While everything that Robert Mueller said during his press appearance Wednesday was already apparent by reading his 448-page report, Mueller cut through it all to bring attention to the most important points. First, the report did not exonerate Trump, as the president and William Barr, Trump’s hand-picked attorney general, have repeatedly claimed. Second, while there were numerous documented contacts between various people associated with the Trump campaign and Russian individuals, there was insufficient evidence to prove a conspiracy. Third, the report documented at least 10 instances of Trump possibly committing obstruction of justice. Mueller stated that he and his investigators were unable to charge Trump with those crimes because of Department of Justice rules preventing criminal charges to be brought against a sitting president. Finally, he made a point of stating that while his office was not able to pursue criminal charges of obstruction of justice, Congress has access to another “process” to address crimes.

In other words, impeachment. I call on my representative, Suzanne Bonamici, to join with her colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives and begin impeachment proceedings immediately. The time for fact finding hearings is long over. The American people deserve open hearings on the crimes of this president.

Micki Sparr, Beaverton