Robert Mueller’s testimony on Wednesday may be the Democrats’ last chance to make impeachment happen. And depending on what Mueller tells Congress, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has consistently opposed impeachment, may find herself under greater pressure to pursue ousting the president than ever before, The Washington Examiner reported.
Democrats are hoping that the special counsel, who has cleared President Donald Trump of collusion, will provide the long-awaited kill shot this week. But past outrages have failed to move the needle far enough, and it’s hard to imagine Mueller’s testimony changing that — barring some serious bombshells.
Mueller preps to testify
At a brief press conference in May, Mueller gave his first — and so far only — remarks on the investigation. The square-jawed prosecutor looked and sounded surprisingly haggard as he delivered an underwhelming indictment of the president: no collusion, and an unclear verdict on obstruction of justice.
To add to the anti-climax, Mueller said that he would “not provide information beyond that which is already public” if called before Congress.
But Mueller’s comment that indicting Trump was “not an option” left Democrats clinging to the hope that, with more testimony from Mueller, they could create a pretense of wrongdoing to nab the president on obstruction of justice. Now, on Wednesday, Robert Mueller will speak — again — about the investigation that consumed the left for almost two years.
Mueller will testify in back-to-back sessions before the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, chaired by Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jerry Nadler (D-NY), respsectively. Democrats say they want to hear more about obstruction, but given Mueller’s insistence that he has already said his piece, it’s hard to imagine what new information will come out.
Democrats eye impeachment
Mueller’s report clears Trump of collusion and lays out possible instances of obstruction of justice, but Mueller ultimately declined to render a judgment on the latter question in a highly unusual move, saying he would neither charge nor exonerate Trump of obstruction.
Still, Democrats say that Mueller’s report shows Trump obstructed justice by asking his former lawyer Donald McGahn if he could fire Mueller. But it seems quite clear that Democrats, rather than hoping for more information (several lawmakers have admitted to not even reading Mueller’s more than 400-page, abstruse report) are hoping for sensationalized testimony to malign Trump, like that given by Michael Cohen earlier this year.
Some think it may work, but Pelosi and her allies have dialed down expectations. “I think that the report has brought some clarity and his own public statement brought some further clarity and now when he speaks about it more people will know about what is in the report,” Pelosi said.
However, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), who sits on the Judiciary panel, said that “there will be more and more members who call for an impeachment inquiry” in the coming weeks and that Democrats will “thoughtfully elicit from [Mueller] the narrative” that there is impeachable wrongdoing in the report.
Hopes fading for Dems
Democrats have clamored for Mueller’s testimony since his report was published as a corrective to the misrepresentations of Attorney General William Barr, who Democrats accused early and often of a “cover-up.” But fanciful theories aside, Mueller’s investigation has failed to produce the momentum Democrats long hoped for to impeach the president — with no help from Pelosi, who has long said that pursuing impeachment without Republican support would be a mistake.
Pelosi has consistently urged Democrats to “follow the facts,” but the “facts” have not produced a convincing case for the president’s removal. Pelosi has already signaled that Democrats are ready to surrender, telling Democrats last month that she wants to see Trump imprisoned after he leaves office, rather than impeached, Politico reported.
Will Mueller’s testimony change the impeachment math? Last week, Democrats shot down an impeachment resolution for the third time, introduced by Al Green (D-TX) amid the furor over Trump’s “go back” tweets, Fox News reports.
One could look at its failure two ways: Despite a firestorm of controversy surrounding the president’s alleged racism, Democrats still failed to gin up enough votes for impeachment. But the resolution drew more yeas than previous efforts — 95, a substantial increase over the 58 and 66 votes from the previous attempts.
Much of it depends on Mueller. Will he, like Michael Cohen before him, prove to be anti-Trump shill after all — or will the special counsel hold onto the remaining shreds of his integrity and answer questions plainly, without innuendo or exaggeration?
Last week, Pelosi urged Democrats for “no drama” at Mueller’s testimony, but it’s clear that’s all the American people will get. We can only hope that will be the end of it.
No comments: