By Victor Davis Hanson
Amid plague, national lockdown, riot and arson, iconoclasm, recession, and the most contested voting in history, the country leaves 2020 with some scars that won’t heal.
Mail-in Voting: Election Day as we once knew it no longer really exists. It has been warped, trimmed, and made nearly irrelevant in the panic of the times. The prior, but now accelerating, changes and the “never let a good crisis go to waste” efforts during the COVID-19 lockdown rammed through vast changes in previous voting norms. If the Democrats win the two U.S. Senate runoffs in Georgia, new federal voting mandates designed to supersede state laws will institutionalize the chaos.
During the slow-motion November election “process,” the last presidential debate that Donald Trump won mattered little.Some 50 million people had already voted—and 100 million would before Election Day. The Hunter Biden scandal? Even had the media covered it, the result of such new laws would have made it a late October sparkler rather than a fiery bombshell.
When some precincts reported over 90 percent turnout, and when it was impossible to verify the authenticity of such a massive influx of votes, and when the tallying went on for days and weeks in some jurisdictions, gone entirely was the idea that Americans showed up on Election Day—with only a minority of elderly, sick, or at work voting by absentee ballots. Under the old system voters showed their IDs as if they were cashing a check, signed in, had their names checked against voting rolls, and then were directed to a booth, with the election decided in a few hours—in other words, a tradition that did not always yield the correct results.
Mail-in voting now joins open borders and promises to pack the Supreme Court, and junk the Electoral College, as systematic efforts to change the system when the system cannot guarantee the Left the retention of power. It will be impossible to return to a mostly Election Day vote, and so another American tradition of more than two centuries has been jettisoned cavalierly.
Legal Looting: America had seen violent protests throughout its history. Many had been marked by opportunistic rioting, looting, killing, and arson that often overwhelmed police, the state guard, and even the insertion of federal troops. And in the mid- to late-20th century, the result in cities from Los Angeles and Detroit to Baltimore were areas of unrest that for brief periods were effectively no-go zones where the only law in the arena was the rule of stronger and more brutal.
But what was new about the recent destructive rioting in Seattle, Portland, Washington, and New York during the summer of 2020, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, were three strange developments.
First, local and state authorities did not regularly try to suppress the violence. They either sympathized with the complaints of lawless Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters or found the general chaos and sense of unrest during the Trump Administration conducive for Joe Biden’s candidacy in the November presidential election.
In the past, on rare occasions, authorities and police had sided with the rioters and let their terror and destruction and lawlessness continue without restraint—as during the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921 that saw blacks gunned down and their property burned with impunity by white vigilantes while civic authorities looked the other way. Birmingham, Alabama public safety commissioner Bull Connor in 1961 on occasion more or less let the Klan crack heads as it pleased. But rarely in modern times have authorities abdicated and let a Lord of the Flies mentality take over their downtowns, as Seattle officials did with the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” over the summer.
Second, when violent demonstrators, arsonists, and looters were on rare occasions arrested, in most cases they were released by local and state public prosecutors, many of whom clearly sympathized with their use of violence. The result was a crash in police morale. To arrest a violent offender was simply deemed a waste of time and money, given his near-instant release and likelihood that he would never face any consequences for his actions.
In other words, as is the case in former Third World countries, America’s criminal justice system became warped. Now there was good and bad looting, permissible and outlawed arson, correct and incorrect resisting of arrest, and quarantine-violating mass rallying and mass rallying that is exempt from lockdowns. Carving out a swath of autonomy for rioters and looters in downtown Seattle proved legal; had a row of restaurants and bars done the same to be allowed to serve the people, they would have been fined, closed, and likely jailed.
Third, Democratic mayors are now avowed revolutionaries, at war with their own police departments—or at least those other than their security details that protect their families and property from the very Jacobins they empowered. In the old days, Democrats ran the cities, but a Richard Daley in Chicago, Jerome Cavanagh in Detroit, Sam Yorty in Los Angeles, or Frank Rizzo in Philadelphia at least assured the public that there would be consequences for law breaking and often begged for more federal support to quell unrest.
If one believes some of these prior mayors were racist, illiberal, or corrupt, then that indictment reflects the inherently racist traditions of the Democratic Party and its long history of delivering votes to Democratic candidates as the price of exempting their city machines from civil rights and racketeering investigations by mostly Democratic state and federal attorneys.
