Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/07/22/mueller-fully-prepared-and.html
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So basically: Keep your expectations low on this.
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Mueller is ready to say absolutely nothing beyond what he’s already said in the report, and probably not even that.
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I’d like for the congresspeople to have him spell out again exactly what criteria he was operating under when making the report. Stuff like “can’t prosecute a sitting president”. I would be interested if he can go as far as to call A.G. Barr’s summarization “misleading” or “inaccurate”, but that might be outside of the scope of his powers as he sees them.
The one thing we definitely won’t see from this is any substantive change in Washington. That has been decided for a long time now.
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Even if he just gives the Cliff’s Notes version of the report it’s better than just sitting back and continuing to allow the Trump administration to gaslight everyone about its findings.
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Oh, boy, I can’t wait to see how many different ways Mueller can avoid saying anything directly.
Senator, I’m not not saying that there wouldn’t be grounds for not indicting such a hypothetical individual if such an individual were or were not a sitting President, but I am saying that such a determination should be left to the political branches of the government which also specifically tasked me with determining that question. In conclusion, thank you.
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A question I would like to see asked:
"Thank you Mr. Mueller for being here.
When you originally started on this assignment, with hindsight being 20/20, what operating assumptions and constraints on this investigation would you change? What would be the expected outcomes without these constraints? Logically, what are the next steps that you would like to see Congress pursue?"
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What’s the most tactful, polite way to say “Look, I was very clear in my report; instead of calling me up here so you can grandstand for the cameras, how about you read the report and do something with it”?
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Except he wasn’t – his conclusions were about as wishy-washy as you can get.
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Mueller has been steadfast in his position that he viewed his job as providing congress with the relevant information, not telling them how they should act on it. I doubt he’s going to reverse course now. He’s a by-the-books (at least as he interprets the books) functionary, not an activist.
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It’ll be simpler: “I will not answer any hypothetical questions.”
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Mueller’s not going to save us. Nothing is going to be any different at the end of the week.
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Except for the expanded ability to deport immigrants that will happen on Tuesday. That will be different.
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I’m completely prepared for a totally awesome NOTHING.
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I think he could be taken beyond the report itself by explaining his follow-up letter and phone call to Barr following Barr’s whitewash interpretation.
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There are important points that can be drawn out, one-by-one, that can move the whole thing forward.
- Some people have claimed that obstruction of justice is only illegal if the person doing the obstruction has done something illegal. In your experience, is that true? (Answer: No. A person can commit obstruction of justice on someone else’s behalf, even if they just believe that the person may have committed a crime. Federal code {blah-blah-blah).)
- How many convictions or guilty pleas did your investigation generate, directly or indirectly? (Answer: a really large number) 2.b How many indictments? (Answer: an even bigger number).
- How many of those convictions, guilty pleas, and indictments were directly related to the original purpose of your team’s investigation, uncovering Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election? (Answer: a still pretty big number)
- Did the president influence or interfere in the investigation of any of the people who were convicted, plead guilty, or indicted of crimes related to that purpose? (Answer: yes)
- If you were back in your old job as Director of the FBI, would you recommend prosecution to the Justice Department of a private person who had obstructed the investigation of another private person for felonies committed relating to interference of a foreign power with United States elections? (Answer: …yes)
ETA:
Which, if confirmed, also establish that Barr lied under oath to Congress.
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Update:
- Um, Separation of Powers?
- He don’t work for you anymore, bruh.
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Hope this version doesn’t show up:
And it was never his job to save us. His job was to investigate and report his findings to congress.
It was congress’ job to act on those findings appropriately and provide a check on the President, but instead we’ve got a bunch of enablers and cowards who are pretending they’re powerless to act because Mueller didn’t say some magic words or something.
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