Posted on 07/24/2019 7:01:41 AM PDT by knighthawk
CNN recap is not replaying a single republican minute.
The federal obstruction statute itself is horribly written. It is way too overbroad.
How it could pass Constitutional muster is a mystery to me. But, so are many other things in juris prudence.
Actually there are many ways that innocence can be determined without a trial, such as a dismissal by the Court due to a lack of probable cause, or a lack of evidence. If insufficient evidence exists to show that someone committed a crime then they are, under our legal system, innocent.
In the case of things like "collusion" which Mueller himself admitted today is not even a crime, it is plainly impossible to be found guilty. After all, even with endless evidence if the conduct shown by the evidence is not illegal then the accused can't possibly be guilty of a crime.
Impeachment requires acts which are illegal, not just the disfavor of the opposition party. Without any evidence of illegal acts Mueller's report provides no basis for impeachment.
Boy, I think Jordan & Ratcliffe obliterated Mueller. Smoked him.
He did not say collusion wasn’t a crime, he said it was not a legal term at all, it’s a concept.
But there are many legally defined crimes that could be contained in a term like collusion.
Another fallacy that crops up over and over is the notion that there can be no “obstruction of justice” when there’s no crime proven. That’s absurd. If the obstruction of justice was what prevented the crime from being proven, the obstruction would stand alone as a crime, obviously.
We’ll see.
A trial establishes guilt or no guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. A trial doesn't establish innocence.
I can’t believe someone that stupid is in congress, but there you go.
About "stupidity" (your choice of word), babble-on > Radcliffe.
No, Ratcliffe is correct. A DOJ investigation is used to identify whether there is sufficient evidence to charge a person with a crime. On that, you two agree.
But, the wording in the Mueller report says it cannot “exonerate” President Trump from a potential obstruction charge. That is a subversion of the standards for DOJ investigations. The investigation is performed to determine whether there is enough evidence to try to prove the subject guilty.
Even in a court, the two outcomes are “guilty” and “not guilty”. The court does not determine innocence - only guilt or not.
By the way the report was worded, Mueller violated DOJ standards to judge whether or not the investigation had proven the subject innocent - which is exactly backwards from what is supposed to happen.
Page 2 of the introduction of the Mueller Report: “...the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
You are a complete find moron, go back to democrat underground.
effing
Have you read the Mueller report? In his own report Mueller defines his belief as to what the word collusion encompasses. And then he goes on to say there is insufficient evidence to support any charges based on the evidence -- including of course the "legally defined crimes" you suggest exist.
You misunderstand the argument people are making regarding the lack of an obstruction of justice charge. The argument isn't about taking steps which prevent a crime from being proven, it is about the inability of anyone to obstruct justice if the alleged behavior being investigated is not illegal.
To put that in simple terms, if the FBI starts investigating someone for drinking milk before lunch time, then some person telling the FBI "hey, this is ridiculous, don't waste your time doing that, it isn't against the law" is not obstructing justice. And needless to say, no "crime" will ever be proven, since drinking milk before lunch time is not illegal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.