Wednesday, July 24 is a good day to settle down in front of the TV and participate in a historical event, as Special Counsel Robert Mueller spends the day testifying before two different congressional committees regarding his report about (1) Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections and the Trump campaign’s participation in that interference, and (2) obstruction of justice by the president of the United States.
A tremendous amount of false information has been put out about “the Mueller Report.” For one thing, that it is dense and difficult to read, it’s not. It is a narrative, well-structured, clearly written, compelling, salty, damning, in some places even suspenseful. If you read this newspaper, you can easily read the report. In addition, you may have been told that the report exonerates the president. It clearly doesn’t, not in Trump and his associates’ cooperation with Russian operatives, which includes multiple contacts (some140 the New York Times counted) or in the very serious crime of obstruction of justice (ten counts are alleged and discussed, some reaching damning conclusions). More than a thousand former federal prosecutors, some of them famous names, have signed a joint letter saying that if Donald Trump weren’t president today, he would be indicted and prosecuted for obstruction of justice.
Robert Mueller, reiterating the findings of his report, said to the American public, “…if we had confidence the President did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” In my mind that is the same as saying that Mueller and his team of FBI investigators believe that the president is guilty. Of course, you might disagree with that assessment. But where’s your right to disagree if you haven’t read the report?
You can find it on line. One easy way to find it is to Google: Common Cause Mueller Report, then click on Mueller Report. It takes you to a page with a link to the full report. But if you don’t have time to read the full 448-page report, there is also a link to the Executive Summaries. There are two summaries, one for each of the two parts of the report. Their total length, including the now famous, eye-opening conclusion, is only 18 pages.
So with a little effort, you will be able to make your own informed conclusions based on what you see for yourself not what others are telling you.
Jerry Whitus
