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.



DHS torches ‘bamboozled’ Dems for calling ICE crackdown ‘vicious lies’
Trump can’t resist Biden autopen dig as he declares last year’s Thanksgiving turkey pardons invalid
Hegseth rips Mark Kelly’s post about his service: ‘You can’t even display your uniform correctly’
Mark Kelly and Democrats turn ‘seditious six’ accusations into fundraising boon
Democratic Senator Appears to Threaten Military Amid Mark Kelly Investigation: ‘There Will Be Consequences’
War on badges: House GOP targets anti-police rhetoric amid ICE attacks
Former House Speaker McCarthy warns Marjorie Taylor Greene is ‘the canary in the coal mine’
Watch: Just As Ilhan Omar Says Somalis Help America ‘Thrive,’ DOJ Adds 78th Suspect to $250 Million Tax Dollar Somali Money Laundering Investigation
Students find more violent imagery near University of Wisconsin campus after anti-ICE displays probed
Accidental Confession: Dem in Video Commanding Troops to Disobey Orders Just Confirmed She Knows She Committed Sedition
Unreal Video: Woke TN Candidate for Congress Was Literally Thrown Out of Gov.’s Office After Trying Mad Dash Past Security in 2019
Charlotte GOP chair says mayor creates perception that ‘does not match the reality’ amid violent crime wave
Comey expects further legal scrutiny from Trump admin, criticizes ‘fools who would frighten us’
Dems move to set limits on Trump’s donor-funded White House ballroom, claiming ‘bribery in plain sight’
How millions of illegal immigrants got jobs in the US


DHS torches ‘bamboozled’ Dems for calling ICE crackdown ‘vicious lies’
Trump can’t resist Biden autopen dig as he declares last year’s Thanksgiving turkey pardons invalid
Hegseth rips Mark Kelly’s post about his service: ‘You can’t even display your uniform correctly’
Mark Kelly and Democrats turn ‘seditious six’ accusations into fundraising boon
Democratic Senator Appears to Threaten Military Amid Mark Kelly Investigation: ‘There Will Be Consequences’
War on badges: House GOP targets anti-police rhetoric amid ICE attacks
Former House Speaker McCarthy warns Marjorie Taylor Greene is ‘the canary in the coal mine’
Watch: Just As Ilhan Omar Says Somalis Help America ‘Thrive,’ DOJ Adds 78th Suspect to $250 Million Tax Dollar Somali Money Laundering Investigation
Students find more violent imagery near University of Wisconsin campus after anti-ICE displays probed
Accidental Confession: Dem in Video Commanding Troops to Disobey Orders Just Confirmed She Knows She Committed Sedition
Unreal Video: Woke TN Candidate for Congress Was Literally Thrown Out of Gov.’s Office After Trying Mad Dash Past Security in 2019
Charlotte GOP chair says mayor creates perception that ‘does not match the reality’ amid violent crime wave
Comey expects further legal scrutiny from Trump admin, criticizes ‘fools who would frighten us’
Dems move to set limits on Trump’s donor-funded White House ballroom, claiming ‘bribery in plain sight’
How millions of illegal immigrants got jobs in the US

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:


DHS torches ‘bamboozled’ Dems for calling ICE crackdown ‘vicious lies’
Trump can’t resist Biden autopen dig as he declares last year’s Thanksgiving turkey pardons invalid
Hegseth rips Mark Kelly’s post about his service: ‘You can’t even display your uniform correctly’
Mark Kelly and Democrats turn ‘seditious six’ accusations into fundraising boon
Democratic Senator Appears to Threaten Military Amid Mark Kelly Investigation: ‘There Will Be Consequences’
War on badges: House GOP targets anti-police rhetoric amid ICE attacks
Former House Speaker McCarthy warns Marjorie Taylor Greene is ‘the canary in the coal mine’
Watch: Just As Ilhan Omar Says Somalis Help America ‘Thrive,’ DOJ Adds 78th Suspect to $250 Million Tax Dollar Somali Money Laundering Investigation
Students find more violent imagery near University of Wisconsin campus after anti-ICE displays probed
Accidental Confession: Dem in Video Commanding Troops to Disobey Orders Just Confirmed She Knows She Committed Sedition
Unreal Video: Woke TN Candidate for Congress Was Literally Thrown Out of Gov.’s Office After Trying Mad Dash Past Security in 2019
Charlotte GOP chair says mayor creates perception that ‘does not match the reality’ amid violent crime wave
Comey expects further legal scrutiny from Trump admin, criticizes ‘fools who would frighten us’
Dems move to set limits on Trump’s donor-funded White House ballroom, claiming ‘bribery in plain sight’
How millions of illegal immigrants got jobs in the US
See also  Democratic campaigns provide financial lifeline to Chinese influence operation

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?)


DHS torches ‘bamboozled’ Dems for calling ICE crackdown ‘vicious lies’
Trump can’t resist Biden autopen dig as he declares last year’s Thanksgiving turkey pardons invalid
Hegseth rips Mark Kelly’s post about his service: ‘You can’t even display your uniform correctly’
Mark Kelly and Democrats turn ‘seditious six’ accusations into fundraising boon
Democratic Senator Appears to Threaten Military Amid Mark Kelly Investigation: ‘There Will Be Consequences’
War on badges: House GOP targets anti-police rhetoric amid ICE attacks
Former House Speaker McCarthy warns Marjorie Taylor Greene is ‘the canary in the coal mine’
Watch: Just As Ilhan Omar Says Somalis Help America ‘Thrive,’ DOJ Adds 78th Suspect to $250 Million Tax Dollar Somali Money Laundering Investigation
Students find more violent imagery near University of Wisconsin campus after anti-ICE displays probed
Accidental Confession: Dem in Video Commanding Troops to Disobey Orders Just Confirmed She Knows She Committed Sedition
Unreal Video: Woke TN Candidate for Congress Was Literally Thrown Out of Gov.’s Office After Trying Mad Dash Past Security in 2019
Charlotte GOP chair says mayor creates perception that ‘does not match the reality’ amid violent crime wave
Comey expects further legal scrutiny from Trump admin, criticizes ‘fools who would frighten us’
Dems move to set limits on Trump’s donor-funded White House ballroom, claiming ‘bribery in plain sight’
How millions of illegal immigrants got jobs in the US
See also  How millions of illegal immigrants got jobs in the US

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