After nearly two years, Robert Mueller’s investigation is expected to finally wrap up soon — and some Democrats are already preparing to be disappointed.
To keep the impeachment narrative alive, some Democrats have begun shifting the goal-posts on Mueller’s probe, arguing that it was never his job to prove a conspiracy between Trump and Russia. But if Mueller’s report disappoints, it will be because his leads have come up short again and again, argues Eddie Scarry in the Washington Examiner.
Mueller’s nothing burger will disappoint
Democrats have made it clear that they intend to carry on their own investigations of Trump regardless of what Mueller ultimately finds, or is able to release publicly — hardly an indication of confidence in the special counsel’s report. To handle the resulting cognitive dissonance, some Democrats have attempted to shift the goal-posts, focusing instead on Trump’s personal business, supposed campaign finance violations, or alleged obstruction of justice.
In one representative piece in TIME, a former prosecutor argues that Trump, using “disinformation,” misrepresented the purpose of Mueller’s probe and “worked to raise a nearly impossible and definitely illogical bar for Mueller to clear: proving ‘collusion’ and charging a grand criminal conspiracy involving the Trump campaign and the Russian government.”
But it was the media and the Democrats who heightened expectations, Scarry notes. And after two years of stoking a crazy, divisive conspiracy, what does the media have to show for it?
Smoke. Circumstantial evidence of “connections” between the Trump world and Russia. Mueller’s probe has yielded basically two things: a slate of symbolic indictments against Russian “trolls” who did little more than share edgy memes on Facebook and Twitter to somehow influence the election, and charges against Trump associates for crimes unrelated to collusion or lying to investigators.
Collusion craziness
Here are some of Mueller’s “bombshells”: Michael Flynn was charged with lying to Congress about diplomatic talks he had with a Russian ambassador about not raising tensions over sanctions put in place by Obama. That’s diplomacy, not collusion.
Then there is the scrapped Trump Tower project in Moscow. Democrats seized upon this as certain proof of some kind of conspiracy, but there is nothing untoward about a world-famous real estate developer looking into business opportunities while he was campaigning for president. Moreover, Michael Cohen testified that he was not directed by Trump to lie about the project.
Democrats also point to recent revelations that former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort shared campaign polling data with a Russian. Again, not collusion.
Other “evidence” commonly cited by Democrats includes the meeting between Trump campaign official George Papadopoulos and a Maltese professor who mentioned “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, and the Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign associates and a Russian lawyer promising damaging information about Clinton. As far as is publicly known, neither of these meetings led anywhere.
And then there’s Wikileaks. After Cohen testified that Trump had foreknowledge of the Russian hacks of Democrats’ emails, the Left is dead certain that the Trump campaign coordinated the hacking. But there is no evidence that any such coordination occurred.
It’s one thing to know about something that is going to happen and another thing to direct it to happen. Trump could well have welcomed that news without taking criminal action. Roger Stone was notably not charged with conspiracy, but instead, with lying about his conversations about WikiLeaks.
Dems shifting goal posts
As the anticipation for Mueller’s report builds, Democrats are noticeably beginning to hedge their bets by placing bigger stakes in Trump’s personal business, alleged obstruction of justice, and trumped-up “campaign finance violations.” The TIME piece wraps up with this beauty, summarizing the current mood on the Left about impeachment:
As the Mueller investigation ends and, ideally, becomes public, it is an opportunity to refocus on what has actually happened: Trump campaign officials have committed crimes, the President has obstructed justice in plain sight, and Trump has been implicated in breaking campaign-finance law. At last, we can address reality instead of what may be fantasy.
Trump campaign officials have committed crimes, but not Trump himself? Next. Oh, Trump paid off a porn star and “obstructed justice” by firing his own FBI director?
Where’s the crime? No matter, Democrats will find it somehow. Michael Cohen’s testimony last week gave them fresh ammunition to open up investigations into the president’s personal business and family, as Cohen offered up character evidence that the president is a “conman,” “racist” and a “cheat.”
Now that they realize the only Collusion with Russia was done by Crooked Hillary Clinton & the Democrats, Nadler, Schiff and the Dem heads of the Committees have gone stone cold CRAZY. 81 letter sent to innocent people to harass them. They won’t get ANYTHING done for our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2019
Never mind that Cohen also denied knowledge of collusion and shot several holes through the Russia-gate narrative. Emboldened by Cohen’s testimony, Democrats have launched investigations into just about every corner of Trump’s life — for alleged conflicts of interest, contrived campaign finance violations and “obstruction of justice.” They must realize it’s time to take on the “investigation” themselves, instead of having an ineffective, unelected bureaucrat do their dirty work for them.
Sadly, Mueller’s investigation has done real damage. When his probe wraps up and there’s nothing to show for it, the harm done to public trust will have been done. Few stories have divided Americans like this hoax. Will the media apologize, or will they just move on to the next contrived Trump scandal? We’re not holding our breath.
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