How Republicans Questioned Robert Mueller Should Terrify Us All
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
During his testimony to Congress on Wednesday, special counsel Robert Mueller faced attacks from Republicans attempting to bring his character into question by criticizing his team, his interpretations of the law, his findings, and his patriotism. One Republican congressman went so far as to call Mueller’s investigation and report “ un-American .” The day-long event made the special counsel’s weeks of reluctance to testify before the House fairly unsurprising. It also highlighted the depths Republicans would go to push their agenda.
Democrats used their time with Mueller to emphasize the report’s key findings, because President Donald Trump and other officials have tried to bury the truth. Trump has insisted he was “ totally exonerated ” by the Mueller report. Mueller himself directly contradicted that characterization of his findings in his testimony.
Republicans, on the other hand, created emotional diversions meant to undermine Mueller’s decisions on the job. These attacks included allegations that his team was a biased group of Democrats wanting to avenge Hillary Clinton’s election loss and that he chose to only include the most negative information about Trump.
Some Republicans yelled, like John Ratcliffe (R-TX), who emphatically insisted that Mueller managed to “violate every principle and the most sacred traditions” of prosecutors by even detailing potential evidence of obstruction crimes without the ability to bring a charge. Others pulled stunts, like Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) who brought out several thick law books asking Mueller why he said the report didn’t exonerate Trump, when the special counsel doesn’t “have the power or authority to exonerate.”
The unsettling tactic has been used by Republicans before: Yell, scream, and rant about a person’s character to hide that person’s message. These politicians have an agenda of total conservative power. The way Republicans try to sow distrust threatens to undermine some of our longest-standing institutions, such as the FBI, Congress, and federally appointed officials like Mueller — institutions Americans should be able to trust.
This is not the first time we’ve seen ill-intended characterizations by the GOP. Republicans’ questioning of Mueller’s intentions is not far from the president’s insistence that “the Squad” — first-term Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) — should “go back” to the countries from which they came. That statement attacked the representatives to undermine them and try to place them squarely against our country’s values and feed his supporters. Portraying the Squad as antagonistic foreigners in Congress only inflames a racist falsehood that Congress does not have the best interests of Americans in mind. It causes a portion of the country to fear diversity, instead of embrace it.
It’s the same kind of distrust Republicans want the public to have in the FBI and our federal officials. When Mueller was first chosen as special counsel, he was praised for his track record, experience, and the unbiased way in which he had always performed his jobs. Mueller is a former Marine with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart who served as FBI director for 12 years. He helped bring the country through the turmoil of 9/11 and served in government-appointed positions under both Democratic and Republican presidents. Despite his reputation, Republican Congress members criticized Mueller’s judgment, said he came up with “ creative ” legal analysis, and called the whole investigation a “spectacle” of “public theater.”
If there’s one truth Americans need to take away from Wednesday's testimony, it’s that Republican politicians’ portrayal of Mueller shows how low many in the party are willing to sink to keep the president in power and a conservative agenda in place. It also prompts a terrifying thought.
Mueller, who wrote nearly 450 pages about his exhaustive investigation and saw 34 people charged with crimes as a result of his efforts, did not have ulterior motives in his investigation or findings. GOP politicians are trying to twist your perception of the truth and blur the facts so you don’t quite get the whole story. And that tactic should scare everyone.
By JENNA BIRCH
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images News/Getty Images
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The depths some will fall.
Nice try to turn the shit show put on by Democrats around to a hissy fit about Republicans.
Poor Mueller being picked on by Republicans....
So you agree with the republicans grandstanding and calling it a partisan witch hunt, lying to the American people that it totally exonerated trump, saying that Mueller should be prosecuted...
The real shit show is the ones turning a blind eye and attacking anyone that goes against their narrative.
Your post has zero substance.
Is saying that Mueller should be prosecuted following the law? It is partisan bullshit. The only ones trying to be above the law are the ones pushing for total exoneration.
The next Dem president that does the things trump is doing, I expect to not hear one word from the right. The door has been opened and is being held open.
The comment is what the article merits.
Then why comment at all.
Because I wanted to.
And you were not denied. Even though the post had the consistency of one sticking their tongue out.
Denied what?
Seems to have you all upset to call bullshit on your whiney article.
No, I am use to the bullshit that you spew.
Never any substance. Always shallow.
Like this bullshit article. Like I said, the article merits the comment.
I had to go back and re-read the posted article for the seed. When I first read it I thought maybe it was from the Onion or Mad Magazine. I mean, considering how the Kavanaugh hearings went I thought a democrat lambasting anybody for creating emotional diversions meant to undermine just had to be writing for a satire article.
Deflection.
No more deflection than #3 above. And it responds directly to the seed, comedy for comedy.
So instead of any kind of rebuttal, the rebuttal is dismissal.
Sad how far down the rabbit hole some willing fall.
No, just plain fact. To the Dems, what was good for the goose was definitely not good for the gander.
So same old, same old, and every side just keeps acting like assholes.
Great strategy...
Most of the repubs asked non-sense questions and a few even tried to claim bias. Lesko did exactly that by saying that Mueller didn't reference fox news* as much as other outlets.
And then of course, the bottom feeders couldn't resist deflecting when all else had failed.
Actually, it was apparent that Mueller didn't write the report and that he delegated a good majority of the work to a team that definitely weren't Republican backers, nor did they want to see Trump come out of this without a thousand wounds and bruises.
Mueller isn't new to Washington and he knows what to expect at hearings. He wasn't ready...he didn't want to be there...tried telling everyone that the Report is his testimony. Nadler and Schiff wouldn't listen...they thought that Mueller testifying would be like the movie version of the book and sway those sitting on the impeachment fence into action. That didn't happen.
Nobody tried to 'twist' anything and facts don't 'blur'...the hearing was a dud. If you want someone to blame - look to the Chairman of these two committees.
So then you agree that trump DID obstruct justice? I mean, Mueller said that if donny wasn't the POTUS he would have charged him with a crime.
While Mueller might have agreed that he could 'charge' him with obstruction when he left office, proving obstruction beyond a reasonable doubt would be difficult at best.
Not really, they are just making a political calculation on impeachment. They all know Trump did commit obstruction, they're just trying to figure out the best way to get the criminal out of office and with a delinquent Republican Senate, removing him though impeachment is nearly impossible. That means they are left with getting him out in the 2020 election even though they recognize we are being led by the most corrupt President in US history.
Yes, I have read the entire vol. Please, tell us all what is so damning in vol II.
I’d like to take this moment to applaud
the GOP members of those committees for how they handled the Mueller testimony and say bravo 
for their conduct and questions. Well done. 
[Deleted]
Trump hired many people who are in jail, pled guilty, and Republicans know there was foreign interference in our elections. The avoidance of dealing with that interference and pretending it never happened tells you they care nothing for the rule of law.
They all sound like an old re-run of Nancy Grace or present idiotic notions like the cover of an old "National Enquirer" tabloid.
I actually feel a little bit sorry for Mueller.
He's old, not entirely lucid, and he was used as a political pawn by the Left, and when he failed them, they decided to throw him under the bus. Their last ditch effort was this sham, made for TV testimony, hoping that somehow, he'd give them some talking points, to continue their ridiculous charade... he didn't.
Instead, he got chewed up, and spit out, by both parties.
Also, now I think we know why he didn't want to testify; He was a figurehead, and was in no real position to speak to his report.
At least, maybe now, they (The Left) will leave him alone and give him some peace.... he's suffered enough.
Just as a reminder...
This investigation was started by a republican that was appointed by trump.
Drop the "it's the dems" bullshit..