For the Democrats especially, it is all about the source, who is irrelevant, since no one disputes the accuracy of the emails that exposed Hillary Clinton. (That the source of authentic documents is irrelevant is demonstrated by The Wall Street Journal and other major media using anonymous drop boxes pioneered by WikiLeaks.) Were a foreign power to spread disinformation about candidates in a U.S. election (something the candidates do to each other all the time) that would be sabotage. But the leaking and publication of the Clinton emails was information valuable to American voters. And WikiLeakswould have published Trump emails, but it never received any, Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson told Consortium New's webcast CN Live!
No Power to Exonerate
With "collusion" off the table, the Democrats have been obsessed with Trump allegedly obstructing an investigation that found no underlying crime. That's something like being arrested for resisting arrest when you've committed no other infraction.
In his morning testimony, Mueller amplified the misperception that the only reason he didn't charge Trump with obstruction is because of a Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel policy that a sitting president can't be indicted.
But then Mueller came back from a break in the hearing to issue a "correction." It was not true that he had concluded there'd been obstruction but was blocked by the OLC policy, he said. In fact he never concluded that there had been obstruction at all. "We didn't make a decision about culpability," Mueller said. "We didn't go down that road."
Instead of leaving it at that, Mueller said in his report and testimony that Trump was not "exonerated" of an obstruction charge. That led to blaring headlines Wednesday morning while the hearing was still going on. "Trump was not exonerated by my report, Robert Mueller tells Congress," said the BBC. "Mueller Report Did Not Exonerate Trump, Mueller Says," blared the HuffPost.
But in what may have been the most embarrassing moment for Mueller, Republican Congressman Michael Turner (R-OH) pointed out that a prosecutor does not have the power to exonerate anyone. A prosecutor prosecutes.
"Mr. Mueller, does the Attorney General have the power or authority to exonerate?" Turner asked the witness. "What I'm putting up here is the United States code. This is where the Attorney General gets his power. And the constitution ...
"Mr. Mueller, nowhere in these [documents] ... is there a process or description on 'exonerate.' There's no office of exoneration at the Attorney General's office. ... Mr. Mueller, would you agree with me that the Attorney General does not have the power to exonerate?"
"I'm going to pass on that," Mueller replied.
"Why?" Turner asked.
"Because it embroils us in a legal discussion, and I'm not prepared to do a legal discussion in that arena," Mueller said.
Pointing to a CNN headline that had just appeared, "MUELLER: TRUMP WAS NOT EXONERATED," Turner said: "What you know is, that this can't say, 'Mueller exonerated Trump,' because you don't have the power or authority to exonerate Trump. You have no more power to declare him exonerated than you have the power to declare him Anderson Cooper."
Turner said: "The statement about exoneration is misleading, and it's meaningless. It colors this investigation one word of out the entire portion of your report. And it's a meaningless word that has no legal meaning, and it has colored your entire report."
Who is a Spy for Whom?
Mueller also took a pass every time the Steele dossier was raised, which it first was by Rep. David Nunes (R-CA):
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