Today we learn why- As “The Atlantic” discussed yesterday, in an insider’s story covered this morning in the “NY Tiimes” and in the “Washington Post”, Mueller and one of his chief aides were overly cautious.
Andrew Weissmann, one of Robert Mueller’s top deputies in the investigation of the 2016 election, is about to publish the first insider book, Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation
“Weissmann reserves his most painful words for the Special Counsel’s Office itself. Where Law Ends portrays a group of talented, dedicated professionals beset with internal divisions and led by a man whose code of integrity allowed their target to defy them and escape accountability”.
“Had we given it our all—had we used all available tools to uncover the truth, undeterred by the onslaught of the president’s unique powers to undermine our efforts?...I know the hard answer to that simple question: We could have done more.”
There have been whispers, even here on DK, about Mueller’s team of attorneys feeling he was no longer as sharp as he had once been, and could have allowed a more forceful and explicit report in putting forth his investigation’s findings, and the actions which were called for, as the report was being written.
And when the report came out, he could have been been much more vigorous in opposing Barr when Barr misstated the findings and stole the narrative.
I suppose we all watched Mueller’s less than forceful testimony in the impeachment hearing. It was sad, watching that once-towering Titan meekly saying “It’s in the report. I have nothing more to add”, instead of clearly and explicitly setting straight the record and directly contradicting Barr’s corrupt misrepresentations. And explicitly stating the actions required of Congress by even the limited facts his team had discovered, on camera, for the large “low information” segment of the American public to hear.
Once he had lost the storyline to Barr, this was the only real chance he had to set the public straight. And he didn’t.