Fox News’ Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano shot down the phony claims that the Mueller report has “completely exonerated” Trump and, while he was at it, Napolitano backed up GOP scapegoat Rep. Adam Schiff by acknowledging that the Mueller report will contain evidence of Trump collusion with Russia.
Napolitano also backed up my claim that so many others seem to have missed: that the Barr letter did not say Mueller found there had been no collusion.
NAPOLITANO: If you read the attorney general’s letter carefully – he’s a very bright lawyer and he carefully chose his words. He said Bob Mueller was unable, quote, to establish a conspiracy. That means to prove the existence of the conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt. He must have found some evidence of a conspiracy because if he found none, that would have made its way into Bill Barr’s letter.
[…]
The other issue, of obstruction of justice, where Mueller sort of kicked the case upstairs, which prosecutors do when the target is a public official … there obviously is evidence of obstruction of justice and there is evidence of no obstruction of justice, and Mueller wanted Barr to make the judgment call which he did.
Actually, we do not know that Mueller “wanted Barr to make the judgment call” on obstruction of justice. Just as Barr cagily said the Mueller report “did not establish” a conspiracy, Barr wrote about obstruction of justice, “The Special Counsel's decision to describe the facts of his obstruction investigation without reaching any legal conclusions leaves it to the Attorney General to determine whether the conduct described in the report constitutes a crime.” Whether that was Mueller’s actual wish or Barr’s conclusion that Mueller’s indecision made it possible for Barr to make the decision is not clear.
Preet Bharara has theorized that Mueller wanted Congress to decide. The Daily Beast reported, “A source with direct knowledge of the investigation told The Daily Beast that it was their interpretation that ‘Mueller was making a case to Congress, who (unlike DOJ, in Mueller’s view) is empowered to weigh the lawfulness of a president’s conduct.’” If Mueller had wanted Barr to decide, you’d think Barr would have said so explicitly.
But wait, there’s more.
Napolitano also corroborated Schiff's claims. Democrat Schiff is now a target of Trumper Republicans weaponizing the report in order to demand his resignation as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
NAPOLITANO: I think that Congressman Schiff is correct. In that report will be evidence of the existence of a conspiracy, not enough evidence to prove the existence beyond a reasonable doubt. In that report will be evidence of obstruction of justice, interfering with an FBI investigation for a personal gain but not enough evidence to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. … If he has other sources, since he’s the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, he has to decide when and under what circumstances to reveal those sources.
The awful thing is that Fox is allowing its opinion hosts to ignore Napolitano and falsely declare Trump completely exonerated.
See what Fox Trumpers are deliberately ignoring below, from Fox Business Network’s March 28, 2019 Cavuto: Coast to Coast, via Contemptor.