It’s fairly clear by now that the sitting US president is an unindicted criminal — his lawyer says so and, unlike other oligarchies, this is not the reason he is in jail. Having been prosecuted by thorough investigators and the courts, Michael Cohen has “come clean.”

With today’s release of the Mueller report, it is clear that the sitting president will not be given the same opportunity. Donald Trump will never be able to clear his name, prove his innocence or admit his guilt while he is president — because Robert Mueller has robbed him of the chance to do so.

That said, Trump has shown no desire — or even the ability, somehow — to be penitent for even the smallest of his social infractions of the generally accepted norms of human decency. And Bob Mueller has “tossed the ball into the playing fields” of other institutions — most obviously the US Congress and the US Democratic Party — for the weight of responsibility or, more traditionally, the “leadership,” required to bring Donald Trump to justice as, I believe, countless truly good Americans desire. (In this light, the many presidential campaigns are competing with each other for the best ways and means to fix the American system, first by bringing Donald Trump to justice — alongside his closest allies, including members of his cabinet. This is the struggle the rest of the world is watching.)