News Politics

Robert Mueller Tempts Dems to Focus on Impeachment While Trump Focuses on Issues


Democratic presidential candidates rushed Wednesday morning to call for President Donald Trump to be impeached, after Special Counsel Robert Mueller left the door open for Congress to accuse the president of obstruction of justice.

Mueller said nothing new, other than defending Attorney General William Barr as having acted in “good faith” in his summary of the investigation’s report. He reiterated that there was “insufficient evidence” to substantiate claims of Russian collusion, and said the investigation did not reach a conclusion on obstruction: “As set forth in our report, after that investigation, if we had confidence that the President clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said that.”

All of that had been said before. Yet Democrats seized on it — as well as on Mueller’s acknowledgment that he could not have charged a sitting president with a crime, as per Department of Justice policy — to demand impeachment.



How much should you tip? Americans sound off as tipping culture continues to expand
DeSantis targets Trump’s past praise of Fauci as issue to exploit in potential 2024 match up
California Justice: Man Arrested 10 Times, Released 9 Times in a Single Month
Trump’s Next Rally Is on 30th Anniversary of Worst Gov’t ‘Overreach’ in Town’s History – Did He Do It On Purpose?
DeSantis on possibly joining Trump in 2024: ‘I’m probably more of an executive guy’
Trump reveals if an alliance with DeSantis for 2024 is possible
Top 5 twists and turns in DA Bragg’s criminal probe of President Trump
President Biden celebrates release of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina
Dems want to fund abortion ‘everywhere’ in the world by ending restrictions on US foreign aid
Four former cops charged in Tyre Nichols’ death prohibited from police work
Biden says China-Russia partnership is ‘vastly exaggerated’ during Canada visit
Former Trump admin officials must testify before grand jury in 2020 election inquiry, federal judge says
California suspect gets sweater bitten off by K-9 after lengthy police chase
Nuclear Power Plant Has Another Leak After Initially Spilling 400K Gallons of Radioactive Water
Biden jokes with Canada’s Conservative leader about ‘loyal opposition’


How much should you tip? Americans sound off as tipping culture continues to expand
DeSantis targets Trump’s past praise of Fauci as issue to exploit in potential 2024 match up
California Justice: Man Arrested 10 Times, Released 9 Times in a Single Month
Trump’s Next Rally Is on 30th Anniversary of Worst Gov’t ‘Overreach’ in Town’s History – Did He Do It On Purpose?
DeSantis on possibly joining Trump in 2024: ‘I’m probably more of an executive guy’
Trump reveals if an alliance with DeSantis for 2024 is possible
Top 5 twists and turns in DA Bragg’s criminal probe of President Trump
President Biden celebrates release of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina
Dems want to fund abortion ‘everywhere’ in the world by ending restrictions on US foreign aid
Four former cops charged in Tyre Nichols’ death prohibited from police work
Biden says China-Russia partnership is ‘vastly exaggerated’ during Canada visit
Former Trump admin officials must testify before grand jury in 2020 election inquiry, federal judge says
California suspect gets sweater bitten off by K-9 after lengthy police chase
Nuclear Power Plant Has Another Leak After Initially Spilling 400K Gallons of Radioactive Water
Biden jokes with Canada’s Conservative leader about ‘loyal opposition’

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi — who would need to agree to bring an impeachment vote to the floor — attempted to sidestep the issue. Yet she is under pressure from inside her caucus, many of whose members spoke out Wednesday:


How much should you tip? Americans sound off as tipping culture continues to expand
DeSantis targets Trump’s past praise of Fauci as issue to exploit in potential 2024 match up
California Justice: Man Arrested 10 Times, Released 9 Times in a Single Month
Trump’s Next Rally Is on 30th Anniversary of Worst Gov’t ‘Overreach’ in Town’s History – Did He Do It On Purpose?
DeSantis on possibly joining Trump in 2024: ‘I’m probably more of an executive guy’
Trump reveals if an alliance with DeSantis for 2024 is possible
Top 5 twists and turns in DA Bragg’s criminal probe of President Trump
President Biden celebrates release of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina
Dems want to fund abortion ‘everywhere’ in the world by ending restrictions on US foreign aid
Four former cops charged in Tyre Nichols’ death prohibited from police work
Biden says China-Russia partnership is ‘vastly exaggerated’ during Canada visit
Former Trump admin officials must testify before grand jury in 2020 election inquiry, federal judge says
California suspect gets sweater bitten off by K-9 after lengthy police chase
Nuclear Power Plant Has Another Leak After Initially Spilling 400K Gallons of Radioactive Water
Biden jokes with Canada’s Conservative leader about ‘loyal opposition’

The demands for impeachment drowned out discussion of other policy issues. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), for example, desperate to revive his campaign, launched a new immigration policy Wednesday — and was largely ignored.

That could be the pattern for the next 18 months. By holding out the possibility of impeachment, Mueller has given Democrats a temptation they cannot refuse.

That was probably not his intention. Mueller did not have to pursue an obstruction investigation, nor did he have to disclose the results of that investigation. He pointed out Wednesday that he could not indict a sitting president, but failed to note that it was also impossible to charge a retired president with obstruction of justice, for actions taken furtherance of his constitutional duties. Mueller seemed, all along, to be seeking a way to bring down the president.

The main reason Mueller declined to testify before Congress may have been that he would have faced very difficult questions about whether he had investigated the origins of the surveillance of the Trump campaign, and whether that had been linked to misinformation fed by Russia to the FBI, via former British spy Christopher Steele, the Fusion GPS opposition research firm, the Hillary Clinton campaign, and the Democratic National Committee. (If not, why not?)


How much should you tip? Americans sound off as tipping culture continues to expand
DeSantis targets Trump’s past praise of Fauci as issue to exploit in potential 2024 match up
California Justice: Man Arrested 10 Times, Released 9 Times in a Single Month
Trump’s Next Rally Is on 30th Anniversary of Worst Gov’t ‘Overreach’ in Town’s History – Did He Do It On Purpose?
DeSantis on possibly joining Trump in 2024: ‘I’m probably more of an executive guy’
Trump reveals if an alliance with DeSantis for 2024 is possible
Top 5 twists and turns in DA Bragg’s criminal probe of President Trump
President Biden celebrates release of ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina
Dems want to fund abortion ‘everywhere’ in the world by ending restrictions on US foreign aid
Four former cops charged in Tyre Nichols’ death prohibited from police work
Biden says China-Russia partnership is ‘vastly exaggerated’ during Canada visit
Former Trump admin officials must testify before grand jury in 2020 election inquiry, federal judge says
California suspect gets sweater bitten off by K-9 after lengthy police chase
Nuclear Power Plant Has Another Leak After Initially Spilling 400K Gallons of Radioactive Water
Biden jokes with Canada’s Conservative leader about ‘loyal opposition’

Regardless — whether Democrats impeach Trump or not, they will be consumed by the issue through 2020, while Trump discusses the economy, his foreign policy successes, and his new proposals on health care and immigration.

Mueller may have hoped to hurt Trump. Instead, he gave him a huge gift.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter

→ What are your thoughts? ←
Scroll down to leave a comment: