I got up this morning, somehow, (I live out West and it was early for me) and decided to check in on the Mueller testimony. My first thought was the statement we’ve heard over and over of late, “In this ‘battle’ between the republicans and democrats over the misdeeds of individual 1it’s as if the democrats are bringing a knife to a gun fight. My disappointment, as I listened, was not only with the democrats, but also with Mueller. Democrats were trying to find a way to get Mueller to say, outright, that individual 1 committed “OBSTRUCTION of Justice, and Mueller was just as determined NOT to say anything beyond what was “in the report.” (Although, for those of us who have read the report, we KNOW the answer to that “question.”
It was one democrat after another asking leading questions, read directly from the report, and Mueller giving “yes or no” answers. In fact, Mueller was evasive during the entire part of the testimony I listened to (the first part with the Judiciary Committee). So, the democrats FAILED to get him to say that: “could he have charged individual 1 with OBSTRUCTION he would have done so.” And, one after one, they continued attempting to “break through.” During all this time, one republican after another attempted to get Mueller to admit the investigation was started by the Steele “dossier.” Some of the republicans, as I anticipated, were obnoxious thugs as they went through their questions (Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Louis Gomert, are you here?).
However, there was ONE republican who gained the MOST information and maybe the least attention. I don’t know his name, only to say he’s got silver hair and he started his 5 minutes by complimenting Mueller on his previous service, to include his service in the Marines and various terms as U.S. Attorneys and as the director of the FBI. This republican was confused by the reality that Mueller, essentially, made a declination in regard to individual 1’s part in any conspiracy with the Russians yet made no declination in regard to the OBSTRUCTION statutes which Mueller outlined in detail. He then asked the question which, in my view, should have been “pounced on” by the democrats when he said, “Could the president by charged with OBSTRUCTION once he’s out of office?” Mueller succinctly responded, “Yes.”
I was simply a sixth grade teacher for the latter third of my working life and have pointed out on this site several times I’ve never been accused of being smart, which is why I’m so confused as to why the democrats on the committee were unable to pick up on the answer to the question I referred to above. When Mueller responded to the question about whether individual 1 can be charged with OBSTRUCTION after he leaves office by simply saying “yes” he was indirectly answering the question of whether Mueller would have charged individual 1 with OBSTRUCTION “had he not been our (so-called) president.” In fact, Mueller points out in the report, that the accumulation of the evidence was for the purpose of “memorializing” the evidence should it be used in the future.
This all being said, another thing that stood out to me, which was NOT surprising is that the republicans, not one of them while I was watching, attempted to challenge the actual evidence about the OBSTRUCTION in the report. There was one republican who challenged Mueller’s interpretation of the OBSTRUCTION statute – but, if you’ve read the report, you KNOW that Mueller went to great detail to explain the statute and leaving the reader to make the interpretation as to its “connection” to the evidence. They, along with me, and likely almost everyone who took the time to read the report could easily see that the EVIDENCE causes one to see the direct connection to individual 1’s behavior and the OBSTRUCTION statute.
Therefore, with the one exception (I just learned it was representative Buck, republican of Colorado) I wrote about above, the republicans spent their time attacking Mueller and attempting to connect the origin of the report to the so-called “Steele Dossier.” And, true to form, our so-called “liberal media” appears to have seen exactly what the republican sycophants wanted them to see. The democrats wanted Mueller to simply say, “If this evidence would be applied to anyone beside the president he would have been indicted.” They wanted him to say it outright. Well, in subtle ways that is exactly what Mueller said – but, even the so-called experts on the media are not/will not be picking up on this.
The republicans are masters at manipulating the media and individual 1 is the master of the masters of media manipulation. The democrats backed themselves into the corner where they find themselves by their FEAR of actually AGGRESSIVELY bringing individual 1’s misdeeds to life via an impeachment INQUIRY. As I’ve said endlessly on this site, I consider Fox “news” a right wing propaganda arm of the republican party and, today, clearly the republicans in the House Judiciary Committee were making “talking points” which can be used by Fox to further their propaganda scheme designed to create what Karl Rove once referred to as the “permanent republican ‘majority.'”
Republicans continue to suggest that any “collusion” involved in this matter was between the Russians and the, get this, the democrats. That, despite the HUNDREDS of examples of meetings between Russians directly connected to the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin AND, members of individual 1’s campaign plus their repeated instances of LYING about those meetings. The suggestions by republicans that somehow the Clinton campaign must have surmised early on they were going to LOSE the election – in early 2016 – and so they “colluded” with the Russians to find “dirt” on individual 1 in order to cause the investigations which have dominated the previous two years of our political discourse defies rationality. However, I know people who believe that – because “Sean (Hannity) says so.”
