It’s been almost one month exactly since Robert Mueller came out and spoke for the first time about his team’s investigation into Donald Trump and all of the Deplorable shenanigans. Mueller made it clear – in that lawyery way – that Trump absolutely committed crimes and that if Trump wasn’t the president, then Mueller would have indicted him for those crimes. What I found odd about the Mueller Report and Mueller’s speech were all of the unanswered questions – why didn’t Don Jr get indicted? Why wasn’t Ivanka deposed? WTF is even happening with the Mike Flynn bulls–t? What was the deal with Michael Cohen’s mysterious travel to Eastern Europe during the campaign? Where are Trump’s tax returns? When Mueller spoke, he was basically like “Trump did crimes, I can’t do sh-t about it but hopefully Congress will impeach, I’m outta here.” He said he didn’t want to testify before any committee and he considered his job done. Well…
Former special counsel Robert Mueller has agreed to testify in public about his two-year Russia investigation at a hearing before the House Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee on July 17. The announcement came from the chairmen of the two panels, who issued a subpoena compelling his testimony. In a news release issued late Tuesday, Judiciary Committee Chairmen Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said that Mueller had agreed to testify next month.
“Pursuant to subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence tonight, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III has agreed to testify before both Committees on July 17 in open session,” the chairmen said in a statement.
“Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel,” the statement said, “so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia’s attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign’s acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates’ obstruction of the investigation into that attack.”
The chairmen suggested in a letter to Mueller on Tuesday accompanying the subpoena that they understand that Mueller may limit what he plans to share with lawmakers, with Schiff and Nadler writing that they know “there are certain sensitivities associated with your open testimony. In particular, the Special Counsel’s Office referred several criminal investigations to other offices at the Department of Justice, and certain matters are ongoing. Your office, moreover, admirably limited public comment while the Special Counsel’s Office’s work was ongoing. You have also explained that you prefer for the Special Counsel’s Office’s written work to speak for itself,” they wrote.
Mueller did not want to testify, but will respect the subpoena to testify in open session, Schiff said on “The Rachel Maddow Show” Tuesday night on MSNBC. Mueller’s staff will speak to the committees in a closed session after Mueller’s public testimony.
“Mueller’s staff will speak to the committees in a closed session after Mueller’s public testimony”? That’s f–king bullsh-t and I expected more of Nadler. Mueller complying to the subpoena is one thing – and it will be fascinating – but Mueller’s staffers were the ones doing the day-to-day legal, investigative and prosecutorial work and I would argue that many of them know more about the various cases, shenanigans and more. Just last week, Mueller’s “pit bull” prosecutor Andrew Weissmann inked a big book deal. Someone like Weissmann can spill his guts in print but he can’t comply with a subpoena to testify in open session? Come on.
Also, I’m terribly afraid that Dan Pfeiffer is probably right.
At least we can now circle the date on the calendar when the war with Iran will start https://t.co/3MNN1bclUn
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) June 26, 2019
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Dan Pfeiffer is absolutely right.
of course Mueller is going to comply with the subpoena. But it doesn’t mean hes going to say anything meaty. I imagine a lot of his responses will be “as it says on page X of the report….”
I’m still going to watch though. with a beer. Flying Dog makes a “truth” IPA with a picture of Nixon on it that I use for all these things. LOL.
ITA with everything you say but I wonder if Barr will try and stop Mueller and his staff from testifying. Remember this is the AG who ghosted Congress.
I think the only way the majority of Americans will understand the breadth of what Chump and his cohorts did is to hear it from the mouth of the man who lead the investigation. Barr muddied the water with his ‘summary’ which we all know was a hatched job cover up. Mueller needs to call out Barr in his testimony.
Barr will do everything in his power to gag Mueller. He is also going to cherry pick evidence of Russian interference in the election to prove it did not happen. He is as deplorable as the rest of them.
Ugh I didn’t even think of Barr blocking his testimony. He might not even appear if Barr has his way.
Mueller doesn’t work for the government any more, Barr has no hold on him.
Mueller is not longer a DOJ employee. Barr can’t hinder his testimony.
Dan Pfeiffer is fantastic. Mueller is a Republican white man, and like most Republican white men I bet he is thrilled by Trump’s judicial nominees and his big fat tax cut. I have no idea if he is a pro-business (immigrants are cheap labor) Republican (so we need reform for my wealthy business-buddies R) or a more of a hate all others type of Republican. Mueller had to be forced to testify in public to maintain his friendships with his fatcat friends (who love Trump’s accomplishments like deregulations despite his rude tweets. I expect zero from Mueller. Zero. He is not an ally. He is a Republican who did his job. I hope I am wrong.
Except Mueller was appointed by both parties in his previous positions. He was the USA of Northern California when I worked for a law firm. He was great. I’m not doing this “GOP=evil” thing. He was in an era when GOPers can work with the other side. Not the insane idiots we have now.
