The Disaster on Capitol Hill
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On Wednesday, Robert Mueller appeared on Capitol Hill to testify in front of Congress concerning his 400-page report on Russian interference and the Trump campaign’s supposed collusion during the 2016 presidential election.
Media outlets proclaimed that this would be the testimony of the year and that Mueller’s testimony would finally get Donald Trump. Suffice it to say, the hype was overstated and the hearing turned out to be a dud. Chris Wallace said it best, “I think this has been a disaster for the Democrats, and I think it has been a disaster for the reputation of Robert Mueller.”
Robert Mueller’s testimony in front of Congress was incoherent, as he misunderstood questions, asked for questions to be repeated, and then gave answers that seemed as though he was out of touch with his own report. This raised question as to how much of the Russia investigation Mueller was actually in charge of.
When Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) asked Mueller about obstruction of justice, Mueller originally explained that had it not been for the Office of Legal Counsel stating that a sitting president could not be charged with obstruction, Donald Trump would have been charged with a crime. Mueller later corrected himself in his testimony stating, “We did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.”
Many Democrats will walk away from this hearing angry with Mueller because both his report and his testimony failed to provide further evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Trump and his campaign.
This makes their case for impeachment even weaker.
Likewise, Republicans will also be angry with Mueller because he still left many questions open in his report, all of which made yesterday’s hearing necessary.
Mueller’s testimony failed to break any new ground. Instead, it made a patriot look old and out of touch with his own investigation and hurt his reputation as the special counsel on the case.
We can only hope that public skepticism towards Russia-Trump collusion and obstruction of justice will come to an end and America will move on.
Sadly, it seems it will never go away entirely. Not with today’s Washington.