David Corn: I note Mueller isn't obligated under DOJ regs to produce a tell-all final report. But th

Whatever we get, it is going to be LONNNNNNNNg wait.



David Corn Verified account @DavidCornDC

3h3 hours ago

I hope folks would read this before commenting. I note Mueller isn't obligated under DOJ regs to produce a tell-all final report. But the regs do allow for that possibility. Still, that report would be confidential & under the control of the AG. Then what?

Link to tweet

The Myth of the Mueller Report

No one knows whether the Trump-Russia special counsel will produce a final and public report telling all.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/01/the-myth-of-the-mueller-report/



David Corn January 11, 2019 8:30 AM

Andrew Harnik/AP

You hear people say it again and again: Just wait for Robert Mueller’s final report. But they’re overlooking one distinct possibility: There may not be a Mueller report. Or at least not the kind of fulsome, tell-all report they have in mind.

Democrats on the Hill, cable television pundits and analysts, social media influentials, voters, your cousin. They’re all talking about—and hyping—this supposed moment of truth, when the special counsel will reveal all that he and his team have discovered about Moscow’s attack on the 2016 election and interactions between the Trump crew and Russia. Even Trump’s camp has promoted the notion that a dramatic climax in written form is approaching. Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, has repeatedly referred to a Mueller report. And Trump himself has tweeted about a Mueller report, calling it the “Witch Hunt Report,” claiming it will be unfair, and vowing, “We will be doing a major Counter Report to the Mueller Report.”


Here’s the problem with all this speculation and anticipation: Mueller is under no obligation to produce a final report that shares with the public the full breadth of what he has uncovered.

The Justice Department guidelines governing the work of a special counsel do not compel Mueller to compile such a report. They only include one sentence about a report: “At the conclusion of the Special Counsel’s work, he or she shall provide the Attorney General with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decisions reached by the Special Counsel.”
At this point, there are no indications whether there will be an explosive final report (or reports) or something minimal and narrow—and whether any report will reach the public.

This description is rather elastic. It could entail a brief report that merely lists the indictments Mueller has brought, briskly explains why he decided to pursue these cases, and perfunctorily states that he found no other activity he deemed worthy of prosecution. Yet this regulation would seemingly also allow for a lengthy report that details all the investigative digging conducted by Mueller and his crew—everything they unearthed—with explanations of why he did and did not initiate criminal cases. This sort of report could be comprehensive and disclose the specifics of wide-ranging political skullduggery that did not draw indictments—perhaps even name names—and might be horrific for Trump and his henchmen. But Mueller is under no official commitment to perform such a grand finale.....................................