The common denominator with all of the above? There is no longer the rule of law as we once knew it.
Erasing Our Past: Coups, revolutions, and civil wars often witness the toppling of statues, usually of those identified as “tyrants” by self-described liberationists, reformers, and democratic activists. But in times of peace in general, and, in particular, in a constitutional United States, iconoclasm, Taliban-like destruction of statuary, and the Trotskyization of the past—whose luminaires are suddenly deemed enemies of the people—was mostly unknown.
Not now. By summer 2020, the Left was well beyond defacing, toppling, and destroying en masse statues of Confederate generals. The mob of Antifa, BLM, and renegade students had gone on to “dead white males” in general, whether it was Miguel de Cervantes, Father Junipero Serra, or Abraham Lincoln. What was new in American history was that mobs could assemble on spec and destroy or deface any statue or icon they wished—with impunity. For the foreseeable future, no civic organization or municipality will erect a statue, without first informally consulting the local Antifa thugocracy.
Antifa and BLM so terrified authorities that the latter often preemptively retired their once revered statutes, usually by night and without a vote of a local council or plebiscite. Hundreds are now hidden away in sheds and storage, apparently on the chance that a saner generation in a century or so may one day resurrect them as reminders of 21st-century mass insanity.
The reverse of statue toppling was also true, as the work of destructive creation was sanctified. BLM could simply declare plazas or sections of streets its own, brand them with its trademark BLM signature, and rightly assume mayors in Washington and New York would protect their sloganeering with the force of law—in the fashion of the Old West in which cowboys were given free rein in saloons to shoot and destroy. Defacing had now been redefined as the good ruining of public property. What is illegal is the attempt to restore a street to its original condition before it was illegally painted over with BLM slogans. From now on, mobs know that destroying art, statues, and monuments is their birthright—at least if they are professed revolutionaries.
Class War Is OK: Well before Trump, the country was bifurcating into two nations, two globalized bicoastal, wealthy internationalized ribbons within 50 miles of the Atlantic and Pacific, with a vast red interior in between. The distinctions were subtle and often hard to stereotype. But the former America was mostly left-wing. The corridors had higher percentages of the college educated and pseudo-credentialed, but more also without practical ability. They were mostly in control of the nation’s culture and politics—as defined by the administrative state, bureaucracies, media, academia, foundations, corporate boardrooms, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood, the elite echelon of the military, professional sports, and entertainment in general.
Yet the latter in-between the oceans was what still fed, built, and fueled America. That is, the interior is where the food grows, oil and gas gets pumped, timber is cut, cement, steel, and building materials are fashioned, and things get built—from cars to tractors to plastics to shingles. Globalization gave the coastal elite a new market of 7 billion—and to the interior, outsourcing, offshoring, and stagnant incomes.
@Greg: https://www.theepochtimes.com/what-happened-in-atlanta-on-election-night-2_3607130.html?utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-2020-12-09-5
That much is true. Trump obliterated Biden. Only with fraud and corruption were the Democrats able to make it look otherwise. They were soundly defeated and simply supplied the votes necessary to make it appear Biden won. Take, for instance, the situation in New York where the Republican Representative challenger was ahead by 12 votes and what do they find? 12 previously unknown votes. Democrats don’t even try to hid their corruption because they trust there is no accountability.
Consider the source. Epoch Times is an international far-right publication associated with the Falun Gong religious movement, run by cult leader Li Hongzhi from his 400-acre Dragon Springs compound in Deerpark, New York. The publication is known for its promotion of conspiracy theories. The Chinese Communist Party hates Falun Gong, which in turn loves Donald Trump because they believe he was sent by heaven to destroy communism.
Pictures with captions? Anyone could write an entirely different set of captions. The pictures themselves tell us nothing.
@Greg: Provide proof they are inaccurate, not just your whiny complaints that they provide information you don’t want to see.
@Ronald J. Ward:
Well, if you read it, it is clear you didn’t understand what you read.
I don’t know where you get your information, but it is bogus. General Paxton ran for reelection, and won, in 2018 giving him another four year term. Can you add 2018 and 4?
Yeah, the Democrats of Collin County hate him.
Seventeen Attorneys General disagree with you. And they are all actual attorneys, not arm chair jurists.
As I said, if you read the petition, you didn’t understand what you read.
