May 31, 2019

Here's the lead story at Jim Hoft's Gateway Pundit right now:

Robert Mueller Drops Bomb on Trump — “If We Had Confidence President Did Not Commit a Crime We Would Have Said So”

Controversial Special Counsel Robert Mueller made a statement this morning at 11 AM Eastern.

It was Mueller’s first public statement in two years.

Mueller blames the Russians for influencing the elections.

Mueller accused Russia of working with Wikileaks to damage the Hillary Clinton campaign by releasing truthful emails between her campaign staff.

Mueller then said,

“If we had confidence the president DID NOT commit a crime we would have said so. We did not however make a determination if the president did commit a crime.”

(Emphasis in original.)

In the hermetically sealed world of one of the most slavishly pro-Trump websites, this is apparently news. Until now, it seems, Gateway Pundit's readers were unaware of the fact that Mueller, on page 8 of Volume 2 of his report, said, "if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state."

This is why Mueller needs to testify publicly before Congress. It's why we need impeachment hearings. Many Americans aren't even aware of this much-cited assertion in the Mueller report. Journalists and pundits have cited it, in print and occasionally on broadcast news. Members of Congress have cited it in interviews. But Mueller said it today in a high-profile public statement and now a Trumpist propaganda site can no longer pretend that the report is 448 pages of "no collusion, no obstruction."

There might be other ways to highlight the allegations in the report -- but something needs to be done. A brief public statement by the special counsel pierced the bubble at Gateway Pundit. What could hearings accomplish?

Published with permission of No More Mister Nice Blog

Editor's Note (Karoli): As an illustration of how conservative media holds people captive, see the video at the top of the post, where a woman in attendance at Justin Amash's town hall explains her beliefs, based on the media she consumes.

Transcript:

I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in the Mueller report at all about President Trump. I hadn't heard that before and I mainly listen to conservative news. And I hadn't heard anything negative about the report and President Trump has been exonerated.

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