The iconic New York Times writer William Safire referred to [Bill Barr] not as "Attorney General" but, instead, as "Coverup-General", noting that in another scandal—having to do with Bush selling weapons of mass destruction to Saddam Hussein—Barr was already trying to cover up for both Bush, himself, and his friends ~ Quote excerpted from Thom Hartmann's 1/17/2019 article "William Barr's shady track record of covering up the crimes of a Republican president".
The following is an excerpt from the Monday (3/25/2019) airing of The Stephanie Miller Show in which host Stephanie Miller and Malcolm Nance (via phone) discuss the summary of Special Council Robert Mueller's report on the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections provided by AG William Barr.
Stephanie Miller: ...so you tweeted this morning, "maybe I was wrong when I said "There is no way Barr will commit he greatest scandal in history to cover-up the greatest scandal in history". It looks like it just happened". Ah, nothing to see here, just a regular day in Washington. It is hard to get your head around him injecting himself like this. With his ridiculous 4 page book report.
Malcolm Nance: Now that I realize that he was the Attorney General during the Iran-Contra scandal, and he apparently did the exact same thing for Ronald Reagan... Now it doesn't surprise me anymore. But the thing that surprised me the most... is the question of conspiracy or collusion. I've said this about 20 times since yesterday -- I've seen this with my own eyes.
d0nald tRump stood on a stage and said "Russia, if you're listening, please release Hillary Clinton's emails". He called on a foreign power to work with [his campaign]. His son had a meeting where he agreed saying "I love it", and sat down with agents of the Russian government. That happened. Then the White House, one year later, formulated a cover-up letter, saying that this did not happen [the meeting was about Russian adoptions, not collusion]. There were over 100 contacts with 19 of his staff with Russian agents.
Someone who was on a radio program that I appeared on earlier this morning said, "...I think that the Mueller report will show that they didn't meet the complete perfect legal definition of conspiracy beyond a shadow of a doubt. Not even a reasonable doubt. But I believe they were collusion-curious". Well, they were more than collusion-curious.
The only thing that was missing was where this investigation stopped. ...Roger Stone's [indictment] was the last one and the next one would logically be WikiLeaks and Julian Assange -- the bridge to the Trump team. This investigation abruptly ended. So, I'm starting to believe that Bill Barr was brought in to put the knife into the investigation.
Stephanie Miller: Thank you! How do we know Bill Barr didn't stop this?
Malcolm Nance: [the end of the investigation could have come about if] ...Robert Mueller said, "we won't be able to get these guys beyond a reasonable doubt". In the US intelligence community, you are taken away, polygraphed, and you are brought up to consider if you should have criminal charges filed against you by the FBI -- if you even cross one of the lines that these people crossed by the hundreds. So, explain to me, what was the legal standard for conspiracy. Because all the conspiracy I've seen with my own eyes - anybody else in the US government would be considered an agent of a foreign power at that point.
Stephanie Miller: Well, you tweeted, "this is absolutely impossible. Technically they ignored every contact between the campaign [and Russia] and couched conspiracy as only tacit or expressed agreement. In other words, no oral or signed FSB contract, no crime". That's a ridiculous standard.
Malcolm Nance: It's an impossible standard. Look, and I tweeted a little later, "here's trump's signed contract" -- and I put up the BuzzFeed photograph of the signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow. That is your contract. Trump, from 2012 on, talked about Trump Tower Moscow with his Russian contact. Especially at Miss Universe. From 1987 on he has been trying to build Trump Tower [Moscow]. This is the only thing that explains his slavish devotion to Vladimir Putin.
...I've seen all the evidence over the last two years. Both from the Russia side -- and I'm glad this report validates everything I've ever said about the Russian intelligence operation. That the United States was not openingly attacked. But you cannot tell me, that if this was the government of Iran and the Obama administration, and there were 100 secret meetings with them -- trying to get them nuclear power plants [as Trump did re Saudi Arabia], that we would not be having treason trials right now. So, I'm sorry, that standard is going to have to apply to each side.
Stephanie Miller: Um, Malcolm, ...Joy Reid said to you yesterday, "sounds like the seeds of a cover-up" and you said, "Bill Barr is one guy. There are secretaries that have to handle these documents, the secretaries and FBI agents who did the work themselves". I sure hope there is some patriot out there [will leak the report if Barr suppresses it].