Latches have nothing to do with this case.
You need better resources (not ABC Australia and an international legal group).
You’re out of your league on this subject, Ward/AJ.
@Greg:
Hence, so does Comrade Greggie.
@Deplorable Me: seriously he is like a child wheres the evidence there is no evidence, well seems 66000 minors voted, there is no evidence, many ballots were scanned without monitors present, there is no evidence, a machine in a small county gave a 26% lead to Biden with the same number of ballots fed into it, there is no evidence. seriously this is a coup, Trump is trying a coup17 states have joined the lawsuit because these states did not follow the rules , there is no evidencethere are hundreds of affidavits, there is no evidenceHere is a security tape, I dont like who posted it there is no evidence
@Deplorable Me, #53:
Judges don’t automatically consider made-up stories to be true unless someone can prove that it isn’t. When wrongdoing is alleged in a courtroom, the burden of proof is on the party making the charges.
@Greg: The tape shows them scanning ballots without witnesses, there is an admission by the SOS to that fact, fact. Because someone called the rolling ballot containers suitcases and not ballot containers does not debunk that fact. The whole watermain break turning into a slow leak on 1 urinal no where near the ballot counting area, and the braids woman and mom getting lawyers. Her comment, “This is bigger than me”.None of it looks good brother we are not going to look the other way because Snopes owners cat says its debunked. There remains all the other counted illegal votes PO boxes ect. Its all in the SC case filing go read it 1/3 of the States are now on board.
Nuthing wrong nuthing to worry about.
@Greg:
That, in no way, form or fashion, provides any proof Epoch doesn’t tell truth. Will you be providing evidence to back up your claim or is this simply another example of you running off at the keyboard?
What the Epoch article does is break down each phase of the State Farm Center video, correlating it with the actions of those there. If you want to dispute that, provide your facts. All you ever say to refute the evidence is “there is no evidence”.
@Greg:
Plausible deniability has less credit when applied to our national elections.
Why would you support Russiagate, which was literally “made up” and not support free and fair elections?
Oh, because you’re working for the CCP.
Marxism failed. How does all that Indian rice taste, Zhang?
@Nathan Blue: Maybe Fang Fang has her fangs in him and AJ, too.
@Deplorable Me: When I tell Leftwingers “Hey, the Democrats are tying to permanently be the only party in the US,” they just can’t seem to talk or have an opinion after that.
The goal here is domination.
I’d love for greg or Ron/AJ to explain where they want this to go, and where they know it’s going.
Cheated elections lead to tyrannies that span decades. That’s a fact.
I support democracy and the Constitution. They do not.
@retire05:
Aside from the typo of Paxton running for re-election in 2022 rather than 2020, laches, standing, and the safe harbor deadline are indeed obstacles that will derail the partisan TX lawsuit, just as it has in over a dozen of the 35 cases Trump has already lost to and the likelihood of the 15 or so still pending.
The problem with the wishful thinking Trump cultists is their refusal to accept data and facts that fail to support their agenda, even abandoning FOX because it just wasn’t Trumpy enough anymore. If you were able to entertain the credible arguments against Trump, you’d be able to at least understand the reality of Trump’s hold on these 17 AGs along with the majority of the GOP lawmakers- that his base will squeeze them politically if they don’t kowtow to Trump. And then there’s the huge fund raising being made from this scam. It isn’t that the AGs and lawmakers agree but they fear the wrath of the basket.
The basket believe what they are told to believe. And while you and the basket make those same accusations of me (because the rubber/glue Propaganda 101 Rule #2 playbook demands you do so), I’m not the one that believes COVID is rounding the curve. I’m not the one in denial of the BLS numbers and claiming Trump built a great economy when he didn’t or denying he’s exploded the deficit. I don’t deny global warming or the wealth inequality. I can see fault on Trump’s assault on peaceful protestors for a photo op where you cannot and that he’s an egomaniac serial liar. I can see the hypocrisy in seating Barrett where you can’t. I understand his Trump University scam and much of his other scams but you refuse to.
I cannot accept that he won this election without real evidence and proof. There is none. What you and the basket have done is allow yourselves to hear what you wanted from Newsmax and the Trump machine, just as you did on every single scam they’ve sold you.
If Trump shot someone dead, you would defend him while blaming Democrats, just as you have repeatedly for 4 years.
