Views From Left-wing Media

The Democrats’ Plan to impeach President Donald J. Trump had a major setback Wednesday, and media reactions reflect it. Robert Mueller’s testimony was supposed to be a defining moment. As an anxious country watched, the distinguished, ex-Marine and ex-director of FBI, Mueller would detail Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors, his Russian collusion and ensuing obstruction of justice. Demands for Trump’s ouster would spread like a wildfire. Except that plan failed. A disappointed liberal media reacted:

That shift means the Trump Administration is about to go from defense to offense.

“Mueller was less than convincing or forceful… [He] struggled mightily on the appearances front. He seemingly struggled to hear the questions asked of him. He struggled to find citations within his own report being [used] by members of Congress. He was halting in his responses and occasionally looked befuddled. While he seemed to rise to the task somewhat as the day went on, the perception of him as nothing short of the perfect prosecutor took a hit.” says Chris Cillizza, CNN.

“Some Republican lawmakers criticized Mueller for this phrasing, arguing that it inverted the presumption of innocence. They argued that if he couldn’t bring charges against the president, he shouldn’t have released his findings on the matter. That misunderstands the unique legal situation in which Mueller found himself.”

“In the report, Mueller explained that he still investigated whether the president obstructed justice ‘in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials were available’… The special counsel’s performance simply made clear his unspoken message all along: I’ve done my job, now you do yours.” opines Matt Ford, New Republic.

“After Wednesday, the prospects for impeachment appear more remote, which means it will be left to the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, with the help of the party, to develop a comprehensive case against the president, one that can win 270 electoral votes. To date, that hasn’t happened.” groans Dan Balz, Washington Post.

Views From Right-wing Media

President Trump and his supporters cheered Mueller’s flat, disjointed and filled with non-answers, testimony. The highlights all fell to the Republican side. (1) Not a single 2016 vote was changed, (2) any Russian interference happened on President Obama’s watch and (3) the investigation standards used violated the U. S. Constitution and Department of Justice guidelines. Conservative media took note:

”Going into the hearing, impeachment advocates needed either explosive new claims or a compelling prosecutorial performance to generate meaningful new interest in impeachment. If they could get both new facts and a compelling performance, then the short-term demand to launch a formal impeachment inquiry would surge. They got neither…” says David French, National Review.

“The president is, of course, wrong to claim he was fully exonerated, but it’s also an absurd standard that seems to have been invented solely for Republicans. Prosecutors only have the authority to charge, not to ‘exonerate’ their targets. [Rep. John] Ratcliffe, in fact, asked Mueller if he could cite a single example besides Donald Trump where the DOJ ‘determined that an investigated person was not exonerated because their innocence was not conclusively determined.’ Mueller responded: ‘I cannot, but this is a unique situation.’ After lecturing everyone about how justice must be meted out equally to all Americans, we now hear that rules are malleable if we’re talking about Donald Trump.” said David Harsanyi, The Federalist.

“Mueller was slow to react to questions. He frequently asked for questions to be repeated. He sometimes appeared confused. He did not appear to be conversant with some issues in the investigation. He did not, or could not, put together detailed answers even to those questions he agreed to address…”

“Mueller’s performance raised questions that reached far beyond one appearance before one committee. It called into doubt the degree to which Mueller was in charge of the entire special counsel investigation…”

writes Byron York, Washington Examiner.

Still Talking Impeachment

The impeachment talk will continue. Nearly 100 strong, the progressive wing of the Democrat Party will continue clamoring for Trump’s scalp. They are blind to the shift that resulted from yesterday’s hearings. The focus shifted from the Mueller Report and possible impeachment, to how did this mess get started?

Who in Justice was involved? What did President Obama know, if anything? An upcoming Inspector General Report and a Special Counsel are tasked with answering those, and other, questions. That shift means the Trump Administration is about to go from defense to offense.