True Crimes and Misdemeanors

Starred review from August 10, 2020
CNN legal analyst Toobin (American Heiress) delivers a vivid and doggedly reported rundown of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and the impeachment of Donald Trump over the Ukraine affair. Drawing on interviews with more than 100 people, Toobin crafts an immersive narrative rich with insider details and astute observations. He credits teams led by Mueller and Congressman Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, with doing excellent work under difficult circumstances, yet contends that Mueller's "caution and reticence led him to fail at his two most important tasks": getting a consequential interview with Trump, and delivering a comprehensible final report that couldn't be misrepresented by the president's allies, in particular Attorney General William Barr. Mueller established multiple instances of obstruction of justice, Toobin notes, yet "placed Trump effectively above the law" by refusing to say whether he should be prosecuted. Lucid prose, trenchant analysis, and colorful anecdotes—including the time Schiff's 13-year-old son asked if he could call his dad "sleazy" because the president had just done so—will keep readers engrossed despite knowing the outcome. The result is a definitive behind-the-scenes portrait of what these investigations accomplished, and why they didn't bring Trump down.

September 1, 2020
Has Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses? Yes--and then some, as New Yorker writer and CNN legal analyst Toobin chronicles in this catalog of crime. Robert Mueller concluded his investigation of the president's misdoings by grouping them into two broad categories. One, examining Trump's relationship with Vladimir Putin, was inconclusive even though Mueller "had uncovered a genuinely massive conspiracy in Russia, stretching from the military to the private sector, to interfere in the most solid rite of our democracy"--namely, the 2016 presidential election. The other was Trump's flagrant obstruction of justice in acts committed before, during, and after the investigation, as when he fired FBI director James Comey soon after entering office. Trump has never bothered to even give the impression that he is not corrupt; when the impeachment proceedings began in 2019, he reacted by threatening and blustering while taking care not to leave a paper trail. That has always been his way, as his former attorney Michael Cohen has documented, and "Mueller's report, if read carefully, establishes that Trump committed several acts of criminal obstruction of justice." Toobin delivers a painstakingly constructed record of Trump's crimes, never mincing words: For example, were it not for Rudolph Giuliani's ineptitude as an attorney, "Donald Trump would not have been impeached." In the months since his impeachment, Trump has bungled everything he's touched. For one, writes Toobin, "Trump addressed the coronavirus the same way that he confronted his Russia and Ukraine scandals--with bluster, blame shifting, vindictiveness, and lies." It's a depressing record, and Toobin's careful narrative yields mostly despair for the fate of the republic. As he concludes, "For Trump, his presidency was more about him that what he could accomplish," and what Trump has accomplished is mostly destruction. Think of it as a user-friendly--and utterly damning--explication of the Mueller Report. Read it. Then vote.

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August 28, 2020

CNN legal analyst Toobin (American Heiress) delivers with this latest work scrutinizing the investigations into Donald Trump during his presidency, focusing on the obstruction of justice charges. Despite knowing the outcome of the Mueller investigation, readers will be enthralled by Toobin's swift and concise reporting of a complex topic, and his inclusion of more than 100 interviews featuring both well- and little-known players in the investigation. Readers, even those with a strong foundational knowledge of the case, can expect to learn new details from the behind-the-scenes reporting of events and will walk away with a better understanding of the investigation and how it failed to convict Trump. The author sheds insight into the beginnings of Trump's ties to Russia and Ukraine, long before he ran for office, and his introductions to political consultants Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Considerable time is also spent on detailing the Mueller investigation and how Trump associates tried to influence the outcome to their advantage. Later chapters follow the actions of now-disbarred attorney Michael Cohen after the indictment of Manafort and Gates in 2017. The work ends with Trump's impeachment and his acquittal by the Senate in February 2020. VERDICT Toobin's trademark readability succeeds with this compelling, fast-paced account.--Mattie Cook, Flat River Community Lib., MI

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