From Erick-Woods Erickson,
Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, is under a federal investigation and would love a presidential pardon. His lawsuit is just more performative leg humping by someone desperate to curry favor with President Trump.
The various attorneys general who have joined his lawsuit all want to either get re-elected or seek higher office. Joining the lawsuit gives them some measure of ring kissing or protection from any rabid Trump supporters who wanted a “just fight” moment.
I personally think my company should pay me workers compensation for brain damage for having to read that lawsuit and related filings. It really is one of the stupidest bits of performative leg humping we have seen in the last five years. These attorneys general are willing to beclown themselves and their states all to get in good with the losing presidential candidate.
The suit is absurd on its face. These states seek to interfere in the internal affairs of other states when those states are not actually electing the President, but allowing their voters to chose members of the Electoral College.
Were this to succeed, which it will not, the states will start suing each other at every election as a bit of theater.
Let me explain just how absurd this case is:
Texas can cite no cases at all in its claim that it has standing to sue the states for the administration of their own internal elections.
Texas alleges the other states changed election laws due to the pandemic without the legislature’s blessing. You know one state not being sued that did that? Texas.
The states allege it is illegal to count ballots received after election day. Several of the states making that claim also do that.
Their expert argues a sign of voter fraud is that it is not likely Trump 2016 voters would vote for Biden in 2020. The expert also uses dubious statistical modeling comparing Clinton to Biden.
The Missouri amicus all but says they don’t necessarily agree with Texas’s legal statements, but the case is so important the Supreme Court should hear it.
Texas could not even get its Solicitor General — the man who argues on behalf of the state before the Supreme Court — to sign onto the lawsuit. That’s how frivolous it is.
This will persuade the fool and the gullible, but these are not meritorious arguments, particularly when many of the states on the plaintiff’s side of the lawsuit have done similar things and thus have unclean hands.
The level of debasement these people have been willing to engage in makes them seem more the ball-gagged gimp from Pulp Fiction, humiliating themselves for their master. They should be ashamed and embarrassed.
The bottom line is this — the voters of states must act within their own states and be responsible for their own elections. Texas does not get to dictate the internal affairs of other states particularly when Texas is not directly impacted by a fellow semi-sovereign nation within these united States of America choosing its own members of the Electoral College. The remedy is not the Supreme Court’s intervention on behalf of some sore losers, but challenging the electors in the House of Representatives, which these people know is a fight they will lose. But they already know that is the remedy too.
If Texas were to win this, it would dissolve the horizontal federalism of our union and only expand the powers of the federal government. It would also lead to a Civil War as a handful of states overturn the rules and laws of other states and dictate those states’ internal affairs. Wait for Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo to give this precedent a whirl. Wait for progressive states to start suing conservative states over religious liberty, transgender rights, police brutality, tax policies that “steal” residents of progressive states, etc.
If voters in Georgia are outraged with the outcome in Georgia, their remedy is not for Texas to save them from themselves, but for them to save themselves by moving to Texas or voting differently in the next election. Even the voters of Georgia do not constitutionally have the right to sue their own state for the general enforcement of election laws. Other states surely stand in even a worse position.
Empowering Texas in this case just empowers progressive states to do the same later. The mere filing of this case sets a dangerous precedent. Ultimately, however, the Supreme Court is unlikely to give Texas what is wishes and Ken Paxton perhaps will not get his pardon.
I’m really tired of the Republican Party beclowning itself for a losing candidate out of fear for that candidate’s voters. That is all this is and delusions of fools notwithstanding, despite all sorts of stupid arguments being wrapped in pomp and “equal protection” phraseology, the election is over and Joe Biden will be President-Elect officially next week.
Guys, come on — you’re just going to spark crazy to violence at this point. The election wasn’t stolen and most of you know it and those of you who don’t know it need to, at some point, realize you’ve been lied to. And frankly, Ken Paxton needs to work on repentance for a whole lot of stuff.
@Ronald J. Ward: I
Nice to see you are back.
So Trump has repeatedly shot people for 4 years and we blamed democrats?
Your sanity is in question cause you continually repeat this inane statement. You seek unity and heeling (not healing) We will not behave as battered women and put on an extra layer of makeup and oversized sunglasses just pretend that nothing has happened in the last 4 years. We also will not be violent towards those that simply disagree or seek peaceful legal measures to settle issues. Cynthia Johnson of Detroit is just a perfect representative for you and Greg.
