Mueller's House testimony. I didn't watch all of it, but I saw a significant part of it:
1. The Republicans didn't dispute a single finding in the report. They attacked Mueller and his team personally, they attacked the reason the investigation started in the first place, but there was really nothing in the report itself that they could dispute. One GOP rep. took issue with the fact that Mueller said he could not exonerate the President of obstruction, saying he didn't have the authority to do so, but that argument falls apart because both Trump and Barr said the report exonerated Trump of the charges (not true); you can't have it both ways. What the report showed was that Mueller had evidence to show that Trump committed obstructive acts, but was constrained by DOJ policy from bringing an indictment. Having evidence and being unable to use it is not the same thing as saying someone should not be prosecuted. What Mueller was saying is that he could not conclude that Trump was not guilty.
2. Another Trump lie exposed (over 10,000 so far)- for months, Trump has said that Mueller wanted the job of FBI Director and interviewed with him for it and that he (Trump) decided Mueller wasn't a good fit. When questioned about that, Mueller, said - under oath- that he did NOT interview for the job; what he said was that the interview was to discuss what type of person should be in that job, but that he himself was not interested in it. He characterized it as a consultation and not a job interview.
Everything else, at least from the Dem side, was about what was in the report. Most Americans haven't read it; the other day FBI Director Wray said HE hadn't read it, which is unsettling. I think back to an interview I saw with a participant at a Justin Amash town hall who said she had no idea that the report said anything bad about Trump - she only followed conservative media, and they weren't talking about the bad stuff in the report.
As some pundits have said, this was about getting the facts out to those who haven't read the book and would rather see the movie. In general, I think the Dems did a good job of surfacing and hammering home the most damaging parts of Mueller's report, while the GOP just attacked the messenger.
What happens next, I have no idea. I still don't see impeachment as an option right now, because the current Senate will never vote to convict, so what's the point? Uness public opinion starts to go against them, the GOP will be in lock-step on this. |
