Yes and no for me. Special Counsel Robert Mueller gave Attorney General William Barr his 448-page report on March 22nd. Two days later, on the 24th, Barr issued a four-page summary and conclusion about Mueller’s report to Congress that was made public. Three days later, on the 27th, Mueller gave Barr a letter in which he claimed that Barr had mischaracterized his report. Mueller wrote that Barr’s letter “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of Mueller’s report. I believe that was stating it mildly. That is, I think Barr just outright lied about it. That’s why Harvard Law Professor later called Barr “a fraud.”
Then, week after week after week went by without the American public hearing Mueller’s voice, stating what had happened and what he thought about it. For me, that silence was deafening. Only days after Mueller’s silence continued, I began to lose confidence in Mueller. And that continued to build within me day after day.
Now, today, we’ve finally heard from Mueller. But all that time that elapsed, both the Attorney General and especially President Trump kept on publicly stating that the Mueller report exonerates the president. In fact, Mueller states explicitly in the report that he and his investigating team do not exonerate the president. Thus, the president has had many weeks to feed the American public his propaganda and lies about all of this. Mueller could have opposed that and thus reduced the volume of some of Trump’s Twitter megaphone.
Why did Mueller wait so long to finally speak to the American people? Robert Mueller does not like the limelight. In fact, as FBI Director he constantly avoided it. Mueller is a guy who, even though he is a Republican, has worked hard within the Department of Justice to avoid partisan politics. Ordinarily, we would salute him for that. But in this case, I think he has been as wrong as FBI Director James Comey was in deciding to tell the American public only weeks before the presidential election that he had reopened the investigation into Democratic nominee for president Hilary Clinton about her misuse of emails; yet Comey had not likewise informed the public that the FBI also had an investigation of the Republican nominee Donald Trump. Mrs. Clinton believes that unfairness by Comey sunk her in losing the election, and I suspect she is right.
I generally like Mr. Comey, but I think he made a grave mistake there. I think Mueller has made a similar mistake. Furthermore, Mueller said today that he will no longer speak publicly about this matter. Wow! That to me seems like a shirking of his responsibility. Most of the American public has been anxious to see what Mueller would say in his report. But there will be perhaps just as many Americans who will want to hear him in person being questioned by members of Congress about it. But according to Jerry Nadler, head of the House Justice Committee that would conduct impeachment, if it comes to that, say Mueller has told him and his committee that he will only agree to a private interview. I think that’s dead wrong. Just like Watergate, Americans need to see and hear Robert Mueller on television in public congressional hearings.
Why have Comey and Mueller done this? They have done it because of their view of how they should conduct themselves as members of the U.S. Department of Justice. Very few Americans will ever read Mueller’s 448-page report. But I think way over half of all voting Americans would watch a considerable amount of public Congressional hearing in which Special Counsel Mueller would testify. It is necessary in the efforts to protect our democracy.
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