Mod: Trump, who we continue to proudly maintain is guilty of treason, seems to be in a diaper twisting panic about Mueller testifying before Congress next week. Perhaps you have been wondering why? I have.
For A Guy Who's “TOTALLY EXONERATED,” Trump Sure Is Invested In Keeping Mueller Quiet (
Vanity Fairlink):
Donald Trump says he’s innocent in the
Russia investigation—so innocent, in fact, that he is vehemently opposed to having
Robert Mueller testify about his findings on
Capitol Hill. Whining that two years of his presidency have been “
stollen” by the special counsel, the president on Sunday reversed course on his suggestion that a decision on
Mueller’s testimony should be left up to
Attorney General William Barr, tweeting that
Democrats are “looking for a redo because they hated seeing the strong
NO COLLUSION conclusion.”
“
Bob Mueller should not testify,”
Trump wrote in a characteristically deranged series of tweets. “No redos for the
Dems!”
Why someone who has supposedly been “
totally vindicated” by the special counsel would want to keep him from speaking publicly about the probe is a mystery, but the effort to silence
Mueller escalates the president’s fight with
House Democrats, who say they’re looking to bring the special counsel before
Congress this month — possibly as soon as next week,
Rep. David Cicilline said Sunday. The testimony, which
Cicilline said could take place May 15, would represent the first public comments on the nearly-two-year
Russia investigation by the notoriously tight-lipped special counsel.
Despite his claims of “
total exoneration,”
Trump has good reason to be edgy about public testimony from
Mueller. Last week, reports emerged that the special counsel took issue with
Barr’s summary of his report, which was largely seen as working in
Trump’s favor. “The summary letter the
Department sent to
Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this
Office’s work and conclusions,”
Mueller wrote in a letter to
Barr, which the attorney general dismissed as “snitty.” “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation.”
Democrats are aiming to clear up that confusion, as well as to dig into the discrepancies between
Mueller’s findings and how
Barr has represented them.
Mueller did not establish sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy with
Russia, but he did detail multiple efforts by the president to subvert the investigation.
Barr has characterized those efforts as understandable, the consequence of
Trump’s frustration. “That’s not a crime,”
Barr told
Congress of
Trump’s attempt to get
Don McGahn to lie to investigators about his order to fire
Mueller—something that, if not overtly illegal, at the very least sounds pretty sketchy.
As my colleague
Abigail Tracy reported,
Barr’s handling of the
Mueller report has made him a top target for
Democrats seeking to hold
Trump accountable, but wary of launching what could be politically-costly impeachment proceedings. With
Trump now demanding that
Mueller not testify, may once again be put in a position to run cover for the president. But even if
Barr, who has previously said he has no issue with the special counsel testifying, does change his tune now that
Trump has made his objection clear, his jurisdiction over
Mueller will end once the special counsel’s office closes up shop.
That means neither the president nor his loyal attorney general may be able to prevent
Mueller from appearing on
Capitol Hill—a turn of events that could mean bad news for
Trump. “For a man who constantly proclaims his innocence,”
Chuck Schumer said Sunday, “[
Trump] is acting awfully guilty.”
sierramadretattler.blogspot.com
