When, on March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller finished his investigation of Donald Trump’s Presidential Campaign, his early Administration, and the Presidential election interference conducted by Russia, what was supposed to happen next was that an unredacted report about the investigation would be sent to Congress. In addition, all underlying information related to the report, including all grand jury testimony, all witness statements, and all other associated documents should have been sent to Congress as well. After taking a month or two to review this massive amount of information, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee probably would have begun impeachment hearings in which they systematically interviewed all of the important witnesses from the Mueller investigation in an open session Congressional hearings. After months of eye-opening testimony, the House Judiciary Committee probably would have issued articles of impeachment, which would probably have then been approved by both the Judiciary Committee and then the full House. Then the articles could have been sent to the Senate for trial followed by a vote on whether or not to convict.
Even if, after receiving the Articles of Impeachment from the House, the Republican Trump enablers in the Senate would have voted not to convict, the American people would have understood exactly what had happened, and Trump and his Administration would have been badly damaged by the events, especially by the testimony during the House hearings. Even if Trump was not tossed out of office by the Senate, his days in office would have been numbered because his reelection chances would have approached zero percent.
I believe that It is because so many Democrats know that this is how things were supposed to happen that so many of them now feel so frustrated currently. These Democrats know that the Judiciary Committee was supposed to do something that they have not done, even if not all of them know exactly what that something should be. The reason that this chain of events never happened as it was supposed to happen is that, so far, Attorney General William Barr and his Department of Justice have refused to give Congress the full unredacted Mueller Report, and because A.G. Barr has never turned over any of the evidence that underlies the Mueller Report. This evidence would have shown exactly how the Mueller Investigation determined that Donald Trump had obstructed justice. Furthermore, the sworn witness statements and grand jury testimony would have meant that witnesses could have been forced to testify in open court the same way that they did in the closed grand jury sessions. This is why the House Judiciary Committee is exceedingly reluctant to move on impeachment without the underlying Mueller evidence.
During an open session impeachment inquiry, witnesses would be under immense pressure by Trump and his cronies to modify what they said in their grand jury testimony or their witness statements when they testified in open court before the House Judiciary Committee. Jerry Nadler’s House Judiciary Committee really, really, wants those sworn records to be able to refer to when some of the witnesses inevitably pull shenanigans in open court, much as Corey Lewandowski did the other day. Then when the Lewandowsky's of the world refuse to testify, the person interviewing the witness can simply read aloud what the witness said in his sworn statement as part of the Mueller investigation. The House Judiciary Committee wants as many American citizens as possible to know exactly what happened. and they want the open session Congressional inquiry testimony to be as damaging as possible. They believe that that is the only way that they have much of a chance to actually getting an impeachment conviction. Even if the Democrats do not end up with an impeachment conviction, the House Judiciary Democrats believe that the inquiry will at least have greatly hurt Trump’s reelection chances if the Committee has the evidence it needs.
If you are frustrated that Trump’s impeachment process has not proceeded fastter, you should be. If you think that the House Judicary Comittee is dragging their feet—they are. However, they do have a good reason why they are doing it. Without all of the Mueller Investigation evidence, impeachment hearings will end up being the Judiciary Committee fighting like crazy to try and get people to testify, and then when they do get some people to testify, some or all of those people will surely end up either lying nonstop, refusing to answer, or both. Without the Mueller evidence to hold the feet of witnesses to the fire, an open session impeachment inquiry will be an unending Corey Lewindoswky show. We will get some information, but it will not be the smoking gun investigation that either the Democrats or American needs.
The House Judiciary Committee really wants that evidence, because they saw what happened to Nixon when Congress held an effective open session inquiry, and William Barr really does not want to give them that evidence, because he also knows what happened to Nixon. That is why the Justice Department made the absurd claim that the House Judiciary Committee is not entitled to the Grand Jury Testimony from the Mueller Investigation, as one can read about in the article entitled, "DOJ argues House Democrats should not acquire grand jury material from Mueller investigation”.
Without receiving the evidence from the Mueller investigation, the House Judiciary Committee actually will have little evidence against Donald Trump and his associates. The unredacted Mueller Report is not really evidence; it is more of a summary of evidence. Without the underlying Mueller evidence, there is little hope of a Trump conviction. Also, without the Mueller Investigation evidence, there is little hope of enough of the American people truly understanding what happened to greatly affect Trump’s chances of winning reelection. I truly understand many Democrats’ frustration with this process. It never should have happened this way. AG Barr has betrayed his oath of office by not providing justice for the American people by withholding the Mueller Investigation evidence. However, until the Democrats are able to win the Mueller Investigation evidence in court, the House Judiciary Committee truly will not be able to change things in any significant way through an impeachment process. Without the evidence, we will not get the open court testimony that we need, and without that testimony, I believe that any impeachment attempt would be doomed to failure.
One final thing--with regard to the recent whistleblower revelations. Until Congressional Democrats actually get to talk to this whistleblower, or until Congress receives the report that the Trump Administration is illegally withholding, all the Democrats have are uncorroborated reports. We can definitely investigate this incident, and we definitely should. However, we presently have little information about this incident upon which we can base an impeachment. This is why the Trump Administration is trying so hard to prevent Democrats from getting that information. Keep pushing for that report, Democrats, and launch a full investigation!