Volume II of the Mueller Report, focusing on obstruction of justice by Trump and his staff.

1. Volume II: The Coverup

2. Preliminary
Comments
• Explicit rejection of the “binary” to “prosecute/decline”
• Feels bound by DOJ Policy Not to Indict a Sitting President
• Explains logic: doing so would “"impermissibly undermine
the capacity of the executive branch to perform its
constitutionally assigned functions."
• Explicit comment: “a president does not have immunity
when he leaves office.”
• Difficulty in declaring that crimes were committed because:
• ordinary channels for clearing one's name are unavailable in
this case
• the consequences of a recommendation would extend
"beyond the realm of criminal justice."

3. Evidence & Credibility
None of the “fake news” was fake. The Mueller
team found all the revelations against Trump
credible relying on “general principles, including
reasons to lie, good memory, opportunity to
observe events, corroboration, and
contradictions.”
The Mueller team had the power to subpoena
Trump and refrained "in view of the substantial
delay that such an investigative step would likely
produce at a late stage in our investigation."
Also, even w/o his testimony, they had enough
evidence "to understand relevant events.”

4. The Money Shot:
If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts
that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of
justice, we would so state. Based on the facts and the
applicable legal standards, we are unable to reach that
judgment. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude
that the President committed a crime, it also does not
exonerate him.

5. “obstructive
act”
nexus to
criminal
proceeding
Obstruction
of Justice
= +
“corrupt
intent”
+
Note: no requirement for an underlying crime
Note: attempts suffice

6. KEEP IN MIND:
The part of the report that discusses Trump's reaction to the Russian
hacks and his instructions to Cohen and Manafort in this respect is
heavily redacted.
Trump reached out to the intelligence community asking them to
publicly deny the Steele Memo after it leaked through Buzzfeed.
During the campaign, Trump repeatedly denied links
to Russia, denied that the leaks were coming from
Russia, and denied that he or other campaign officials
sought any information from Russians. As per Vol. I,
the Mueller team found these denials to be false.

7. • In Jan 2017, Flynn lied to Pence about meeting
Kislyak. When Trump found out, he summoned
Comey, then FBI director, and told him that he
needed "loyalty." He then proceeded to fire
Flynn and commented to an outside advisor,
"now that we fired Flynn, the Russia thing is
over."
• Later that evening, Trump summoned Comey
to a one-on-one meeting, telling Comey, "I
hope you can see your way to letting this go."
• Trump proceeded to ask Deputy National
Security Advisor McFarland for a letter saying
that Trump did not order Flynn to meet Kislyak.
McFarland declined because he did not know if
it was true and didn't want that to look like a
quid-pro-quo favor for his Ambassadorship.
• As Sessions began to consider recusing himself,
Trump asked White House counsel McGahn to
instruct Sessions not to recuse, and after
Sessions' recusal, took Sessions aside and
asked him to "unrecuse."

8. • On May 3, Comey testified in a
congressional hearing, refusing to
say that Trump himself was under
investigation. Within days, he was
terminated. Trump claimed that
the termination was unrelated to
the testimony, but the timeline
does not bear this out.
Later, when Comey admitted that there was an FBI
investigation on Russia, Trump reached out to National Security
Advisors asking them what they could do to dispel this
suggestion. Despite McGahn's advice to the contrary, he also
reached out twice personally to Comey.

9. • On May 17, Rosenstein appointed Mueller special
counsel. Trump reacted by telling advisors that this
was "the end of [his] presidency." He first demanded
that Sessions resign (but then did not accept his
resignation.)
• Trump then argued that Mueller had a conflict of
interest, but his advisors told him that claim was
meritless.
• When Mueller announced that Trump was a target,
the latter called McGahn at home and asked him to
fire Mueller. Fearful of starting a Saturday Night
Massacre, McGahn resigned, instead.

10. • Two days after the conversation
w/McGahn, Trump met with Corey
Lewandowski, asking him to relay a
message to Sessions, who as you recall had
recused himself.
• Lewandowski was to instruct Sessions to
issue a public announcement that,
notwithstanding his recusal, Trump had
done nothing wrong, and to instruct the
Special Counsel to redirect the focus of the
investigation toward "future elections."
• Lewandowski told Trump he understood
the message, but did not want to relay it
himself, so he asked senior White House
official Rick Dearborn to do it. Dearborn
didn't want to do it either and did not relay
the message.
• In the meantime, while Trump was waiting
for Lewandowski to relay the message to
Sessions, Trump went on a twitter tirade,
criticizing Sessions and implying that firing
Sessions was imminent.

11. • In the summer of 2017, news of the
meeting at Trump Tower leaked to the
press. On numerous occasions, Trump
instructed aides not to reveal any
information about the meeting and
expressed confidence that the
information would not leak on its own.
• When Trump Jr. issued a statement about
the meeting, Trump (the father) edited
out what we know to be true: that the
campaign was promised incriminatory
information on Clinton. The edited
statement stated that the meeting was
about adoptions of Russian children.
• Trump's lawyer subsequently denied to
the press that Trump played any role in
crafting or editing Trump Jr.'s statement.

12. • In Summer 2017, Trump made several efforts to
reach out to Sessions and convince him to
"unrecuse" himself. Trump met with Sessions at the
Oval Office and asked him to "take [a] look" at
investigating Clinton.
• When Flynn pleaded guilty and collaborated with
the Mueller investigation, Trump called Sessions
again and told him that, if he "unrecused" himself,
he would be "a hero". Sessions did not "unrecuse"
himself.

