Robert Mueller: Not so saintly
Former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report failed to conclude that President Donald Trump had committed crimes on two counts: cooperation between his presidential campaign and Russian agents, and on obstruction of justice. As David Ignatius wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post, “Mueller went out like a lamb when the country needed a lion.”
Mueller enabled Trump’s attorney general, William Barr, to distort the report and claim vindication. This failure to arrive at Trump’s criminality is utterly incomprehensible in view of the evidence submitted in Mueller’s own report.
Mueller’s betrayal of his mandate — not just to investigate but to draw judgments or conclusions — compels the question: Why?
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Donald Trump Jr. attended the notorious meeting with Russian officials in Trump Tower on June 9, 2016, to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. Mueller did not interview Trump Jr. about that meeting or anything else because Trump Jr. “declined to be voluntarily interviewed by the office.” Incredible. The report recognized “multiple links between Trump’s campaign officials and individuals tied to the Russian government.”
Yet, “Ultimately, the investigation did not establish that the campaign coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
Obstruction of justice by Trump and his affiliates became apparent when Trump fired FBI Director James Comey to “lift the cloud” created by the Russian investigation into his behavior. Trump pressured then-White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Mueller. Trump kept asking then Attorney General Jeff Sessions to unrecuse himself and take charge of the investigation, which would make him a real “hero.”
“Our investigation found multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations.” Oddly, Mueller failed to subpoena Trump because doing so would take too long.
Mueller accepted without qualms the Office of Legal Counsel’s dubious opinion that a sitting president cannot be indicted, which, however, in no way precluded Mueller from reaching a judgment on Trump’s criminality — but Mueller thought that wouldn’t be fair to the president. Instead, Mueller shirked his duty and tamely concluded that his investigation did not exonerate Trump.
Nowhere did Mueller mention the underworld connections of Trump; Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime former lawyer; and Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman. Was it for the same reason that Mueller obeyed Trump’s warning to stay out of his family finances? After agreeing to cooperate with Mueller, Cohen expressed fears for his and his family’s safety after threats from Trump and Rudy Giuliani.
Why was Mueller so afraid to testify before Congress that he had to be subpoenaed? When he did sit before the House Judiciary Committee, he looked frightened. His report spoke for itself, Mueller asserted, and essentially limited his responses to “yes” or “no.” Michael Wolff wrote: “What if his two years had been spent not working to build his investigation, but working to limit it?”
Mueller passed the buck, knowing full well that it would stop at the Republican Senate.