MAKE THE FULL MUELLER REPORT PUBLIC!
Disclose all documents and evidence to the American people. This was what Congress voted on in a rare display of unanimous bipartisanship, 420-0, in the spirit of transparency and accountability to the American people.
This has been what an overwhelming majority of American people are demanding as evidenced by all poll results.
Now, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked the resolution that called for the Mueller report to be released publicly, a complete 180-degree turnaround.
What ever happened to the 420-0 vote in Congress before the Special Counsel submitted his report to the Office of the Attorney General?
Didn’t Trump claim that he directed the Republicans in Congress to vote ‘YES’ to making the Mueller report public because he has NOTHING to hide?
Why the change of heart? What are the Republicans in Congress and President Trump and his cohorts hiding? What are they so afraid of?
Could it be because they know, as explicitly written by Special Counsel Robert Mueller himself in the report submitted to the Department of Justice that Trump has NOT been exonerated — NOT cleared of the obstruction of justice allegation against him?
FACT: It was Trump’s political appointee Attorney General William Barr who made the conclusion to exonerate Trump for obstruction of justice, and NOT Special Counsel Robert Mueller. It was Barr, who made public about his stand discrediting the obstruction of justice allegation against the president BEFORE he was appointed to the position by Trump.
Let us backtrack a little to look at the big picture.
Mueller, a long-time Republican and highly esteemed for his integrity and service to the country as a veteran and a law enforcement officer, was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey because of the Russia probe [Trump’s own confession].
Why the Deputy AG? Because Trump’s then-appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions had to recuse himself out of delicadeza from anything related to the probe because of previous statements he made about the issue.
This angered Trump so much and he kept saying up to the end when he fired Sessions, and replaced him with acting AG Matt Whitaker, that had he known Sessions would recuse himself, he would not have appointed him AG.
Why was Trump mad? Because he expected his appointees to be loyal to him and to protect him, despite the DOJ and the AG being mandated by the Constitution to be an independent law enforcement branch of the government despite being under the executive department, and the Attorney General to be the attorney of the American people, and not of the president, nor of the Office of the President.
Whittaker was appointed acting AG when Trump fired Sessions, bypassing ranks of succession in the DOJ only because Whittaker publicly stated in writing and TV interviews that he thought a sitting president should NOT be indicted.
Bingo! And this man had not disappointed Trump and acted exactly how Trump wanted him to do — to report to the president about everything Mueller, in contradiction to the independence the Office of the AG had to uphold.
Fast forward to the present: Trump appointed Barr, who now cleared the president of the obstruction of justice allegation against him, fulfilling exactly the role Trump wanted him to play when he appointed him to be AG.
The Mueller probe confirmed Russia’s assault on our democracy, and uncovered crimes committed by members of the Trump campaign, including ties and communications with Russia and other foreign agents – both reported, unreported, and lied about.
However, the evidence gathered by the probe did not meet the “beyond reasonable doubt” requirement to prove members of the campaign knowingly coordinated with Russia in its interference in the 2016 election.
BUT LET THE TRUTH BE TOLD – Mueller did NOT EXONERATE Trump in obstruction of justice. Trump NEVER sat down for an interview with the Special Counsel for fear he could perjure himself with all the web of lies he has created. But the evidence found by Mueller was sufficient enough for him not to clear Trump of the crime of obstruction of justice – a sign that a further probe needs to be done, beyond the mandate given to him as Special Counsel.
After all, that was how the Mueller probe started: concerns about Trump’s firing of then FBI Director James Comey, concerns about possible obstruction of justice. This ran parallel with the DOJ counter-intelligence probe of security threats of Russia interfering in our elections.
Trump gloated and repeated more lies he was exonerated by Mueller. He was not. Yet instead of criticizing Russia for its assault in our democracy and instead of apologizing to the American people for defending and agreeing with Putin over our own intelligence community, Trump again chose to demonize the Democrats, the “deep state,” and all his political foes.
Congress has to do its job in getting to the bottom of this issue.
RELEASE THE FULL MUELLER REPORT. Make all evidence and documents public and make the American people find out the truth and decide. We, the people, paid for this probe. We deserve transparency. We deserve accountability from the government. We are obligated to fight for this democracy — the government of the people, by the people, for the people!!
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
