Robert Mueller will testify before Congress on July 17

It says a lot about how much the current administration has lowered expectations for basic compliance with the law that there was even any question whether Mueller would “agree” to testify after being served with a congressional subpoena.

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The sad and horrible thing about all this is that, at the end of the day, Rudy will have been correct in his assessment.

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“I can neither confirm nor deny that the President is an egregious bell-end; that is the job of Congress. I have merely collated the available evidence.”

@Shuck That statement from Collins has a “stop hitting yourself” feel to it; like any interaction with amoral bullies.

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Part of me suspects that the long drawing out of the process is because the true evil bastard, Mitch McConnell, is the real obstacle. That the goal is to make McConnell’s scorched earth corruption so obvious that the Republicans will also throw him under the bus. Make it close enough to the elections that they too feel the heat. His grip on them is still too tight, since Republicans are at heart greedy cowards who he knows how to manipulate.

Really, the man has no morals and no shame. President Biff is just an incompetent Zaphod Beeblebrox, providing cover for the scheming asshole Senate Majority Leader.

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EVERY Democratic questioner must start with this- “President Trump has been claiming that your report TOTALLY EXONERATES him. Is this true?”. We all know the answer, but the country needs to hear it from him, directly.

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If I were a betting man, I would make a large bet that absolutely nothing comes of this. Mueller can’t be intimidated, he’s smarter than everybody else in Congress, and he’s seriously professional. He’s not going to say anything that isn’t in his report.

This is going to help Trump.

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[stage whisper]

trump’s not the only corrupt one

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I see the TGOP is clutching their pearls and reaching for the fainting sofa, again…

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Everyone says that about anything anyone does.

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Yep. And the longer they keep it up, the longer it’s going to take to repair the damage.

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I don’t expect anything new to come of this. Mueller has already said “the report was my testimony”, it’s unlikely there will be any bombshells, maybe, just maybe, he will express his opinion that Barr and the GOP are mischaracterizing the report.

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That’s certainly a legitimate concern, but here’s the thing; testifying in front of Congress comes with legal requirements. Nobody could tell Meuller what to put in his report. Nobody could ask him to write another report. But when he steps in front of Congress he is obligated to answer their questions, unless he has a legal basis for refusing to answer. Refusal could lead to contempt charges, and that’s not something I see Meuller wanting. Sure not everything is going to come out (he will have legitimate reasons for not answering some questions) but unlike @gracchus I think he actually wants to talk. And he’s smart enough to find a way to do that.

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But, he’s going to say it on video. Video that will be reported and played directly on TV and Twitter.

That may be enough. It will certainly be more compelling than the others that have read it on video trying to accomplish the same thing.

It’s sad that it needs to be in video format in addition to written, but it’s apparently where we are today.

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If he wants to talk, literally nothing has ever stopped him. He could say nearly anything he wanted to with regard to his investigation for several years now, and certainly since he finally released the report. I take that as clear evidence that he doesn’t want to speak out at all.

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I disagree. I think Meuller is a rule-follower. He’s not the sort to talk unless asked. And he doesn’t want to answer unless compelled to do so. It helps him avoid the appearance of impropriety, which shields him (somewhat) from criticism that he’s political. He’s not going out like Comey.

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He’s willing to speak, just in code. It’s something of a game for attorneys. It’s questions like the one @wil9000 suggests above that will give him the room to say something while not explicitly saying it.

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Rudy “Who Cares” Giuliani. Such a diplomat.

This. He’s a cop and a marine. Both are drilled to follow rules and procedures.

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