Schiff: Mueller still needs to testify

California Congressman Adam Schiff isn’t giving up on his hope to get former Special Counsel Robert Mueller in a witness chair before Congress. Schiff told ABC’s This Week he believed it was imperative for Mueller to speak on the Hill because it’s his “one final duty.”

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We want to find out what happened to those counterintelligence findings that were sent back to headquarters. What other things did you learn during the investigation that ought to concern us in terms of whether the president is vulnerable to influence from Russia. Does the president still — did you find evidence whether the president still intends to build a Trump Tower in Moscow? Is that why that financial inducement why the president can’t criticize Putin or take adequate steps to protect our elections?

There are any number of questions that we have every right, the American people have every need to have answered here.

So, I hope that Bob Mueller will understand, as painful as it may be, and as much as it may subject him to further abuse by the White House, he has a final duty here to perform, like any other witness, and it’s my hope that he will do so, and it’s my hope that he will do so voluntary.

My head hurts just reading this because it’s like Schiff can’t let the fact no collusion was found in the Mueller Report. He’s almost like a child bawling at a parent for being sent to bed while it’s still light outside despite the fact bedtime is, and has always been, 8:30 p.m. He also (rightly) accused the Republican Party of becoming “a cult of the president’s personality and is not likely to act consistent with its Constitutional obligations.” I suppose the Democratic Party from 2008 to 2016 didn’t exist.

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It is interesting Schiff is clinging to the Russia idea for all his worth. One would think he’d be more interested in the obstruction suggestions made by Mueller – and backed by Michigan Republican Congressman Justin Amash. However, those suggestions – which I am not convinced deserve impeachment because President Donald Trump’s lieutenants did not follow through with the suggestions or orders – may fall by the wayside. Schiff appears to see Russia/Trump as the way to victory for 2020 which only gets Democrats riled up.

Schiff isn’t the only congressman who seems interested in Mueller showing up. Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan told ABC’s This Week he has his own questions for Mueller.

I think the one question most Americans want to know, when did you first learn there was no obstruction — or excuse me, no collusion? The — the central charge of Bob Mueller — the central task was to find if there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia…

Say — OK — so when did you know there was no conspiracy, no coordination, no — call it what you want, those — those have been interchangeable for the last two years. So when did you know there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia? We knew when we deposed Jim Comey — when we deposed Jim Comey, he said all the way up until the day he was fired, May 9, 2017, he told us they had no evidence of any type of conspiracy, collusion or coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia. And that was after 10 months of FBI investigating him. That was after — that was after putting Azra Turk next to George Papadopoulos, that was after using the dossier to spy on the Trump campaign via Carter Page.

So after 10 months if they couldn’t establish collusion, how long did it take Bob Mueller. And if you learned this early on, why did you wait almost two years before you told the country there was no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the election? After all, that was your central focus, your central task of this entire special counsel investigation.

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Jordan’s concern appears to be the expenditure of $30M or so to do the 22-month probe – which isn’t a bad worry. That is a ton of money to spend but Mueller said from the beginning the probe wasn’t just about Trump-Russia collusion. It would also be nice if Jordan went back to being the budget hawk he was during the Obama years. Alas, halcyon days. Halcyon days.

There are, frankly, more important issues the country should be looking at – instead of the Mueller Report. Trade – especially the powers Congress decided to abdicate to the executive on tariffs – is a huge issue. Social Security and spending, in general, are also major issues the government seems uninterested in tackling – unless it’s in spending other people’s money. Veronique de Rugy suggested at Reason health care is also something which should be tackled. Taxes can also be looked at.

It’s just easier to carp about the Mueller Report because it’s bombastic and can be used to generate donations. So much for actual political discussion.

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Ed Morrissey 12:40 PM | November 21, 2024
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