The Mueller Report, a more-than-400-page report that documented the possible collusion between Donald Trump and Russia during the 2016 election campaign finally came out after a nearly-three-year investigation this April.
Did you read all of it? Neither did anyone else; it’s long—448 pages to be exact. Political comedian John Oliver even joked about its length on his weekly news comedy show, Last Week Tonight (it has a 4.6 out of five ratings on Audible though).
However, while the report’s intention was to definitively prove that Trump either colluded with the Russians during his election campaign or did not do so—it’s not as black and white as that.
Mueller Speaks Out
While the report doesn’t definitively prove President Trump colluded with the Russians during his election campaign, it also doesn’t exonerate him, either.
Additionally, it does include damning evidence of criminal misconduct—the type of behavior that would land a regular American in prison, which is why the Democrats on the House committees are planning to hear testimony from Meuller regarding the report.
Mueller is set to speak before the Judiciary Committee for three hours, after which he will speak before the House Intelligence Committee for two hours.
What This Means
Rather than investigating the conclusion of the report, a staffer for the House Intelligence Committee indicated they are more concerned about some of the evidence presented in the report—specifically, what Mueller found, and how he found it.
“Some of the actual evidence is very concerning and has not received the attention it’s due,” the staffer said.
However, the Judiciary Committee’s goal is to show that Trump should be prosecuted for obstruction of justice—in the report Mueller opted to leave the decision to prosecute President Trump to Attorney General William Barr, who elected not to do so.
The Judiciary Committee believes if a regular citizen had done the things President Trump is alleged to have done in the report, they would have been prosecuted for obstruction of justice.
According to staffers, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee intent to highlight at least five instances in which evidence suggests President Trump committed a crime—including, threatening former Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ job regarding his investigation into President Trump among other things.
However, Republicans intend to stress that fact that the report didn’t find clear evidence of either collusion or obstruction by President Trump.
Judiciary ranking member, Doug Collins said: “”I hope the special counsel’s testimony marks an end to the political gamesmanship that Judiciary Democrats have pursued at great cost to taxpayers.”
The date for Mueller’s testimony was delayed a week, in an effort to allow committee members more time to prepare and ask questions—the lone move that both Democrats and Republicans agreed one.
What’s Next
Many believe the nearly 90 Democrat members of the House Judiciary Committee are pushing to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Trump—something the House Judiciary Committee would have jurisdiction over.
However, staffers have indicated before that can happen, there must first be hearings and fact-finding investigations.
