Thread by @JayEldred

It’s Mueller Time

Let’s see where this is headed

Rep Collins is diverting and distracting from the task at hand. However, he could give the President some tips on talking fast.

Interesting to see acknowledgment of Russin interference in 2016. What have we done to prevent future interference, besides literally saying “don’t interfere”?

Agh. I missed the opening statement b/c of an important phone call.

Called it (it does NOT)

https://twitter.com/jayeldred/status/1153998674927771648?s=21

It’s only the first round of questioning, but YIKES!!

Collins is now talking slowly, hahahaha

Mueller is saying this in plain terms: We did not indict the president because guidelines said we couldn’t, not because he’s innocent.

Collins has no reading comprehension. His manner is badgering.

And now Mueller has confirmed that Manafort worked with (one might say colluded) with Russia, and that both Russia and Trump recognized a benefit in being, shall we say, amicable with each other.

I can’t tell who’s speaking, but he’s a Republican and he apparently doesn’t understand the nature of a *special* case.

He wants to ignore all of Vol 2 for *reasons*

Philosophically, there’s no such thing as a decision “not made”

It appears that whenever a direct answer would directly implicate the President, Mueller says he “relies on the language of the text”.

Am I wrong in this?

Republicans are arguing that since a sitting president cannot be indicted, there should be no investigation.

There’s a remedy for that: the impeachment process.

Remember: impeachment does not necessarily mean removal from office. It is an examination of evidence.

The President claims that impeachment hearings would ruin the nation. This is false.

The President also claims that impeachment would be silly because of his approval ratings. I would remind you that Nixon had high ratings, too

Mueller’s body language says, “I did my job and wrote the report. Now, read it and do *your* jobs”

Why is this Congressman talking about FusionGPS? Mueller has said three times its outside his purview - i.e. NOT RELEVANT TO THE INVESTIGATION

So far the Dems are focusing on what’s in the report and the GOP about what’s not in the report.

So Mueller wouldn’t say who wrote his remarks back in March. Interesting.

The current congressman speaking thinks only people who like the president should have been working for Mueller

And once again, the GOP congressman is talking about things unrelated to the report.

“Why didn’t you investigate the people who don’t like the president”

The GOP is refusing to acknowledge what’s contained in the report.

The Alabama congresswoman is asking good questions and her audio cut out

I really want to know who had final say over redactions.

And Mueller won’t say who wrote the letter to Barr.

Again, interesting. But as the congresswoman says, he signed it, so 🤷‍♂️

Again, Mueller is asking us to read the report.

He’s a tired teacher if ever I saw one.

Rep Jordan is assuming the statements that started the investigation are false.

The actions taken by the President and those around him indicate otherwise.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and liars occasionally tell the truth.

During the break, a tale of two chryons:

I wasn’t alive for Watergate, but the White House is talking along the same lines as the Nixon WH did, at least from what I’ve read.

Am I wrong in this assessment?

And we’re back to the proceedings.

Mueller just confirmed that the president attempted to falsify records related to the investigation. 10:20 AM EST

What does the Steele Dossier have to do with Russia?

Again, the GOP focuses on what’s not in the report.

They’re Reviewer Two in this scenario.

Mueller: I will not comment on ongoing investigations

GOP: Partisan Hack!!

Man, I wish I had DVR. Rep Jeffries is getting to the heart of the matter and I’m having a hard time keeping up.

Essentially, the questioning leads up to Jeffries asking if the President committed obstruction, using Mueller’s definitions and facts.

Mueller replies he relies on the language of the report.

And GOP congressman Buck is back to attacking Mueller’s process and not the facts. He also doesn’t seem to understand the special nature of this case.

Again, Mueller is saying we did not indict because we were told we couldn’t. In other words, if we could, we would.

And he just said the President could be charged once he left office. Did I misheard this?? Why did the conference room not erupt?!?!

The hearing keeps asking the same questions in a variety of ways.

Q: Did the President personally collide with Russia?

A: No

Q: Did the President personally obstruct justice in attempting to end or limit your investigation?

A: I refer to the text of the report

Q: Is the President totally exonerated by your report?

