The Mueller Report: No Collusion, No Exoneration, Big Problem?

The big reveal of the long-awaited Mueller Report, after two years of investigations and painstaking work by special prosecutor Robert Mueller and his staff, turned out to be 400 pages of testimony and black boxes preceded by an unnecessary warmup act by Attorney General William Barr.

The result was much the same as when Barr made his controversial summary a few weeks ago:  President Donald Trump did not collude with the Russian government, though there is evidence that they did hack their way into the 2016 presidential election, and no obstruction of justice either.  But Mueller refused to exonerate the President, nor did he indict him.  That, he said, is for Congress to decide.  But first, they'll want Mueller and Barr to appear before them and help fill in the blanks.

Even in its redacted form, the report still packs a punch.  In it, Trump avoided the obstruction of justice charge when White House staff were brave enough to persuade him not to fire Mueller or otherwise impair the investigation.  But Mueller missed a golden opportunity when he decided against interviewing Trump, believing he and his attorneys would not want to do it.  Mueller should have asked first.  What's the worst thing he could say?  No?

This was a hollow victory for the President.  After initially celebrating the verdict prematurely, he took to Twitter and lashed out at the report in the same manner as he does with everything else he doesn't like.

Now it falls to Congress, particularly Democrats, who have to decide whether it is worth spending time and money to impeach a man who's up for re-election in 2020.  There is also no consensus among the 20-odd candidates running for the Democratic presidential nomination, who would rather discuss bread-and-butter issues as a way of distinguishing themselves from Trump.

At this point, the Mueller Report won't have much impact among voters, because presumably they've already made up their minds about Trump.  If this were the first time anyone's heard of the President's alleged high crimes and misdemeanors, this country would be in a coma of shock.  Instead, thanks to leaks and reports in what Trump likes to call the "fake news" media, most of this should come as no big surprise.

What it comes down to is this:  The report tells us of Trump's reaction to Mueller being selected to investigate his administration's alleged misdeeds.  "This is the end of my presidency.  I'm (bleeped)."

No, Mr. President.  You're still here, aren't you?  We're the ones who are (bleeped).