Robert Mueller’s appointment as Special Counsel to supervise the Russiagate investigation has led to a state bordering on euphoria on the part of the Democrats and the mainstream media.
It is understandable why. The Democrats have been calling for the appointment of a Special Counsel and President Trump – very unwisely – has been resisting them. Though President Trump appeared in his statement yesterday to welcome the decision, in tweets today he has made clear his continued resentment about it
This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017
With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017
The media, the Democrats and President Trump are getting this wrong.
Robert Mueller – the Special Counsel – is not a magician or a sorcerer. He cannot magic up evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia which does not exist.
We know that evidence does not exist because 8 months after the start of the FBI’s Russiagate inquiry no one has found it. It beggars belief that if such evidence did exist the combined resources of the FBI, the NSA and the CIA would not have found it by now.
That no such evidence has been found is in fact effectively confirmed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s statement announcing Mueller’s appointment
In my capacity as acting Attorney General, I determined that it is in the public interest for me to exercise my authority and appoint a Special Counsel to assume responsibility for this matter. My decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination. What I have determined is that based upon the unique circumstances, the public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.
Each year, the career professionals of the U.S. Department of Justice conduct tens of thousands of criminal investigations and handle countless other matters without regard to partisan political considerations. I have great confidence in the independence and integrity of our people and our processes. Considering the unique circumstances of this matter, however, I determined that a Special Counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome. Our nation is grounded on the rule of law, and the public must be assured that government officials administer the law fairly. Special Counsel Mueller will have all appropriate resources to conduct a thorough and complete investigation, and I am confident that he will follow the facts, apply the law and reach a just result.
(bold italics added)
The highlighted words show what is surely the true purpose behind Mueller’s appointment.
In the present hysterical atmosphere a Department of Justice announcement that the Russiagate inquiry would result in no prosecutions because no evidence of a crime committed by anyone had been found would be bound to be rejected by the Democrats and the media. They would allege a cover-up and the situation would remain unresolved.
Mueller’s appointment is intended to bring into the investigation someone with a level head and no axe to grind who after reviewing the facts can close down the inquiry with some hope of being believed when he says he has done so because there is no crime to prosecute. Mueller’s background suggests that he is precisely that sort of person.
This was presumably also explained to the President yesterday because his statement following the announcement of Mueller’s appointment all but says the same thing
As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. I look forward to this matter concluding quickly. In the meantime, I will never stop fighting for the people and the issues that matter most to the future of our country.
(bold italics added)
As is all too often the case with this President, instead of sticking to this entirely appropriate statement as his own best interests require, his tweets show that he has instead allowed his resentment boil over. Hopefully his advisers will be able to calm him and reassure him.
What of the claim that President Trump now risks impeachment on grounds of obstruction of justice?
By now I have ceased to believe that anything is impossible in this deranged affair. However I have already said why I doubt that the wording of Comey’s note – if it is true, which I presume it is – comes even close to being the obstruction of justice some say it is.
Perhaps Comey has other more incendiary notes he is going to produce. As I have said previously, President Trump was extremely unwise to meet with Comey at all and to do so moreover on a regular basis, and it is conceivable that over the course of these meetings he blurted out things to Comey which he should not have said, and which might expose him to further criticism.
However I personally doubt that such notes exist because if they did I would have expected us to have heard about them by now. Besides Comey’s deputy FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe told Congress only last week that there has been no interference in the Russiagate investigation
……..the work of the men and women of the FBI continues despite any changes in circumstance, any decisions. There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date.
Simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women from the FBI from doing the right thing, protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution.
(bold italics added)
This makes it even less likely that such notes exist or that Comey’s testimony to Congress next week is going to be anywhere near as damaging to the President as some expect it to be.
Putting all this aside, a prosecution or impeachment for obstruction of justice only really makes sense if there is a crime whose investigation was obstructed.
So far in the Russiagate investigation no crime has been discovered, whilst in the Flynn affair the ‘crime’ that was the subject of the investigation that was talked about by Trump and Comey was for an offence under the Logan Act, which has given rise to no prosecutions in the more than two centuries of its existence, and in respect of which no charges have so far been brought against Flynn anyway.
All of this of course assumes that Mueller is indeed the level headed person all of those who have worked with him (who include Rosenstein and Comey) say he is. Since I have no reason to believe he is not I am going to go on believing that he is until I see evidence to the contrary.
In view of that and because of what Rosenstein has said about his appointment (see above) I judge Mueller’s appointment a good thing which at last offers some hope of drawing a line under this crazy affair.
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