Tipsheet

Chris Wallace Asks Jerry Nadler What We All Want To Know About Mueller's Testimony

Beth Baumann
Beth Baumann  |  July 21, 2019 4:55 PM

House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NJ) appeared on "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace to discuss Special Counsel Robert Mueller's scheduled testimony later this week. Mueller is scheduled to testify back-to-back in front of the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. 

Mueller has made it very clear that his report is considered his testimony and he won't divert from what he wrote. Despite that, Democrats have pushed for him to testify. 

"Why put Mueller and the country through this?" Wallace asked.

"Well, to let the American people to hear directly from Special Counsel Mueller, what his investigation found," Nadler said. "The president, the attorney general and others have spent the last few months systematically lying to the American people about what the investigation found. They have said it found no collusion, that it found no obstruction, that it exonerated the president. All three of those statements are absolute lies."

Mueller isn't going to say anything new. He's not going to say anything that isn't in his report. Despite knowing that, Nadler is continuing to push the idea that President Donald Trump and his campaign did something wrong, that collusion and obstruction took place. 

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"It's important that we not have a lawless administration and a lawless president. It's important for the American people to see where we're at," Nadler said.

Where we're at? 

The investigation is over. No obstruction and no collusion was found. How much more definitive could Mueller have been.

"What if this whole thing ends up being a dud?" Wallace asked.

"Well, we hope it won't end up being a dud," Nadler said. 

He said Democrats plan to ask specific questions about various paragraphs and passages throughout Mueller's report.

According to Nadler, "the country has not moved on."

"The president and the attorney general have lied to the American people about what was in the Mueller report, about the fact that you just heard the president say they found no collusion, no obstruction. That is not true," Nadler said. "And they've had months of lying to the American people. People don't read a 448 page report."

"I believe that when people hear what was in the Mueller report then we'll be in a position to begin to hold the president accountable and to make this less of a lawless administration," Nadler explained. "And the fact of the matter is that the president has also been lawless in telling witnesses not to obey Congressional subpoenas, not to testify at all and that's beyond the pale of the Constitution."

Let's be clear. This isn't about correcting so-called "lawlessness." Mueller's testimony is the Democrats' last chance at keeping the Russia collusion saga alive. Mueller was supposed to deliver a smoking gun. He was supposed to give Democrats the ammunition they needed to take down President Donald Trump. But he didn't do that. 

Democrats say they want Mueller to testify so the American people can hear directly from the special counsel. That's just a front. This is about them scoring political points and doing whatever they can to take down Trump. And they're so focused on accomplishing this goal that they don't care who they hurt in the process, including the American people.