Well, next week was supposed to be when ex-Special Counsel Robert Mueller was would give more useless testimony about the Russian collusion myth before the House Judiciary Committee. His report on the matter killed this narrative that’s been fanned by Democrats and their allies in the media for the past two years. July 17 was the date penciled in, but it could be delayed a week to accommodate time for more questions from both Democrats and Republicans. Even Democrats were reportedly unhappy with the original parameters of the hearing (via Politico):
In a sign of the tentative nature of talks, a Judiciary Committee spokesman emphasized the original July 17 hearing is still on the books. “At this moment we still plan to have our hearing on the 17th and we will let you know if that changes." https://t.co/GUSSm6az00
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) July 12, 2019
NEWS - Mueller testimony likely to be delayed in return for longer appearance before House cmtes, per sources. Discussions underway
— John Bresnahan (@BresPolitico) July 12, 2019
NEWS … ROBERT MUELLER’S testimony is likely to be delayed, and the two sides are talking about a longer appearance on Capitol Hill.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 12, 2019
Our sources on Capitol Hill tell us Mueller will come up on 7/24. Situation is fluid.
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) July 12, 2019
this with @AndrewDesiderio @BresPolitico and @kyledcheney
Although it’s unclear why Mueller’s testimony was delayed until July 24, lawmakers familiar with the matter said one reason was an ongoing negotiation about how long lawmakers would have to question the former special counsel.
The House Judiciary and Intelligence committees have been negotiating to give lawmakers more time to question the former special counsel. Under the tentative agreement, which was described to POLITICO by lawmakers briefed on the talks, the Judiciary Committee would be granted an extra hour to question Mueller.
That concern was particularly acute for the 41-member Judiciary Committee. As initially planned, each committee would have had just two hours to question Mueller, and more junior lawmakers on the Judiciary panel would have been shut out. Republicans spent Thursday and Friday slamming Democrats for cutting a deal that did not allow all committee members to question Mueller.
“You’re disenfranchising everyone,” Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee said Friday.
Democrats, too, had raised concerns about being denied the opportunity to question Mueller, and expressed hope that ongoing talks with him would yield an agreement for all of them to grill him for five minutes each.
Still, this is a total waste of time. The Mueller report on Russia collusion was quite clear: There was no conspiracy. There was no collusion. Mueller also said he wouldn’t speak further about what has already been written in the report. Well, obviously, that wasn’t the case. His exiting presser was infuriating, as he altered the wording of the conclusion of the collusion section of the investigation to insinuate that it was open-ended. That whole closing presser only added to the notion that this whole affair was a politically motivated hit job against Trump. You all know it, but for those still skeptical—it seems early on that there was no evidence to prove Trump-Russia collusion, though the band played on based on the report. Mueller and his team of die-hard Democrats tried very hard to string this narrative in a way that made sense. They couldn’t because the evidence wasn’t there.
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