You have to give it to Bob Mueller. He does know how to drive the people at MSNBC, CNN, and FOX into a frenzy some might interpret as orgasmic. At least that is what it seemed like yesterday before and after Mueller's 10 minute, or so public appearance at the Justice Department.
A full hour before the Special Counsel took the podium all three networks bombarded us with correspondents, contributors, analysts, authors, members of congress, and probably a camera operator, or two speculating about what he would say. The exercise was ponderous, extended, and ultimately useless. As The Daily Show's Trevor Noah pointed out, why worry about what he might say when we can hear the man's actual words right after the next round of ads touting some miracle blood pressure medication.
When the moment finally came, Mr. Mueller did an astounding imitation of the ancient Greek Oracle at Delphi. Everything he said and didn't say, especially when it came to obstruction on the president's part, was immediately deciphered according to each viewer's perspective and imagination.
The rubes on FOX claimed Mueller had found Mr. Trump, if not completely innocent, at least not culpable in any crime. They even dragged out that moldy old soul, Newt Gingrich. He proclaimed that since Mueller hadn't once used the word, "guilty," the president was off the hook. He breathlessly told us that when Ken Starr was investigating Bill Clinton he had done just that seven, or was it 17 times.
What he didn't mention was Starr really was a partisan hack. His investigation not only meandered from an Arkansas land deal, to blow jobs in the Oval Office, but along the way it continually leaked salacious snippets to the press which weren't even pertinent to the case.
Mueller on the other hand led a tightly sealed and narrowly focused probe. One which was bound by a Justice Department mandate which declares a sitting president cannot be indicted for any federal crime uncovered by it. In other words, while Starr was a loose cannon running completely amok, Mueller was an absolute pro--some would say to a fault.
However, despite the Justice Department rule, Mueller did say, "...as set forth in the report, after the investigation if we had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so." Later he added, "...the constitution requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing."
The MSNBC wags went wild. Many claimed Mueller had given congress, "a road map," to impeachment. Only a few would admit if the House did impeach the Senate would never convict, allowing Trump, once again, to fly about the country claiming he had been completely exonerated--of everything, up to and including dodging the draft.
Even some of those who did acknowledge the stone cold reality of the situation pressed for impeachment as a necessary tool to maintain the separation of powers. A couple even invoked, "a moral responsibility to impeach."
The one area the now resigned Special Counsel was crystal clear on dealt with Russian interference in the 2016 election and who it was aimed at. Although it found, "insufficient," evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians, Mueller's investigation determined, without doubt, the Russkies did everything they could to keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House.
In Mueller's own words, "As alleged by the Grand Jury in an indictment, Russian intelligence officers who were part of the Russian military launched a concerted attack on our political system. The indictment alleges they used sophisticated cyber techniques to hack into computers and networks used by the Clinton campaign. They stole private information and then released that information through fake online identities and through the organization WikiLeaks. The releases were designed and timed to interfere with our election and to damage a presidential candidate."
Today, in typical fashion, Trump, claimed Mueller was a, "Never Trumper," who was pissed off because Trump wouldn't appoint him Director of the FBI. He also babbled about investigators who had originally gotten their jobs during the Obama administration. Finally he told the media that he and he alone was responsible for Clinton's defeat.
Never has a president been victimized so much--well--at least in his own mind.
Get ready, America. Impeachment hearings, damn the political consequences, are coming to a TV near you soon. And Don Trump, much to his horror, knows it.
sic vita est
5-30-19
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