Many Aren't Exonerating Trump in Russia Probe
WASHINGTON —
Many Americans aren't ready to clear President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation, with a new poll showing slightly more want Congress to keep investigating than to set aside its probes after a special counsel's report left open the question of whether he broke the law.
About 6 in 10 continue to believe the president obstructed justice.
The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also finds greater GOP confidence in the investigation after Attorney General William Barr in late March released his letter saying special counsel Robert Mueller found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia but didn't make a judgment on the obstruction question.
At the same time, the poll indicates that Americans are mostly unhappy with the amount of information that has been released so far. They'll get more Thursday, when Barr is expected to release a redacted version of the nearly 400-page report.
Trump has repeatedly claimed "total exoneration," after Barr asserted in his memo that there was insufficient evidence for an obstruction prosecution.
"It's a total phony," Trump said of all allegations to Minneapolis TV station KSTP this week. "Any aspect of that report, I hope it does come out because there was no collusion, whatsoever, no collusion. There was no obstruction, because that was ruled by the attorney general."
Overall, 39 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, roughly unchanged from mid-March, before Mueller completed his two-year investigation.
But many Americans still have questions.
"It's kind of hard to believe what the president says as far as exoneration," said James Brown, 77, of Philadelphia, who doesn't affiliate with either party but says his political views lean conservative. "And in my mind the attorney general is a Trump person, so he's not going to do anything against Trump."
The poll shows 35 percent of Americans think that Trump did something illegal related to Russia — largely unchanged since the earlier poll. An additional 34 percent think he's done something unethical.
Brown says he remains extremely concerned about possible inappropriate contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, citing Trump's past interest in building a Trump Tower in Moscow, and believes the president committed crimes of obstruction to cover up financial interests. "He's not going to jeopardize his pocketbook for anything," he said.
Still, the poll suggests Barr's summary helped allay some lingering doubts within the GOP. Among Republicans, more now say Trump did nothing wrong at all (65 percent vs. 55 percent a month ago) and fewer say he did something unethical (27 percent, down from 37 percent).
more https://www.voanews.com/a/ap-norc-poll-many-aren-t-exonerating-trump-in-russia-probe/4880027.html
So 70% of Americans think Trump did something either illegal or unethical as regards Russia. Hardly jibes with the assertion that Trump has been "completely exonerated."
America is being bamboozled on a daily basis by right wing media and the White House, and to some extent even by corporate mainstream media.
So what?
It is a poll. People's opinions don't really matter. Now if you had some proof that Trump did collude, then offer it up please.
Otherwise it is just another meaningless poll being offered up because it doesn't flatter Trump.
I "offered" this poll because Trump claims that the Barr letter showed he is exonerated.
The public doesn't believe him, or Barr.
I guess that's what happens when you are a pathological liar.
Your comment is disingeious. To claim "...the public doesn't believe him, or Barr." is a misnomer and you know it. It should properly read, "...the leftist liberal public doesn't believe him, or Barr." There, I fixed it for you. You're welcome.
People's opinion will not stop Trump from lying, that is surely true. He has never even sniffed majority popularity, largely because he is a liar, but he keeps lying anyway.
But opinion does matter on election day.
Ed, I don't know how to tell you this, but you're wrong. 70% (69% to be exact) saying that Trump did something either illegal or unethical about "Russia" is a number far beyond what it would be if it were only "leftist liberals". Better luck next time.
John, it is a known fact on NT that any who do not share your personal political views are automatically wrong in your eyes and any material shown to you will also be wrong no matter what. So anything a conservative presents you will automatically dismiss.
I try to stick by the known information. The Associated Press poll says that 69 % of people think Trump was either illegal or unethical regarding "Russia". There is no way that 69% of the people are "liberal leftists" or else we wouldn't have the scumbag that we do in the presidency right now.
What about Mueller & Rosenstein? They have worked on the redactions. You mean to tell us that Mueller & Rosenstein are afraid to correct a coverup?
Just think after hearing that the President committed treason 24/7 for over 2 years, some actually believed it!
In addition, 57 percent think it is at least somewhat likely U.S. intelligence agencies broke the law when they started investigating the Trump campaign in the first place: 22 percent think it is “extremely” likely, 12 percent “very” likely, 23 percent “somewhat” likely. A third, 35 percent, think it is “not at all” likely that there were illegalities in the investigation.
I dare say the Pope himself could exonerate Trump and you still wouldn't believe it.
Had this poll been flattering to Trump at all, you would have never, ever seeded it.
The leftwing can keep picking at this scab of a fake scandal in an attempt to keep it bleeding propaganda, but the final result will be that Trump will finish his term, and the disinformation campaign will be pretty much ignored by the voters, leading to his reelection.
The Mueller team announced that they will not participate in Barr's press conference tomorrow to unveil the Mueller report.
If they were happy with Trump and Barr, someone with the Mueller team would be there.
If they were unhappy they would be speaking out! What are they - tongue tied cowards?
Maybe they were waiting for Barr to do the right thing. Who knew the guy would be so blatantly corruptible? Besides me.
What would that be? To lynch Trump?
Polls as evidence....
Can Democrats stoop any lower?
It is evidence that the public doesn't believe Trump and doesnt particularly believe Barr.
Do you really think there no repercussions to being a constant public liar?
Not when you have people like Trump supporters out there. Even when they see a video of Trump saying something, while he's on TV lying about how he never said it, they STILL won't believe he's a liar. It's unbelievable ... I really never thought so many of my fellow citizens were so stupid. Or maybe it's not even stupidity. They just put their fingers in their ears and go "la la la HILLARY" or something like that. They are so biased that they simply block out any facts about their orange hero. They refuse to believe anything they don't want to believe, no matter how convincing the evidence.
We have one Republican now who's going to run against Trump ... let's hope many more jump on the bandwagon. I doubt they will, but I can hope.
There are five year olds with more sense and honesty.
As my daughters would say "you just mad, bro" Seriously, things didn't work out in your favor or your personal favor of hatefulness toward the President. Keep on trying to find something to be mad about. So yall are now mad at the AG because he was "hand picked"....LOL, isn't that how the AG is usually picked? I realy don't care one way or the other. I know I really didn't care under Obama except my insurance went all to hell, THAT I actually care about, I work in healthcare and have to deal with that crazy ass marketplace shit everyday in work and in life. Other than that, my paycheck and taxes are good, I have no complaints, I really have no time to spend spitting at my computer screen because I'm "mad at something, like 'Trump" LOL" I have to go to work everyday. He hasn't affected my life as much as yours, John...I'm really sorry he's taken up so much of your time. Me, I choose to just go on about my day.... BTW, did you know that Notre Dame was on fire? There was damage done, AND it wasn't Trumps fault???
Have they examined evidence? No. Have they interviewed witnesses? No. Do they even know the elements of the federal law against obstruction of justice and how to apply the facts to those elements? I would say that for more than 9 in 10, the answer is - again - no.
So what informs that opinion that Trump obstructed justice? It comes from one single type of source. The news media. So . . . no big surprise that people think Trump obstructed justice when the talking heads on TV keep telling them that he did.