Tag: Robert Mueller

Mueller departs with warning: Don’t forget Russia’s election meddling

Congress has been divided over how to address weaknesses in U.S. election system

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who stepped down from his position Wednesday, had a stark warning for Americans: pay attention to what Russia did to interfere in U.S. elections.

Most of the political wrangling and fallout over Mueller’s report has focused on whether President Donald Trump obstructed justice — the report, and Mueller on Wednesday, specifically said he did not exonerate the president on that score — and whether Congress should begin impeachment proceedings. Mueller himself pointed to an aspect of his office’s findings that hasn’t been challenged by either political party.

“I will close by reiterating the central allegation of our indictments — that there were multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election,” Mueller said Wednesday at the Justice Department, his first public remarks since taking over the nearly two-year investigation. “That allegation deserves the attention of every American.”

View the complete May 29 article by Gopal Ratnam on The Roll Call website here.

The subtle way Robert Mueller just threw William Barr under the bus

Mueller wanted no part of Barr’s deceit.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced his resignation on Wednesday, bringing a formal close to his investigation into Russia’s efforts to support President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Along the way, however, Mueller subtly undercut one of Trump’s most strident defenders — Attorney General Bill Barr.

Since ascending to the office, Barr has repeatedly attempted to downplay the possibility that Trump either criminally obstructed justice or otherwise made an effort to thwart Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s electoral interference. Among other things, Barr has suggested that the special counsel’s decision not to charge Trump with a crime was based on the fact that Mueller failed to uncover sufficient evidence that Trump committed a crime — and not because of the Justice Department’s longstanding view that charging a sitting president is unconstitutional.

In a summary of Mueller’s report that Barr released weeks before the report itself became public, Barr stated that he and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded that the evidence compiled by Mueller “is not sufficient to establish that the President committed an obstruction-of-justice offense” and that they made this determination “without regard to…the constitutional considerations that surround the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting president.”

View the complete May 29 article by Ian Millhiser on the ThinkProgress website here.

Fox News legal analyst: Mueller basically said Trump would have been indicted if not president

Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano on Wednesday said special counsel Robert Mueller “basically” said in a public statement that his office would have indicted President Trump had he not been president.

“This is even stronger than the language in his report,” Napolitano said on Fox Business Network after Mueller delivered his first public comments on the 22-month investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump obstructed justice.

Napolitano added Mueller’s comments also seemed like a “parting shot at his soon-to-be former boss,” Attorney General William Barr.

View the complete May 29 article by Justin Wise on The Hill website here.

As he exits, Mueller suggests only Congress can ‘formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing’

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III said Wednesday that his office could neither clear nor accuse President Trump of obstructing justice, leaving room for Congress to make a call where he would not and fueling impeachment demands among some Democrats.

In his first public remarks on the case since he concluded his investigation, Mueller said that if his office “had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” and noted that the Constitution “requires a process other than the criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.”

But if Mueller was trying to suggest that Democrats could initiate impeachment proceedings, he also seemed to dash any hopes they might have had that he would be their star witness, ready and willing to detail new and unflattering information his office had uncovered about Trump.

View the complete May 29 article by Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett and Felicia Sonmez on The Washington Post website here.

Trump after Mueller speaks: ‘Nothing changes’ and ‘case is closed’

President Trump said Wednesday that “nothing changes” after special counsel Robert Mueller explained during his first comments on the Russia investigation why he did not charge the president with obstruction of justice.

“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,” he tweeted.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders minutes later reiterated Trump’s stance that it is time to move on from the two-year probe, saying Mueller’s report was “clear” that the president did not commit a crime and that the special counsel “explicitly said that he has nothing to add beyond the report.”

View the complete May 29 article by Jordan Fabian on The Hill website here.

Mueller says he does not want to testify before Congress

Special counsel Robert Mueller said Wednesday that he does not want to testify before Congress on his investigation into Russian interference.

“I hope and expect this to be the only time that I will speak to you about this matter,” Mueller said in remarks that lasted about eight minutes from the Justice Department. “I am making that decision myself — no one has told me whether I can or should testify or speak further about this matter.”

Mueller also said that any testimony his office would give “would not go beyond” what is already laid out in the public version of his 448-page report.

View the complete May 29 article by Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Former intelligence officer Malcolm Nance: Mueller gave Trump a pass for ‘the greatest scandal in American history’

Author and former intelligence officer says Mueller “pulled every punch,” Trump must be impeached to save America.

On April 18, Attorney General William Barr released his redacted version of special counsel Robert’s Mueller’s report about the Trump-Russia scandal and obstruction of justice. What did this report reveal?

Donald Trump and his inner circle both publicly and privately colluded with a foreign power and its representatives to influence the 2016 presidential election and ensure Trump’s victory. Both in public and private, Trump obstructed justice in an effort to stop Mueller’s investigation. By virtue of his behavior as detailed in the Mueller report and his other conduct in office — all of which easily meets the standard for “high crimes and misdemeanors” — Trump should be impeached, convicted and removed from the presidency.

But on April 18 the world did not stop. America’s political terrain has not been radically changed in the weeks since. Malignant reality has not ended, nor did the clouds over American democracy and society suddenly clear. Pre-Mueller-report America is unfortunately much the same as Post-Mueller-report America. A would-be fascist and authoritarian is still in power, and his minions and enablers continue to assault the rule of law and the Constitution.

View the complete May 23 article by Chauncey DeVega from Salon on the AlterNet website here.

Democrats talk subpoena for Mueller

House Democrats are stepping up calls for testimony from special counsel Robert Mueller — even if it takes a subpoena to obtain it.

Issuing a subpoena to compel testimony from Mueller, who has yet to reach a deal to appear before the House, carries risks for Democrats. It could be viewed as divisive, has the potential to generate negative headlines and is a step most would like to avoid.

But as the spring days slip away with no agreement to hear from the special counsel, frustrated lawmakers are saying they should use whatever means are necessary to hear from Mueller.

View the complete May 21 article by Olivia Beavers and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.

Mueller and House Democrats at impasse over how much of his testimony would be public Add to list

Robert S. Mueller III and House Democrats have been unable to reach an agreement on how much of the special counsel’s expected congressional testimony would be public, and how much would take place in private, according to people familiar with the matter.

The special counsel’s office, along with senior Justice Department officials, has been quietly negotiating with the House Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), has been eager to have Mueller testify as soon as possible.

Who is driving the dispute is a source of debate. Two people familiar with the matter said the Justice Department is deferring to Mueller, who would like for any discussions beyond the public contents of his report to be conducted in private. But another person said it is primarily the department, rather than Mueller himself, resisting a nationally televised hearing.

View the complete May 21 article by Devlin Barrett, Ellen Nakashima, Rachael Bade and Matt Zapotosky on The Washington Post website here.

Mueller mystery: Will he ever testify to Congress?

Democrats are trying to solve a mystery in Washington: Will Robert Mueller ever testify before Congress?

Weeks ago, it seemed all but certain that the special counsel would head to Capitol Hill in May to answer questions about his eponymous 448-page report on Russia’s election interference and potential obstruction of justice by President Trump.

Now, some frustrated Democrats say his testimony could slip into June, while others are beginning to doubt he’ll ever show, saying Mueller has no desire to become a political pawn in an ugly, partisan fight that’s become a proxy battle for the 2020 presidential race. 

View the complete May 18 article by Scott Wong and Morgan Chalfant on The Hill website here.