WELL, THAT’S A TAKE: No Collusion. No Exoneration.

Charlie Sykes at The Bulwark, where they’re no long claiming to conserve conservatism:

Obstruction was always the greatest threat to Trump. Mueller’s pointed refusal to exonerate the president from a criminal charge – and an impeachable offense – now shifts the venue to Congress. As Ben Wittes noted, the failure to indict is not a finding of innocence; and Congress need not apply the same standard to “high crimes and misdemeanors” that the Department of Justice applied to the prospect of criminal prosecution. Barr’s letter suggests that Mueller’s report lays out “evidence on both sides of the question.” That narrative will make for very interesting reading as Congress begins its own investigations. Many of his efforts to derail the investigation took place in broad daylight, including firing the FBI director and browbeating the attorney general. Did it also include dangling pardons? Implicitly threatening witnesses? What else might be included in the report?

Orange Man still bad, I suppose, even though Team Mueller wasn’t even able to nail him for any process crimes related to the two-year-long investigation. My pet hypothesis is that Mueller refused to exonerate for obstruction, not on any Constitutional grounds, but as a last attempt at sowing further doubt about the legitimacy of the Trump Administration despite his failure to find any collusion.