{"id":177830,"date":"2019-05-29T18:12:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T23:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/05\/29\/mueller-speaks\/"},"modified":"2019-05-29T18:12:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T23:12:00","slug":"mueller-speaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/05\/29\/mueller-speaks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mueller Speaks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, he’s still not particularly good at communicating, but it appears to me that what he implied was, “of course he obstructed justice, so do your job, Congress<\/a>,” though as is often noted, your mileage may vary:<\/p>\n

Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, declined on Wednesday to clear President Trump of obstruction of justice in his first public characterization of his two-year investigation of Russia\u2019s interference in the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,\u201d Mr. Mueller said, reading from prepared notes behind a lectern at the Justice Department at a hastily called public appearance.<\/p>\n

He also noted that while Justice Department policy prohibits charging a sitting president with a crime, the Constitution provides for another remedy to formally accuse a president of wrongdoing \u2014 a clear reference to the ability of Congress to conduct impeachment proceedings.<\/p>\n

Although it lasted less than 10 minutes, the news conference presented an extraordinary spectacle of a top federal law enforcement official publicly stating that the president\u2019s conduct had warranted criminal investigation, even though it was impossible to indict him for any crimes. Mr. Mueller delivered his statement on his last day as special counsel, saying it was his final word on his investigation and he was returning to private life.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve always said that it would be the coverup, and not the crime, and rather remarkably, Fox News’ pet, “judge,” Andrew Napolitano has observed that this is basically what Nixon got impeached for:<\/p>\n

Judge Andrew Napolitano does not mince words. <\/p>\n

Appearing on Fox Business\u2019 Varney and Co.<\/i> after Robert Mueller\u2019s morning press conference<\/a>, Napolitano told host Stuart Varney that the special counsel had essentially told the country that he \u201chad evidence that he committed a crime but we couldn\u2019t charge him because he\u2019s the President of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is even stronger than the language in his report,\u201d Napolitano added. \u201cThis statement is one hundred and eighty degrees from the four-page statement that Bill Barr issued at the time he first saw the report.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span>Fairly anodyne, until you consider the fact that it was on Fox F%$#ing News, huh.<\/p>\n

So, considering that statement against interest, I’m going to go with what Eduardo Martinez Jr. said on McSweeney’s<\/i>, and suggest that Congress is obligated to start a formal impeachment process, though he says it in an earthier manner, “Do Your F%$#ing Job<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Sorry Nancy, but ironic clapping is not enough.  Your actions are not just bad politics, it will depress Democratic base turnout, but it is a deliberate shirking of constitutional responsibility:<\/p>\n

Hey, Congress.<\/span>

<\/span>HEY.<\/span>

<\/span>LISTEN TO ME. ALL OF YOU.<\/span>

<\/span>I know this is inconvenient. I know what I\u2019m about to tell you to do is hard, and complicated, and may not even, in the end, actually produce results. But I promise you, it\u2019s never been more important to do what needs to be done. Do what, you ask?<\/span>

<\/span>DO YOUR F%$#ING JOB.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>I\u2019m sorry. I, in no way, mean to be aggressive or abrasive or imply that there are not enormous consequences to whatever happens next. This is a historical decision, no doubt, but it\u2019s almost like HE\u2019S THE F%$#ING PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA JUST DOING CRIMES WHILE YOU ARE ARGUING ABOUT CIVILITY.<\/span>

<\/span>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span>

<\/span>Just do your f%$#ing job.<\/span>

<\/span>Because if not.<\/span>

<\/span>We\u2019ll find other people who will.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unfortunately, he’s still not particularly good at communicating, but it appears to me that what he implied was, “of course he obstructed justice, so do your job, Congress,” though as is often noted, your mileage may vary: Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, declined on Wednesday to clear President Trump of obstruction of justice …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[368,573,560,407,374],"class_list":["post-177830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-corruption","tag-donald-trump","tag-impeach","tag-justice","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}