Is Senator Romney the Only Republican Lawmaker Who Read the Mueller Report?

Well, not every Republican lawmaker is so spineless that they’re willing to pretend that the recently released Mueller report “completely vindicates” Donald Trump.

Three cheers for Utah Senator Mitt Romney.

It’s not like this is Romney’s first time calling out the hay-haired mountebank. He rightly pointed out during the 2016 election that Trump was a “phony” and a “fraud.”

Of course, there was also a time when Romney reverted to his usual wishy-washy self, when it looked as he was a possible candidate for Trump’s Secretary of State, but I’m pretty sure there was never a chance of him getting that appointment. Trump just wanted old rivals to come and kiss the ring.

For today, however, Senator Romney deserves kudos. He’s one of the few Republican senators who bothered to read the Mueller report and condemn Donald Trump’s suspicious, obstruct-y behavior.

On Friday, the senator released a statement on the report.

“I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the President,” he said in a statement posted to Twitter.

“I am also appalled that, among other things, fellow citizens working in a campaign for president welcomed help from Russia — including information that had been illegally obtained; that none of them acted to inform American law enforcement; and that the campaign chairman was actively promoting Russian interests in Ukraine,” the statement said.

“Reading the report is a sobering revelation of how far we have strayed from the aspirations and principles of the founders,” the statement said.

He’s not wrong.

In fact, the victory party from the MAGA right going on after the redacted report was released on Thursday is bizarre on a whole, new level.

What the report showed, as Romney alluded to, is that the Kremlin did, in fact, interfere in our nation’s election, they had a particular interest in Trump and his campaign, and that members of Trump’s campaign were willing to accept a hostile foreign government’s help.

The report also showed that a sitting U.S. president attempted to coerce underlings to carry out acts of obstruction of a lawful investigation into his activities.

Robert Mueller assessed and wrote in his report that Trump had a concern of being investigated by the FBI, because he was afraid if they dug too deep, they wouldn’t just uncover the corruption within his campaign, but also in his private business dealings.

Trump and his faithful are declaring that he has been completely exonerated, which is not what went on in that report, at all. Mueller further made it clear that he was leaving any conclusions to Congress. Unfortunately, William Barr, the newly appointed attorney general, pulled a fast one. He took it upon himself to intercept the report meant for the consideration of Congress, and declared his boss “cleared,” rather than let Congress do their job.

The maddening aspect of this whole disgraceful period in our nation’s history is that formerly reliable conservative voices are willing to overlook what should be a deeply troubling report of an inept, corrupt president, and couldn’t care less, as long as he claims to be Republican.

As for other GOP lawmakers, the majority have [predictably] chosen to pretend that the report began and ends with AG Barr’s initial 4-page summary. Few voices have shown the backbone to speak honestly about the report.

For now, with the knowledge that our nation is in the hands of a corrupt, shady individual, and surrounded by enablers, we can only pray more wake up and someone steps forward to end this farce.