Publishers Forum

 July 2019
By Lawrence Amaturo

 I’m exhausted by Washington’s post-Mueller Report sideshow. It’s like watching a never-ending series of highway collisions, making one’s ability to turn away nearly impossible. With every scream from the mouths of pundits and politicians (including our President’s), the oxygen needed to discuss meaningful issues for everyday Americans is sucked from the room. We are suffocating from an obsession to remove Trump at any cost.
 Let me clarify my feelings for Donald J. Trump. His braggadocio, flippant tweets and self-aggrandizing are destructive, embarrassing and polarizing. These behaviors diminish the role of the presidency. Given no better choice, I voted for him in 2016, and was probably as surprised as you were when he won. Trump clearly lacks decorum—the calm and reassuring tones we remember of Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama. His rhetoric is immature.
 As we know, the primary purpose of the Mueller Report was to determine whether a foreign power conspired to disrupt the 2016 election, and whether Trump, his family or associates cooperated with them. While Mueller remarked on May 29 that he didn’t exonerate the president, according to the report, the Associated Press and many other media outlets, Trump is not the traitor—an offense punishable by death—the media formerly proclaimed he was. The report does cite instances of “possible obstruction” that may have inhibited Mueller from his investigation of collusion. In other words, some of Trump’s actions during the Mueller investigation (not during the election cycle itself) reportedly made Mueller’s conspiracy investigation more difficult to manage. This is when the politics of the day rise above and overwhelm truth.
Some claim that the law prohibited Mueller from charging Trump, even Mueller himself asserted as such. This is a manipulation. In his role at the Department of Justice, Rod Rosenstein wrote the 2017 order that appointed Mueller and granted him far-reaching powers. In a Washington Post article, published May 31, he said, “If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation.”
 Mueller accepted his appointment knowing this, yet he chose not to reach a decision on an obstruction charge. After the report was released, Rosenstein and Bill Barr asked Mueller why he didn’t exercise the power granted to him. As Barr publicly asserted to CBS News on May 30, “The opinion says you cannot indict a president while in office, but [Mueller] could’ve reached a decision as to whether there was criminal activity.” Mueller chose not to because he lacked evidence, not authority. If obstruction did occur, with whom did Trump obstruct? Shouldn’t we wonder why others weren’t charged with obstruction relating to the “possible obstructions” referenced in the Report?
 Until recently, only Trump vilified Rosenstein’s integrity. Rosenstein was hugely celebrated by the liberal edges of the media, until he wasn’t. To pursue this obstruction issue, Rosenstein (and now Barr) must be vilified by those who once lauded them. Former FBI Director James Comey says Rosenstein is a man whose very “soul” was eaten away by his proximity to the President.
 
So the show goes on, and an empty suit known as Jerry Nadler is throwing subpoenas around like Frisbees. Barr gets subpoenaed. Former White House counsel Don McGahn gets subpoenaed. Three more folks get subpoenaed.
 McGahn gave 30 hours of testimony to Mueller’s investigative team without restrictions, obfuscation, or limits. His team, mostly registered Democrats, had 30 hours of sworn testimony with McGahn and unrestricted access to millions of pages of White House documents. No presidential privilege was asserted. Yet Nadler insists McGahn must talk with him to uncover the truth. This isn’t because Nadler thinks he can discover something that Mueller’s team of 40 FBI agents and 18 lawyers couldn’t. It’s because Nadler is now in show biz. He has subpoenaed more people in the last two months than his predecessor did in six years.
 It’s not that Nadler thinks we’ll learn more from his inquiries, it’s because he wants us to think we will. Nadler’s happy to drag out this show longer than Cats played on Broadway. This new distraction limits our politicians’ time to focus on important issues that impact the everyday lives of Americans. There’s no time to improve our health-care system, the immigration system, infrastructure issues, trade imbalances, or an opioid crisis when it’s so much more scintillating to keep this collusion illusion alive.
Why am I so sure of this? Because the one person Nadler won’t subpoena is Mueller himself. Mueller’s testimony would likely end this sideshow. Putting Mueller on the stand gives Republicans a chance to ask questions that Nadler wouldn’t want Mueller to answer. The ridiculous guilty-until-proven-innocent standard that Mueller suggested would be shredded. Barr’s four-page summary of the report (co-written by Rosenstein) would be reaffirmed by Mueller under oath.
I want to hear from you on why this issue of obstruction should take more of our nation’s time than the critical issues that help everyday citizens. Please write to me at Lawrence@NorthBaybiz.com.

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