Republicans should have focused on Mueller report's conclusions, not origins
by Kaylee McGhee
| July 24, 2019 05:17 PM
Republicans are eager to declare Robert Mueller’s investigation and subsequent report null and void, thereby vindicating a president they believe was wrongly targeted. Evidence certainly does suggest Trump was a political target. Perhaps this should matter, but practically, it doesn’t. The origins of the investigation won’t change its conclusions.
Throughout Mueller’s congressional testimony, House GOP lawmakers pressed the former special counsel on the origins of the Russia probe, citing the FISA warrant that led to the FBI’s supervision of Trump campaign aide Carter Page, the Steele dossier, and Fusion GPS, the political firm that hired Steele. In doing so, Republicans hoped to point out the blatant abuse of power that resulted in Mueller’s two-year investigation, which they’ve argued was nothing more than a political hit job. But Mueller refused to answer any of these questions because they laid beyond his purview. House Republicans expected this, but continued to ask regardless.
“You stated in your opening that the organizing principle was to fully and thoroughly investigate Russia’s interference, but you weren’t interested in whether or not they were interfering through Steele and you should have charged him like other people. But you say nothing about this in your report,†Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz declared. Fellow GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Louie Gohmert continued this strategy and questioned the legitimacy of Mueller’s probe.
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