In this March 24, 2019 photo, Special Counsel Robert Mueller walks past the White House, after attending St. John’s Episcopal Church for morning services, in Washington. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Last Friday, the Justice Department announced that Special Counsel Robert Mueller concluded and submitted his report on alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election. Thanks to the media’s cautious and objective reporting over the last two years, the result was precisely the opposite of that which the left was anticipating; and they’ve lapsed into denial.
Following confirmation from the Justice Department, Attorney General William Barr penned a four-page letter to the ranking members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees summarizing the Mueller report.
“[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the letter concluded.
Furthermore, the report confirmed there was insufficient evidence to prove President Trump obstructed justice, which is not surprising considering the testimony of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in which he stated the president had not obstructed the Mueller investigation.
After 2,800 subpoenas, 500 search warrants and 500 witnesses over two years of digging, the Special Counsel uncovered precisely zero evidence sufficient to prove that the president or his campaign had colluded illicitly with Russia or obstructed justice in the ensuing investigation.
For all intents and purposes, this is over.
As President Trump tweeted on Sunday, “No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION.”
Well, not quite, according to the left.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) stated on Monday that she did not trust William Barr’s summary of the Mueller report. “We should see the whole report,” she said. “When we see the whole report, we’ll know what the basis is for this, period.”
Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) tweeted, “The Trump Administration shouldn’t get to lock up Robert Mueller’s report and throw away the key. Taxpayers funded this investigation, and we deserve to know the outcome.”
“I call on the Trump administration to make Special Counsel Mueller’s full report public as soon as possible. No one, including the president, is above the law,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) added.
During an intermission from abusing her staff, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) declared, “The American people need to know the truth. The Russian government interfered in our elections and we need to know the facts in order to secure our democracy.” (https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/435417-heres-what-the-dem-candidates-for-president-said-about-the-mueller-report)
Perhaps the most satisfying of all, however, was “Beto” O’Rourke who tweeted, more than likely while standing on somebody’s table, “Release the Mueller report to the American people.” This a mere few days, of course, after he announced, “You have a president, who in my opinion, beyond the shadow of a doubt, sought to…collude with the Russian government.”
Well, is it your opinion, or is there evidence to prove the accusation beyond a shadow of a doubt?
Democrats refuse to accept the results of the Mueller report.
Essentially, their chief concern is that Attorney General William Barr has not released the confidential report to the public yet. The reason he has not done so is because Barr is obligated by Department of Justice regulations to review the report for release; and that is because the public will not be privy to any non-criminal allegations within the report.
Obviously, Democrats are banking on the potential for the report to contain ancillary dirt on the president which could be utilized in campaigning against him for 2020. But, when Barr releases the full report, it will likely be heavily redacted in accordance with DOJ regulations. Democrats will not receive their pound of flesh, and so they are pounding on the floors, kicking and screaming.
I’m old enough to remember when Democrats were paralyzed with the fear that Donald Trump would not accept the results of the 2016 election should he lose to Hillary Clinton. They feared that his refusal to go away would be an existential threat to American democracy. Ironically enough, it was Democrats who refused to accept the outcome. When reports surfaced of alleged Russian collusion, the secular left placed their faith, not in God, but in Robert Mueller.
The Special Counsel did not deliver the goods.
What’s more, the Mueller probe cost taxpayers an estimated $34 million; and all because Democrats couldn’t accept the fact that they lost an election two years ago. Now they refuse to accept the Mueller report, shifting the blame to Mueller’s supposed incompetence and to Attorney General Barr—anyone but their miserable 2016 candidate who just so happened to lose to another awful candidate.
Currently, Democrats are in denial and it’s only a matter of time before they graduate to the second stage of grief. I’d be careful if I were a member of Amy Klobuchar’s staff.
Kevin Catapano is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at kevin.catapano@uconn.edu.
