Robert Mueller (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Former special counsel Robert Mueller is testifying in front of Congress. Congresspeople are speaking fast, Mueller has said, “I refer you to my report,” approximately 20 times in the first hour. Everything is going according to this (extremely stupid) plan.
I am watching, and tweeting. As are others. Here’s some of what people are saying:
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LIVE TWEETING #MuellerHearings Today will determine if #RobertMueller is loyal to the Constitution above all or to his love of institutional procedure. America’s Constitutional Republic could die today or fight back.
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) July 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1154007178250002432?s=20
Colloquially, there's a big difference between trolling and threatening. LEGALLY, there's no crime for "trolling." So it gets reduced to "true threat" or not.
Saying there was no "threat" doesn't mean there was no trolling.
Saying there was no conspiracy doesn't mean no collusion— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
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Ratcliffe dead wrong about the Special Counsel regs. I drafted them in 1999. They absolutely don't forbid the Mueller Report. And they recognize the need for a Report " both for historical purposes and to enhance accountability."
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) July 24, 2019
31/ One thing the Democrats did well is that for *any* question they think Mueller might answer with, "I refer you to my report," they have prepared how to ask the question should they get exactly that response from Mueller. That was smart of them. Good preparation on that score.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1154018261266309120?s=20
The level to which this country relies on 70 plus year old white men is fucking ridiculous.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
I’ll be here all day. I’ll keep updating this post.
. @replouiegohmert: Isn't it true that you are the real killer?
Mueller: I can't answer that.
Rep Gohmert: When did you find out Peter Strzok kidnapped the Lindberg baby?
Mueller: I removed him when I
Gohmert: ARE YOU A WITCH, SIR?
Mueller: I take your question
(i'm paraphrasing)— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
Shorter version of the entire #Mueller testimony pic.twitter.com/e1jasGZBiw
— Dr. Jason Johnson (@DrJasonJohnson) July 24, 2019
“Spirit”+ “Bigger” The extended cut from Disney’s The Lion King (Official Video) https://t.co/pPEqCVWcKB pic.twitter.com/6X65FLVJ18
— BEYONCÉ (@Beyonce) July 19, 2019
(Sorry, I just needed some Beyonce.)
https://twitter.com/SpockResists/status/1154031851184349185?s=20
The Special Counsel confirms that the President ordered the White House lawyer to lie about the president’s obstruction of justice and threatened to fire him if he wouldn’t. #MuellerHearings
— Former Congresswoman Val Demings (@RepValDemings) July 24, 2019
“This has been a disaster for the Democrats and a disaster for the reputation of Robert Mueller.” Chris Wallace @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 24, 2019
My lord the commentary on tv about today's hearing is a sad measure of our politics. Almost nothing about the content of the report or testimony – 98% on whether Mueller "looks old" or who's strategery is better. The issue is crimes committed by the President, not hairstyles!
— Ian Bassin (@ianbassin) July 24, 2019
Yes! But Pres Trump has been claiming "total exoneration" since the minute the report appeared. That's a lie. But he has repeated it often enough that some people seem to believe it. So it's worth restating the truth. https://t.co/pnwbXdcyNX
— Henry Blodget (@hblodget) July 24, 2019
Every smart person I know has been in this situation, where they've done the reading, but others haven't, and so the teacher slows everything down to deal with the people who haven't done the reading
We just have to sit here playing Tetris until the rest of the class catches up
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
#FloridaMan @mattgaetz tries to tie Steele Dossier was a Russian disinformation operation. For what? To both defeat Trump and also to get him duly elected? #DuhLogic! #Mueller claps back at him strongly.
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) July 24, 2019
Meanwhile… in Puerto Rico, this is how they roll:
Wow. Puerto Rico.
You don’t get this perspective from the ground.
They are Loud.
Determined.
United. https://t.co/3JMmbc8NY2— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) July 22, 2019
BUCK: Mr. Mueller, you are the kind of American that we should all aspire to be; a true patriot and public servant. But this is 2019, so I'm going to tear you a new asshole and call you a traitor.
