Intro: 10:55
In this episode, I speak with Truthout senior editor and lead columnist William Rivers Pitt. We discuss the federal investigation by former FBI Director Robert Mueller into Donald Trump’s potential collusion with Russian foreign agents during the 2016 presidential election -- an investigation that lasted for most of Trump's time as President. Without buying into the media spectacle that has clouded lucid analysis into the implications of this investigation, William provides much needed perspective into what we can expect now that the investigation has officially concluded (the findings of which have not yet been publicly released, it must be noted).
After Mueller officially submitted his report, Attorney General William Barr released a four-page "summary" of the 300-plus page report. As William has detailed in his work, the "Barr summary" proves to be highly unsatisfactory in its sparse conclusions. (http://bit.ly/BarrSummary) Before we draw conclusions, we need to see the full report, not the vague "summary" provided by Trump's Attorney General. Also, we must remember that as a result of this investigation, multiple legal actions are being pursued against Trump and his cronies. In an op-ed in titled ‘The “Barr Summary” Is Meaningless. Release the Entire Report.’ William remarks that we “should take a deep breath and remember:
- Roger Stone is set for trial in November;
- The Southern District of New York investigation into Trump’s payments of hush money via Michael Cohen is ongoing;
- Multiple state and federal officials are investigating the shenanigans that went into the collection of a record $107 million by Trump’s inaugural committee;
- The New York Department of Financial Services is investigating whether Trump illegally inflated his net worth to insurance companies per Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony;
- The New York attorney general is investigating Trump’s questionable dealings with Deutsche Bank;
- The Trump Foundation is under investigation for what that attorney general has called a “shocking pattern of illegality”;
- The New York State tax department is investigating Trump’s decades-long tax schemes;
- Federal and state investigators are looking into Trump’s hiring of undocumented workers;
… and on top of all this are the ongoing investigations by the House Intelligence Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Oversight Committee, the Financial Services Committee, the Ways and Means Committee, and the Foreign Affairs Committee.” (http://bit.ly/2uBnQb5)
William trusts the process, and he explains why in this interview.
William Rivers Pitt is a senior editor and lead columnist at Truthout, and is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author. He lives and works in New Hampshire.
Episode Notes:
- Read William’s columns at Truthout: https://truthout.org/authors/william-rivers-pitt
- The articles discussed in this interview: http://bit.ly/2uBnQb5 / http://bit.ly/2V7FIGn / http://bit.ly/2uDUWXU
- Read Barr's “summary”: http://bit.ly/BarrSummary
- Follow William on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WRPitt
- The introduction features audio from: https://youtu.be/JbK8euLYWrg
- The songs featured in this episode are “Nothing's Gonna Stop Me” and “What's Your World” by Lost Son from the album Flying Colors.