Trump Jeopardizes Innocence After Mueller Report

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The Mueller Report was released on Friday, March 22.

Cole Tamarri 

Managing Editor 

President Donald Trump taking a victory lap after the Mueller Report, released on Friday, March 22, is the equivalent of an ESU student throwing a party after getting an “I” for incompletion in a class.

In the four page letter that Attorney General William Barr sent to Congress 72 hours later manipulated the initial intentions of the report written by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.

In his report, Mueller wrote that his report “does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it does not exonerate him.”

Barr essentially takes the opportunity in his letter to not summarize the report, but to draw his own conclusion.

At one point he believed “that the evidence developed during the Special Counsel’s investigation is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense.”

What makes this so disturbing is that the attorney general is supposed to be presiding over this investigation, and instead of remaining neutral and professional, Barr is interjecting his own opinions on the matter.

According to the Washington Post, he had sent a memo to his deputy AG, Rod Rosenstein, before the report came out that Mueller’s report was “fatally misconceived.”

To top this unprofessional approach by Barr off, Trump tweeted that the report was a  “complete and total exoneration.”

He later tweeted that the investigation was a “illegal takedown that failed.”

What Trump failed to read and comprehend is that Mueller referred elements of the  investigations to other places, such as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York on the bribe payments to Stormy Daniels.

However, people on the left at places such as MSNBC were wrong for portraying the Mueller Report as an end-all-be-all for the Trump Administration. This whole presidency, the scandals have never been about Trump himself solely or his cronies.

It is a referendum on this country.

It shows our tolerance for racism, sexism, classism and a lack of empathy for other people.

What makes this victory lap by Trump and his supporters feel like salt in a wound is it proves that there are really different rules depending on where you fall in America society.

If you’re black in America and you do anything that can be misconstrued as outside of the law like smoking weed and minding your business, or even if you are innocent, you are at risk constantly of being arrested, falsely accused or even worse killed by those meant “to protect and serve.”

If you’re white and you lie, cheat and bribe to put your kids through school, you get a slap on the wrist.

Felicity Huffman is not going to jail, and I’ll bet my pay for working on this paper this semester on it.

If you’re white and your political team colluded with Russians, and your unqualified son-in-law is helping put together foreign policy and your out-of-touch daughter claims to care about working women and domestic policy, nothing happens.

If you’re white and you leave an entire island stranded to suffer after the worst hurricane season in decades, nothing happens.

If you’re white and you lie constantly in the highest office of the land, nothing happens.

But god-forbid a black man wears a tan suit and is married to a black woman, a force to be reckoned to be.

All I can think about while writing this is Chris Rock’s old quote from a stand-up he did for HBO: “But it’s alright, cause it’s all white.”

Mueller’s report, Barr’s “summary,” and Congressional hearings don’t affect us as college students.

However, the rules that apply to some and don’t apply to others will affect us until we as a country get the courage to face up and and cover this injustice and bring it to light.

Email Cole at:

ctamarri@live.esu.edu