Well, it’s finally here. Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report on the Russia investigation late Friday afternoon to Attorney General William Barr and the liberal media began to conflagrate. During the early evening buzz on MSNBC’s MTP Daily, host Chuck Todd seemed to express concern over the fact that Mueller allowed President Trump and his legal team to answer written questions, instead of testifying before a grand jury.
Speaking with California Congressman Eric “nuke the gun owners” Swalwell (D) on the phone, Todd pressed him on Trump’s form of testimony:
This report was concluded without interviewing the President of the United States in front of a grand jury. Now, there’s plenty of – there was plenty of legal reasons perhaps that Bob Mueller decided not to go through with that. Will that be known as a mistake or not?
Of course, Todd’s fretting was empty because lying to federal investigators is illegal either way.
And despite the fact that he admitted Trump answered written questions, Swalwell bizarrely insisted Trump’s testimony would not be included in the report. “I believe the President will have no credibility to attack the report. Because the state of the evidence will not include his testimony,” he lied.
It wasn’t just a slip of the tongue because Swalwell repeated that false claim (with no push back from Todd) moments later: “He was given the questions, he had an opportunity to go in and sit in that chair. So many others did, whether it was in the Mueller investigation or even before Congress. He did not, and so the state of the evidence does not conclude his testimony.”
About six minutes later, Todd brought up the grand jury with proven-liar and former CIA Director John Brennan. “You’ve been very confident in Bob Mueller. He has -- boy has he played by the strict rules of this statute. Are you at all bothered -- Does it at all bother you that he never did try to subpoena the President in front of the grand jury?” he asked.
Brennan expressed his full confidence in Mueller, saying he had “tremendous respect” for the Special Counsel and “his professionalism.” Brennan also suggested Mueller was “doing what he thinks is right and best as far as his mandate is concerned.”
Some twenty minutes later, Todd was visibly worried as he asked Brennan about putting “this toothpaste back in the tube” because President Trump was going to “banana republic us:"
You know, the one other thing about this do you think -- how do we put this toothpaste back in the tube? This is long term damage. I mean, beyond long term damage. There is 40 percent of the country the President spun up believing that the rule of law in this country -- [grimace face] -- and, frankly, then you're going to have 40 percent on the other side if the President does sort of banana republic us in this. This is -- I don't know how we put the toothpaste back in the tube.
This hyperventilation came shortly after a soundbite of Trump warning that people weren’t going to stand for a process and report designed to damage his presidency. Of course, the liberal media have always been looking to inflame tensions, seeing it as a threat of violence as opposed to an electoral rallying cry.
Brennan’s response was “optimistic” and suggested the Justice Department was going to “prevail” in this case. He added that he was “hopeful” that the “electoral system is going to get us on the right path.” Of course, by that, he meant it would either lock up Trump or throw him out of office.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
MSNBC’s MTP Daily
March 22, 2019
5:25:45 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHUCK TODD: This report was concluded without interviewing the President of the United States in front of a grand jury. Now, there’s plenty of – there was plenty of legal reasons perhaps that Bob Mueller decided not to go through with that. Will that be known as a mistake or not?
REP. ERIC SWALWELL (on the phone): I believe the President will have no credibility to attack the report. Because the state of the evidence will not include his testimony. He was given the questions, he had an opportunity to go in and sit in that chair. So many others did, whether it was in the Mueller investigation or even before Congress. He did not, and so the state of the evidence does not conclude his testimony. So, I don’t think he can credibly attack the report.
(…)
5:31:33 p.m. Eastern
TODD: John Brennan, what was fascinating – one of the things I would like to remind people is, Mueller took over an active investigation. He did not start an investigation, he took over an active investigation that had been started by the FBI, it took place when you were on the national security team.
I don't want to go through everything that you said, nobody was more alarmed by the things that you saw -- than anyone in the national security team than you. You’ve been very confident in Bob Mueller. He has -- boy has he played by the strict rules of this statute. Are you at all bothered -- Does it at all bother you that he never did try to subpoena the President in front of the grand jury?
JOHN BRENNAN: No, I have tremendous respect for Bob Mueller, his professionalism, but also doing what he thinks is right and best as far as his mandate is concerned. And in the summer of 16, even before that, I was concerned about what I saw the Russians were doing.
As I testified in open – in open hearings, I was concerned about some information related to U.S. persons who were engaged in different types of interactions with Russians and I referred that to the FBI. And so, it’s up to the FBI to pull those investigative threads.
So, as you point out, since the end of July of 2016 this investigation has been ongoing. And so, now, Robert Mueller, there could be sealed indictments that could be coming out in the next few hours or so. But again, this brings his part of the investigation to a close. But I hope my intelligence – my former colleagues are actively working these issues still.
(…)
5:54:05 p.m. Eastern
TODD: You know, the one other thing about this do you think -- how do we put this toothpaste back in the tube? This is long term damage. I mean, beyond long term damage. There is 40 percent of the country the President spun up believing that the rule of law in this country -- [grimace face] -- and, frankly, then you're going to have 40 percent on the other side if the President does sort of banana republic us in this. This is -- I don't know how we put the toothpaste back in the tube.
BRENNAN: Well, we're going through some choppy and stormy waters, clearly. And I like to think that the strength of our institutions, as we’re now seeing with the Department of Justice, are going to prevail. I like to think that our electoral system is going to get us on the right path. But clearly we are in a very, very difficult time right now, but I have -- I’m optimistic, I’m hopeful we're going to emerge from this stronger.
(…)