Malcolm Nance: This morning Donald Trump made it clear that he is now going to use the Justice Department and the Senate to start investigating everyone. ...they're talking about going after Hillary Clinton. Everyone who was in the FBI - Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, all the judges on the FISA court, and President Barack Obama. John Brennan. They're talking about literally attacking anyone who looked into Trump. This is the mafia tactic that they're going to use. They have now weaponized this. He is planning not to just get away with it, but to go to war with everyone who is opposed to him. The Democrats.
*skip*
Stephanie Miller: OK... I want to get your take on something [from last week] [reading] ...Adam Schiff maintained that the counterintelligence investigation was far more urgent to national security concerns than the investigation into Trump's potential criminality. What Americans should be concerned about is whether the president's Russia policy is not dictated by our national interests, but is dictated by his desire to make 100s of millions of dollars in Moscow. He also noted the limits of indictments in revealing whether someone is compromised by a foreign power. In fact, most counterintelligence probes don't end with indictments because criminality is difficult to prove, and the information involved is often too sensitive to make public".
..."Schiff is concerned that the question of foreign influence on Trump through his finances may not have been fully explored by Mueller, if at all. From what we can see, publically or otherwise, it is very much an open question. ...he added, "the red line Trump drew at Mueller investigating his personal finances is not a line that can be observed and still protect the country".
Malcolm Nance: They've got to go through his finances. You don't know whether there actually has been a payoff. We don't know whether the Trump Tower meeting involved some exchange of cash. We do know that he did offer a bribe to Vladimir Putin of a 50 million dollar penthouse. ...Sara Sanders right now is saying that Robert Mueller has fully exonerated him. No he hasn't at all.
Stephanie Miller: ...[reading a tweet] because so many Americans have so many questions and we are entitled to answers - why did Paul manafort share highly confidential polling data with Russian intelligence? ...which states and Americans were targeted with that data...?
Malcolm Nance: What I want to know is why all these people in jail or will be going to jail - like Mike Flynn, lying about his Russian contacts? Papadopoulos, lying about his Russian contacts. Maria Butina is going to prison if she isn't exchanged in a spy swap. ...this is impossible [that there was not collusion]. I want to see all the FBI 302s, I want to see the intercepts. You're telling me that the Trump campaign contacts were all just coincidence? ...you know what I say about coincidence -- it takes a lot of planning.
The following is an excerpt from the Monday (3/25/2019) airing of The Stephanie Miller Show in which host Stephanie Miller and Malcolm Nance (via phone) discuss the summary of Special Council Robert Mueller's report on the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections provided by AG William Barr.
Stephanie Miller: ...so you tweeted this morning, "maybe I was wrong when I said "There is no way Barr will commit he greatest scandal in history to cover-up the greatest scandal in history". It looks like it just happened". Ah, nothing to see here, just a regular day in Washington. It is hard to get your head around him injecting himself like this. With his ridiculous 4 page book report.
Malcolm Nance: Now that I realize that he was the Attorney General during the Iran-Contra scandal, and he apparently did the exact same thing for Ronald Reagan... Now it doesn't surprise me anymore. But the thing that surprised me the most... is the question of conspiracy or collusion. I've said this about 20 times since yesterday -- I've seen this with my own eyes.
d0nald tRump stood on a stage and said "Russia, if you're listening, please release Hillary Clinton's emails". He called on a foreign power to work with [his campaign]. His son had a meeting where he agreed saying "I love it", and sat down with agents of the Russian government. That happened. Then the White House, one year later, formulated a cover-up letter, saying that this did not happen [the meeting was about Russian adoptions, not collusion]. There were over 100 contacts with 19 of his staff with Russian agents.
Someone who was on a radio program that I appeared on earlier this morning said, "...I think that the Mueller report will show that they didn't meet the complete perfect legal definition of conspiracy beyond a shadow of a doubt. Not even a reasonable doubt. But I believe they were collusion-curious". Well, they were more than collusion-curious.
The only thing that was missing was where this investigation stopped. ...Roger Stone's [indictment] was the last one and the next one would logically be WikiLeaks and Julian Assange -- the bridge to the Trump team. This investigation abruptly ended. So, I'm starting to believe that Bill Barr was brought in to put the knife into the investigation.
Stephanie Miller: Thank you! How do we know Bill Barr didn't stop this?