A: No

*This is enough to begin impeachment proceedings*

^^collude, not collide. Ugh.

And again, Mueller defers to the text when asked if the President should be held to the same standard as other public officials.

Rep Lieu, using the report, once again makes the case for obstruction

Muller again defers to the text

Mueller again confirms that the President was not indicted because of the guidelines limiting his investigation.

He’s telling congress to do their jobs!

FINALLY Mueller defends himself.

The Dems are focusing on obstruction while the GOP is attacking the collusion charge.

In failing to address obstruction, the GOP is admitting it has credence.

I once won a college debate in such a way . . .

The GOP congresswoman focusing on the media doesn’t make the point she thinks it does.

Furthermore, she ignores the fact that the cost of the investigation approaches zero.

Rep Jayapal makes the case for witness tampering.

Mueller defers to text.

Logic from Rep Reschenthaler:

Janet Reno says a lengthy report should not be published if there’s no decision to indict.

Guidelines say you can’t indict a sitting president.

Therefore, you should not have written this report.

Reschenthaler: You didn’t include exculpatory existence re: the President.

Mueller: On the contrary, we did our best to include exculpatory evidence.

Reschenthaler yields time to Jordan.

Mercifully, he’s almost immediately gaveled into silicone.

Silence. Ugh

Think about the ramifications of the above exchange!

Correa focuses on the president’s conduct regarding Flynn.

Not quite sure where Rep Cline is going with his short monologue regarding the handling of evidence.

I suppose his reasoning is: sometimes prosecutors get things wrong, so you must be wrong, especially when one of your colleagues had a court case overturned unanimously by SCOTUS.

He now wants Mueller to decide a hypothetical case involving Obama and wants him to comment on an investigation into the Clinton Foundation.

Mueller declines to answer, referring to the text.

Rep Scanlon asks about advance knowledge of the WikiLeaks dump and the president’s intransigence in answering questions from the special counsel.

Rep Steube attacks Mueller’s motives, then brings up Russian meddling, and goes on to the Steele Dossier. He’s shotgunning and missing the mark.

Again, the GOP won’t address obstruction. They think that if they can undermine the report it means there was no obstruction.

That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

It’s ironic that Mueller was asked to limit his responses, and limiting his responses he’s ticking off the GOP

Perceived Misstep from Rep Garcia as she asks about lying to Investigators, but she brings it back around with a deft analogy and points out that rules and laws ought to apply to everyone but actually work differently in practice.

Rep Armstrong tries to taint the investigation, ludicrously claiming that those who support Trump’s political opponents couldn’t do a good job, let alone a fair one.

This shows much about the mindset of the GOP.

Imagine the outcry had he only hired Trump supporters.

Neguse talking now about the Trump Tower meeting.

Again, the questioning leads to obstruction, but Mueller will neither confirm nor deny it, referring instead to the text.

Rep Johnson closing for the GOP. He mischaracterizes the nature of the Office of the Special Counsel, personally attacks Mueller, and tries to protect the president, claiming he cooperated fully with the investigation.

He claims that because the investigation was concluded, there was no collusion. He then tries to wash away all accusations of obstruction of justice, saying they never happened.

Mueller refuses to discuss impeachment.

Armstrong gets one thing right: we’ll all draw our own conclusions.

Rep McBath talks briefly about the evidence Mueller uncovered and yields time to Rep Stanton

Rep Stanton points out Mueller’s rise is due to Republican presidents.

Excellent play to discredit claims of bias and/or prejudice

Stanton ends by calling for impeachment, referencing high crimes and misdemeanors.

Rep Dean reads selections from Barr’s first letter to Congress and asks Mueller for comment.

Mueller says his reports and letters speak for themselves and won’t speculate on Barr’s motives.

Mueller affirms the report does not exonerate the President.

Mueller refuses to say whether or not the President should be indicted/impeached.

Questioned by Rep Mucarsel-Powell, Mueller agrees that attempted obstruction is still obstruction.

He refuses to say which, if any, attempts successfully impeded the investigation.

Mueller says she’s reading too much into the report, but also says he chose his words carefully

A Rep is denied the chance to speak re: if today’s hearing was intended to result in a referral for impeachment

Rep Escobar questions Mueller about appropriate Constitutional processes.

