This has been on my TBR for awhile, but it's particularly timely to have listened now with the state of the war in Ukraine. It was a good reminder of how the Trump presidency and those associated with it have affected what's going on in Ukraine, and it also touches on the efforts Russia went to in order to manipulate US and Ukraine politics.

In particular, the new information I got out of this was the history and context of not only the individuals investigating Trump, such as Mueller, but also Trump's associates, such as Cohen or Giuliani. That was information I didn't seek out at the time of the events and it helped to contextualize a lot of the events that happened. ( )

True Crimes and Misdemeanors was a little long, but an impeachment of a U.S. President is a major event, and does warrant a thorough review. Supreme Court and legal expert Jeffrey Toobin provides his review of the Muller investigation into the Trump presidential campaign of 2016 and its possible involvement with the Russians.

While the Muller investigation was on-going, his team was tight-lipped, and except for the indictment of a few dozen individuals, we were mostly kept in the dark until the final report was issued. Up till that time, all we heard was what the President had to say, e.g., "greatest witch hunt in history"; "totally unfair", etc.

In the end, the findings of the Muller report were inconclusive. While the Report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him. Mr. Mueller stated afterwards that under Department of Justice analysis, his team was unable to charge a sitting president with a crime. Only Congress has the ability to charge the President, and Muller handed off any prosecution to Congress under the impeachment clause of the Constitution.

We now know that the President was not convicted of a crime in his Impeachment, but Toobin's book provides a look at evidence the Muller Team uncovered of the president’s likely obstruction of justice. Additionally, he provides many other clarifications and insights into the Russian investigation. The Muller investigation showed just how effective Russian trolls were in stirring up hate and discontent on social media sites, mostly aimed at demonizing Hillary Clinton and propping up the candidacy of Donald Trump. His review also provides details on a number of very questionable actions by several associates of the Trump campaign, many of whom were already indicted.
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This book combines a blow by blow account of the Mueller investigation with the Ukraine scandal and impeachment. I almost stopped reading it early in, partly because it is somewhat repetitive of other books I've read and the events are by now so well-known, at least by people who follow the news as closely as I do. I read this about a month before the election (and to top it off, RBG died the day before I finished it), so in some ways, this book detailing events of the recent past (Mueller and impeachment) which seemed so monumental as they were occurring seemed distant and inconsequential.

But I decided to persevere, and I'm glad I did. Toobin provides a good review of the events, and he makes some valid analytic points and judgments about the wisdom of some of the actions and decisions of some of the primary players that I hadn't considered before. It also includes an Epilogue detailing Trump's "revenge," starting the day after his acquittal in the Senate.

Here's one of his interesting musings on the Mueller investigation:

"Mueller's caution and reticence led him to fail at his two most important tasks. Thanks to the clever actions (and strategic inaction) of Trump's legal team, Mueller failed to obtain a meaningful interview with Trump himself. Even worse, Mueller convinced himself--wrongly--that he had to write a final report that was nearly incomprehensible to ordinary citizens in its legal conclusions. By doing so, he diluted, nearly to insignificance the extraordinary factual record he had assembled. And the opacity of Mueller's report allowed Trump's allies to define it to the president's advantage.
"Trump played with modern tools--mass media, social media, and the power of the presidency. He also relied on the traditional tool of demagogues by refining his legal position to a simple slogan--'no collusion, no obstruction,'
"Simplicity rarely loses to complexity in battles in the public square."

Recommended.

3 stars ( )

True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump
by Jeffrey Toobin
This is a very thoroughly researched book that describes the Trump campaign before the 2016 election and follows events up to the present day. It covers all the main crimes, events, main characters that has made the headlines and how the last four years has been in the spotlight, pure chaos! I had this book on hold from the library for a long time so I wanted to read it but at the same time I am so done with all of this! It was good to review an know that for the next four years that we won't have a president acting like this! The summary of this book was brilliant! It brought the sum of the last four years together in a cohesive few paragraphs. That is the only way the last four years will ever be called cohesive!
Informative book! I forgot some of the crimes and strange behavior from the dark side because there is just so much of it!
Definitely worth the read even if it's to say goodbye and good riddance! ( )

Jeffrey Toobin is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law who now serves as a legal analyst for CNN and “The New Yorker.” His book about the inquiry into Russian electoral interference as well as the Ukraine scandal that led to Trump’s impeachment can be summarized succinctly: Trump lied, lied, lied.

The main focus of the book is the investigation by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller into, as he was instructed by the Justice Department when appointed in 2017, “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump” as well as any crimes arising from his investigation.

Toobin is critical of Mueller in several ways. One is the somewhat ironic criticism that Mueller followed the rules and tried to respect honor and fairness; Trump recognized no such boundaries, and Mueller should have anticipated that. Toobin also argues that Mueller wrongly did not investigate Trump’s finances. Toobin claims that Mueller thought such an investigation was unnecessary to prove intent even though it might have shown motive. [Other books, however, notably Michael S. Schmidt's Donald Trump v. the United States report that Mueller was prevented from exploring that avenue by then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.] Toobin also laments that Trump gained further advantage when Mueller declined to subpoena Trump for a personal interview, and finally, when he opted not to characterize Trump’s guilt definitively in his summary, thus letting the new unabashedly sycophantic “Trump apologist” attorney general William Barr whitewash the report in Trump’s favor.

Toobin argues that “Trump’s victory over Mueller was tactical not strategic. The president and his allies outmaneuvered Mueller, but Trump’s character - and his behavior - didn’t change.”

Toobin is also critical of former FBI Director James Comey (again differing in this respect from Michael Schmidt), who he found to be sanctimonious and egotistical, definitely tipping the scales in the 2016 election toward Trump. He criticizes Rosenstein for having committed “malpractice,” and gives Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani “credit” both for steering Trump into the Ukraine disaster, and then deflecting attention away from Trump’s shenanigans.

Toobin ends the book with a withering criticism of Trump on his handling (or lack thereof) of the Corona virus. Trump, Toobin avers, responded to the coronavirus with the same belligerent dishonesty, vindictiveness, and blame shifting that characterized his treatment of Mueller and impeachment.

Somehow, Toobin points out, with all of Trump’s dishonesty and immorality, he survives and continues to wield power.

Evaluation: Toobin’s book is especially enlightening when it is read, as I read it, in conjunction with Michael Schmidt’s book. Both authors do an excellent job reporting on how Trump has managed to circumvent the law, but from slightly different perspectives. Coming together like a kaleidoscopic image, they provide a powerful lens into the Mafia-like operations of the Trump Administration.

(JAB) ( )