Barr lied. Mueller is too polite to come out and bluntly say it. But he said it if you have ears to hear it.
Distinguished person of the week: He told them what he already told them
By Jennifer Rubin
Opinion writer
June 2 at 7:45 AM
washingtonpost.com
Robert S. Mueller III told the country this week he wouldn’t go beyond what was in his special counsel report. He was true to his word.
Describing the report, he explained, “The first volume of the report details numerous efforts emanating from Russia to influence the election. This volume includes a discussion of the Trump campaign’s response to this activity, as well as our conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to charge a broader conspiracy. And in the second volume, the report describes the results and analysis of our obstruction of justice investigation involving the president.”
The surprise reaction to information out in the public domain for five weeks reflects the media predilection to be distracted by Trumpian lies and political chatter. What does it mean? More time should be spent on what “it” is.
Before Mueller spoke, a large number of Americans still did not understand that a Russian plot to interfere with our elections was definitively established; that no such crime of “collusion” exists so none was found; and that there is damning evidence Trump and his team invited such interference. Many Americans might not even have known Mueller obtained indictments of the Russians involved in the conspiracy to interfere with our elections.
After helping to distort and conceal Mueller’s findings, right-wingers were naturally miffed to hear Mueller explain his report. How dare he clear the air!
The public, if they had not gleaned before, learned this week that Mueller didn’t decline to reach a determination of illegality on obstruction because the evidence was too divided. Attorney General William P. Barr expertly misled the public on this point; the media failed to call him out for essentially lying.
Mueller explained that because of the Office of Legal Counsel memo prohibiting indictment of a sitting president “we concluded that we would not reach a determination one way or the other about whether the president committed a crime. … We conducted an independent criminal investigation and reported the results to the attorney general, as required by department regulations.” If voters and members of Congress bothered to glance at the report, they would also have learned there was lots and lots of evidence of obstruction.
Mueller, like Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), changed the terms of the debate by forcing the press, Congress and the public to focus on the facts — not what Trump said was in the report, not what Republican dissemblers claimed the report meant and not what official Washington thought about the report.
Less airtime given to known liars such as Rudolph W. Giuliani and more factual detail about the president’s conduct are required. Public ignorance and confusion result from the media’s misguided fixation on “balance” where accurate accounts of the report and bald-faced lies are given equal weight. The obligation of the media is to present news consumers with an accurate picture of the law and the facts, not to conduct a debate in which one side does not operate in good faith.
It was not Mueller’s job to reiterate verbally what he spent two years committing to paper, yet he felt obliged to do so. He is not a communications guru nor a political advocate, although he will likely be called as a witness by the House Judiciary Committee. The media needs to do a far better job explaining the report’s contents and challenging the nonstop lies about what is and isn’t in it.
I am hopeful the House will soon embark on an effort to educate the public about Trump’s impeachable conduct. After that is completed, perhaps public opinion will support drafting articles of impeachment. At the very least, it will be harder for Republicans to dissemble about the report.
Mueller served the country well by conducting a meticulous investigation and producing a comprehensive, readable report. We should be grateful for his honesty and competence, but it is not his job to halt the war on truth nor to rescue the republic. That’s up to Congress, the free press, the courts and the voters. |
