OFF PAGE ONE
Thursday, May 30, 2019
East Oregonian
A7
Mueller declares his Russia report did not exonerate Trump
By ERIC TUCKER,
MICHAEL BALSAMO
AND CHAD DAY
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Spe-
cial counsel Robert Muel-
ler said Wednesday that
charging President Donald
Trump with a crime was
“not an option” because of
federal rules, but he used
his first public remarks on
the Russia investigation to
emphasize that he did not
exonerate the president.
“If we had had confi-
dence that the president
clearly did not commit a
crime, we would have said
so,” Mueller declared.
The special counsel’s
remarks stood as a pointed
rebuttal to Trump’s repeated
claims that he was cleared
and that the two-year
inquiry was merely a “witch
hunt.” They also marked a
counter to criticism, includ-
ing by Attorney General
William Barr, that Muel-
ler should have reached a
determination on whether
the president illegally tried
to obstruct the probe by tak-
ing actions such as firing his
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
Special counsel Robert Mueller speaks at the Department of Justice on in Washington about
the Russia investigation on Wednesday.
FBI director.
Mueller made clear that
his team never considered
indicting Trump because
the Justice Department pro-
hibits the prosecution of a
sitting president.
“Charging the president
with a crime was therefore
not an option we could con-
sider,” Mueller said during a
televised statement. He said
he believed such an action
would be unconstitutional.
Mueller did not use the
word “impeachment,” but
said it was the job of Con-
gress — not the criminal
justice system — to hold the
president accountable for
any wrongdoing.
The special counsel’s
statement largely echoed the
central points of his lengthy
report, which was released
last month with some redac-
tions. But his remarks, just
under 10 minutes long and
delivered from a Justice
Department podium, were
extraordinary given that he
had never before discussed
or characterized his findings
and had stayed mute during
two years of feverish public
speculation.
Mueller, a former FBI
director, said Wednesday
that his work was complete
and he was resigning to
return to private life. Under
pressure to testify before
Congress, Mueller did not
rule it out. But he seemed to
warn lawmakers that they
would not be pulling more
detail out of him. His report
is his testimony, he said.
“So beyond what I have
said here today and what
is contained in our written
work,” Mueller said, “I do
not believe it is appropri-
ate for me to speak further
about the investigation or to
comment on the actions of
the Justice Department or
Congress.”
His remarks underscored
the unsettled resolution,
and revelations of behind-
the-scenes discontent, that
accompanied the end of his
investigation. His refusal to
reach a conclusion on crim-
inal obstruction opened the
door for Barr to clear the
president, who in turn has
cited the attorney general’s
finding as proof of his inno-
cence. Mueller has privately
vented to Barr about the
attorney general’s handling
of the report, while Barr has
publicly said he was taken
aback by the special coun-
sel’s decision to neither
exonerate nor incriminate
the president.
Trump, given notice
Tuesday evening that Muel-
ler would speak the next
morning, watched on televi-
sion. For weeks, he had been
nervous about the possibil-
ity about the special coun-
sel testifying before Con-
gress, worried about the
visual power of such a pub-
lic appearance.
Shortly after Muel-
ler concluded, the pres-
ident, who has repeat-
edly and falsely claimed
that the report cleared him
of obstruction of justice,
tweeted a subdued yet still
somewhat inaccurate reac-
tion: “Nothing changes
from the Mueller Report.
There was insufficient evi-
dence and therefore, in our
Country, a person is inno-
cent. The case is closed!
Thank you”
Trump adviser warns of ‘strong response’ to any Gulf attack
By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press
ABU DHABI, United
Arab Emirates — President
Donald Trump’s national
security adviser warned
Iran on Wednesday that any
attacks in the Persian Gulf
will draw a “very strong
response” from the U.S.,
taking a hard-line approach
with Tehran after his boss
only two days earlier said
America wasn’t “looking to
hurt Iran at all.”
John Bolton’s comments
are the latest amid height-
ened tensions between
Washington and Tehran that
have been playing out in the
Middle East.
Bolton spoke to journal-
ists in Abu Dhabi, the capi-
tal of the United Arab Emir-
ates, which only days earlier
saw former Defense Secre-
tary Jim Mattis warn there
that “unilateralism will not
work” in confronting the
Islamic Republic.
