Former special counsel Robert Mueller will appear before Congress on Wednesday, presenting both Democrats and Republicans with the greatest political opportunity since President Trump was first accused of colluding with Moscow. Or so they think.
Democrats hope to “breathe life” into the Mueller report, as my colleague Byron York wrote, in an attempt to pin Trump with obstruction of justice charges, thereby kick-starting the impeachment process. Republicans, on the other hand, hope to dispel once and for all the notion that there was any seriousness to Mueller’s investigation, portraying Trump as the victim and the corrupt co-conspirators, the media and the government, as the aggressors.
Neither party will be successful.
Mueller has made it clear that he plans on sticking to his report in his five-plus hours of public testimony before the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. Democrats think this will help their cause.
“Most Americans haven’t had a chance to read a 400-page report,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff told Axios. “This will be the first time they hear from the man who did the investigation himself, not filtered through the misrepresentations of [Attorney General] Bill Barr or anybody else.”
Clearly, most Democrats haven’t read the entirety of Mueller’s report either. He concluded that there was not enough evidence to establish a concrete connection between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, and also declined to conclude whether Trump obstructed justice. It’s this last part Democrats hope to use as the final nail in Trump’s coffin. Indeed, the Judiciary Committee’s entire questioning will be devoted to Volume II of Mueller’s report, which covered allegations of obstruction. But Mueller is going to say exactly what he’s said before: It’s not his place and it wasn’t his task to determine how much obstruction is enough.
There were, indeed, some alarming events Mueller detailed that could be considered obstruction, specifically those related to Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen. But it’s Congress’s job to determine whether that requires action, not Mueller’s. If Democrats truly believe Trump’s actions were criminal, then they should pursue impeachment. But the House just voted to table articles of impeachment.
Simply put, there isn’t enough evidence to remove Trump from office and Mueller isn’t going to tell them anything they don’t already know.
Democrats know this and they don’t care. This isn’t really about impeachment. They know Mueller’s testimony won’t change anything, but it’s a veil congressional Democrats can hide behind. The 2020 election is just around the corner and the Democratic Party intends to run against an unfit, criminal president, so the rhetoric will continue even if action doesn’t.
Republicans do the same thing. They simultaneously rail against the Russia investigation as an abuse of power while using it to their advantage, furthering the narrative that it’s just Trump against the world. Republicans plan to question Mueller about the origins of his investigation, which they argue was based on an unconstitutional Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant.
“Let me tell you, the Republicans have not forgotten about where this investigation started, and there’s going to be a lot about what he did say, what he didn’t say, and how this thing started,” Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., told Fox News. “And people are going to find out, hopefully, some answers this week on that.”
But the truth is, congressional Republicans don’t really care about that either. Mueller will say very little about his report’s origins because that’s not why he’s there to testify. But this won’t matter as long as a few Republicans get their moment in the spotlight grilling Mueller. He might not answer, but all that matters is that Republicans asked.
Don’t expect much from Mueller. He won’t satisfy either side of the political aisle, and neither the Democrats nor Republicans will be upset about it. They’ll find a way to make it work for them, regardless.
So expect more of the same. It’s all political theater, anyway.
