Kellyanne Conway is ready to move on from the Mueller report and focus on issues that matter.
The White House adviser told reporters at the White House Wednesday that President Trump is eager to fix the country’s infrastructure and keep the economy strong, but Democrats are more interested in a discredited Russia story that they’re keeping alive with attacks on attorney general William Barr. Barr answered questions from hostile Democrats in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday about his handling of the Mueller report.
“We’ve heard it all,” Conway said of the Mueller investigation. “What else do you want to hear?”
Conway: Let’s move on from Mueller
As lawmakers on Capitol Hill grilled the attorney general with more partisan Russia nonsense, Conway spoke with reporters at the White House about Barr’s hearing and the president’s agenda. Conway defended Barr and said that Democrats should show him more “respect.”
“To impugn the integrity, reputation, character and competence of Bill Barr — and coming from certain people who are doing that — is really rich,” Conway said. “Bill Barr is the attorney general of the United States. I think people should start showing him some respect.”
Democrats mobbed Barr in a Kavanaugh-like attack Wednesday, accusing him of betraying his office to protect Trump. Democrats have accused Barr of a cover-up ever since he released a four-page letter summarizing the Mueller report in March which exonerated Trump of collusion. Barr noted in the letter that Mueller did not make a decision on obstruction, but Barr decided there was not enough evidence to make a charge.
Democrats again accused Barr Wednesday of a cover up by wrongly “clearing” president Trump by failing to capture what Mueller found in his summary. The hearing came one day after the Washington Post published a letter written by Mueller dating from March in which the special counsel complained that Barr’s summary “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance” of Mueller’s discoveries, and “there is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation.” Democrats quickly claimed vindication from the letter, but Mueller noted in the letter that he did not find Barr’s summary inaccurate.
Many Democrats have nevertheless characterized Barr’s summary as misleading and have called on him to resign. Conway said that Democrats are just angry that Mueller’s investigation didn’t turn out the way they wanted, so they’re lashing out at Barr instead.
“I think some people, respectfully, are starting to sound a little bit desperate, especially the partisans up on Capitol Hill,” she said. “They must be mad at Bob Mueller for not doing their bidding.”
Invites Dems to work with president
Now that Mueller’s report has been publicly released, Democrats have absolutely no basis to claim that Barr is involved in a conspiracy to protect Trump. But Democrats are keeping the Russia story alive with attacks on Barr, and some say they want to hear from Mueller himself. Conway said that Mueller can testify before Congress if “he wants to,” but that it’s time to move on.
As the circus played out on Capitol Hill, Conway would not say if Trump was watching Barr’s hearing, saying that Trump was more interested in infrastructure, the economy and the crisis in Venezuela than a phony Russian scandal living on past its expiration date.
“I’m not going to comment on that,” she said. “He’s also very concerned about the Venezuela situation.”
Trump did take notice of the hearing, as he only could, since Democrats were attacking his attorney general and perpetuating lies about his presidency. The president tweeted about Mueller’s investigation before Barr’s hearing and retweeted a Wall Street Journal op-ed blasting the Democrats’ conduct.
On Fox Tuesday, Conway blasted the Democrats’ “disgraceful” conduct towards Barr and called out House Judiciary Chairman Nadler’s (D-NY) threats to fine or imprison Trump officials who don’t comply with his subpoenas. Conway said that the hostility shown by Democrats is undercutting overtures of bipartisan cooperation from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who went to the White House Tuesday to talk about infrastructure. Conway called on Democrats to work with the president on infrastructure, but said that any plan “can’t be the Green New Deal in disguise,” and that the Democrats will need to give up on impeaching Trump if they want to work with him.
However, Democrats Thursday showed little interest in dialing down, as Pelosi accused Barr of perjuring himself before Congress in the Wednesday hearing. Nadler then threatened to hold Barr in contempt of Congress after he did not show up for a House Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for Thursday.
No comments: