You have to get all the way to the end of this clip to get to the faceplant here from Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), one of Nancy Pelosi’s leadership team — but it’s worth it. Jeffries attempts to walk Robert Mueller down a primrose path to endorsing an obstruction charge, complete with a handy chart with green check marks. Once Jeffries went through his five-minute question period, Jeffries declared that he had satisfied all of the elements of criminal obstruction by Donald Trump.
That is, until Robert Mueller chimed in:
This response from Mueller is a problem for Dems saying Trump would’ve been charged with obstruction if he weren’t POTUS.
“I don’t subscribe necessarily to the way you analyzed that. I’m not saying it’s out of the ballpark, but I’m not supportive of that analytical charge.” https://t.co/CJNhMCAEUH
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) July 24, 2019
But … there’s a chart and everything! Jeffries forgot the most basic rule of questioning witnesses — don’t ask questions for which you don’t already know the answer. In this case, we can add, don’t make declarations that show up the witness you want to boost. If the calculation was as silly and simple as Jeffries suggests with his chart, Mueller would have been able to make it with far more alacrity and credibility than Jeffries.
Let’s not just pick on the Democrats, though. Across the aisle, Rep. Ken Buck made the same mistake and ended up with egg on his face, too:
Rep. Ken Buck: “Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?”
Robert Mueller: “Yes.” https://t.co/2ALpbWRM7k pic.twitter.com/fY8gpmSfGU
— ABC News (@ABC) July 24, 2019
To recap: We found out from Buck’s error that prosecutors theoretically could still file charges against Trump, and from Jeffries’ goof that there isn’t a case to charge. So why are we here again? Great job, everyone!
At least this provided one of the lighter moments of today’s grueling and pointless exercise. Here’s another from Mueller himself, which had everyone laughing. Enjoy.
“What if I had made a false statement to an investigator on your team—could I go to jail?”
“Yes,” Robert Mueller replies. “Although, it’s Congress, so…” he adds to laughter from the room. https://t.co/CXfCvYspNV #MuellerHearings pic.twitter.com/vng3N86ybv
— ABC News (@ABC) July 24, 2019