Crime

• But the nearly two-year investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election dominated headlines – and revealed what has become Trump’s trademark denial of any wrongdoing.
• For Trump, the Russia investigation was the first “ridiculous hoax” and “witch hunt.” Mueller didn’t help matters.
• “While this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him,” the special counsel stated.

1. Obstruction of justice

• But Orentlicher wrote that obstruction of justice is “a complicated matter.” According to federal law, obstruction occurs when a person tries to impede or influence a trial, investigation or other official proceeding with threats or corrupt intent.
• But in a March 24, 2019, letter to Congress summarizing Mueller’s findings, then-Attorney General William Barr said he saw insufficient evidence to prove that Trump had obstructed justice.

So it was up to Congress to further a case against Trump on obstruction charges, but then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi declined, arguing that it would be too divisive for the nation and Trump “just wasn’t worth it.”

Read more:
Trump and obstruction of justice: An explainer

2. Why didn’t the full report become public?

• Charles Tiefer is a professor of law at the University of Baltimore and expected that Trump and Barr would do “everything in their power to keep secret the full report and, equally important, the materials underlying the report.” Tiefer was right.
• To keep Mueller’s report private, Barr invoked grand jury secrecy – the rule that attorneys, jurors and others “must not disclose a matter occurring before the grand jury.”

Trump and Barr also claimed executive privilege to further prevent the release of the report. Though it cannot be used to shield evidence of a crime, Tiefer explained, “that’s where Barr’s exoneration of Trump really helped the White House.”

Read more:
How Trump and Barr could stretch claims of executive privilege and grand jury secrecy

3. Alternative facts

• Perhaps the most disappointing finding, they argued, is that there are no known fixes to this problem.
• They found that fact-checking has little impact on changing individual beliefs, and more education only sharpens the divisions.
• And with that, they wrote, “the U.S. continues to inch ever closer to a public square in which consensus perceptions are unavailable and facts are irrelevant.”

  Read more:
  From 'Total exoneration!'

4. Trump’s demand for loyalty

• What sets Trump apart, Ouyang wrote, is his “exceptional emphasis on loyalty.” Trump expects personal loyalty from his staff – especially from his attorney general.
• “Trump values loyalty over other critical qualities like competence and honesty.
• Read more:
  Why does a president demand loyalty from people who work for him?

• The IDF says it has been working on information gleaned from questioning Palestinian fighters captured in the fighting.
• According to a report in the Jerusalem Post on April 17, the Palestinian fighters were hiding out in schools in the area.
• The investigation, by online Israeli magazines +927 and Local Call examined the use of an AI programme called “Lavender”.

• It’s important to note that the IDF is not the only military to be working with AI in this way.
• But one function of the way the IDF is harnessing Lavender in this current conflict is its use alongside other systems.
• Read more:
  Israel accused of using AI to target thousands in Gaza, as killer algorithms outpace international law

The Iranian dimension

• Away from the charnel house that is the Gaza Strip, the focus has been on the aftermath of Israel’s strike on the Iranian embassy in Baghdad on April 1.
• As is his wont, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed revenge, declaring: “The Zionist regime will be punished by the hands of our brave men.
• And this was very much how it was to turn out when Iran’s drones and missiles flew last weekend.
• Read more:
  Could Israel's strike against the Iranian embassy in Damascus escalate into a wider regional war?
• Read more:
  Why Iran's failed attack on Israel may well turn out to be a strategic success

The nuclear option?

One of the possibilities being widely canvassed is that Israel could mount some kind of attack on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. This has been revitalised in the years since Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama.

• He walks us through the history of Iran’s nuclear programme, a story littered with the bodies of Iranian nuclear scientists and the wreckage of its nuclear facilities thanks to fiendish cyberattacks such as the Stuxnet virus developed by Israel and the US that was launched against Iran in 2010.
• Since Trump quit the nuclear deal, Iran has gone full-steam ahead in ramping up its nuclear weapons programme, while reportedly hiding its key installations in deep underground bunkers that are thought impossible to destroy from the air.

• Paris hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer provides France with a huge geopolitical opportunity.
• Former French president François Hollande was credited with instigating the successful bid to stage the 2024 Games, 100 years after Paris was last host in 1924.
• But it is Emmanuel Macron who has enjoyed taking up the mantle in his quest to present a new vision of France.
• Some believe Macron being president was just what the Games needed, given his apparent quest to transform France into a more outward-looking, progressive nation.
• Indeed, Macron has proved adept at playing soft power games through sport (including his efforts to keep the footballer Kylian Mbappé playing in France).

City of light (and dark)

• Elsewhere, in a city that struggles to cope with traffic density, transport arrangements and problems with accommodation are worrying some officials as the Olympics approaches.
• By the end of September, it could be that many people across the world have a much more positive view of France and its capital city.
• Problems are mounting that could well undermine one of the president’s cornerstone projects in projecting his vision of a new France.

The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• Washington, D.C., April 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prison Fellowship , the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving prisoners, former prisoners, and their families, released the following statement after President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. proclaimed April 2024 as Second Chance Month.
• “We are grateful that the White House has once again issued a presidential proclamation addressing the importance of second chances for formerly incarcerated individuals,” said Heather Rice-Minus , president and CEO of Prison Fellowship.
• “We support fair legislation that provides formerly incarcerated individuals who have served their sentences with the opportunity to rebuild their lives, strengthen family bonds, and contribute to society.”
  To view the 2024 Presidential Proclamation, click here .
• Prison Fellowship is the nation's largest outreach to prisoners, former prisoners, and their families, and a leading voice for criminal justice reform.