Mueller says she knows what the processes are, but refuses to say the word “impeachment” himself.

The hearing is adjourned for a break before the house intelligence committee convenes

(I think that’s what’s going on)

Recurring theme: no one is above the law

I’ve got to run an errand that will likely take 45 minutes.

Half expected Schiff to start with “What is the cost of lies?”

Again with the Steele dossier GOP?

GOP opening statement in intelligence committee appears to be “we won, so there’s no cheating. If anyone cheated, it was the losers”

The speaker has the termity to say the Dems have delusions of grandeur when the President is Donald Trump, who literally lives in gilt (& guilt)

Mueller essentially repeats his previous opening statement.

Again, the questioning leads up to obstruction and Mueller backs off from using the term.

This time the questioning regards the president’s attempted real estate deals in Moscow.

Schiff comes just short of quoting Elf: “You sir on a throne of lies”

GOP continues to argue that since Mueller didn’t investigate/interview the people *they* would have interviewed, the Mueller report is inadmissible.

And there we have it: “But her emails!”

^^ sit. sit.

And it was such a good tweet, too.

Mueller agrees that Russia intended to help Trump win the presidency, but won’t speculate as to the effect of Russia’s misinformation campaign.

I’m pretty sure one can draw a straight line . . . Right??

Finally we’re getting questions about Russian interference.

Mueller stays that using such foreign information may, under certain circumstances, constitute a crime.

Rep Ratcliffe berates Dems for hypotheticals, then poses his own hypothetical.

And Rep Ratcliffe is back onto the Steele Dossier, claiming that the Dossier is a Russian hoax.

This is rich. It’s a political game of “I’m rubber and you’re glue”

Rep. Sewell doing a good job asking about meetings between the President’s campaign and Russia.

Rep Turner appears to be relying on obfuscation and doublespeak.

He also fails to recognize the special nature of the case.

Rep Turner is engaging in philosophy and failing.

Again the Dems begin to focus on the facts of the report. The GOP wants to focus on motives and - incredibly - character.

They have no basis to discuss character or the nature of the power of words. None.

Rep Carson’s questioning leads Mueller right up to defining collusion but, predictably, Mueller backs down.

GOP needs to learn reading comprehension.

And we’re back to talking about Hillary’s emails. They focus on what the report doesn’t say, rather than what it does say.

The GOP is attempting to paint Mueller as someone with an ax to grind against the president, or at least his administration; re: the requests to expand the scope of the investigation.

Mueller’s longest responses are to those statements calling the investigation a hoax.

Rep Stewart is going to pick up where Turner left off. Ugh.

Interestingly, Stewart doesn’t try to discredit the obstruction allegations.

Stewart claims that 25 examples of leaks must mean that Mueller didn’t protect his information.

What will he have to say about the dozens of allegations against the president re: sexual misconduct or the likely hundreds of derogatory tweets issued by the President?

Rep Quigley brings up some interesting points regarding the statute of limitations and the possibility of a president serving longer than the SoL, thereby being above the law.

Rep Nunez goes back to FusionGPS. It’s as if somehow connections to Clinton makes everything go away.

Recess

We’re back

Rep Salwell speaking. Discusses lies told by the president’s circle to investigators

Mueller refusing to say whether he wanted to interview certain individuals is interesting.

And the GOP is back onto the Steele Dossier.

Committee members asking many questions Mueller refuses to answer. Asking them in different ways yields no results.

Rep Castro walks Mueller through interactions of the president’s campaign with Russia and lies made to the committee.

Mueller defers to the text.

Rep Hurd takes a line the GOP should have done ages ago and starts focusing on Russian attacks on elections

Mueller asserts that Russia is, at then moment he gives testimony, attacking America (electronically, at least)

Rep Heck weaves a tale of greed worthy of a soap opera

^^ the moment. I apologize for the typos running through this thread

Rep Nunez is back. Focusing on leaks.

Got distracted by something. My mind is now elsewhere

Okay. I think this thread is done for me. My mind can’t focus on this anymore. Other things have come up.

@threadreaderapp please unroll