MSNBC is reporting that, even though Mueller has submitted his final report, his grand jury is continuing to work “robustly”.  This comes from Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goodhand speaking during a federal hearing this morning about the mysterious company trying to avoid a subpoena to testify in Mueller’s probe of Russian activity.

I’m starting to get pretty confused – the probe is ongoing, his grand jury is working, yet Mueller has submitted his “final” report and AG Bill Barr has told the Congress “nothing to see here”.  I think this thing is far from over.

Eric Holder, appearing on MSNBC with Ari Melber, has just said that Bill Barr “is wrong” by stepping in and being judge and jury on possible charges against Trump.  He said that Barr’s conduct is highly unusual, and that these kinds of actions involving the President should be deferred to Congress, not taken over by the Attorney General, a political appointment.

Here we go.

We STILL haven’t seen the Mueller report, but it appears that it shows all the evidence for and against Trump and his cronies colluding with the Russians, apparently punting an indictment decision to the Justice department.  Barr predictably cleared Trump of collusion with the Russians with NO explanation why; on obstruction, he did what he already said he would do, which was to oppose those charges against Trump.

Obviously, Mueller chose to not throw the country into a Constitutional crisis by giving Trump a pass on the legion of lies and the dozens of contacts with the Russians and with Wiki-Leaks.  His definition of “obstruction” was so narrow that it was impossible to come to criminal charges because there wasn’t a smoking gun (or pee-pee tape). I mean, for God’s sake, Manafort is in prison, Michael Cohen is going to prison, and George Papadopoulos has already served time, all for lying to investigators about their contacts WITH THE RUSSIANS.  Barr’s whitewash doesn’t pass the straight-faced test, and we don’t know yet what we don’t know.

What we do know is that even Barr, who SAID we couldn’t indict a sitting president with obstruction, stated that Trump was not exonerated of this crime.  Since Trump actually confessed to obstruction by firing Comey, it’s pretty clear that he did obstruct justice, but Barr is declining to follow through on the charges because Trump is in office.

We all know what’s going on here, right?  Trump is guilty as hell, that is clear.  To protect the guy who nominated him, Barr is providing legal cover for a period of time so the media can falsely claim that Mueller cleared Trump, which he most certainly did not.  When the truth comes out in a year or so, it will be too late as the lies of his innocence will then be ingrained into popular culture, and we’ll then be in danger of electing this walking violation of the Constitution to another 4 years.

God help us.

As we await the Barr Report on the Mueller Report, Trump’s TeeVee Howlers are proclaiming “nothing to see here”, and “the witch hunt is finally over”.  We all know, though, that it’s not over, not by a long shot.  Mueller sending his report to Justice is just the end of the beginning.  The Dems are already talking about subpoenaing Mueller to testify before the House Intelligence Committee in their own investigation.  The State of New York has multiple criminal investigations against Trump’s “charity”, his real estate company, and against individuals tied to him like Roger Stone and Michael Cohen.  The most ironic investigation is the one of Trump’s inaugural committee where ACTUAL collusion with foreign powers is pretty apparent with evidence of using straw donors to launder money into the Trump’s coffers.

Trump, who usually spends his nights and weekends tweet-raging, is uncharacteristically quiet this weekend, hiding and playing golf in Mara Lago.  You know that Barr has already reported Mueller’s findings to him; also, he has not yet provided the promised summary of the findings to the public. That his attorneys are with him his no surprise.  The White House is claiming there is no war room set up in Trumpland, but you know that’s bullshit, and that his legal team is all hands on deck.

With 37 indictments, 8 guilty pleas, prison sentences and multiple trials in various stages, my guess is that the contents of this report is not nothing.  This is just the end of the Mueller investigation, which is just the beginning of a multi-front legal and political battle.

CNN is reporting that unknown attorneys argued yesterday in a locked courtroom before a three judge federal appeals court panel over a challenged subpoena to Mueller’s grand jury.  This is the third such hearing, but this time, the entire fifth floor of the courthouse was cleared of all press and observers but for a few judiciary clerks.  The lawyers, who remain unidentified, arrived and left the courthouse under cover.  About 10 minutes after the hubbub on the fifth floor ceased, a black car carrying two of the Mueller team were seen entering the building where Mueller’s team resides.

Very interesting.  With all the secrecy, this witness is clearly highly placed.  My guess it’s a Trump family member; Jr.? Ivanka? Kushner?  This will make a great study in governance after this is all over.

This week, New York Times columnist Charles Blow wrote a depressing, but I believe accurate opinion piece about how Trump will respond to Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation.  It ain’t pretty.  Blow compares Trump to Nixon, pointing out their difference in response to unassailable facts.  When Nixon was facing an actual impeachment vote, he resigned a crawled back under his rock at San Clemency.  Blow says that Trump will NEVER yield, even after an unlikely vote for impeachment.

His point here is that the end of the Mueller investigation isn’t the end of a long nightmare, but actually only the beginning.  Even in the face of incontrovertible evidence, Trump will admit nothing. He’ll attack on Twitter. Trump’s network of propaganda outlets, lead by Fox Noise, will spin the findings at hypersonic speeds to twist up the finding to assert that negatives are positives, red is blue, the sky is green, the sun rises in the west, and that Trump is a “victim” of a smear campaign.

Blow describes the looming constitutional crisis as the  “country’s crucible” that will test the very strength of our constitutional form of government.  Trump won’t go down without taking the country with him.  That is darkness that is no less threatening than the Great Depression, the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s, and the Great Recession.  And, it could start any day.

Sleep tight…