President sought to use his official power outside of usual channels. These actions ranged from efforts to remove the Special Counsel and to reverse the effect of the Attorney General’s recusal; to the attempted use of official power to limit the scope of the investigation; to direct and indirect contacts with witnesses with the potential to influence their testimony.”

“the evidence does point to a range of other possible personal motives animating the President’s conduct. These include concerns that continued investigation would call into question the legitimacy of his election and potential uncertainty about whether certain events-such as advance notice of WikiLeaks’s release of hacked information or the June 9, 2016 meeting between senior campaign officials and Russians could be seen as criminal activity by the President, his campaign, or his family.”

Nor does the fact that many of the president’s acts occurred in public view — “including discouragement of cooperation with the government and suggestions of possible future pardons” — necessarily clear him, the report states.

During his press conference, AG Barr claimed that “the White House fully cooperated with the Special Counsel’s investigation, providing unfettered access to campaign and White House documents, directing senior aides to testify freely, and asserting no privilege claims.”

That’s contradicted in the report. Mueller notes that after Trump learned that his own conduct regarding obstruction was being investigated after appointment of the special counsel, “the President engaged in a second phase of conduct, involving public attacks on the investigation, non-public efforts to control it, and efforts in both public and private to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation.”

The president was also less than fully cooperative regarding Mueller’s interview requests, the report states.

The special counsel’s office sought an interview with the president for “more than a year,” getting written responses in late November 2018. “[O]n more than 30 occasions” Trump said he “does not ‘recall’ or ‘remember’ or have an ‘independent recollection’” in response to questions, while other answers were “incomplete or imprecise,” the Mueller report says.

There are ten (10) areas of obstruction that needed further (House of Representatives) investigation according to the Mueller Report:

1. “Conduct involving FBI Director [James B.] Comey and Michael Flynn”

Flynn, the White House’s national security adviser, had lied about his interactions with the Russian ambassador during the transition period between Trump’s election and his inauguration. When Trump fired him, he said, “Now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is over.”

The report also confirms reporting about a request Trump made to Comey shortly thereafter: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

Trump also directed deputy national security adviser K.T. McFarland to send an email denying that Trump had instructed Flynn to have such conversations. McFarland declined to do so, because she didn’t know whether it was true.

2. “The President’s reaction to the continuing Russia investigation”

Trump attempted to prevent Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the investigation before the special counsel was appointed. The president said he needed an attorney general who would protect him.

Trump also tried to get top intelligence officials and Comey to publicly distance Trump from the investigation. His outreach to Comey came despite guidance from then-White House counsel Donald McGahn not to get involved in internal Justice Department matters.

3. “The President’s termination of Comey”

The report indicates that the breaking point for Trump was when Comey testified to Congress that there was a Russia investigation but declined to elaborate or say whether anyone on the Trump campaign was a target — including whether he had ruled out Trump personally.

Trump quickly declared to Sessions: “This is terrible, Jeff. It’s all because you recused.” Then the next weekend, the report says that “the President stated that he wanted to remove Comey and had ideas for a letter that would be used to make the announcement.”

A memo was drafted explaining Comey’s firing, but one aide wrote at the time that the White House Counsel’s Office had decided that it should “[n]ot [see the] light of day” and that they should instead rely on justifications offered by Sessions and Rosenstein.

4. “The appointment of a Special Counsel and efforts to remove him”

Trump responded to the May 2017 appointment of Mueller as special counsel by saying he was “fucked" and that it was “the end of his presidency.” Trump insisted that Mueller had conflicts of interest but was told they were meritless and that they had already been a part of his consideration.

Three days after the media reported that Mueller was looking into potential obstruction, Trump called McGahn and told him to have Rosenstein publicly attack Mueller’s alleged conflicts and call for his removal. McGahn declined.

5. “Efforts to curtail the Special Counsel’s investigation”

The report says Trump, two days after the above event, also tried to get Sessions to attack the investigation:

On June 19, 2017, the President met one-on-one in the Oval Office with his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, a trusted advisor outside the government, and dictated a message for Lewandowski to deliver to Sessions. The message said that Sessions should publicly announce that, notwithstanding his recusal from the Russia investigation, the investigation was “very unfair” to the President, the President had done nothing wrong, and Sessions planned to meet with the Special Counsel and “let [him] move forward with investigating election meddling for future elections.” Lewandowski said he understood what the President wanted Sessions to do.

