Pathetic
The Democratic Party’s ongoing response to the conclusion of the Mueller probe seems to be progressing from the ridiculous to the pathetic. As predicted in my essay from yesterday (Between Damage Control And Outright Denial, 3/24/19) the Democrats have responded to the Mueller report with a combination of attempts at damage control and shocking degrees of denial. Their damage control strategy appears to be shaping up exactly as I had expected, fervently trying to focus the nation’s attention toward how much of the report is being made known to the public.
Now, the law regarding matters of confidentiality in the work of the Department of Justice (DoJ) is clear, and gives the Attorney General broad powers of discretion in determining how much, if any, confidential material can be made public. DoJ policy reflects justifiable concerns that publishing a confidential report might damage the reputation of private citizens referred to in the report, WITHOUT DUE PROCESS. The relevant policy can be found at www.justice.gov: 1-7.000, “Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy”. It turns out that Attorney General William Barr is well within his rights to keep the actual text of the report classified. Now, the Democrat coterie knows (or SHOULD know) this. None-the-less, they are desperate to keep controversy going on this issue because they have little else to use to deflect attention away from the basic, unalterable fact, that Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller was unable to find prosecutorial crimes committed by Mr. Trump as either candidate or President, or by his campaign.
Next, is the denial strategy. This strategy has taken 2 directions. The first challenges Attorney General Barr’s competency in “interpreting” the report. Proponents of this narrative say that Mr. Barr issued his summary after just 48 hours of review, and, consequently “he couldn’t possibly have carried out a fair and complete analysis in such a short period.” Whether or not such a position has merit, however, is inconsequential, as it turns out, because Mr. Barr has had access to the majority of the report for THREE WEEKS.
Further along on the denial strategy, the Democrat’s strongest argument would be for some kind of “obstruction of justice” allegation. This issue, unfortunately, is still in play, because of some injudicious remarks President Trump made concerning his firing of James Comey. Unfortunately, the Democrats must be reminded that, in direct testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8, 2017, Mr. Comey HIMSELF denied that Mr. Trump committed “obstruction”. When Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho) pressed Mr. Comey as to whether Mr. Trump directed him to drop the Flynn investigation, Comey’s response was, verbatim: “Not in those words, no.” When the prime “target” of the obstruction of justice denies that such obstruction occurred, there is obviously no case. This, I suspect, is why Mueller didn’t find that obstruction occurred.
Undeterred by such straight forward logic, however, the House Judiciary Chairman, Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), claims that the evidence for obstruction is “very clear.” Why, you may ask? According to Nadler it’s two things.
First, Mr. Nadler says, it’s because of the “1,100 times he (President Trump) referred to the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt.” WHAT?… THAT’S OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE???… REALLY, MR. NADLER??… REALLY???… Au contraire, Monsieur: NO IT ISN’T!… It’s Mr. Trump’s constitutionally protected right to free speech.”… Nadler has, apparently, LOST HIS MIND.
Second, Nadler asserts that Trump’s firing of Mr. Comey, is evidence of obstruction. Too bad for Nadler that Mr. Trump could not have fired Mr. Comey to obstruct the investigation, because Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey on May 9, 2017, but the the Special Counsel Investigation DIDN’T BEGIN until Mueller’s appointment on May 27, 2017. AND, recall that Mr. Trump had been told by Mr. Comey that he was NOT under investigation (Comey’s response was witnessed by Senator Dianne Feinstein). AND, prior to firing Mr. Comey, President Trump was in receipt of a formal letter from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein recommending the dismissal.
So, looking at the big picture here, it appears that the Democrats are increasingly “pulling straws” to try to save themselves and their false narrative.
And, it should also be kept very much in mind that Mueller’s vindicating report was not made out of any sort of love for Mr. Trump. Not only did Mueller hire a blatantly partisan and biased group of investigators and prosecutors, but he demonstrated, repeatedly, that he was not above using every “trick in the book” to get at the President. When he subpoenaed Michael Cohen (who had NOTHING to do with Mr. Trump’s campaign or the Russians) it was perfectly clear that Mueller wasn’t interested in just collusion or obstruction, he was GOING AFTER PRESIDENT TRUMP, THE MAN HIMSELF. And, not only did Mueller radically change his mandate, as he pursued his chosen objectives he went after private citizens in a way that many or most of us would call persecution. Victims like General Michael Flynn, political writer Roger Stone, foriegn policy advisor George Papadopoulos and others, were charged on the flimsiest grounds solely with the intent of squeezing them for information, ANY information, that could be used against the President. This shameful tactic is NOT the way it’s supposed to be in the United States of America (thanks LRM). Stalin’s Russia, perhaps. Mao’s China, maybe. But, America? No!