by Daveda Gruber:
On Wednesday morning Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his first public statement since he finished his probe on Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election.
The report was handed over to William Barr on March 22.
The White House was advised on Tuesday night of Mueller’s plans to speak to the American people. .
The speech didn’t tell much to those of us who have read the Mueller report. Mueller only said what was already in his report that he had given to Barr. Mueller said that his report was his final testimony.
Mueller said, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so. We did not determine whether the president did commit a crime.”
Mueller explained longstanding Justice Department policy, which states that a sitting president cannot be charged with a crime.
Mueller went on to say, “Charging the president with a crime was not an option we could consider. It would be unfair to accuse someone of a crime when there could be no court resolution of the charge.”
Mueller added, “We concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime. That is the office’s final position.”
The words that there was “insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy” were carefully chosen as was all word usage.
Mueller did state that there were efforts made by the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election.
It was made very clear that Mueller will be leaving the DOJ and stepping into private life. He wants to move forward and believes that everyone should do the same.
Mueller made it clear that there was not enough evidence or insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion. It appears also that he tried to make the point that not coming to a conclusion, but investigating if there was evidence that a crime was committed, was what he was supposed to do.
You can see Mueller’s speech here:
Mueller said he will not be testifying to Congress but Congress could issue a subpoena for him to testify. Would he comply with a subpoena? He did say that his speaking today would be the last time we would hear from him. Do I expect a subpoena? Yes, I do.
I will assume that President Trump was watching Mueller speak, live. Following Mueller’s address, Trump tweeted this out this:
Nothing changes from the Mueller Report. There was insufficient evidence and therefore, in our Country, a person is innocent. The case is closed! Thank you.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2019
The Democrats will take this verbiage and dwell on the words that you cannot indict a sitting president. This will be misconstrued and reported as that there was a crime but it could not be proven.
So, was Mueller telling Congress that he provided a roadmap and that Congress should run with it? Did Mueller put the ball in Congress’s court? That seems to be what the feedback from the Democratic side of the political spectrum is spewing.
This investigation was never about indicting the president on obstruction because it is not possible, within the law, to do so. The only way that this case will ever get closed for good is if and when the real criminals are brought to justice.
The Steele Dossier was never even a point of the Mueller investigation. The dossier has to be investigated. The creators of the dossier must be investigated and the person or people who paid for the dossier must be investigated.
What the heck did we, the American people, pay for? Was the investigation, on its own basis, actually needed? The only part of this investigation that makes any sense is that they found that Russians did try to influence an American election. There was never any collusion with the Trump campaign and Russia.
