The Mueller investigation, five things that didn’t happen

Byron York identifies five things that didn’t happen during the course of Robert Mueller’s now-concluded investigation. Below, I list the five things Byron identified and provide my brief commentary:

First, Mueller did not indict Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, or other people whose purported legal jeopardy was the subject of intense media speculation in the last year.

Thus, Mueller found no criminality arising from that famous meeting Trump Jr. and Kushner had with the Russian lawyer. And President Trump, who was stung by seeing associates like Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn in the dock, won’t have to endure the pain of seeing family members there.

Second, Mueller did not charge anyone in the Trump campaign or circle with conspiring with Russia to fix the 2016 election, as was the subject of intense media speculation in the last year.

Thus, Mueller found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia that gives rise to a criminal offense meriting prosecution. Trump’s repeated insistence that there was no collusion, though not necessarily what Mueller concluded, will be the public’s takeaway, barring the disclosure of information in Mueller’s report indicating otherwise. When the Democrats nonetheless continue their quest to find collusion, they will seem to most observers to be grasping straws.

Third, Mueller did not subpoena the president, as was the subject of intense media speculation in the last year.

Thus, Trump stuck to his guns on the issue of providing live testimony, and he prevailed. By doing so, he avoided falling into a perjury trap.

Fourth, the president did not fire Mueller, as was the subject of intense media speculation in the last year.

Thus, the president exercised good judgment here, as well. Trump must have been tempted to fire Mueller, but I’ve seen nothing to indicate that he ever seriously contemplated doing so. Here again, the “intense media speculation” seems to have been off-base.

Fifth, the president did not interfere with the Mueller investigation, as was the subject of intense media speculation in the last year. In his letter to Congress, Barr noted the requirement that he notify lawmakers if top Justice Department officials ever interfered with the Mueller investigation. “There were no such instances,” Barr wrote.

Thus, again the intense media speculation was baseless. After the blowback that resulted from Trump encouraging James Comey to find a way to go easy on Michael Flynn, Trump was never going to interfere with Mueller’s investigation.

The mainstream media, it seems, was consistently off-base in its coverage of the Mueller investigation. A combination of hysteria and wishful thinking ensured that it would be.

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