What an unmitigated disaster.
The nation watches a confused, halting Robert Mueller in what will be the saddest moment in an otherwise stellar career. But without question this Mueller performance clearly illustrated one very important reality.
There is no way in the world the confused, uncertain man testifying today actually ran the investigation he was charged with running. Mueller even had Members saying “over here” to let him know the physical location of his questioner of the moment. At times his aides seated behind him had to point him to his questioner, Mueller’s face a mask of confusion. As the Washington Examiner’s Phil Klein has incredulously noted:
[Congressman Steve] Chabot asked again, “When you talk about the firm that produced the Steele reporting. The name of the firm that produced that was Fusion GPS. Is that correct?”Mueller responded, “I’m not familiar with that.”How is that even possible? It’s one thing to argue that he isn’t going to answer questions with reference to Fusion GPS (something he did in follow up questions, with the phrase “it’s outside my purview”), but how on earth could he not be familiar with the firm that has played such a key role in the Russia story?
The answer is now appallingly obvious in the performance of a baffled and confused Mueller.
So the reality of the Mueller investigation is now laid bare. This investigation was run by his staff of Trump-hating zealots, led by Andrew Weissmann. The same Weissmann the New York Times described as “Mueller’s Legal Pit Bull.”
Combine what Weissmann’s friends say of him — that he is a “relentless and boundary-grazing” prosecutor — with what his enemies say of him — that he has a “scorched-earth approach” to prosecuting — and it now makes perfectly clear who was really in charge of the wrongly named “Mueller” investigation: Andrew Weissmann.
Recall as well that Weissmann has given thousands of dollars in contributions to Democrats, including President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Not to mention that he attended Hillary Clinton’s election night “victory” party in New York, the famous “victory” party that memorably turned into a televised disaster of shocked, sobbing Clinton supporters stunned that her sure-thing win had turned into a losing disaster in front of their eyes.
Then there were staff lawyers like Jeannie Rhee. As noted here by Laura Ingraham all the way back in December of 2017: Rhee had not only been a lawyer for the Clinton Foundation but she had also been the attorney for Obama national security aide Ben Rhodes. Not to mention that she had “worked in the Obama Justice Department as a deputy assistant attorney general in the office of legal counsel.” And oh yes, there was that $9,000 in campaign contributions to Clinton and other Democrats.
Laura nailed it exactly in that December, 2017 Ingraham Angle show when she described the Mueller staff as “a pedigree team of obvious partisans.” Laura was right — so right that it now is crystal clear this team of “obvious partisans” were in fact running the “Mueller” investigation. This was in reality the “Weissmann” investigation. A super-charged partisan investigation run by Trump-hating zealots who made no effort to hide the fact that their goal was to bring down the Trump presidency.
This Mueller appearance was a complete and utter disaster for Mueller and the Democrats who insisted on having him appear.
Not to mention that it has pulled back the curtain on the now clear reality that Mueller himself was, at this stage of his life, simply the marquis name on an investigation. He did not run it — his staff ran it. Andrew Weissmann ran it.
Which begs the point. Based on what has been learned in this hearing, it is time to investigate the investigators. Past time.
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