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What Democrats achieved from the former special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony on Capitol Hill

Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, testified before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees for a total of nearly seven hours of air time Wednesday in an anti-climactic conclusion to his team’s findings in the Mueller report. The Mueller Report, which was based on an investigation carried out by Robert Mueller and his team from May 2017 to March 2019 and officially titled “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election,” was an investigation inquiring about Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential election, President Trump’s ties to Russian conspiracy, and allegations of obstruction of justice against Mr. Trump. ~

According to the Wall Street Journal, the public testimony of Robert Mueller was said by democrats to be “crucial to their goal of educating the public about Russian interference in the 2016 election and the information in the report on President Trump’s efforts to stifle the related federal investigation.” The suspected goal of the testimony for many democrats was to build public support for opening up impeachment inquiry on President Donald Trump, but most experts would say that the Mueller testimony did not accomplish this goal to the extent Democrats desired. According to The New York Times, Mr. Mueller was reluctant to go beyond the four-corners of his report – not contradictory to what he said he would do  – and rarely gave more than a series of one word answers. He denied to answer almost 200 questions and often responded to the congressmen by referring them to the report itself or stating that he can not comment on their question. Many also criticized Mr. Mueller’s performance, citing his repeated request for representatives to repeat their questions and often stumbling over his words. ~

Mueller did, however, give Democrats a small number of responses deemed noteworthy by many on the left. When asked about answers President Trump gave to the former special counsel under oath “not always being truthful”, Mr. Mueller responded with, “I would say generally.” He also called the encouragement of WikiLeaks release of Democratic emails by President Trump “problematic” and stated that he feared the Trump campaigns willingness to accept assistance from a foreign power may be “a new normal.” The former special counsel also claimed that Russian interference is happening “as we sit here.” The answer that may have been most helpful for Democrats, however, was his response to a question from the chairman of the Judiciary Committee Representative Jerrold Nadler (D., NY), in which Nadler asks, “Director Mueller, the president has repeatedly claimed that your report found there was no obstruction and that it completely and totally exonerated him. But that is not what your report said, is it?” Mr. Mueller replied, saying “Right, that is not what the report said.” ~

Many Democrats tried to highlight key points in the report that they believed qualified as obstruction of justice, but were mostly unable to get Mr. Mueller to comment on these claims. According to The New York Times, “when Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York, walked through an analysis suggesting that several episodes documented by Mr. Mueller met the criteria for obstruction of justice,” the former special counsel responded by saying “I don’t subscribe necessarily to the way you analyzed that.” ~

It remains unclear whether the testimony of the former special counsel will give Democrats the public support they need for impeachment of Donald Trump, or if the obstruction of justice allegations highlighted from the Mueller report in the testimony will be further evaluated in the future. ~

This is Fact Based America. WE have the FACTS. YOU have the OPINIONS. What do you think the Democrats accomplished with Robert Mueller’s testimony? Do you think they accomplished more than Republicans?

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