@kitt:
Aside from the gross denial of reality and clinging to whatever glimmer the shysters dangle in front of you, you would defend Trump and blame Dems of any atrocious acts or scams including murder regardless of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. You have done this his entire term.
This TX lawsuit is simply the latest scam and you are here toting his water. And it doesn’t matter to Trump how much blood will spill or how much our Constitution will be trampled, just as it’s meant nothing to him the last 4 years while you and the basket of gullibles were enabling him.
@Nathan Blue: Aside from a few like AJ and Greg, Democrats have mostly been rendered ignorant of why they supported Biden. They’ve been fed a constant diet of “Trump is a Russia agent”, “Trump is a racist”, “Trump is an idiot”, and “Trump is a criminal” so all they wanted was to get rid of Trump. They weren’t curious enough to notice that none of those accusations were backed by facts or, in most cases, were clearly disputed by facts they could see. The same media that stoked hatred of Trump for unsubstantiated violations also suppressed his many, many positive accomplishments. Democrats are ignorant, are kept ignorant and, for the most part, WANT to be ignorant, so they voted for a corrupt, incompetent tool of the CCP over a guy with a legitimate and palpable love and dedication for this country.
As to AJ and Greg (our only two examples here), they know better. You can tell this by the questions they run from and the proven lies they promote. They are plying a trade, disinformation, and know full well how dishonest they are being.
According to how they have supported episodes like Schiff’s lie-based impeachment trial, they want this to go to the socialist police state.
@Ronald J. Ward:
Typo. Yeah, right.
Tom Delay, Ted Stevens, Rick Perry, Ken Paxton… Democrat make a habit of bringing meaningless charges and investigations against Republican opponents which mysteriously vanish when the destruction of their career or reputation is complete or they no longer pose a political threat. Don’t be so stupid.
@Ronald J. Ward: Hillbilly this suit was not brought by Trump or his legal team.
Take a gander
Election Systems and Software (Es&S) Corruption Doc
[Search domain fairfight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Election-Systems-and-Software-ESS-Corruption-07162019.pdf] https://fairfight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Election-Systems-and-Software-ESS-Corruption-07162019.pdf
ELECTION SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE (ES&S) CORRUPTION DOC 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Updated as of 7/16/2019, Previous Update 7/10/2019, New Bullets in Red • THEME 1: ES&S Pay-For-Play Schemes Run Rampant Across U.S. As Election
This Pay for play scheme is non partisan, its how politicians maintain power while getting filthy rich.
This is no longer a question of Democrat vs Republican. I understand your tiny lil inbred non-functional brain is unable to grasp what exactly has been exposed, what we grapple with.
I actually voted Cruz in the ’16 primary, seeing the opponant of the general election was forced to vote Trump. Its about issues and political philosophy followed, another thing beyond your deficient capabilities.
@Ronald J. Ward:
Ah, yes, the ever reliable “typo” excuse. Sorry, no cigar.
And you obtained your law degree where? Frankly, had you understood the petition you implied you read, you would understand that the petition does not deal with those things. Your comprehension of Constitutional law is as pathetic as that of Erick Ericson, a grifter of extraordinary proportions who, when elected to office, gave up that office for a better gig. Erickson is an opportunist of the highest order.
I see the case number often referred to that you present (35) but you fail to acknowledge that those cases are NOT Trump cases but cases brought by other individuals. No “Trump” case has made it to the USSC yet. So please, if you are going to play arm chair jurist, at least get the facts correct.
I have to laugh at your constant name calling of those who are on the opposite side of the aisle from you. Cultists? Do you even know the meaning of the word or have you just gleaned that term from one of your left wing sources? It is not the conservative side donning Che’ t-shirts, it is not the conservative side teaching impressionable minds to think that Socialism/Communism is a political philosophy superior to capitalism. It is not the conservative side of the aisle that depends on division, not unity, as a way to win elections. When you believe that dividing one segment of the society by teaching them hate of another segment of society, that, in the purest definition, is a cult. So basically, Ward/AJ, you are projecting again.
That is not why conservatives abandoned FOX. You clearly have no concept of what conservatives think or how they react to events. Therein lies the problem with your opinions formed by those who hate as much as you do.
