The Mueller Report for Beginners

Months after the initial release of the report that was two years in the making and cost millions of dollars to investigate Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election, former special counsel Robert Mueller (who authored much of this) finally testified Wednesday to the House's Judicial and Intelligence committees.

This was "The Mueller Report for Beginners", whose intended audience was the millions (including some members of Congress and Yours Truly) who still haven't read the 400-page tome.  For those people, watching Mueller testifying on TV must have been a revelation.  For those who have read the report, the hearings turned out to be a dud, reiterating everything we've heard before.  Mueller mostly stuck to the script as promised, either declining to answer some of the questions asked by committee members, or directing them to find his answer in the report that some of them haven't read.

So what did we get out of it?

• Russia did interfere with the 2016 election, and could very well do so again in 2020.
• President Donald Trump could not be indicted until after he leaves office.  But he wasn't exonerated, either.
• Mueller tried to interview Trump, but the President and his lawyers stalled things for so long that the idea was dropped.
• Trump doesn't seem to understand that, even though he keeps repeating "no obstruction, no collusion", he's not off the hook.

All of this Mueller has already told us a few months ago, when interest in the report was high and impeachment talk was in the air.  But once Mueller turned in his report, attorney general William Barr spun the findings in favor of the President before anyone had a chance to read it.  Democrats dithered over impeachment.  The White House declined to make their witnesses available to testify before Congress.  And Mueller himself was reluctant to testify, preferring to let his report do the talking.  The moment was gone.

Now that the former special counsel has had his moment in the spotlight, what happens next?  Will Congress impeach Trump, knowing the consequences if they fail to convict him?  How many more revelations do we need before even Trump's supporters turn on him?  Can the Democrats really come up with a credible candidate who can beat Trump?  Will it matter if the Russians tip the scale in favor of the President?

Coming soon:  "Modern Politics for Beginners".