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The Mueller Hearings in One Sentence or Less [Updated]
Mueller mulling pages
“That’s outside my purview.” —Mueller’s apparent prepared answer to every Republican question pointing out his blatant bias, through selective investigation and selective citation.
Offer your own favorite one-liner, be it gem or cow patty, in the comments. Mueller really does not seem on top of his game.
Here is the Fox Business live stream:
Here is the C-SPAN link for Mueller before the House Judiciary Committee. This is a two ring circus, so C-SPAN will also carry the House Intelligence Committee Mueller show later in the day. C-SPAN not only avoids all the network spin, painted around the sides of the screen, it also quickly produces a transcript, which is usually very close to all the exact words.
[UPDATE]
Shortly after the performance ended, President Trump walked out and addressed the American people through the media:
He is still standing because he fights.
Here is an afternoon roll-up of one sentence summaries, taken from the comments:
Short takes:
“Dave’s not here, man.”
“There was no predicate”.
“James Comey said so.”
“I don’t recall.”
“Can you repeat the question?”
“I don’t want to speculate.”
“Can I have that citation?” (Right after hearing the citation.)
“I can’t answer that.”
“I’m not going to get into that.” (Of course not.)
Longer one sentence summaries:
I’m starting to get the sense that Mueller didn’t write or read his own report, and didn’t write or read his own letters.
Hate to say it, but he seems like a fumbling old man at times.
This might not be the original Mueller but his imperfect duplicate, “Bizarro Mueller.”
What’s clear here is that Robert Mueller was a figurehead.
If it weren’t for his enabling of the dragging of our country through this mess for 2+ years, and presiding over a report with enough ambiguity to allow the dragging to continue, I would feel sorry for him.
Mueller couldn’t orchestrate a witch hunt because Mueller couldn’t orchestrate an Easter egg hunt.
Published in Politics
Yes, and the Dems worked in close coordination with the Mueller team.
Drew,
This might not be the original Mueller but his imperfect duplicate, “Bizarro Mueller”.
I heard him say, “Me not know where dossier come from.” I suspect it’s Bizarro Mueller.
Regards,
Jim
What’s clear here is that Robert Mueller was a figurehead. This was Andrew Weissman’s baby. He hired the team, he wrote the report, he wrote Mueller’s letters and statements. And he’s probably feeding questions to the Democrats on the committee right now.
Which would explain why the Democrats are praising Weissman for some odd reason.
To all,
When the Democrats have lost Chris Wallace you know they’re in trouble.
FNC’s Chris Wallace on Mueller Hearing: ‘This Has Been a Disaster for the Democrats’
Me not know why you ask me about “pee”. It’s Bizarro Mueller for sure.
Regards,
Jim
That’s Andrew Weismann and the (D) apparatus pulling the strings.
I want to watch certain people (and you know who are) scream at Bob Mueller, “DID YOU READ THE REPORT?!?”
He didn’t read it and he sure as hell didn’t write any of it.
A Sampling of twitter comments on the Mueller Performance via Zerohedge:
Nick Short: .
@RepGregSteube: Given your 22 months of investigation, millions of dollars spent and millions of documents, did you find that any American changed their vote because of Russian interference?
#Mueller: That was outside our purview.
Q: You stated in your opening you would not get into the details of the Steele dossier. Multiple times in Vol. 2 on page 23, 27, 28 you mentioned the unverified allegations. How long did it take you to reach the conclusion that it was unverified?
Mueller: I won’t speak to that.
Q: When did you become aware that the unverified Steele dossier was included in the FISA applications on Carter Page?
Mueller: I’m not going to speak to that.
Q: Your team interviewed Christopher Steele, is that correct?
Mueller: I’m not going to get into that.
Matt Bazel:
Stanton: which Pres appointed you?
Mueller: which Senator?
Stanton: which President?
Mueller: oh which President (laughs) I think that was Pres Bush
Stanton: according to my notes that was President Reagan
Mueller: oh my mistake
Donald Trump Jr:
Funny, Muelller can’t understand the Republicans but he can totally understand the Democrats questions. This is a disaster for dems.
Josh Gerstein:
Pretty bad optics for Mueller as several aides point at once to help him find the member who has been recognized to question him. Has happened several times now. Makes him look lost https://politi.co/2OeoF6h
Snitty Lizzy:
It’s obvious that Mueller had very little to do with the report, so Trump’s claims a bunch of crazed partisans conducted a witch hunt certainly seems more plausible.
