Sometimes beneath the noble exterior, human imperfection is exposed, and a sturdy reputation is shattered.
With the we are reminded that even accomplished figures can stumble into an abyss of poor decisions and regrettable mistakes. His tarnished legacy is the sad coda to a once towering life and career.
Muellers earlier service in the military and high government positions, including as director of the FBI, was commendable. But in May 2017, he agreed to serve as to investigate allegations that colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
What followed was a contemptible partisan inquisition that tore the nation apart and severely impaired Trumps first term in office. Thuggish tactics, coercion, and threats were deployed, innocent people were targeted and persecuted and legal rights were shredded â leaving lives in ruins.
In the end, Muellers belated report found that there was no Trump-Russia conspiracy. Anyone with an ounce of common sense already knew that. It was all a hoax and the worst political fraud ever perpetrated. But the damage was done, and Mueller bears much of the blame. And the shame.
I recounted the ugly details in my book, “Witch Hunt: The Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History.” As special counsel, Muellers actions were not only noxious but patently unfair to Trump and so many others.
His inability to find a scintilla of incriminating evidence against Trump did not deter him. In violation of Justice Department rules, he publicly disparaged the president with tales of suspicious behavior instead of stating evidence that rose to the level of criminality.
The special counsel learned early in his investigation that there was no evidence of collusion and that the president had committed no crimes. Mueller admitted it to Trumps lawyers in a meeting on March 5, 2018. He should have ended his misbegotten investigation right then and there, sparing the nation prolonged divisiveness and trauma.
But Mueller was obsessed and refused to do the right thing. Instead, he shifted his focus to whether the president somehow obstructed justice for, among other things, daring to publicly criticize the probe. Trump had a First Amendment right to do so, of course. Mueller didnt care.
He spent the next year chasing the elusive ghost of obstruction without success. It was especially ludicrous since fired FBI Director and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, both testified that no one had obstructed the bureaus investigation and that the probe continued uninterrupted after Comeys departure.
No matter. In his March 2019 report, Mueller turned upside down with an incendiary statement guaranteed to ignite a fire under the presidents inveterate haters:
“While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Muellers rationale was unintelligible. As any lawyer will tell you, it is never the job of a prosecutor anywhere to exonerate people. By this one act, Mueller managed to reverse the burden of proof and invert the presumption of innocence, which are sacrosanct principles in American law.
He had no intention of treating Trump fairly or conforming to the law. Rather, Mueller spent 183 pages maligning Trump by implying that, under certain circumstances that did not actually exist, the facts might sustain an obstruction case.
Mueller declined to charge the president in a court of law but was determined to indict him in the court of public opinion with outlandish smears. He shrewdly created the impression that Trump might have engaged in wrongdoing because he could not prove otherwise. It was disgraceful.
Mueller should never have accepted the job of special counsel. He had more than one disqualifying conflict of