— Thornton McEnery (@ThorntonMcEnery) July 24, 2019
I love how Republicans, now Buck, like, FORCES Mueller to say that he absolutely would have indicted @realDonaldTrump if he had been allowed to do so.
And then KEEPS on it, to say that Trump can be charged after he leaves office.#MuellerHearings— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
this kinda says it all https://t.co/0ge1rwZ01F
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 24, 2019
But her emails, right?
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
Excellent questioning (finally) by @tedlieu. He took the individual items on p97 of the Report and showed how it all lays out a full and complete crime. This may sound complicated, with 3 elements and the like, but everyone needs to understand what just happened.
— Neal Katyal (@neal_katyal) July 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1154038287490793472?s=20
DEAR MEDIA: The Questioning after the break has gone MUCH BETTER FOR DEMOCRATS than before the break. PLEASE UPDATE your initial hot-takes accordingly! I know it's hard. I know it's hard to CONTINUE listening, but PLEASE TRY. #MuellerHearings
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
Mueller finally stands up for himself when GOP jackass accuses him of being sloppy and aggressive. I am not a fan of Mueller but he is the opposite — meticulous and timid, the latter to a fault.
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) July 24, 2019
GOP House caucus prep for this hearing. pic.twitter.com/J6FRg45LRC
— Joe Patrice (@JosephPatrice) July 24, 2019
My take on Debbis Lesko's line of questioning pic.twitter.com/MAuQWXuOhY
— Michael A. Cohen (NOT TRUMP’S FORMER FIXER) (@speechboy71) July 24, 2019
I'm now feeling like #Mueller is pulling a Maester Pycelle. He seems old and confused and yet, whenever the @HouseGOP tries to bust him up, he kind of snaps back and plays his game hard.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
“It’s a beautiful report.”
— President Trump, May 27
The report was “un-American.”
— Republican congressman, July 24
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 24, 2019
Another very important exchange:@RepRaskin: "you found evidence that the President engaged in efforts to encourage witnesses not to cooperate with the investigation."
Mueller: "That's correct." pic.twitter.com/6a9FRGlGjK
— Rep. Don Beyer (@RepDonBeyer) July 24, 2019
Well, at least @RepMGS is mentioning Appendix C.
She, at least, read the whole report. #MuellerHearings https://t.co/0s6e5cgPSi
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
LOL:
Rep Steube [incredulously]: "So you're NOT going to speak any more to it but you're NOT going to agree to my characterization."
[long pause]
Steube: "is that correct?"
Mueller: "Yes."— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
STEUBE: You can't tell this committee if you interviewed Steele?
MUELLER: That is correct, dipshit.
— Thornton McEnery (@ThorntonMcEnery) July 24, 2019
.@SpeakerPelosi I don’t think he’s going to self-impeach.
— chriscjackson on Bluesky (@ChrisCJackson) July 24, 2019
Mueller is every law professor who has assigned reading and who walks into class discovering no one read. #MuellerHearing
— Lawprofblawg (@lawprofblawg) July 24, 2019
bold of this gentleman to imagine that the Democrats in Congress would spend months holding someone to account
— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) July 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1154057037824835590?s=20
The moment Robert Mueller said lies by Trump campaign officials and the administration officials impeded the Mueller investigation. https://t.co/QOS1Mn0wA5
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) July 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/espiers/status/1154056567433650177?s=20
AND NOW FOR HEARING NUMBER TWO. This time in front of House Intel.
The gravitas delta from @RepAdamSchiff to @DevinNunes is like going from Christopher Nolan's Batman to Jim Carey's Riddler. #MuellerReport
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
Jesus H. Christ on a chainsaw, Adam Schiff is taking no prisoners.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) July 24, 2019
Nunes pretending it's unusual for multiple witnesses to be sworn in. Also pretending it's unusual for lawyers who have represented partisan clients before to testify before Congress. Neither of those assertions are true.
— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) July 24, 2019
Summary of @RepAdamSchiff questioning of Mueller: Not enough evidence to charge criminal conspiracy but lots of evidence of collusion, efforts by Russia to help Trump, and lying by Trump and his minions to cover it up. Schiff is effective.
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) July 24, 2019
No person should be above the law including the president
— David Hogg (@davidhogg111) July 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/mirandayaver/status/1154075348855734272?s=20
.@DevinNunes is trash just like his entire party. The Republican Party that wasted tax payer money to hold numerous hearings on #Benghazi to railroad Hillary Clinton and PROVE NOTHING. Yet #Mueller’s report has served 38 indictments with several people in jail or headed there.
— Danielle Moodie (@DeeTwoCents) July 24, 2019
.@DevinNunes, who is currently suing a cow, opens with: "Welcome everyone to the last gasp of the Russia collusion conspiracy theory" and then resorts to spewing Trump's favorite – and completely false –conspiracy theories.#MuellerHearing pic.twitter.com/qOZ9qNO3S0
— Polly Sigh (@dcpoll) July 24, 2019
The truth is out there, @DevinNunes pic.twitter.com/IS2jr1WsT9
— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) July 24, 2019
I just had to check that @RepMikeTurner was a Republican since his questions seemed designed to emphasize that Mueller did not exonerate the President.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
I've never seen this stated so definitively, that Manafort shared campaign and polling data with Kilimnik because he hoped to get paid money by Russian or Ukrainian oligarchs. pic.twitter.com/qJ43Kc8blJ
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) July 24, 2019
Rep. Adam Schiff: "Russia committed federal crimes in order to help Donald Trump?"
Robert Mueller: "When you're talking about the computer crimes charged in our case, absolutely" https://t.co/yTLh7BhWOk #MuellerHearings pic.twitter.com/PBtUkBjybn
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 24, 2019
. @DevinNunes: I have questions about the Steele dossier#Mueller: Do you have any questions for me, sir? Your president stands accused of obstructing justice and accepting foreign help to influence the election. Please tell me his party hasn't rested their hopes on a pee tape.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
God bless @RepMikeQuigley on the OLC memo error:
"What if a president serves beyond the statute of limitations?"
Mueller: "I don't know the answer to that question."
Q: "The statute doesn't toll."
M: "I don't know specifically.
Q: "It clearly doesn't."https://t.co/qD35RMpSyq— Jed Shugerman (@jedshug) July 24, 2019
Jesus, forgive me for ever being a Republican.
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) July 24, 2019
Everything is going according to plan, by the way:
The question Nunes just asked is literally one Hannity said they should ask.
— Philip Bump (@pbump) July 24, 2019
Any House Democrat who didn't expect it to sound like this has spent too much time watching Law & Order and not enough time watching, like, every Congressional hearing ever.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
"This wasn't a single attempt. They're doing it right now." Mueller re Russian disinformation campaign
— PantsuitPolitics (@PantsuitPolitic) July 24, 2019
Rep.Nunes made absolutely no sense.
He’s a joke.— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) July 24, 2019
the Mueller Hearings feels like watching Wheel of Fortune where the puzzle is completely solved but contestants keep guessing letters
— Matt Oswalt (@MattOswaltVA) July 24, 2019
Live shot of me versus Media Twitter right now. pic.twitter.com/WsukHUFqMV
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
Finally, @RepSeanMaloney DIRECTLY asks why #Mueller didn't subpoena the President.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
Demings: Would you say that some of [The president's answers] were not truthful?
Mueller: … generally.— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1154109128320659457?s=20
Lol, @RepAdamSchiff straight up said that the decision to whether @realDonaldTrump should be indicted is a "decision for the Justice Department after he leaves office."
Boom. Except that to come up in next week's Democratic debate. pic.twitter.com/0Ekvn5Fe65
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) July 24, 2019
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and a contributor at The Nation. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.