The dueling approaches
highlight the divide over
Iran within American pol-
itics. The U.S. has accused
Tehran of being behind
a string of incidents this
month,
including
the
alleged sabotage of oil tank-
ers off the Emirati coast, a
rocket strike near the U.S.
Embassy in Baghdad and a
coordinated drone attack on
Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s
Iran-allied Houthi rebels.
On Wednesday, Bolton
told journalists that there
had been a previously
unknown attempt to attack
the Saudi oil port of Yanbu
as well, which he also
blamed on Iran.
He described Tehran’s
decision to back away from
its 2015 atomic deal with
world powers as evidence
it sought nuclear weapons,
even though it came a year
after America unilaterally
withdrew from the unravel-
ing agreement.
Bolton stressed the
U.S. had not seen any fur-
ther Iranian attacks in the
time since, something he
attributed to the recent mili-
tary deployments — Amer-
ica recently sent an aircraft
carrier and B-52 bomb-
ers to the Persian Gulf.
But he warned the U.S.
would strike back if again
attacked.
“The point is to make
it very clear to Iran and its
surrogates that these kinds
of action risk a very strong
response from the United
AP Photo/Jessica Hill, File
National Security Adviser John Bolton arrives to speak at the
commencement for the United States Coast Guard Academy
in New London, Conn., on May 22.
States,” Bolton threatened,
without elaborating.
Bolton spoke before talks
with Abu Dhabi’s power-
ful crown prince, Sheikh
Mohammed bin Zayed Al
Nahyan. He declined to
have his remarks recorded
by journalists.
A longtime Iran hawk,
Bolton blamed Tehran for
the recent incidents, at one
point saying it was “almost
certainly” Iran that planted
explosives on the four oil
tankers off the UAE coast.
He declined to offer any
evidence for his claims.
“Who else would you
think is doing it?” Bolton
asked at one point when
pressed. “Somebody from
Nepal?”
Iran’s Foreign Minis-
ter Mohammad Javad Zarif
has repeatedly criticized
Bolton as a warmonger.
Abbas Mousavi, a spokes-
man for Iran’s Foreign Min-
istry, said later Wednesday
Bolton’s remarks were a
“ridiculous accusation.”
Separately in Tehran,
President Hassan Rou-
hani said that the “road is
not closed” when it comes
to talks with the U.S. —
if America returns to the
nuclear deal. However, the
relatively moderate Rou-
hani faces increasing criti-
cism from hard-liners and
Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei over the col-
lapsing accord.
Meanwhile, acting U.S.
Defense Secretary Patrick
Shanahan said some 900
troops coming to the Mid-
east over the perceived Iran
threat to reinforce the tens
of thousands already in the
region would be placed in
Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
Another 600 attached to a
Patriot missile battery have
had their deployment in the
region extended.
“The Iranian threat to
our forces in the region
remains,” Shanahan said.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi,
Bolton linked the rocket fire
in Baghdad, the alleged sab-
otage of the ships and the
drone attack by Yemen’s
rebels, describing them as
a response from Iran and its
proxies.
“I think it’s important
that the leadership in Iran to
know that we know,” Bolton
said. He then brought up
what he said could be a con-
sidered a fourth, previously
unknown attack.
“There also had been
an attack, an unsuccessful
attack, on the Saudi port
of Yanbu a couple of days
before the attack on the
tankers,” he said.
Saudi officials did not
immediately respond to a
request for comment about
Bolton’s claim on Yanbu,
which is the terminus, or
end point, of the kingdom’s
East-West Pipeline. The
Houthis have already tar-
geted two pumping stations
on that pipeline during a
coordinated drone assault.
Bolton also said the U.S.
would boost American mil-
itary installations and those
of its allies in the region.
The White House said
Wednesday that Bolton
will meet with his counter-
parts from Israel and Rus-
sia next month in Jerusalem
to discuss regional security
issues.
White House press sec-
retary Sarah Sanders did
not disclose further details
about Bolton’s planned
meeting
with
Israeli
national security adviser
Meir Ben-Shabbat and
Nikolai Patrushev, secre-
tary of the Russian security
council.
Charter: Proposals draw objections
Signing: Students share their plans
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
fellow
commissioners
alone decide the structure of
county government “causes
me great discomfort.” The
broader public instead, he
said, should decide.
