Neither former special counsel Robert Mueller nor his report was mentioned once during Tuesday’s Democratic primary debate on CNN, despite his investigation that dominated national headlines for two years.
The first of the two debate nights in Detroit took place less than a week after Mueller’s high-profile but underwhelming testimony in front of Congress last Wednesday.
The Democratic presidential hopefuls did spar over healthcare, taxes, the economy, tariffs, President Trump, corporate welfare, racism, campaign spending, gun control, student debt forgiveness, climate change, reparations, the border, education, “a dark psychic force,” and much more, but the special counsel’s investigation was never mentioned.
Mueller’s inquiry concluded the Russian government had interfered during the lead up to the 2016 presidential election in a variety of ways, including through cyberattacks, social media disinformation campaigns, intrusions of election systems, and more, but the special counsel did not establish that there was any sort of conspiracy or coordination between the Kremlin and any members of the Trump campaign. Mueller did not reach a conclusion on obstruction of justice one way or the other, and Attorney General William Barr and then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein determined obstruction hadn’t happened.
Trump has repeatedly claimed this meant there was “no collusion” and “no obstruction” and it meant a “total exoneration,” although Democrats have highlighted the unsavory contacts that some Trump associates had with foreigners during the campaign and continue to point to the 10 instances of possible obstruction of justice laid out by Mueller.
Mueller’s halting testimony in front of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees did not deliver many of the made-for-TV moments that Democrats had hoped for, and Republicans came out of it claiming that Mueller seemed unfamiliar with the report he had written and highlighted the fact that he had declined to answer their questions about the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Tomorrow’s debate will feature another face-off between former Vice President Joe Biden and California Sen. Kamala Harris, along with other Democratic hopefuls.