Malcolm Nance: [the end of the investigation could have come about if] ...Robert Mueller said, "we won't be able to get these guys beyond a reasonable doubt". In the US intelligence community, you are taken away, polygraphed, and you are brought up to consider if you should have criminal charges filed against you by the FBI -- if you even cross one of the lines that these people crossed by the hundreds. So, explain to me, what was the legal standard for conspiracy. Because all the conspiracy I've seen with my own eyes - anybody else in the US government would be considered an agent of a foreign power at that point.
Stephanie Miller: Well, you tweeted, "this is absolutely impossible. Technically they ignored every contact between the campaign [and Russia] and couched conspiracy as only tacit or expressed agreement. In other words, no oral or signed FSB contract, no crime". That's a ridiculous standard.
Malcolm Nance: It's an impossible standard. Look, and I tweeted a little later, "here's trump's signed contract" -- and I put up the BuzzFeed photograph of the signed letter of intent for Trump Tower Moscow. That is your contract. Trump, from 2012 on, talked about Trump Tower Moscow with his Russian contact. Especially at Miss Universe. From 1987 on he has been trying to build Trump Tower [Moscow]. This is the only thing that explains his slavish devotion to Vladimir Putin.
...I've seen all the evidence over the last two years. Both from the Russia side -- and I'm glad this report validates everything I've ever said about the Russian intelligence operation. That the United States was not openingly attacked. But you cannot tell me, that if this was the government of Iran and the Obama administration, and there were 100 secret meetings with them -- trying to get them nuclear power plants [as Trump did re Saudi Arabia], that we would not be having treason trials right now. So, I'm sorry, that standard is going to have to apply to each side.
Stephanie Miller: Um, Malcolm, ...Joy Reid said to you yesterday, "sounds like the seeds of a cover-up" and you said, "Bill Barr is one guy. There are secretaries that have to handle these documents, the secretaries and FBI agents who did the work themselves". I sure hope there is some patriot out there [will leak the report if Barr suppresses it].
Malcolm Nance: This morning Donald Trump made it clear that he is now going to use the Justice Department and the Senate to start investigating everyone. ...they're talking about going after Hillary Clinton. Everyone who was in the FBI - Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Page, all the judges on the FISA court, and President Barack Obama. John Brennan. They're talking about literally attacking anyone who looked into Trump. This is the mafia tactic that they're going to use. They have now weaponized this. He is planning not to just get away with it, but to go to war with everyone who is opposed to him. The Democrats.
*skip*
Stephanie Miller: OK... I want to get your take on something [from last week] [reading] ...Adam Schiff maintained that the counterintelligence investigation was far more urgent to national security concerns than the investigation into Trump's potential criminality. What Americans should be concerned about is whether the president's Russia policy is not dictated by our national interests, but is dictated by his desire to make 100s of millions of dollars in Moscow. He also noted the limits of indictments in revealing whether someone is compromised by a foreign power. In fact, most counterintelligence probes don't end with indictments because criminality is difficult to prove, and the information involved is often too sensitive to make public".
..."Schiff is concerned that the question of foreign influence on Trump through his finances may not have been fully explored by Mueller, if at all. From what we can see, publically or otherwise, it is very much an open question. ...he added, "the red line Trump drew at Mueller investigating his personal finances is not a line that can be observed and still protect the country".
Malcolm Nance: They've got to go through his finances. You don't know whether there actually has been a payoff. We don't know whether the Trump Tower meeting involved some exchange of cash. We do know that he did offer a bribe to Vladimir Putin of a 50 million dollar penthouse. ...Sara Sanders right now is saying that Robert Mueller has fully exonerated him. No he hasn't at all.
Stephanie Miller: ...[reading a tweet] because so many Americans have so many questions and we are entitled to answers - why did Paul manafort share highly confidential polling data with Russian intelligence? ...which states and Americans were targeted with that data...?
Malcolm Nance: What I want to know is why all these people in jail or will be going to jail - like Mike Flynn, lying about his Russian contacts? Papadopoulos, lying about his Russian contacts. Maria Butina is going to prison if she isn't exchanged in a spy swap. ...this is impossible [that there was not collusion]. I want to see all the FBI 302s, I want to see the intercepts. You're telling me that the Trump campaign contacts were all just coincidence? ...you know what I say about coincidence -- it takes a lot of planning.
Watergate Figure John Dean Suspects Barr May Be Hiding Something "Fairly Ugly" https://t.co/hyxaj0dFIH
— The_News_DIVA🎀 (@The_News_DIVA) March 25, 2019