This week, Robert Mueller for the first time faced questions from members of Congress about the Russia investigation he led, in which he concluded that despite there being no criminally prosecutable conspiracy between the Trump team and Russia, President Donald Trump’s campaign accepted and benefited from foreign help. CNN’s chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta shared a key application of this issue on his Twitter account as the Mueller hearings unfolded, pointing out how the FBI director turned special counsel insisted that Russian interference is a real and active threat. Trump and his administration could be working to counter this threat to U.S. democracy — but instead, they’re failing and allowing the threat to grow.
As Acosta shared:
‘Mueller on Russia’s determination to interfere in American democracy: “they’re doing it as we sit here.”’
Check out more that Acosta shared:
Former special counsel Robert Mueller confirms that President Trump asked staff to falsify records relevant to the ongoing investigation. #MuellerHearings https://t.co/3EYBMBRaoC pic.twitter.com/jcDm6KPqFJ
— CNN (@CNN) July 24, 2019
GOP Rep. Ken Buck: “Could you charge the President with a crime after he left office?”
Mueller: “Yes.”
Buck: “You believe that…you could charge the President of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?”
Mueller: “Yes.” https://t.co/PlXUvXGPNd pic.twitter.com/nibvuCPR0b
— CNN (@CNN) July 24, 2019
Robert Mueller says it is true that his investigation found that President Trump asked former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to un-recuse himself at least twice. #MuellerHearings https://t.co/3EYBMBRaoC pic.twitter.com/Es0InynEbL
— CNN (@CNN) July 24, 2019
Nadler: “Did you actually totally exonerate the President?”
Mueller: “No.”#MuellerHearing pic.twitter.com/ZjllHIe2qW
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) July 24, 2019
During the 2016 presidential race, the Russians accomplished their interference through thefts of massive troves of emails from key Democrats that Russians then got distributed through various channels. The Russian agents also developed and maintained a misinformation campaign across the web, and Trump personally encouraged these efforts. In an infamous example moment, he said at a press conference that if Russia was “listening,” they should dig into tens of thousands of emails from Secretary of State turned Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server — and that day, Russian agents began hacking into private Clinton emails. This is the dangerous mess that the president of the United States has used his position to spew.
Check out Twitter’s response below. Some Trumpkins are still, after all this time, running with the idea that the Obama administration did nothing to counter Russian election meddling, but that is blatantly false. There was everything from private pressure to eventual public sanctions. Trump, meanwhile, has struggled to acknowledge the basic reality that Russia meddled in the first place.
Featured Image via screenshot
