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State of American History, Civics, and Politics

The Mueller Report: Paula Duncan, William Barr, and the American People

A Real Lawyer (http://i2.cdn.turner.com)

The tone over the Mueller Report has changed. The incessant drumbeat to shut down the Mueller investigation has ended. The call to fire Rod Rosenstein has ceased. The attacks on Mueller have lessened. The fear the Matthew Whitaker would close the Mueller probe with a report that never would see the light of day has dissipated. All eyes now turn to William Barr.

The example of Paula Duncan should be remembered. She served as a juror in the Manafort trial. She was and presumably still is a Trump supporter. One might think therefore that she would have been an unwelcome juror from the perspective of the prosecutors. Instead she voted guilty on all 18 counts. How come despite the steady tweets that it was all a witch hunt and the relentless disparagement of the entire process by the Trump Propaganda Network (TPN), did she end up voting with the prosecutor on all 18 counts?

The answer is the evidence. The answer is that once she took an oath to serve as a juror that is precisely what she did. She listened as the prosecutors walked the jurors through the evidence. She listened as the defense attorneys sought to undermine that evidence. And when both sides were through there was no doubt in her mind: the evidence was overwhelming. So she voted to convict. Again and again and again until all the counts had been adjudicated.

Barr will experience something similar. The Mueller team gathered the evidence day by day, week by week, month by month, painstakingly following leads and sorting through the material until they were ready to prepare an indictment. That is not how Barr will encounter the evidence. He is not going to get it piecemeal. Instead he will be hit with a tsunami. What the Mueller team took months to prepare, he will be hit with all at once.

He will see what was redacted on those court filings.

He will see what indictments are in the process of being filed.

He will see what data has not yet been revealed to the public in any of the public filings so far.

How many indictments have there been based on the testimony of Michael Flynn? Why did he get immunity?

How many indictments have there been based on the testimony of Allen Weisselberg? Why did he get immunity?

How many indictments have there been based on the testimony of David Pecker? Why did he get immunity?

How many indictments of other people including Person #1 have there been based on the testimony of Michael Cohen?

Right now, Barr knows no more about the Mueller investigation than anyone else in the public arena. Then suddenly he is going to know everything.

We know how Paula Duncan reacted when she was exposed to the truth. What will Barr do when he has his OMG moment?  What will Barr do when he learns that the slimiest and sleaziest real estate developer in New York operated and operates identically when he moved his business to the White House? Barr is a career officer of the court who will have taken an oath to the Constitution to serve the American people. He knows that he will not have taken an oath to be loyal to the President. So when he has his OMG moment will he like Paula Duncan vote to convict, that is, release the report or will he put the wishes of the President first? There is no way to know for sure but I suggest that it is quite likely that when the OMG moment occurs justice will trump loyalty.

What about with the American people. We the people have been in the same dark as Barr has been about the full story of what has happened. Then suddenly when the report is released we will have our OMG moment. For some people it will be a moment of vindication. For others it will be “is that all there is?’ There will be a lot of guano to digest very suddenly,

One should expect the TPN to be fully activated and in high gear to combat and denounce the Mueller report once it goes public. It’s all process crimes. It’s not even criminal acts anyway. It’s poisoned fruit anyway and not admissible. So what if he did it? It’s the last gasp of the Deep State seeking to remove the legitimately elected President and to thwart God’s plan.

That approach probably won’t work with the American people. There are likely to be more Paula Duncans than Sean Hannitys in the country. There may be a clamor for the Democrats to impeach. There already is. The policy of not impeaching unless the Republican Senate supports removal may be overwhelmed by the OMG reaction to the Mueller report.

Think of Supreme Court Justice Merrick Garland. Oh, that’s right, you can’t because he never became one. He never became a Supreme Court justice because Majority Leader Mitch McConnell never allowed a vote to be held. He used the excuse that is was too close to the presidential election and it should be up to the people to decide. McConnell’s gamble worked. The Democrats did not hold the White House and the republicans prevailed in approving the next Supreme Court justice. Will he try again? Will he put the Senate in play in order to save the Republican President after the American people have had an OMG moment with the release of the Mueller report?

I don’t know but we will find out sooner or later.