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Murder, Arson, and Unindictable Conduct
Jul. 29th, 2019 08:26 pmOne thing left out of last week's post was the news of the deadly attack on Kyoto Animation. But that was on my mind all week. Just too terrible for words.
And yesterday there was the news of the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Awful.
In much slower news, the Muller hearings were mid-week, yielding not much new, as expected. It's all in the report: There was a massive criminal campaign to interfere with US elections. Individuals associated with the Trump campaign were aware of that interference and glad to benefit from it. They concealed their knowledge and lied about it. Once Trump was in a position to interfere with the investigation directly, he attempted to do so in a variety of ways. This is the sort of stuff where, had it been done by a Democrat, no one would think it shocking when the Republicans impeached them Or tofor it.
Muller, obligated by policy to not say that Trump should be indicted, is obligated by the same standard to not make the same statement with some number of caveats. But that puts Muller in an absurd position, obligated to not say things that are quite evidently true. Amusingly, the questioners were able to get Muller to slip up and admit that he would have indicated Trump but for that policy, though he later attempted to walk that statement back.
I expect Muller would probably be more comfortable with a by-the-book indictment of the President, were that on the table, than with the fundamentally political process of impeachment. He's a Republican, and therefore presumably doesn't oppose the Republicans politically. Even if he thinks in some sense Trump should be impeached, he certainly wouldn't want to be involved. He also probably isn't super-eager to see his own reputation dragged through the mud by former allies whose brains have been eaten by Trumpism.
And yesterday there was the news of the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Awful.
In much slower news, the Muller hearings were mid-week, yielding not much new, as expected. It's all in the report: There was a massive criminal campaign to interfere with US elections. Individuals associated with the Trump campaign were aware of that interference and glad to benefit from it. They concealed their knowledge and lied about it. Once Trump was in a position to interfere with the investigation directly, he attempted to do so in a variety of ways. This is the sort of stuff where, had it been done by a Democrat, no one would think it shocking when the Republicans impeached them Or tofor it.
Muller, obligated by policy to not say that Trump should be indicted, is obligated by the same standard to not make the same statement with some number of caveats. But that puts Muller in an absurd position, obligated to not say things that are quite evidently true. Amusingly, the questioners were able to get Muller to slip up and admit that he would have indicated Trump but for that policy, though he later attempted to walk that statement back.
I expect Muller would probably be more comfortable with a by-the-book indictment of the President, were that on the table, than with the fundamentally political process of impeachment. He's a Republican, and therefore presumably doesn't oppose the Republicans politically. Even if he thinks in some sense Trump should be impeached, he certainly wouldn't want to be involved. He also probably isn't super-eager to see his own reputation dragged through the mud by former allies whose brains have been eaten by Trumpism.