13. • In early 2018, the media revealed the story
behind McGahn's resignation. Trump
directed White House officials to tell
McGahn to publicly deny that Trump had
ordered McGahn to sack Mueller. McGahn
refused to publicly deny this, saying that
the reports were factually accurate.
• Subsequently, Trump summoned McGahn
to the Oval Office and pressured him to
deny the reports, interrogating him about
what he had told Mueller. McGahn told the
investigation team later that he got a sense
that the President was "testing his mettle."

14. • When Flynn started to collaborate
with the Government, Trump
reached out to him and asked him
for a "heads up" if he learned
"information that implicates the
President."
• Flynn informed Trump that he was
unable to cooperate with this
request. Trump's personal counsel
said he would make sure that the
President knew that Flynn
expressed "hostility" toward the
President.

15. • During Manafort's trial, Trump praised
Manafort for not "flipping" (pleading
guilty and cooperating with the
investigation team), saying among
other things that "flipping" "ought to
be illegal."

16. • In 2017, as explained in Vol. I, Michael Cohen falsely
testified before Congress that Trump's involvement in the
Trump Tower Moscow project ended long before the
campaign (when in fact it continued well into 2016.)
Trump praised Cohen for his testimony.
• In April 2018 the FBI raided Cohen's home. Trump
encouraged him to "stay strong" and relayed messages of
support. Cohen reached out to Rudy Giuliani to discuss the
possibility of a pardon.
• When Cohen started cooperating with the investigation in
Summer 2018, Trump turned on him, called him a "rat",
and suggested that his family members had committed
crimes.

17. Flynn's resignation and Trump’s pressure on Comey
Trump's effort to
procure false
reports about
Flynn, and
especially the 1-on-
1 conversations
w/Comey, count as
"obstructive acts".
This was directly
related to
concerns about
criminal exposure
for Flynn (="official
proceeding.")
Corrupt intent:
Trump's demeanor
in pressuring
Comey suggests he
knew he was not
doing something
that was above
board.

18. Pressure on Comey and others in the intelligence
community to end the investigation
Trump's conversations
about this, through
McGahn and others,
were not interpreted
as inappropriate
efforts to end the
investigation.
There was a nexus
to official
proceedings that
would follow
disclosures about
the involvement
with Russia.
The nature of the
pressure on
intelligence officials
does not clearly
reveal corrupt
intent.

19. Firing Comey and claiming this was unrelated to Russia
This would qualify
as an obstructive
act if the
anticipated effect
was ending the
investigation, which
is unclear here.
Nexus: There is
some connection
this is related to
the proceedings
against Flynn.
Corrupt intent: The
evidence supports the
idea that the firing
was aimed at
protecting the
president and that the
other reasons were
merely pretextual.

20. Efforts to remove Mueller through McGahn
and others
This is clearly an
"obstructive act" to
terminate Muller.
Corrupt intent:
Substantive
evidence links this
to an effort to end
the investigation
and not to
aboveboard
behavior.
Nexus: There is a
clear nexus
between the effort
to remove Mueller
and the desire to
end the
investigation.

21. Efforts to curtail the investigation through
Lewandowski, Sessions, etc:
Corrupt intent:
Provable through
Trump's 1-on-1
meeting with
Lewandowski.
Nexus: This was
directly related to
the Mueller grand
jury.
Obstructive acts:
Trump's directives
show that he was
trying to push
Sessions to deviate
the Mueller
investigation.

22. Trump's efforts to cover up the Trump Tower
meeting
Obstructive act -
there's no strong
evidence that this
was more than a
press strategy.
Nexus: unclear. Corrupt intent:
Unclear from these
facts if it's merely a
press strategy.

23. Trump's efforts to "unrecuse" Sessions and
have him take control of the investigation
Obstructive act b/c
clearly aimed at
terminating the
Russia investigation.
Nexus to the Russia
investigation is
clear.
Corrupt intent: "a
reasonable
inference" on
Trump's side was
that Sessions would
"play a protective
role."

24. Trump tries to get McGahn to lie that he
wasn't ordered to fire Mueller
Obstructive intent:
Duh - he's trying to
get McGahn to
create a false
record.
Nexus: It was
foreseeable that
McGann would
testify about these
matters, so there's
a connection to the
Russia investigation.
Corrupt intent: an
effort to influence
McGahn's account
in order to deflect
or prevent further
scrutiny of Trump.

25. Trump's statements to Flynn and Manafort in the
context of the criminal proceedings against them
Obstructive act in
the sense that his
statements could
influence the jury.
Nexus to both trials. Intent: because of Atty-
client privilege issues, we
don't exactly know what
Giuliani did when
threatening Flynn and
whether he properly
represented Trump's
opinion.

26. Trump's about-face toward Cohen (praise then
excoriation when Cohen cooperated w/the Feds.)
Obstructive act:
Trump knew that
Cohen provided
false testimony but
no proof that he
procured said false
testimony.
Proceeding:
Cohen's testimony
at investigations.
Intent: There's
evidence to support
the inference that he
hoped Cohen would
falsely testify, but not
enough to suggest he
procured the false
testimony.

27. 5
instances of obstruction of justice
5
instances with not enough proof
of obstruction of justice

28. Generally Speaking
• The report cautiously suggests that Trump might have just
been upset because the Russia investigation (which, as per
Part I, stops short of arguing conspiracy) cast doubt on his
legitimacy as president.
• Much of the confusion comes from the fact that when Trump
engages in coercive behavior, pressure, etc., technically that
is within his purview as President.
• There were multiple efforts to exert undue influence, but
they were largely unsuccessful (this, I think, is a legal
mistake, because obstruction of justice does not require
success, merely an attempt.)
• In general, federal law advances a broad definition of
obstruction.
• Also, other obstruction statutes might be relevant to Trump's
conduct, including tampering with witnesses.

29. The Ball is in Congress’ Court

31. Parting
Shot

32. Q&A