Oh, I am quite willing to debate the arguments against Trump, and have. You do not provide any credible arguments against Trump as OrangeManBad is not an argument, it is an uninformed opinion.
What hold on those (now) 18 Attorneys General? They will all remain in office. You are ASSuming that Trump has such a hold over the AGs of half the United States that he can intimidate them into joining in a law suit that you claim Texas has no authority to file. And you do that by misrepresenting the actual petition itself. Why is that?
I can only assume that you are referring to the legal fund that has been created for Trump. You fail to acknowledge that he is not setting precedent. Bill Clinton did that when he was racking up legal fees while still a sitting President. No other President had ever created a “legal fund” prior to Clinton.
Since Erick Erickson is not licensed to practice law in the State of Texas, he would be better served to not comment on the Office of the Attorney General of Texas. It is not the position of the Solicitor General to write a petition. Nor is it required that the Solicitor General sign off on a petition. It is the position of the Solicitor General to argue that petition on behalf of the Attorney General, should the Attorney General so choose.
The rest of your poorly informed posts are nothing more than blathering hatred and not really worthy of response.
@Nathan Blue:
It wasn’t made up. “Total vindication” is what has been made up, and the GOP was complicit.
The Russia investigation material needs to be declassified to prove that I’m wrong.
@Greg: There is no evidence for Russiagate. An army of anti trump attorneys fully funded by the US government turned every stone and found nothing, not a single thing, no peepee tape. No “charges or convictions” had anything to do with Russian conspiracy or collusion. Obstruction so non existent no evidence of it was turned over to congress for impeachment.
Totally exonerated! Mueller, Weissman, and Greggie faceplant.
@kitt:
They found insufficient evidence to charge anyone in the Trump organization with conspiracy, but abundant evidence of extensive, systematic, and illegal interference by Russia in the 2016 election process, which the Trump campaign organization knew about, welcomed, and expected to benefit from. They established that there were secret meetings and interactions between central Trump campaign figures and known Russian agents, which those campaign figures lied about. Donald Trump was never allowed to be questioned. His only responses were written questions submitted through his lawyers.
They also documented multiple instances of obstruction of justice involving Donald Trump directly, but noted that they were forbidden from charging him with anything. They clearly stated that their findings did not exonerate him.
In other words, they found plenty, but were under constraints that prevented them from taking the matter further.
Subsequent to that, we’ve witnessed Trump openly misusing his powers of office to obstruct a congressional investigation into his extortion of a foreign official in an effort to get a political weapon to be used against Joe Biden—the same guy that a 7-million majority of American voters just decided should replace him. How many witnesses did Donald Trump prevent from giving testimony?
This is all going to make one helluva television miniseries a few years down the road.
@Greg:
Well, yeah. It was all made up. A total fabrication, supplied by some drunk Russians selling crap to gullible Democrats. Even with 4 years of spying, surveillance and investigation to try and fill in the blanks… still NOTHING.
That’s EXONERATION, scooter.
Brennan had evidence Russia preferred Hillary but withheld it from the Senate. No obstruction; NONE. Mueller absolutely confirmed there was none when asked if Trump ever “curtailed, stopped or hindered” the investigation. That lie is pretty much dead and buried.
4 years, 35 million dollars, illegal spying, illegal surveillance and investigations… NOTHING. What a bunch of crybaby LOSERS!
@Greg:
Plenty? No dear if there was evidence of any crime they could have presented it to congress then congress impeaches on the evidence provided.
They didnt find anything.
Whats the statute on Plenty is is a charge like destruction of government documents, or jay walking, winning despite a Fixed by Hillary election?
That’s amusing, coming from a supporter of our nation’s first Tantrum-Thrower in Chief.
Trump specifically wasn’t exonerated. It specifically states that he was not in the official report. It was Trump himself who proclaimed he was exonerated—the same blowhard who bragged that he could shoot a man on 5th Avenue and not lose any voters.
@Greg: You need to look up the basic definition of Plenty and evidence.
Russian collusion 0 evidence.
@Greg: Yeah, no evidence, no charges is EXONERATION , just like I explained earlier. A great, big $35 million bag of NOTHING. Courtesy of whiny, crybaby sore losers who can’t win an election without massive fraud.
Was it the purpose of the investigation to exonerate Trump or find crimes committed? Your idiot Democrats played word games to try and bury their failure. Now we know this is all driven by the CCP. And YOU supported it!