Ari Fleischer:
Jim Jordan let Mueller off easy. When asked about Joseph Mifsud, Mueller said it was outside his perview, yet his own report discussed Mifsud, specifically Mifsud’s conversation w Papadopoulos. It was clear that Mueller doesn’t know what his own report says.
Michael Tracey:
Media portrayal of Mueller: sterling, heroic, supremely competent pursuer of truth
Actual performance of Mueller: bumbling, shaky, can’t recall key facts
Now we know why he hid from the public for 2+ years
Rep. Jim Jordan:
Rumor is that Aaron Zebley (Mueller’s Chief of Staff) will be on the witness panel with Mueller.
You don’t get to change the rules right before kickoff, especially after a 22 month, $30 million investigation.
Yes …. a case can be made for obstruction of justice against Trump, but it would be a lousy case and would never be charged by Federal Prosecutors who pride themselves on 90%+ conviction rates.
It does not help your case when there is no underlying crime.
It does not help your case when you are unable to provide substantial evidence your investigation was actually obstructed.
It virtually destroys your case when there IS evidence the underlying crime under investigation was a set up perpetrated by the very law enforcement agencies alleging the obstruction crimes.
If it weren’t for his enabling of the dragging of our country through this mess for 2+ years, and presiding over a report with enough ambiguity to allow the dragging to continue, I would feel sorry for him.
As it is, not so much. He deserves what he gets.
“Dave’s not here, man.”
One thing was made clear. Mueller couldn’t orchestrate a witch hunt because Mueller couldn’t orchestrate an Easter egg hunt. Mueller would be out of his depth hunting in an Easter egg hunt. Although, if he hid the eggs himself, that would give him no edge in finding any eggs. He’d be just as surprised as anyone else.
I found it and you are right. Worth watching the entire 5 minutes.
Gumby,
Yeah. That sums it up nicely.
Regards,
Jim
Rep. John Ratcliffe ripped Mueller a new one this afternoon, asking ( I am paraphrasing for there is yet to be a transcript) What DOJ regulation, court ruling, et al asks the Special Counsel to determine a defendants Innocence? What defendant other than Donald Trump has a Special Counsel been asked to determine his or her innocence? Ratcliffe then declares there is no law or regulation that asks a prosecutor to determine innocence ( which is true) ( only whether they are guilty) and Mueller mumbles something like “but this is a special circumstance”. Why is it Special? Oh I forgot! Because it’s Trump!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLmpAbr6h5c
Unsk,
Slammin! Here’s a better link to it.
Regards,
Jim
Mueller just testified in response to question from Rep Nunes that he was not in the approval chain for the last renewal of the FISA warrant on Carter Page (the only renewal after his appointment). Strange. Would like to know who was.
I think someone gave Mueller a “vitamin” shot during the lunch break. Now he just looks and sounds bad instead of awful. We’ll see how he holds up through the afternoon.
Amazing, Rep Schiff just got Mueller to say that the Clinton’s campaign acceptance of information from Russian intelligence sources to be used in an American election was unpatriotic and unethical!
That’s quite an accomplishment, given how horrible Democrats have been at prior hearings. [I’m not watching because I’m not particularly interested, as Democrats (both politicians and law enforcement) have already demonstrated that they choose the defendant first, then find the crime.
Crush the Demoncrats; See them driven before you; Hear the lamentations of their media.
I am not yet tired of all the winning.
Dems definitely coordinated, apparently they were doing mock hearings and setting up a social media war room.
https://twitter.com/RepMarkMeadows/status/1153723308678033413
Jim Hinderaker:
Thanks for the comment participation! I took the liberty of rolling up some of the sentences in a summary, updating the OP.
I like this and the Dilbert cartoon.
I like this better. But it’s still not enough.
This was sad. It would be of interest to know what is behind Robert Mueller’s especially poor performance in the hearing. Was that a man whose performance capability has been severely diminished by age, was he simply not involved in any of the details of the investigation, or some combination of those two things. The ongoing investigations initiated by Attorney General Barr, particularly examining the details of how and why the special counsel investigation was initiated, will yield these answers. At least, that is my hope.
This day was a long time coming, much too long in my view. It’s a little anti-climactic. The fact that Democrats are so distraught about Mueller’s weak performance is just more evidence that they have been living in a fantasy world for a few years. Sad!
This day was a long time coming, much too long in my view. It’s a little anti-climactic. The fact that Democrats are so distraught about Mueller’s weak performance is just more evidence that they have been living in a fantasy world for a few years. It’s pathetic. We don’t have a functioning Democrat party at the moment, and it is in control of the House.