What ended up being very interesting, and likely because of the cerebral head of the House Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff, the afternoon session was almost completely different from the morning session. Plus, there was no Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, or Louis Gomert, in the afternoon session. There was actually, in the afternoon, at least one republican who attempted to elicit information from Mueller about how best to address the attack by the Russians on our Election of 2016 – I didn’t get his name, but he was a republican. My wife and I (she being a “conservative”) looked at each other in surprise that this particular republican seemed to be interested in the actual issue – the Russian ATTACK on America in 2016!
When it got to the end of the interview of Mueller, Devin Nunes, who I won’t go into detail on my opinion of him – other than to say it’s not good – he chose to pass on his opportunity to badger Mueller for an additional 5 minutes. Nunes had been leading the attempt to connect the Clinton campaign with “Russian Collusion” due to their taking over the Fusion GPS investigation and their hiring Christopher Steele who ultimately produced the now infamous “Steele Dossier.” Nunes and others made clearly inaccurate (LIES) comments about that “dossier” and how it became public (not to mention the veracity of much of what was in it).
A little history lesson: The “oppo research” which led to the “dossier” was initially funded by a republican entity. The democrats took over paying for it after individual 1 became the “presumptive” nominee of the republicans. Steele, a former MI6 “spy” (in Britain), was, according to David Corn, alarmed by all the “stuff” he was “hearing” about individual 1 and his “ties” to Russia, to the point where he decided he had to inform the FBI of what he was finding – acknowledging his information was not corroborated at that point in time – although much of it ultimately proved to be accurate. It was also given to the FBI, at one point, by John McCain. And, it MUST be made clear that the “dossier” DIDN’T start the “Russia investigation.”
According to Mueller’s report and reporting we had heard well before Mueller concluded his report the beginnings of the “Russia investigation” came from an FBI contact who is an official from Australia who happened to be drinking beer with George Papadopoulus in London during May of 2016 when Papadopoulus bragged about the campaign having access to help from the Russians who claimed – via Joseph Mifsud – they had the “Clinton Emails.” Republicans actually focused much of their “attack” on Mueller’s credibility in session 2 on why Mifsud wasn’t charged. This foolish “attack” by the republicans caused the afternoon session to be much more damaging to individual 1 than the morning session.
Of course, as strong as the afternoon session was, the morning session was a plethora of sound bites for those Americans who get their “news” from Fox and the other right wing propaganda sites on the internet. This is why I don’t believe there will be much difference in the “polling” which Nancy Pelosi seems fixated on in regard to whether or not there will be IMPEACHMENT hearings. Of course, as I predicted before the Mueller report became public, Pelosi was NOT going to have the “appetite” for impeachment. She blocked an impeachment inquiry – despite GW Bush/Dick Cheney/Don Rumsfeld all authorizing TORTURE which claimed an untold number of lives and TARNISHED America’s image in the world – an image which individual 1 seems to want to make even worse – back in 2007 just as she’s blocking democrats from an impeachment inquiry RIGHT NOW!
The democrats’ refusal to hold the republicans who authorized TORTURE to account back in 2007 has led to this behavior from individual 1 and the brazenous of the republicans who act as if the Russian ATTACK in 2016 was immaterial – their only interest is protecting a so-called president who has ALLEGEDLY committed MULTIPLE felonies. Republicans view the democrats as “liberal wimps.” Democrats must understand this, but you’d have to wonder as you watch this why they continue to portray this image. The abuses of power coming from the present “White House” should be ALARMING and democrats waiting for republicans to “get onboard” with stopping it appears to many beside myself as pathetic. If individual 1 is to be stopped it’s up to democrats along with “we the people.”
The way the House Committees are set up, there was no way to prevent the republicans (like Jordan, Gaetz, and Gomert) from having a “Fox ‘news’ soundbite moment” – but maybe at some point our “liberal media” will connect the dots between the republican communication strategy and the “Big Lie Theory” of Joseph Goebbels. Maybe that would be enough to get democrats to move forward on an impeachment “inquiry” – because, as Mueller said, (and, as I’ve been saying since day 1 of the Russia investigation) the Russian attack is going on “right now and will continue into the next election.” In my mind, patriotic Americans MUST demand that democrats aggressively stand up for our republic – up to this point in time, clearly, Vladimir Putin is getting exactly what he wants!
I find it sadly ironic that it’s the republicans who are willing to allow the Russians a “free hand” as Putin is attempting to recreate the “former Soviet Union” by undermining the “Western democracies” and the NATO alliance which has held America and her closest allies together since WW II. Wasn’t it Ronald Reagan who republicans treat as a demigod and claim he brought down the Soviet Union? Are republicans oblivious to what Putin is “up to,” or do they just not care? Or worse yet, are they “on board?”
Unfortunately, there are many Americans who are far removed from “the Greatest Generation” – meaning the peers of my parents and grandparents – those who led us out of the Great Depression and fought against Hitler in WW II. Those of us with ties to that generation of Americans are repulsed when we see the neo-Nazi’s walking in places like Charlottesville wearing Nazi armbands and chanting “Jews will not replace us.” To us, NONE of them are “very fine people.” Sorry! And, when we hear about Soviet dissidents being poisoned in Great Britain or the reality of Jamal Khashoggi being cut to pieces by Mohammad bin Salmon’s “bone saw,” and watch as our so-called president wants to look the other way, it’s – well – a bit depressing. Yet over 40% of Americans support individual 1!
It clearly is Vladimir Putin who is pushing this resurgence of the fascism of 1930’s Germany and it’s still to be determined the extent of individual 1’s actual connection to this right wing “wave” spreading across the Western World. If “we the people,” in reality, don’t want to be a part of this fascist movement, we have a stark choice to make in 2020. And, democrats have a stark choice to make in 2019, AND SOON! Mueller was very evasive in the early session when the topic was “OBSTRUCTION” – and, if you’ve read the report, you know Mueller wrote Volume II with the expectation the House would make the determination as to whether the EVIDENCE which was produced rises to the level of OBSTRUCTION of Justice. (It clearly does, as per the letter signed by OVER 1000 former prosecutors) Right now, as I’ve said above (and many other times) Nancy Pelosi doesn’t have the stomach for an impeachment inquiry.
It was obvious that Mueller has a whole different outlook in regard to Volume 1 of his report – the section focused on the “collusion” issue. While “collusion” was NEVER the focus of that part of the investigation, they (Mueller’s team) attempted to make a provable case of conspiracy between members of individual 1’s campaign and the Russians. While they failed to make that connection, you could see from Mueller’s animation (well, he’s really not what you’d call an “animated” person) he was alarmed by the number of meetings between the campaign officials and people connected to the Kremlin, the LYING that took place to HIDE the meetings, the evidence which was destroyed, and, in general, the lack of PATRIOTISM displayed by individual 1, his family, and members of his campaign. Mueller said, “Every American should be concerned about this.” Well, MILLIONS of us are, and we’re wondering if the democrats are missing something here? As the saying goes, “times a wasting.”
Final Thoughts: Those of us who grew up during and were part of the Civil Rights movement and cherished American ideals like what is written on the Statue of Liberty (Bring your tired and…………) were aghast, but not surprised, when individual 1 referred to countries in Africa and places like Haiti as “shithole countries” – because we’ve KNOWN all along our so-called president is a RACIST – but, it still grieves our hearts when we see people crammed into cages at our Southern border to the point where they can’t lay down and, additionally, young CHILDREN being pulled from their parents and also crammed into cages which, to MILLIONS of Americans like me, is making the dark side of this nation grow. It’s sad and it’s a DEPLORABLE way to discourage people in dire situations seeking asylum – fleeing hunger and violence – and from attempting to gain this asylum in America. Our country has been BUILT on immigration and valuing immigrants – in fact, we’re ALL immigrants to varying degrees – including the “Native Americans” who immigrated to North America over 10,000 years ago from Asia.
Issues like what’s going on at the border, the Russia “stuff,” individual 1’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein, the Emoluments abuses, and on and on all seem to get “washed under the rug” simply by the enormity of trying to keep up with all the scandalous behavior emanating from those connected to the “White House.” It’s numbing, which appears to me to be part of the strategy. Just brazen out in the open CORRUPTION which becomes more and more difficult to “harness” by the very fact so much of it has transpired, it’s no secret, we see it happening in real time, and there’s NO appreciable accountability. I predicted this when President Obama said, “We’re going to look forward instead of back” in regard to ALL the illegal activity of the Bush/Cheney administration. That was, to the republicans intent on continuing their scandalous pilfering of America’s taxpayers like sitting in front of a green light! This will ONLY stop when democrats MAKE it stop by standing up for our CONSTITUTION and saying “no mas” – “we’re going to put a stop to this CORRUPTION no matter what republicans do.”
I have a friend, who is a supporter of individual 1, and who texted me this morning predicting this will be the end of the democratic party – “this” meaning the “Russia investigation” and its aftermath. Of course, he’s getting his information from right wing websites – but, that’s how individual 1’s supporters think and, if democrats believe they’re going to “sway” people’s thinking like this person, they are sadly deluding themselves. I’ve said this for years, there is a war going on for the heart and soul of this nation – and, the republican party has been, for years, leaning closer and closer to fascism and, they fight dirty. It’s the VOTERS of the country who will determine how far we continue to go in allowing this attack on our traditional values and institutions and, if democrats continue to FEAR the voters getting “mad” at them for defending the CONSTITUTION, they will be continuing to ENABLE this right wing scourge. My hope lies in the young people of America who, I believe, will vote for the LIBERAL values which made America the “leader of the free world” (Yes, despite many “hiccups”) and will repudiate what individual 1 stands for. If we fail to do so, God help us!