Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Monday said that he regrets asking former special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee in 2019 following Mueller’s final report on the Russia probe.
Bill Barr. The king of the Opus Dei brand of false witness. He’s the poster boy for lapsed Catholics and the banality of evil.
Painful is the wrong description of Mueller’s testimony. Evasive is much more accurate.
The question I have is – when did the noticeable mental decline start and did Rosenstein knew about (counted on) the decline when appointing Mueller?
I think this is code for Schiff didn’t realize that Mueller was developing dementia.
Over and over again we hear how wonderful and competent and perfect Saint Mueller was. Which pairs not one bit with his FAILURE to get the goods on a man that defined guilt and corruption for 50 years. I think in the last 2 weeks we’ve learned of more Russian money schemes in 2016 that the Saint failed to find.
In the end the assessment of Mueller was “he’s too respectful of the office of the President to take a POTUS down”… In other words he lacked the balls to do what needed to be done.
He still has not told us why he failed to interview Trump jr. on his meeting with Russian agents. Any other prosecutor / investigator would have centered their efforts on that. After all it was about Russia.
Fuck Saint Mueller.
Mueller’s failure to indict Trump Jr. for lying to the FBI about his meetings with Russian agents is beyond words.
But otherwise, I thought for the most part Mueller’s testimony that put the focus on his report instead of his or other synopsis of the report while not media savvy, was well done.
Maybe, although I don’t recall his testimony coming off that way. He seemed tired, almost exhausted, but still pretty sharp.
I think the problem was that Schiff expected Mueller to expand on what was in the report, and Mueller didn’t want to go an inch beyond the literal transcript of the report, for whatever reasons. Playing it “by the book” to a default. If the committee had known that this was Mueller’s plan, they wouldn’t have bothered calling him to testify.
So I guess I am not the only one that believed that Mueller sold out.
Dementia my ass. Coward caved in to pressure/bribes from Trump and Barr.
This was exactly my thoughts on Mueller’s testimony and is exactly what I think he should have done.
The problem was as you say, it was not as powerful as it should have been because of how the media covered it, being too ignoring the actual report and instead just covered what Barr, Trump and Mueller said.
Mueller seemed like he was at least ten years older than his actual age. Almost a caricature of an old man. Didn’t help the case at all. Schiff , as always, is right.
Listening to him testifying, I thought Mueller had either a heart attack or a stroke (even a small one) at some point in the investigation.
My recollection is that Mueller made his intention not to stray beyond the report quite clear and in advance. They probably had him testify anyway with the expectation that he wouldn’t be quite so literal about it.
It was clear to me at the time of Mueller’s testimony that by the time the Congressional interview took place, Bob Mueller was suffering the natural deterioration of aging that we will all encounter eventually. That thought was sadly confirmed in Chmn. Schiff’s interview last night. Mueller had a hard time hearing the questions and a harder time understanding the nuances of each question. That is not to say that Mueller had lost any mental acuity, but the “inquisition” that these things put people through is harder when you get old and tired. It was simply unfair to expect Mueller to be a razor sharp as he was 20 years ago. In hindsight, having Weissman appear at Mueller’s side would have been much better.
Would it have made any difference in the impeachments of Trump ? Probably not - the GOP was determined to protect Trump at all cost - even if he were to shoot someone in cold blood on 5th Avenue. In truth, he has already done much worse - he allowed 500,000 Americans to die needlessly in 2020 of COVID-19 and he is directly responsible for the deaths of 5 people on Jan. 6th. He gave our National Security secrets to the Russians. He stole who know how much $$$ from the United States, and he is still swindling millions of dollars away from has flock of moron supporters.
I am hopeful that Judge Garland, DA Vance and/or DA Willis will intercept Trump before he can run again, but make no mistake, Donald Trump should have been indicted long ago for Obstruction of Justice, Negligent Homicide, and Seditious Conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States. He is an evil man who needs to be placed in a concrete cell or a vault as soon as possible.
Agreed…
The media always prefer attribution to analysis.
Trump was not impeached over the Russia investigation. He was impeached months later over the Ukrainian shakedown-for-electoral-assistance, then again early this year for inciting the J6 insurrection.
ETA:
The actual criminal charge you are looking for is conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
Not sure how Schiff can conclude that Mueller “led a brilliant investigation” … early on, Mueller made the fateful and inexplicable blunder of not seeking to depose Trump under oath … as Trump’s lawyers knew, Trump, under oath, would be a perjury machine … instead, Mueller was content to accept essentially meaningless answers, prepared entirely by Trump’s lawyers, to a set of written questions.
Mueller’s failure to indict Trump Jr. for flat out lying under oath about meeting with Russian agents is unforgivable. Had he not wimped out and done what he should have and would have done had it been anyone else than the president’s son, I believe would have changed everything, forcing Trump to pardon Jr. or undergo a trial.
Other issues, like his refusal/failure to follow the money is questionable but understandable.