But Lewandowski dragged his feet. Eventually, when Trump followed up a month later, Lewandowski asked senior White House official Rick Dearborn to do it. “Dearborn was uncomfortable with the task and did not follow through,” the report says.

6. “Efforts to prevent public disclosure of evidence”

Mueller fills in the details of previous Washington Post reporting that Trump sought to mislead about the 2016 Trump Tower meeting involving Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer:

On several occasions, the President directed aides not to publicly disclose the emails setting up the June 9 meeting, suggesting that the emails would not leak and that the number of lawyers with access to them should be limited. Before the emails became public, the President edited a press statement for Trump Jr. by deleting a line that acknowledged that the meeting was with "an individual who [Trump Jr.] was told might have information helpful to the campaign and instead said only that the meeting was about adoptions of Russian children.

7. “Further efforts to have the Attorney General take control of the investigation”

Trump called Sessions at home in summer 2017 to ask him to un-recuse himself and take control of the Russia probe. Sessions declined. Trump asked Sessions in October 2017 to take another look at investigating Hillary Clinton. He also told him in December 2017 that if he un-recused, he would be a “hero.”

Trump told Sessions, “I’m not going to do anything or direct you to do anything, I just want to be treated fairly.”

8. “Efforts to have [White House counsel Don] McGahn deny that the President had ordered him to have the Special Counsel removed”

This episode was originally reported by the New York Times in March 2018, but Mueller fills in the details:

On January 26, 2018, the President’s personal counsel called McGahn’s attorney and said that the President wanted McGahn to put out a statement denying that he had been asked to fire the Special Counsel and that he had threatened to quit in protest. McGahn’s attorney spoke with McGahn about that request and then called the President’s personal counsel to relay that McGahn would not make a statement. McGahn’s attorney informed the President’s personal counsel that the Times story was accurate in reporting that the President wanted the Special Counsel removed. Accordingly, McGahn’s attorney said, although the article was inaccurate in some other respects, McGahn could not comply with the President’s request to dispute the story. [White House spokeswoman Hope] Hicks recalled relaying to the President that one of his attorneys had spoken to McGahn’s attorney about the issue.

9. “Conduct toward [Michael] Flynn, [Paul] Manafort, (Redacted)"

Flynn pleaded guilty to lying and cut a deal with Mueller to cooperate — and accordingly had to withdraw from his joint defense agreement with Trump’s legal team. But Trump’s personal lawyer reached out to Flynn’s team and assured them that Trump still had warm feelings for Flynn. The lawyer also asked for a heads-up in case Flynn had any “information that implicates that President.” When Flynn’s lawyer said such information couldn’t be shared, Trump’s lawyer said he would relay the message of “hostility” to Trump.

The report also noted Trump’s continued praise for former campaign chairman Manafort during his trials and his leaving open of the possibility of a pardon. Manafort also agreed to cooperate before he voided his deal by lying to investigators.

10. “Conduct involving Michael Cohen”

While Michael Cohen has said Trump didn’t directly tell him to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow effort lingering into the 2016 campaign, Cohen accuses Trump’s lawyers of guiding his testimony. And one key figure declined to dispute that.

“While preparing for his congressional testimony, Cohen had extensive discussions with the President’s personal counsel, who, according to Cohen, said that Cohen should ‘stay on message’ and not contradict the President.” When Cohen didn’t contradict Trump (by lying), he earned praise:

Cohen recalled that the President’s personal counsel said 'his client’ appreciated Cohen, that Cohen should stay on message and not contradict the President, that there was no need to muddy the water, and that it was time to move on. Cohen said he agreed because it was what he was expected to do. After Cohen later pleaded guilty to making false statements to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project, this Office sought to speak with the President’s personal counsel about these conversations with Cohen, but counsel declined, citing potential privilege concerns.

There is an obvious huge cover-up. This cover up involves all branches of the US government President Trump, The GOP Senate, and AG Barr. Also involved is the Trump family, President Putin, Russian oligarchs and a number of Trump campaign advisors.

WE CAN NOT IMPEACH AS LONG AS THE US SENATE IS REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED, BUT THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MUST INVESTIGATE ALL IMPEACHABLE OFFENSES OF THIS SITTING PRESIDENT.  THEN AFTER THE 2020 ELECTION WE MUST EITHER FOLLOW THROUGH ON THE IMPEACHMENT FOR ENDANGERING THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OR PROSECUTE HIM FOR HIS MANY CRIMES.