Robert Mueller throws up his hands
Special Counsel Robert Mueller called a press event this morning and spent roughly nine minutes basically saying nothing – at least on the surface. He did announce his resignation because his work is done. He read off the highlights of his own report. He thanked Attorney General William Barr’s “good faith” in releasing the report, even while subtly but directly contradicting Barr’s “summary.” Then he asserted that if he’s forced to testify before Congress, he’ll limit his testimony to what’s in his report. So what was the point of any of this?
Actually, yes. Robert Mueller stressed two things today in explicit detail. First, if he could have exonerated Donald Trump, he would have. Second, because DOJ policy prevents a sitting president from being criminally charged, other methods have to be used to bring a sitting president to justice. In other words, although he didn’t use the word, this was all about impeachment.
Plenty of observers are coming away from Mueller’s statement with the impression that he’s unwilling to testify before Congress. However, that is not at all what he said. What he did say is that he’s not interested in discussing anything outside of his own report. In other words, when he does inevitably testify, House Democrats won’t be able to get him to specifically admit that Trump committed a crime, and House Republicans won’t be able to get him to comment on Trump’s pet conspiracy theories.
The bottom line is that Robert Mueller threw up his hands today. He made a point of essentially saying “It’s your ball, House Democrats.” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been lining up some kind of strategy against Donald Trump, which she hasn’t yet revealed. Now that Mueller has done what he’s done today, look for Pelosi to reveal more of her strategy soon.
