Yesterday’s appearance of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees did not go exactly as planned by the Democrats. While Democrats sought to have Mueller regurgitate the alleged wrongdoing of Donald Trump, anyone who saw Mueller respond to the questions posed must have wondered who ran the investigation conducted under Mueller’s nominal authority and whether Mueller read the report issued in his name.
The Washington Free Beacon’s David Rutz has compiled the supercuts video below displaying the motifs that ran through Mueller’s testimony. The Free Beacon has posted the video here along with Rutz’s brief account of the lowlights reel. What a farce.
Twitter captured Republican members’ most devastating exchanges with Mueller. There were several. I have embedded a few of them below.
Rep. Doug Collins made a key point that belied a Democratic theme near the outset of the show yesterday morning.
Today, Mueller tried to claim collusion and conspiracy were not synonymous.
From the Mueller Report: "[A]s defined in legal dictionaries, collusion is largely synonymous with conspiracy."
Mueller found no conspiracy.
Powerful moment with Doug Collins. pic.twitter.com/Z1pw0hj0Ao
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 24, 2019
Rep. John Ratcliffe followed up with a devastating exchange that exposed the vacuity of a featured Democratic talking point with admirable efficiency.
It wasn’t the special counsel’s job to conclusively determine Donald Trump’s innocence or exonerate him because the bedrock principle of our justice system is a presumption of innocence. https://t.co/fRAAORDhdi
— John Ratcliffe (@RepRatcliffe) July 24, 2019
Rep. Matt Gaetz reviewed essential facts that seemed to have escaped Mueller’s attention. Mr. Mueller, you’ve got to be kidding me!
Gaetz: "Can you state with confidence the Steele dossier was not part of Russia's disinformation campaign?"
Mueller: "With regard to Steele…that's beyond my purview."
Gaetz: "It's exactly your purview! The organizing principle was to fully investigate Russia's interference!" pic.twitter.com/z5E5Gl7xZU
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) July 24, 2019
For those of us who have been following the “collusion” hoax in some detail, this may have been Mueller’s leading “you’ve got to be kidding me” moment. Breitbart’s Aaron Klein comments here. Quick! Somebody call Visiting Angels!
Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH): “When you talk about the firm that produced the Steele [dossier], the name of the firm that produced that was Fusion GPS. Is that correct?”
Robert Mueller: “I’m not familiar … with that”
Chabot: “It’s not a trick question. It was Fusion GPS” pic.twitter.com/4WA0lhKc3x
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) July 24, 2019
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