After overreaching on the Trump-Russia collusion attempted coup, rather than admitting they were wrong, humbling apologizing and moving on, Democrats (and I include the media here) are doubling down. They are hellbent on seeing the entire Mueller report, with the House Judiciary Committee voting on party lines to authorize a subpoena of the report without redactions sooner than AG Barr’s promised mid-April release.

In their minds, the 400-page report contains all manner of evidence of collusion and obstruction, despite the summary written by Barr and Rosenstein that says otherwise. Note that Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein was easily confirmed by the Senate and has been defended by Democrats since he appointed Robert Mueller to be special counsel, and yet now they apparently believe he is lying.

If Rosenstein and Barr were misrepresenting the report in their summary letter, one would think Mueller and his partisan team of attorneys would be outraged and speaking out to correct the record. Yet they are silent. This is the same gang that had no problem evidently leaking advance notice of Roger Stone’s commando-style arrest to CNN so they could be on site filming everything. If Barr and Rosenstein weren’t truthful in their summary, why isn’t CNN reporting on “unnamed officials” who dispute the summary?

Perhaps all is not what it seems. There is much debate over who is wearing a black hat, or a white hat, meaning bad guy versus good guy, from the President Trump perspective. Is Mueller a white hat or a black hat? Despite much speculation, no one knows for sure, other than Mueller himself, Rosenstein, and Barr and a small circle around them.

Suppose he is a gray hat, somewhere in between, and is laying a grand trap for the Democrats to waltz into, a big steaming pile of MAGA? Let me explain with the caveat that this is just my theory based on following all of this quite closely, but with no more inside knowledge than anyone reading this. If I am full of hot air, offer up a better theory. Regardless it’s all speculation at this point.

Collusion was put to bed in the Mueller report because there was none. And Team Muller likely figured this out just a few months into their investigation.

Obstruction, on the other hand, is in the eye of the beholder. Team Mueller might have actually believed that Trump’s tweets and use of the words “witch hunt” were obstruction. Or firing FBI Director James Comey, which Rosenstein recommended, though Trump is well within his authority to do so.

Suppose Mueller was deliberately noncommittal on the obstruction issue, leaving the final judication to Barr and Rosenstein, but letting it dangle like a piece of tasty meat in front of rabid Democrats, ready to grab it for the purposes of impeachment? Barr said there was nothing criminal, but impeachment is a political act, and criminality doesn’t factor in.

Here are some things to ponder.

Donald Trump may have been an FBI informant in the early 1980s when the Feds went after the Five Families. US Attorney Rudy Giuliani led the charge, followed by Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein, under then AG William Barr. What a coincidence! Perhaps these men all know each other from decades ago and they believe Trump is a patriot. Despite all of Trump’s supposed ties to the mob, he was never indicted, which would make sense if he had been working with the FBI.

If one assumes Mueller is a patriot too, as befitting a former Marine, would he not be disgusted with the coup attempt he found himself in the middle of? How can he save face with his deep state pals with whom he socializes and attends church, while still doing what a patriot must do? By not totally exonerating Trump in his report, he can save some face, while baiting the corrupt Democrats, who might disgust him at this point, those who initiated the coup attempt. Mueller could have it both ways according to my gray hat theory.

What about those FISA warrants? Those can work both ways. The first was issued against Carter Page in October 2016, allowing two-hop spying, meaning surveillance against Page, anyone he communicated with and anyone they communicated with, two hops beyond the original target. This would cover most of Washington, DC considering Page likely communicated with Jeff Sessions, making the entire US Congress the second hop. Or if he communicated with Mike Flynn, making most of the intel community the second hop.

The FISA warrant was renewed on January 19, 2017, the last day of the Obama presidency. But then again, in April and July 2017, when Trump was president. Rosenstein was already nominated by Trump for deputy AG and confirmed when the last two FISA warrants were renewed.

Remember FISA goes both ways. Two hops from Carter Page covered most of the deep state, and media they might have been leaking to. Suppose the Trump FBI were now using FISA surveillance against the deep state tricksters and their media comrades?

Rosenstein expanded Mueller’s scope in August 2017. We don’t know what the expansion was, based on the heavily redacted memo, but suppose it was for more than going after Trump and his team? Remember also that Trump has been saying nice things about Rosenstein and has kept him around. Is it a case of keeping your enemies close, or was Rosenstein working for Trump and not the swamp?

What is in those 400 pages of Mueller’s report? Could he have looked at the origin and basis of the collusion story and who started the coup attempt? What about the Five Eyes intelligence services that participated in the hoax, since they too never thought Hillary Clinton would lose? That type of background would be a reasonable part of any investigation. Are 400 pages and nearly two years needed to say there was no collusion and no decision on obstruction?

Remember also that Mueller’s pit bull assistant, hyper-partisan Andrew Weissman, slinked away from the committee to teach at NYU and pursue, “His longstanding interest in preventing wrongful convictions.” Aside from the irony in that, why is he slithering away quietly? Could the renewed FISA surveillance have caught Weissman doing anything unsavory, say  leaking or colluding?

If Mueller were truly a black hat, his report would have stated that in the team’s opinion, Trump did obstruct justice. That would have teed-up impeachment hearings to begin the next day. But that’s not what Mueller did. He said enough for the Dems to salivate over the entire report, insisting that it be made public. What if it has some unexpected surprises, a big steaming piles of covfefe, ready to be stepped in, that will bring Democrats pain like they have never seen?

Lastly, Trump says the release of the Muller report “wouldn’t bother” him at all. He has not asked to see it and is not planning on claiming executive privilege against any portions of it, leaving everything up to AG Barr. Does Trump know what’s in the report and is staying out of the way of the Dems stepping in it, bigly? As Sun Tzu said, “All warfare is based on deception.”

Source: Twitter

Again, this is just my theory, one among many circulating through the internet. Knowing how smart and shrewd Trump is, and that this is not his first rodeo dealing with unsavory characters, it seems entire plausible and a better fit of the facts than most other theories. Stay tuned as this plays out over the upcoming weeks.

Brian C Joondeph, MD, MPS, a Denver based physician and writer. Follow him on Facebook,  LinkedIn and Twitter.