Robert S. Mueller (via YouTube)
Well, mark you calendars for July 17th. That is the day that Robert Mueller will testify in front of the U.S. House of Representatives about the his report. I think I’ll wear a tux to my television.
Getting Mueller to testify in front of Congress has seemingly been the goal of Congressional Democrats since the Mueller report was released back in April. Now, it’s happening in three weeks.
Which will give the Democrats three weeks to move the goalposts on impeachment yet again.
Let me tell you what’s not going to happen on July 17th. Robert Mueller will not say, “I think you losers should impeach the president already and let me go home.” He probably won’t even say, “The president should be indicted for obstruction of justice.” He’s just going to come up with 34 different ways to say, “You should read my report”/”It’s in my report”/”As I said in my report.” Robert Mueller will be better at saying nothing than Congress is at making him say something. I’ve said before that the Mueller report already gave Democrats enough ammunition to move forward with impeachment proceedings against Trump. But Congressional Democrats aren’t looking for ammo, they’re looking for cover. The want Robert Mueller to make it “okay” for them to move forward. But Robert Mueller isn’t about that life.
Some Democrats think Mueller’s mere audio recitation of the report will be enough to change minds. They’re operating under the assumption that if the American people, especially the American people who watch Fox News, would just read the report, they’ll see the clear and convincing case that Donald Trump should be impeached.
I believe these Democrats are wrong, because they believe that low-information Americans are persuadable by information. I don’t think that belief is supported by evidence of what America is in 2019. Mueller will give voice to his report, people who already know that Trump should be impeached will say, “SEE, I TOLD YOU!” But people who have already made their peace with supporting the president even as he holds children in inhumane conditions will not be swayed because some gumshoe sternly recites planned talking points.
And the Democrats’ months long strategy of being too scared of Mitch McConnell to take a piss without his say-so will hold the day for moderates who just want things to get back to “normal.”
But I’ll still watch. Partially because it’s my job. But also because I’m interested to see which Democratic Congresspeople have the guts to bloody up Robert Mueller a little bit. There are a lot of questions about his investigation, beyond its conclusions. There’s a lot of work Mueller left “unfinished,” if I’m being kind. I want somebody to ask Mueller:
* Why did he wuss out and let Trump off the hook with written responses instead of a sit down interview?
* Why did he wuss out and let Don Trump Jr. off with no interview at all?
* Why didn’t he interview Jared Kushner, who even Sean Hannity wants to know if he did something?
* Why didn’t he follow the money? Why didn’t he interview Allen Weisselberg?
* Why didn’t he look more into the inauguration committee?
* And how much pressure did Matthew Whitaker and Bill Barr apply to get him to wrap things up?
‘Cause let me tell you, the answers to those questions are not “in his report.”
If Democratic Congresspeople have a coordinated strategy, we might actually learn why the Mueller report was so incomplete. But, instead of showing the failures of the Mueller report, Democrats will be motivated to hype it in desperate attempts to make the obstruction that is obvious in the report obvious to the viewers at home.
July 17th will be intense. July 18th, I expect Nancy Pelosi will come out and tell us that she can’t impeach Trump until she takes the auspices under a black sky when Mars is in the house of Aquarius and Mitch McConnell’s spilled entrails augur good tidings.
Mueller to Testify to Congress, Setting Up a Political Spectacle [New York Times]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.