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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.



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Indiana House Democrats and protesters fail to stop GOP redistricting effort from moving forward
Bongino defends FBI leadership amid series of negative headlines
Senate GOP trolls Democratic candidates with ‘ugly primary sweater’ merchandise
Florida man arrested in wealthy beach town over alleged TikTok school-shooting threat
‘Armed and dangerous’ inmate escapes Atlanta hospital, steals gun and SUV: police
White House Releases Trump’s MRI Results
Jill Biden’s Nightmarish Christmas Display Goes Viral as Melania Trump Unveils Classy Holiday Decor
WV gov gives update on wounded guardsman, talks future of DC mission as general says troops are grieving
Trump MRI results drop as White House confronts mounting questions over president’s health
Melania Trump debuts ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ as White House 2025 Christmas theme
Indiana GOP unveils draft of congressional map that carves up Indianapolis
Muslim Father and Sons Charged with Brutally Murdering Daughter for Her ‘Western’ Lifestyle
Playing God: Bill Gates Pushes Use of Sun-Dimming Technology at ‘Climate Tipping Point’
Appeals court finds Alina Habba unlawfully served as New Jersey prosecutor
NFL Coaching Legend Blasts Massive Issue He Saw While Watching Thanksgiving Games

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:


Indiana House Democrats and protesters fail to stop GOP redistricting effort from moving forward
Bongino defends FBI leadership amid series of negative headlines
Senate GOP trolls Democratic candidates with ‘ugly primary sweater’ merchandise
Florida man arrested in wealthy beach town over alleged TikTok school-shooting threat
‘Armed and dangerous’ inmate escapes Atlanta hospital, steals gun and SUV: police
White House Releases Trump’s MRI Results
Jill Biden’s Nightmarish Christmas Display Goes Viral as Melania Trump Unveils Classy Holiday Decor
WV gov gives update on wounded guardsman, talks future of DC mission as general says troops are grieving
Trump MRI results drop as White House confronts mounting questions over president’s health
Melania Trump debuts ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ as White House 2025 Christmas theme
Indiana GOP unveils draft of congressional map that carves up Indianapolis
Muslim Father and Sons Charged with Brutally Murdering Daughter for Her ‘Western’ Lifestyle
Playing God: Bill Gates Pushes Use of Sun-Dimming Technology at ‘Climate Tipping Point’
Appeals court finds Alina Habba unlawfully served as New Jersey prosecutor
NFL Coaching Legend Blasts Massive Issue He Saw While Watching Thanksgiving Games
See also  Biden administration’s Afghan refugee vetting vows resurface after DC attack: ‘Care to circle back?’

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?)


Indiana House Democrats and protesters fail to stop GOP redistricting effort from moving forward
Bongino defends FBI leadership amid series of negative headlines
Senate GOP trolls Democratic candidates with ‘ugly primary sweater’ merchandise
Florida man arrested in wealthy beach town over alleged TikTok school-shooting threat
‘Armed and dangerous’ inmate escapes Atlanta hospital, steals gun and SUV: police
White House Releases Trump’s MRI Results
Jill Biden’s Nightmarish Christmas Display Goes Viral as Melania Trump Unveils Classy Holiday Decor
WV gov gives update on wounded guardsman, talks future of DC mission as general says troops are grieving
Trump MRI results drop as White House confronts mounting questions over president’s health
Melania Trump debuts ‘Home Is Where The Heart Is’ as White House 2025 Christmas theme
Indiana GOP unveils draft of congressional map that carves up Indianapolis
Muslim Father and Sons Charged with Brutally Murdering Daughter for Her ‘Western’ Lifestyle
Playing God: Bill Gates Pushes Use of Sun-Dimming Technology at ‘Climate Tipping Point’
Appeals court finds Alina Habba unlawfully served as New Jersey prosecutor
NFL Coaching Legend Blasts Massive Issue He Saw While Watching Thanksgiving Games
See also  Six-year-old immigration court error haunts Kilmar Abrego Garcia case

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.

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