Now up, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal. By some measures, she is the most liberal Democrat in the House. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, she supports impeachment as well.)
Lesko mentions that the investigation cost taxpayers $25 million. The federal budget is more than $4 trillion for fiscal year 2019, so $25 million is an infinitesimally small percentage of it.
Honestly, the fact that so much of the content in Volume 2 of the report was previously reported seems like kind of a compliment to the media. But I’m sure that’s not how she intended it to play.
Yeah, she did go to say that she could have learned what was in the report from having a cable news subscription.
I thought she was just making the point that Mueller’s material in Volume 2 wasn’t original, not making a comparison between NYT/WaPo and Fox News or implying partisanship per se.
Mueller’s expression says it all about this line of questioning.
Obviously considering that Fox doesn’t really do investigative reporting, the comparison is irrelevant.
Are Republicans really going to beat up Mueller for citing The New York Times and Washington Post more than Fox News?
Lesko emphasizing that Mueller was not, in fact, fired. But the fact that he managed to keep his job is due largely to people’s willingness to disobey Trump’s orders.
If Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko’s name sounds familiar, it might be because she was the winner in a closer-than-expected special election in April 2018.
I’m not entirely sure this will be a moment from today’s hearings, but it was vivid. In criticizing Mueller’s report for being deceptive and failing to make a legal case against the president, McClintock compared it to a classic Halloween prank: “You put it in a paper sack, lit it on fire, dropped it on our porch, rang the doorbell and ran.”
All the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee should hold hands and start reading pivotal sections of the Mueller report together like a Greek chorus.
Raskin seemed like he was finally going to get Mueller to read from the report — but then backed off!
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin was a constitutional law professor before joining Congress. He also supports impeachment.
Galen, I’m in Austria, and CNN international is preferencing Johnson! But I’m watching the hearing online, of course.
Cory Booker also joins Warren, Moulton and Steyer as the 2020 Democratic candidates renewing calls for impeachment proceedings today, saying at the NAACP convention in Detroit, “That report is enough of an indication that the House of Representatives should begin impeachment proceedings against this president.”
Barr may have made it harder to charge Trump after leaving office, for what it’s worth, by concluding that there wasn’t a basis for an obstruction of justice charge. But this is definitely a question the presidential candidates are getting.
I’m not a lawyer either, Rick, but that’s always been a possibility, right? That’s why the 2020 presidential candidates are getting questions about whether they would direct their attorney general to investigate Trump.
Lots of folks on Twitter pointing to the exchange with Buck, where Mueller said Trump can be charged after leaving office, as a major moment. But correct me if I’m wrong — this is just Mueller’s opinion, right? He may be right, but he won’t make a decision on that in any event.
Are you not watching this hearing, Laura?
😱
In his inaugural prime ministerial speech, Boris Johnson just said, “Never mind the backstop, the buck stops here.” 🙄
McClintock also doubling down on the idea that Mueller’s investigation was biased.
Republican Rep. Tom McClintock is only the second nonlawyer to ask questions so far today.
Republicans keep focusing on why Mueller kept investigating Trump for obstruction even if Trump couldn’t be indicted while he’s in the White House. The fact that Trump could be charged later (and that crimes committed by other people could also be uncovered) were reasons, per the report, to keep investigating.
Fun fact: To get to Congress, Ted Lieu beat current Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson in the only previous campaign of her career.
I would say Lieu’s line of questioning here is the first instance since Nadler or Lofgren were up that Democrats got something that might get news coverage.
Rep. Lieu, questioning now, has also been a vocal Trump critic and is a prolific Twitter user himself. He (and Swalwell) also support impeachment.
Yeah, I think part of Democrats’ hope was that Mueller would read from selected portions of his report to help bring it to life on camera for the public. But as we just saw with Lieu … that won’t be happening.
If you want to hear more from Swalwell, listen to his exit interview on the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast.
There it is. Rep. Ted Lieu tries to have Mueller read and he refused.
Interesting how Swalwell, who went on cable news a TON to hammer Trump on the Russia investigation and, of course, had enough of a desire for the spotlight that he ran for president, gave up the balance of his time there.
Slight non sequitur, but kudos to Eric Swalwell for being the only one of the dozen or so hopeless Democratic candidates who put aside his ego and dropped out.
With Swalwell, we get our first presidential candidate to do some questioning — thing is, he already dropped out of the race.
It’s not exactly “news,” necessarily, but a few times today (most recently in response to Rep. Buck), Mueller made clear he believes Trump could be charged with a crime after leaving office. Including for obstruction of justice.
Most people are going to encounter this via the news and outside of Nadler’s initial line of questioning, Democrats aren’t getting the sorts of clips that will be played on repeat on the evening news.
I want to hear more, Rick, about why Mueller didn’t push harder for a formal interview with Trump, and how much of a problem it was that Trump refused to sit for the interview. It came up a bit during Nadler’s questioning, but they could have pressed it further.
Yeah, Galen, that is my question. Why don’t they just try to get Mueller to read from the report? Why are they so scared of him? He can only say no.
Lawmakers also aren’t pushing back on Mueller at all when his response is that “it’s in the report.” I wonder if it would be useful if they responded that they would like to hear it from him directly. Would he still not oblige?
The Democratic congressperson reads very quickly a list of bad things Trump has done, asks Mueller “is that correct?” and he says, “correct.” Perhaps they view this as dramatic and effective. I do not. I think most Americans will see it my way.
They could just have Mueller explain what obstruction of justice is and then in response detail what Trump did.
I’d assume so, Perry, but you have to at least ask, right? One simple thing they could ask, just in case, is whether Mueller would recommend indictment if he had made the same findings about, say, a senator (i.e., not a sitting president).
It’s pretty clear Mueller won’t answer that question though, right?
Chris Christie noted a few minutes ago on ABC that Democrats haven’t asked Mueller whether he intended for the obstruction decision to be left to Barr or to Congress. Curious what others think the big unasked Qs are?
Rep. David Cicilline, questioning now, is another Judiciary Committee member who supports impeachment.
I wonder if the Dems should give their time to the Republicans. Buck blasted Mueller so hard that Mueller actually defended himself and his investigation.
Update from across the pond: Boris Johnson is now officially the Prime Minister of the U.K.
If it gets to noon and there are still members that haven’t asked questions, it’s possible that there will be a discussion with Mueller about how best to proceed, according to ABC News.
As we track 2020 fallout, this just in from Elizabeth Warren at the NAACP convention in Detroit: “I read the Mueller report the day it came out. I read it into the afternoon and into the night. When I got to the end, I did not stick my finger into the air and think about the politics, I did not hesitate.”
It’s worth reiterating that Mueller didn’t want to be here today. He didn’t want to testify. The Democrats made him come. So I don’t think his brief, unexciting responses should surprise anyone.
Mueller’s strategy of watching Republicans attack his investigation and his integrity and say, “I can’t discuss x,” is interesting. He seems to think that this approach keeps him above it all. I am skeptical — I think it just undermines him and his findings. But I guess this perhaps doesn’t matter in the long run. The report is not going to have any real results anyway.