Opinion: How Mueller's testimony could expose one of Trump's biggest crimes

[mahatmakanejeeves]

The Plum Line • Opinion
How Mueller’s testimony could expose one of Trump’s biggest crimes

By Greg Sargent, Opinion writer
June 26 at 10:51 AM

Now that Robert S. Mueller III has agreed to testify before Congress, some commentators are rushing to declare that “expectations” could be dashed. And some Democrats are also downplaying expectations, apparently fearing they will fail to produce a dramatic breakthrough moment. ... But there is a way that House Democrats can use Mueller’s testimony to expose an important and somewhat overlooked aspect of President Trump’s misconduct and, crucially, its consequences as well.

Handled correctly, this could shine further light on one of Trump’s biggest crimes — by which I mean moral crimes: the degree to which Trump’s obstructive conduct actually did frustrate an investigation into a foreign attack on our political system, and how he obscured his own eagerness to work with Russia in spite of it, in various nefarious ways.

The former special counsel will appear in open sessions before the Judiciary and Intelligence committees on July 17. Mueller has already telegraphed resistance: In his recent public remarks, he vowed that if he appears before Congress, he will “not provide information beyond that which is already public.”

Still, there is at least one angle that could prove fruitful. Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade outlined a detailed case that Mueller’s report shows that efforts to obstruct the investigation by Trump and his associates might have actually worked by limiting what Mueller’s investigation was able to establish about efforts to conspire with Russia. ... Democrats can use the Mueller testimony to pull on this thread in a variety of areas:

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Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog. He joined The Post in 2010, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer. Follow https://twitter.com/theplumlinegs

[Karadeniz]

1. Mcquade and Vance are so smart! Glad we have them.

[tableturner]

2. It's often forgotten that there's a reason people obstruct justice!

[stuffmatters]

3. Yes, the $64.000 unanswered question. Didn't DJT's obstructions thwart full conspiracy investigation

This has bugged me for months & it's a question Mueller must answer to make clear why he wrote there wasn't enough evidence to establish conspiracy. Isn't it clear that he was not able to do a thorough investigation on conspiracy charge? Even if he felt Trump as sitting Pres cannot be charged with a crime, he was not able to do a complete investigation for the American people bkz of obstructions by Trump et alios. Those words need to be publicly said by Mueller.

[Nitram]

4. That's a good point. I don't think enough has been made of the fact that the reason Mueller's team

did not find evidence that the Trump campaign team had conspired with Russia to steal the 2016 election is that they lied their butts off in their testimony. Much like when Fitzgerald couldn't prove Cheney was behind the Plame affair because Libby lied about Cheney's role.