July 17 is my birthday. Please, please, please, give me the best present ever and drop some serious truth bombs. I hope he incinerates the whole clan and everyone remotely connected to them. At this point I want to see the whole white house burn.
Same. Hoping for the birthday present of a lifetime.
Lucy and Lady K – from your lips to god’s ear…!
The Dems will let Mueller get away with equivocating. The Repugnantcans will turn this into a “what about Hillary?” moment and make all there questions about how the Dems are the real dirty ones.
Nothing will move forward. A Trump Twitter meltdown will use the words witchhunt every other sentence. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Probably. The Dems won’t be very strategic or cutting in their questioning, so it will fall flat and they’ll have to resort to whining. And the do-nothing, bomb-throwing freedom caucus will pound their chests and pretend to be outraged.
I seriously doubt it will shed any light on anything. Mueller will be evasive and Fox News will spin it as proof that Trump and his grifters are innocent.
No strategic, disorganized, wasting opportunities.
Thats my opinion of the Democrats right now. I’m not going to alter my day to watch it. He’s not going to give up anything good. Nothing ever pans out right because you have the fire ant level or organization to go up against and I feel like Democrats just don’t get it.
I feel so depressed about this whole situation and I wish the Democrats would stop campaigning and get to work on the damn constitutional crisis we are in or any of the other emergencies. It feels like the whole democratic party is running for president and not working.
Its depressing.
If they try to make it all about Hillary, he can answer the questions to show that it isn’t. Their election opponents can use those questions & his answers against them.
This. I’m surprised people still get excited about inconsequential things like this. Until Dem leadership moves to impeach, this is all just performative nonsense (i.e. stall tactics) till 2020.
It’s risky to impeach when they don’t really have a good strategy let alone talking points. The conversation could end up being a circus where a couple of the more self-centered members take it down to Trump’s reality-show level, rather than treat it with the seriousness it deserves.
The “Impeach the mother’s——r” mentality isn’t going to do anything except get the bottom feeder re-elected.
Actually it’s FAR more risky to NOT impeach.
Because if you think what’s happening right now–Dem leadership abdicating their duty to both defend the Constitution and listen to the 78% of their constituency who support impeachment–won’t depress voter turn-out, then you are being incredibly naïve at best and disingenuous at worst. The optics of Pelosi and Schumer kicking the can down the road while banking on the American citizens to secure a 2020 win because they’re too fearful of losing seats is the kind of party politics that makes independent voters like myself question why we vote Dem.
Additionally, Trump is absolutely terrified of being impeached.
He is terrified of televised hearings because as a former reality TV show, he knows the power of TV.
He’s terrified of losing control of the public narrative and he’s terrified of people hearing exactly what’s in the Mueller report, which most Americans haven’t actually read.
That ALONE is a reason to do it: because it’s what Trump fears most. Beyond that, it’s just the RIGHT AND MORAL THING TO DO.
But this isn’t just about Pelosi, Schumer or the Dems, it’s not even about the American citizens, it’s about the whole damn world living in fear of this administration as they wonder why lying about a consensual blowjob was enough of a reason for us to impeach but the goddamn endless atrocities being committed by this administration are NOT. A country doesn’t just bounce back from that. Our reputation has been completely eroded. Our global standing is TRASH at this point.
And finally, respectfully, please don’t bother trying to convince me that impeachment is the wrong thing to do because at this stage I have heard every damn defense and none of them are even *slightly* persuasive. Please understand that I didn’t come to my stance easily–I struggled for over two years wondering if it was the right thing to do–but it is TIME FFS to use EVERY available tool at our disposal to go after this monster of an administration.
The END.
@kitten I feel like the Democrats called it 2 years early to campaign. I’m so sick of everything being a campaign season. I would love for campaign laws to change to only being allowed to campaign 6 months before the major elections. The rest of the time your butt needs to be in the seat doing the job you were elected to do NOT campaigning for years on end.
@kitten, I agree with you about impeachment. I don’t understand why Nancy is so stubborn on that. She believes Don the Con is Bill C. Bill was a very good president, the economy was great, the people did not feel divided, people got along. Bill lied about “not having sex with that woman.” He was generally honest with the people, he says he “feel their pain.” His poll numbers were high and stayed high.
This conman is lying every damn day, people with sense cannot believe anything coming out his mouth. His tax cut was for the rich, the middle class and poor got nothing, I had to pay $2,000 this year. I never payed that much anytime before. The accountant said I have to take out more money off my pay checks in order not to owe next month. Amazon paid “0” income tax this year, what the hell is there to feel good about. I have to stop before I get really mad 😠 now.
@ Wow-Literally every single person outside of the US thinks our campaign season is INSANELY and needlessly long. It really does the American citizens and the candidates NO favors. ITA with everything else you said.
@BNA fan- Exactly! Clinton was a POPULAR president, Trump will likely be remembered as the most unpopular POTUS of all time. If Pelosi is worried about losing seats like the GOP did post-Clinton impeachment then maybe she’s actually *not* the Brilliant Strategic Mind that everyone says she is.
Also, have you guys watched this? WATCH THIS and tell me that this lunatic shouldn’t be impeached:
https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1143867664047190017?s=20
A mentally incompetent man who thrives on destruction and cruelty is a f*cking danger to the whole damn world. He’s not in full posesssion of his faculties FFS. IMPEACH!!!!
Kitten, I agree with you 100%. Impeachment is to get testimony/evidence out in the PUBLIC forum, on every channel, every day, where it can’t be ignored. My only hope is that Pelosi is just waiting until it’s nearer to election time (like next spring/early summer), so all of this will be VERY fresh in people’s minds come Nov. 2020.
I’m trying to convince anyone of anything. Trump is the worst and he sinks to a new low everyday. The Dems and the left in general, however, aren’t going to come up with a cohesive argument for impeachment. I don’t think they’ll even manage to question Mueller in any meaningful or decisive way.
I think there is going to be a steady trickle of bad information that comes out of the House investigations. Just this week a judge ruled that Trump Org has to release financial documents re: the emoluments cases and they can’t delay for appeal.
I think the financial documents will paint a picture of corruption, that combined with Russia, will be really powerful. At least I hope so!
The one benefit I see to Mueller testifying is that when he speaks, a large portion of the populace listens when they otherwise wouldn’t. His May press conference made it clear that many people don’t know what is in the Mueller report, until he made a statement about it.
I agree nothing will happen. All the times I thought Trumpler was going down – Pussygate, Stormy Daniels, Comey’s testimony, etc. – he gets away with it. It’s depressing. It’s a nightmare that never ends. He’ll probably get re-elected again too. Sad.
It’s all so demoralizing.
I feel like I hit the trifecta: Yesterday was my 5 year-all-clear from Leukemia, I have front row seats to Paul McCartney on the 13th, and a few days later, Mueller testifies! Woohoo!
Even if there aren’t any bombshells, this is getting this out in a public forum. Most people haven’t bothered to read the report, just heard slanted snippets on Faux. Maybe this will penetrate because it will be EVERYWHERE.
Also, Ba$tard Barr shut down 7 of Mueller’s handoff cases. Maybe we’ll hear about those redacted parts now, since they’re not part of an “on-going” investigation.
Congratulations on your 5 year milestone! That’s amazing 🙂 Best wishes for continued good health.
Congratulations!
Congratulations on five years! Keep going!
Thank you all! ❤️. I am so *very* lucky!!
I am so happy for you! I send you huge congratulations!🥳🥳🥳
Thank you!! ❤️❤️
Mueller isn’t employed by Justice, he’s a private citizen, so as much as Barr might want to prevent him from testifying he’s powerless.
I believe you’re right, Don the Con cannot prevent a private citizen from testifying. I will bet my last dollar he and his fellow Con men/women will start, from today, to tear down Mueller’s reputation for the next three weeks. Btw, what is he so afraid of? … collusion? Obstruction? Money laundering? Or something worse 🤫.
As someone who lives in the Middle East just across the Gulf from Iran, this news is terrifying for my friends and I. As we all discussed at lunch today, we’re convinced that this is the trigger, so to speak, for rockets to start flying.
Flights are already being diverted around Iran, which is a beautiful country filled with some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. This whole escalating matter is appalling.
@Amy, tell your friends to hang on, We will be voting next year with our eyes wide open. Btw he said he could not launch the rockets last week to kill 150 people, so there is no reason to start a war next month, just kidding. I’m praying 🙏 for everyone, the man is not well.
I can only imagine. It’s completely INSANE that you have to live in fear like this. I’m so sorry for the hell that our country has unleashed on the world.
The top military brass have openly said that they oppose attacking Iran, so hopefully Dump will be stopped.
As is the US allies in Europe – the fall out would likely be WW3.
We know that the Russians interfered in the election. We know that according to the Mueller report there were 100’s of contacts between Trump, his staff, and the Russians. Mueller basically said in the report that he couldn’t exonerate Trump, but because he is President he couldn’t be charged. But Trump has used “the big lie” in response. He has loudly repeated his
“no collusion, no obstruction” bs all day every day. He will continue to do that until the election. Bill Barr gave him the ability to claim this by his lies about the report. So I am praying that Mueller and staff absolutely throw bombs in the hearing. I want them to say that Yes Trump Is Guilty! I want them to say that he is the only person in the entire country, the only American anywhere, that they couldn’t charge with obstruction. I want them to say how stunned they were by Barr’s “summary” of the report. I want the deplorables to hear it loud and clear. I want voters who say they voted for him because they agree with his views, to finally get it! I want them to see that he is a crook. I want them to be embarrassed about their support. I want there to be no way he can get elected for another 4 years.