Some of that public spoke
up at the end of the meeting.
Nearly all said they did not
like the idea of part-time
commissioners and a full-
time manager. One man
said he wanted to be able
to take as much time with a
commissioner as his prob-
lems demand, while others
worried a full-time man-
ager would impose his will
on the county.
Most, including Rex
Morehouse of Pendleton
and Rob Lovett of Hermis-
ton, said they have no prob-
lem with access to commis-
sioners now and the county
board is working just fine
as is.
Only one person spoke
in favor of the commit-
tee’s
recommendations:
Hermiston Mayor David
Droztmann.
“I work in that envi-
ronment,” he said, “and it
works really well.”
The charter commit-
tee and the county board
decided to continue the dis-
cussion Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
at the courthouse.
Umatilla School District staff are very
encouraging of students making plans
to gain additional skills above their high
school diploma.
“They’re definitely pushing us in the
right direction, pushing us to succeed,” he
said.
April Dirksen, dean of students, also
said that district staff were “tremendous”
in encouraging students to set goals and
make plans.
Students take a “success” class their
freshman year where they are required
to make a 10-year plan, and then are
moved through classes such as personal
finance to help them succeed or refine
their plan.
“We want them to find something
they’re passionate about and stick with it,”
she said.
She said the annual signing day was
a way to recognize the “amazing” stu-
dents who were working hard to better
themselves.
“They worked a lot of years to get to
this point,” she said.
Wildfires: Bill aims to reduce risk of out-of-control fires and economic damage
Continued from Page A1
“It’s very, very important
to me if we are going to take
action, we need broad sup-
port,” Allen said.
Prescribed fires, like
the West Bend Project,
reduces the risk of wildfire
affecting private property,
improves wildlife habitat
and creates safer places for
firefighters to work.
“As chair of the collabo-
rative, I recognize the need
to educate the community
about the work in our for-
est,” said Bend Mayor Sally
Russell, a co-chair of the
collaborative.
Before the collabora-
tive was formed nearly
a decade ago Ed Keith,
Deschutes County forester,
mill operators and the rep-
resentatives from what he
called the “environmen-
tal industry” were only
WHAT IT WOULD DO
AP Photo/File
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, touted timber harvest, thin-
ning and prescribed fires as ways to reduce the risk of out-of-
control wildfires, such as the Eagle Creek Fire (pictured) that
burned the Columbia River Gorge in 2017, that can quickly
consume entire neighborhoods when fuel conditions, wind
and fire starts combine.
meeting each other in the
courtroom.
“Projects were getting
slowed down or not hap-
pening,” he said.
Keith said 18,000 acres
of fuels treatment are
planned for the West Bend
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced the Wildfire-Resilient
Communities Act, a bill that would reduce the risk of cata-
strophic wildfires, and the smoke and economic losses that
they cause by:
Creating a $1 billion fund to provide stability and allow the
Forest Service to increase the pace and scale of catastrophic
wildfire reduction projects.
Empowering federal agencies to work with local communi-
ties to plan and prepare for wildfires.
Permanently reauthorizing the Collaborative Forest
Landscape Restoration Program, allowing more projects to
receive funding in a given fiscal year.
Creating a County Stewardship Fund that would provide
payments to counties equal to 25 percent of stewardship
contract receipts on federal land within their counties.
project area as well as areas
outside of Sisters.
Reducing the number
of trees per acre reduces
fires from moving through
the crowns, lowering the
severity and intensity of the
destruction of a wildfire.
With the support of the col-
laborative members, more
acres are being treated at a
faster pace.
“The end result is our
forests are healthier and
safer, and we are benefiting
wildlife and water quality,”
Keith said.
Merkley said he sup-
ports the work the collab-
oratives have accomplished
throughout Oregon, sup-
ported, in part, with federal
money through the Collab-
orative Forest Landscape
Restoration Program.
Hotter and drier fire sea-
sons and the lack of thin-
ning and harvest in the
national forests are one of
the regular topics addressed
by collaborative groups. He
said the additional funding
for fuels reduction included
in his bill will help get the
projects the collaboratives
discuss in the boardroom
become realities in the
forest.
“The bill’s funding and
having a collaborative to be
able to do its work is really
critical as we move into the
future with climate change,”
Merkley said.