Briefly Noted: The Mueller Circus--Will It Ever Get To Town?
Today at Zerohedge there's a very nice roundup re the continuing circus surrounding Mueller's long rumored, then scheduled, then rescheduled, testimony to the House.
In Circus Mueller Is Delayed Raul Ilargi Meijer first notes that the entire Russia collusion hoax is on its last legs--so much so that only the truest blue of true believers--apparently including Ilhan Omar--dare mention it in public. Mueller has been forbidden by Judge Dabney Friedrich from mentioning his evidence-free theory regarding Concord Management--and that includes mentioning it in the House. Further, John Solomon has blown "another gaping hole" in the Steele "dossier" with his revelations about the FBI's spreadsheet demonstrating that it was all basically made up. Then he continues:
So it’s quite possible that once the House Democrats figured this out [the meaning of Judge Friedrich's ruling] they had to change strategy. Mueller has been barred from saying a single word about it, including in the House.
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With that part of his report out of the way, what is left for him to talk about? He himself already gave up on the whole collusion narrative, which would appear to leave only obstruction. Well, there’s the Steele dossier, but with John Solomon blowing another gaping hole in it yesterday, that may not be the wisest topic to discuss on the House floor. By now, only the very faithful still believe in the dossier.
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In the background a second investigation is playing out: DOJ IG Michael Horowitz has been probing if DOJ or FBI officials abused their powers to spy on the Trump campaign. His report has been delayed, if reports are correct, because Christopher Steele at the very last minute agreed to testify. Those talks apparently were long and detailed. Wonder what he had to say.
[Kathleen Kavalec also agreed to testify, late in the day, delaying the final report but promising possible detail re WH involvement and certain detail re FBI wrongdoing.]
And there’s a third probe too: AG Barr has tasked John Durham, the US attorney for Connecticut, to follow up on the Horowitz report and look at whether officials at the CIA, the NSA, and/or foreign intelligence agencies (think MI6), violated protocols or statutes.
That case is about whether the FISA court was misled to secure a warrant to put Trump campaign aide Carter Page under surveillance. It can also take a new look at the text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, messages that Trump tweeted about on Saturday: “This is one of the most horrible abuses of all. Those texts between gaga lovers would have told the whole story. Illegal deletion by Mueller. They gave us “the insurance policy.”
The deletion reportedly may have been accidental. But it does set the tone. The door is wide open for the Republicans to go after Mueller. And he knows it, always has. He never wanted the hearings, he said it was all in his report. But the Dems wanted more, they want Mueller to say Trump is guilty of obstruction (of a probe that perhaps should never have taken place).
Personally, I wonder whether a Republican congressman/woman will have the guts to ask Mueller why he refused to talk to Julian Assange, the most obvious person for him to talk to in the whole wide world. But since the GOP hates Assange as much as the Dems, I don’t have high hopes of that happening.
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But I lean towards Ray McGovern’s take, who says that the circus may not come to town on July 24 either. Because there’s no there there (something Peter Strzok himself said about the Steele dossier), and because the Dems know this is their last shot at glory. And the GOP doesn’t mind another week or so of preparation.
Read it all. Entertaining.