Obviously I won’t get all that from the hearings. So, I’ll limit my hopes to one thing: I hope that the hearings make it impossible for The Orange One to get re-elected. Please, please, I’ll get on my knees and beg.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 ^^^THIS!!!!!!
Hopefully the questions asked will reflect exactly what you are saying and cut to the chase.
I’m not overly optimistic, but do hope people will get a better sense of what is happening and vote accordingly.
Congrats (TheOG) on your all clear! Definitely a reason to celebrate.
I too am scared what sort of horrible act the dumb-ass in the White House will pull in his sad attempt to divert public attention away from the hearing.
I suspect 2 things from the hearing. #1 It’ll give more legitimacy to continuing investigations, which sadly the dems in charge seem to think they need. #2 More evidence to force the Senate to convict when the time comes.
Also the closed door sessions are for staff to “spill the T”. No one in Congress has read the full un-redacted report. They’ll be able to speak freely.
So I’m the last 24 hours:
1-Eric trump was spit on
2-NRA tv stops production/Dana Loesch
fired
3-Acting U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner John Sanders resigns.
4-Robert Mueller agreed to testify in public
Insane
And John Sanders was replaced by the “I can tell an immigrant is an MS-13 member just by looking at them” guy. Sigh.
Dana Loesch unemployed? That is great news. Gun Barbie is pure evil.
I’ve lost all hope that Mueller will do anything remotely helpful to those wanting all of Trumps misreads and Barr’s misrepresentations accounted for. He’s not going to answer anything & this pisses me off. He needs to grow a spine and realize he has to spell it out for Republicans, but he won’t. Yes, I am mad at him if you couldn’t tell.
I don’t know. Someone on MSNBC said that even if all Mueller does is read excerpts from the report, he will give it gravitas and people will see that Barr absolutely lied in his summary. Very few Americans have read the whole report, and we need to hear it. Even the dramatic readings of it that have been going on bring the report to life. The men who actually wrote it should be able to do more than that.
The attorneys who wrote the report have stellar reputations. They worked very hard on the it, and gave up large salaries at law firms while they were working for Mueller. I consider them to be American heroes, and I hope they look and sound like it during the hearings.
I hope Mueller embarrasses the hell out of these assholes. Of course Trump would persecute a truth-seeker. He’d probably like to put him in a metal cage like all those brown babies. Again where the eff are the photographs and videos showing the suffering children? Somehow, the photojournalists have GOT to get in there. It’s one thing to hear about it, quite another to see. That’s why the bastards have the cages protected like Fort Knox.
I am not hopeful at all. None. Nada. Zilch. He should have come out swinging when Barr released his BS summary, but nary a peep.
Why didn’t he prosecute JR.? The report says because he was “too dumb” to know he committed a crime. There’s some privilege for you.
Why wasn’t Ivanka questioned at all?
He fought for the country in Vietnam, but now, it’s like he can’t be bothered. As a patriot and former FBI head for TWELVE FN YEARS, he should have been jumping up in down like his pants were on fire after that report was released and essentially buried. But, he basically shrugged it off like “Meh, whatevs.” Seriously, what is going on with him?
I’m not usually a conspiracy theorist, but at this point, the only thing that explains this whole independent counsel/ Russia/ collusion/ mafia in the White House scenario is (a) widespread corruption in the government (b) widespread incompetence in the government or (c) some Deep State / IC/ big picture shit that us normal people can’t understand.
Because NONE of the dots add up. We all can smell it, we’re just not sure where the stink is coming from.
When Mueller went on tv and made a brief statement it mattered. Mueller didn’t say much but hearing from him directly got Dump pissed, which is great, and it sparked up talk of impeachment again. Dump cares what is on tv and even if Mueller sticks to what is in the report, he is going to say things that people haven’t read. I don’t think Mueller is a saviour, but his testimony will make a difference. It’s a tv culture and just like how the kavanaugh hearings made ripples, this definitely will as well.
Prepared to be very disappointed. The man has already said that the report IS his testimony. He will reveal nothing new or more, He is one of the nations leading legal professionals and a bunch of self absorbed, posturing congresspeople won’t budge one more iota of info out of him that isn’t already in the report.
I think the big thing is the House needs to prepare questions that will have Mueller answer the questions correctly for the public. It’s true what some other poster said. Even if he had to read from his report that will be the trigger for Americans who didn’t read it. What he says puts a lot of stock in everything. Dems just got to know who can ask the right questions.
I know for sure Mueller will have Gym Jordan and Louie the Dentist for breakfast if they pull the same stunts they did with Dean.
His staff is asked in closed doors because, most likely, Congress is going to ask questions about pending cases. That information can’t get out there.