There is a very important distinction in American law between decisions not to prosecute crimes and whether or not crimes were in fact committed. Decisions not to prosecute potential criminal cases are commonly NOT based on prosecutors’ judgments that the suspects are innocent of crimes. Instead, they are based upon their conclusion either that the evidence was not sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that crimes had occurred, or that the law presents certain difficulties in application to specific cases, or both. The Mueller Report gives the lie to the Trump Administration’s deceptive claim that it exonerates the President, his family members and other members of his campaign and staff.II. This is especially clear in the Report with respect to obstruction of justice crimes. Because official Department of Justice (DOJ) policy prohibits the prosecution for crimes of a sitting president, the Mueller investigators determined that they could not make a ‘traditional’ (standard) decision on whether to prosecute the president for obstructing the investigation.
Therefore, after detailing many efforts at obstruction they drew no final conclusions on whether the president committed obstruction crimes. Among other considerations in deciding whether to prosecute a case, federal prosecutors are to determine the likelihood of their winning the case. In the face of the DOJ policy on sitting presidents, there was no chance to even bring a case. The ONLY conclusion the Mueller Report reaches on the question of obstruction by the President is that, based on the relevant law and the facts uncovered by the investigation, the Report ‘does. Not exonerate him’ of the crimes (Report, Volume II, pages 8, 182).III. The legal distinction is also clear in connection with the Special Counsel’s decision not to charge the President or other Americans with conspiracy, even though we are hearing much less about this decision in today’s news coverage. While it clears suspects of some illegal behavior (for example, conspiring to manipulate deceptive messages in social media), the Report does NOT conclude that there was no criminal conspiracy at all.
Specifically, in connection with the June 9, 2016, Trump Tower meeting the Report concludes that there are insufficient evidence and some legal uncertainties that would hamper a prosecution for conspiracy. (There is an additional redacted case that appears to fall into this same general analysis.) Notably, these limitations include the requirement that the conspirators knew they were breaking the law. As children Americans are commonly taught that ignorance of the law is no excuse for crime. But in this specific case of the TT meeting, the law on what constitutes an illegal campaign contribution by a foreign person or government is sufficiently complex that proving that Don, Jr., and others in the room knew their involvement was illegal would be difficult (Report, Volume I, pages 180-187). As with some other forms of white-collar crime, the law here protects elite members of society from criminal prosecution in ways that it does not protect street criminals.IV. The Report provides clear evidence that Russian government interests and persons conspired to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump and against Hillary Clinton.
This evidence sharply disproves the President’s long-asserted claims that there was no substantial evidence of Russian involvement in the election.V. Finally, what the evidence discussed in the Report does prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the President has violated his oath to ‘preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,’ and specifically in his failure to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’ (Article II, Section 3). This conclusion is further underscored by the Administration’s failure to this point to pursue policies to prevent future foreign efforts to influence American elections.On to Congress, as the Constitution fairly well insists. You have clarified several issues that I originally had when I learned that the Mueller report had not taken a stand on collusion or obstruction. I didn’t understand the nuances of the law enough until you spelled out why he did what he did.That said, I think Mr. Mueller could have written more clearly in the report (on page 2, I believe) so that those of us less familiar with legal writing could understand the subtle implications.I’m glad that there are many lawyers among our Congress men and women.
Let’s hope they move forward, asap, to pave the way for impeachment, or at least better laws to prevent this disaster from ever occurring again in a future presidency.Comments are closed. Post navigation.
Check out my. Lot's of neat chemistry there!!The best online college chemistry courses are here! Sor juana ines de la cruz quotes. Hi I am Cliff and have been a chemistry professor at since 1984. I have been a pioneer in science education and online college chemistry, having received numerous grants. I was one of the first in California to put chemistry courses online starting in 2002.Shasta College is located in Redding, California which is in the far northern part of the state in the shadow of Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. Shasta College is a public 2 year community college, fully accredited in higher education by the part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. We offer a high quality personal learning experience that is surprisingly inexpensive even to folks outside of California.When you take one of my online classes, you get notes written for student understanding (not textbook jargon), links to excellent other websites, and the most attentive online instructor period!
During the week and on most weekends your question will be answered no later than the next day and most of the time within 12 hours. I am currently making available videos of chemical phenomena and of me lecturing using the notes online for those who like the extra modality of seeing and hearing. If you are organized, try one of my online classes. I will attend to all of your educational needs and one of my important class rules isNO FREAKING OUT.2020 Spring Semester Starts January 13, 2020 Register in Late Fall 2019atOnline Courses that I offer that require no physical presence. Links to these are in the table below.Chem 10 - Chemistry for the Liberal Arts. This is a 3 unit course for the non-scientist and is offered in the fall, spring and summer.
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It is virtually math free and covers a variety of consumer and chemistry applied to everyday life. This is a fun class! It satisfies the requirement for related speech pathology majors. This is offered every fall, spring and summers sessions.Chem 11: A do at home lab to accompany Chem 10.Check out my.
Lot's of neat chemistry there!!You can click on the course links below to get more information.To view documents on my WebPages, you will need the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe. It is free.Please note you can access current course syllabuses below.Fall 2020.Chem 10 text is Chemistry for Changing Times, 15th ed by John Hill, Hill, et al.ISBN 102. Available at the Shasta College Bookstore or any on-line book retailer.
I will also accept the 14th ed ISBN 026 13th ed. 877 Search for these online using the ISBN number and you will find them much cheaper than the Shasta College Bookstore. The text has 22 chapters and about 640 pages depending on the edition.
Here are two links that will connect you to a list of these texts for cheap. The14th edition and the 13th usually can find these cheaper online than the bookstore, especially the older editions. Search using the ISBN numbers. Below you will find webpages for previous fall semesters.(entirely online)Spring 2020 semester starts January 13,Chem 10 text is Chemistry for Changing Times, 15th ed by John Hill, Hill, et al.ISBN 102.
Available at the Shasta College Bookstore or any on-line book retailer. I will also accept the 14th ed ISBN 026 13th ed. 877 Search for these online using the ISBN number and you will find them much cheaper than the Shasta College Bookstore. The text has 22 chapters and about 640 pages depending on the edition. Here are two links that will connect you to a list of these texts for cheap. The14th edition and the 13th are links to previous semestersJanuary 13 start and March TBA start (entirely online)March TBAstart (entirely online and do at home).