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Democrats in the House could be torn on how to target Trump following the Mueller report, but the Senate Republicans are relatively united: they are ready to leave everything behind.
While the Democrats continue to argue over the impeachment, the Republicans are as determined as ever to protect the President from any additional scrutiny. As Vox's Tara Golshan wrote, they were ready to defend the president even before the report was released – and that has certainly not changed much since then.
"This investigation was about collusion, there was no collusion or accusations against the president, and I think the American people have had enough," said the leader of Senate, Mitch McConnell, about a possible indictment at an event in Kentucky last week.
Of course, the report is far from being as clear as McConnell describes it. Although the special advocate, Robert Mueller, wrote that he did not see that the Trump campaign was conspiring directly with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, it actually noted several points of contact between the Trump campaign and Russian substitutes, and that investigators could not, in fact, exonerate Trump from obstruction of justice.
As one of the most damning lines in the report indicates: "After a thorough investigation of the facts, we were assured that the President had clearly not obstructed justice. we affirmed it. "
The open nature of the findings of the report on the obstruction of justice, in particular, prompted House Democrats to consider new hearings and testimony from Mueller to better understand his findings. But the Speaker of the Senate Judiciary, Lindsey Graham, quickly rejected such an idea in the upper house.
"I do not know how much I can be clear, Margaret: It's over for me," he said in an appearance on CBS News. Facing the nation the last weekend. Graham added that he was not worried that Trump had pushed White House lawyer Don McGahn to fire Mueller while the investigation was underway, one of 10 cases possible obstruction examined by the special advocate. "I do not care what he said to Don McGahn – that's what he did.The President never objected," he said.
Graham's comments strongly emphasize the gap between congressional Democrats and Republicans. For Democrats, the Mueller Report has laid out a plan for further investigation. For the Republicans, this was simply a decisive issue.
Republicans have completed the Mueller report since Barr published his resume
Republicans were already aware of the Mueller report when Attorney General Bill Barr issued his four-page summary, concluding that there was no evidence of collusion or obstruction. Although the full report differs considerably from Barr's summary and specifically throws much more doubt on whether Trump has obstructed justice, he has not changed his position on this issue.
"He did his job and I will not do it again," Graham told McClatchy about Mueller's testimony shortly after the release of the full report. "I'm all good. I'm done with the Mueller report, " Graham added in another interview.
Among the Republicans, his position is far from an anomaly.
Even the legislators of the vulnerable transition states of 2020 – some of whom could take advantage of getting away from Trump to reach moderate voters – have avoided calling for any further action in the wake of Mueller.
Senator Cory Gardner, who is widely regarded as one of the most threatened Republicans in 2020, said: "It's time for Congress to act and act on behalf of the American people," noting that he would be asking for that the efforts of Russia be punished. Interfering in the election but stopping outside any criticism of Trump. Similarly, a spokesman for Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), another Republican who is disappearing, told Politico that "pursuing the path of endless investigations and dismissal would be a deeply partisan gesture that would further divide the country".
The most aggressive statements against the president were issued by Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME), and even these included no particular call to action. Romney said he was "disgusted" by the description of Trump's behavior in the report, while Collins described the report as "unflattering portrait" of the president.
Romney however indicated that the absence of charges of obstruction of justice was enough to convince him. "Government business can go forward," he said.
The duality of Romney 's answer shows why Republicans have been so reserved with regard to Trump: as one Republican strategist told The Hill, "the majority of Republicans will not go to the polls. take it to him because he was not charged with a crime. "Without these accusations, Republicans seem to think that they have less ground to attack one of their own.
The Republicans are not done with Mueller, they launch their own counter-offensive
In addition to diverting new Trump investigations – or perhaps in another attempt – Senate Republicans are trying to shift attention to other 2016 campaign surveys and … Hillary Clinton.
As Graham said at a press conference in March, Republicans want to have a better idea of "the other side of the story," especially if the FBI and the department of Justice have engaged in efforts that have hurt the 2016 Trump campaign.
"With regard to the FISA warrant, the Clinton campaign, the counterintelligence investigation, was virtually swept aside by a few Republicans in the House. These days are over, "said Graham.
Senate Finance and Homeland Security Presidents Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson echoed such calls in a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr last week, urging him to review the oversight of Trump campaign in 2016, a common Republican argument that Barr himself harpooned during a hearing in April.
"Any inappropriate FBI surveillance activity before or after the 2016 election must be brought to light and properly addressed," Grassley and Johnson write in their letter to Barr.
These questions fuel Republican concerns about why the special advocate's investigation into Russian interference began and the use of a FISA warrant to monitor Trump campaign advisor Carter Page. was rooted in bias.
In a practical way, they also provide some counter-programming to the Republicans in order to distract attention from ongoing issues regarding Trump's potential impediment to justice on which the Democrats will certainly focus.
While Democrats seek to draw attention to Trump's behavior, Republicans are actively trying to redirect him elsewhere.
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