Over the two and a half weeks since Attorney General Bill Barr released a four page “summary” of the Mueller report’s findings, President Trump has gone from jubilant claims of exoneration and calls for the release of the full report to increasing resistance to the report ever being released and renewed claims that the members of the Special Counsel’s Office are guilty of “dishonest and treasonous acts.”
The key shift took no more than 10 days.
Here is a quick list of the President’s comments as he relearned to hate Bob Mueller, his investigation and his report all over again.
March 20th: “Let it come out. Let people see it. That’s up to the Attorney General.”
March 24th: “No collusion, no obstruction, complete and total exoneration.”
March 24th: “It was just announced there was no collusion with Russia, the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. There as no collusion with Russia. There was no obstruction, none whatsoever.”
March 25th: On releasing the Mueller report: “That’s up to the attorney general but it wouldn’t bother me at all.”
March 28th: “After three years of lies and smears and slander, the Russia hoax is finally dead.”
March 28th: “The special counsel completed its report and found no collusion and no obstruction.”
April 2nd: “Robert Mueller was a God-like figure to the Democrats, until he ruled No Collusion in the long awaited $30,000,000 Mueller Report. Now the Dems don’t even acknowledge his name, have become totally unhinged, and would like to go through the whole process again. It won’t happen!”
Robert Mueller was a God-like figure to the Democrats, until he ruled No Collusion in the long awaited $30,000,000 Mueller Report. Now the Dems don’t even acknowledge his name, have become totally unhinged, and would like to go through the whole process again. It won’t happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019
April 2nd: Demands to release the report a “disgrace”, release “somewhat of a waste of time.”
Trump: demands for release of the full Mueller report are a "disgrace" pic.twitter.com/dxkC6XL26L
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 2, 2019
"somewhat of a waste of time" …. Trump comments on whether Mueller Report should be released. pic.twitter.com/ISCzdUKUMK
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 2, 2019
April 2nd: “There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!”
There is no amount of testimony or document production that can satisfy Jerry Nadler or Shifty Adam Schiff. It is now time to focus exclusively on properly running our great Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2019
April 4th: “There is nothing we can ever give to the Democrats that will make them happy.”
There is nothing we can ever give to the Democrats that will make them happy. This is the highest level of Presidential Harassment in the history of our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2019
April 6th: “Why should I be defending a fraudulent Russian Witch Hunt. It’s about time the perpetrators of this fraud on me and the American People start defending their dishonest and treasonous acts.”
Why should I be defending a fraudulent Russian Witch Hunt. It’s about time the perpetrators of this fraud on me and the American People start defending their dishonest and treasonous acts. How and why did this terrible event begin? Never Forget!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 6, 2019
April 8th:
“Jerry Nadler is not entitled to this information. He is doing this to get it to the Democrat 2020 nominee.” @KatiePavlich
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2019
April 8th:
The Democrats will never be satisfied, no matter what they get, how much they get, or how many pages they get. It will never end, but that’s the way life goes!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 8, 2019
The latest talking point is by far the best.
“We’ve given them virtually nothing from the actual report – and they still ask for more!”
“If giving them nothing hasn’t satisfied them, then clearly nothing we could give them ever will”
I will say again the things that I most despise about Chump. Sure, there is the treachery and destruction and utter contempt for humanity, the looting of our treasury. But what really galls me is we granted him a position and he uses it to taint and tarnish all of America at every level.
He and now his minions continually call everything else a ‘disgrace’ and ‘disaster’ when those are provinces they wholly own.
Call others traitors.
Calls heroes cowards. Demeans the dead. Antagonizes the families of the dead, including Gold Star parents.
Calls others criminals.
Calls others liars.
He now sits atop our criminal and law enforcement arms and gets to “call” the shots of organizations which should be solely focused on hunting him down and taking everything he owns and laying him bare to the world for being the biggest liar, hypocrite, and most despicable american we ever produced.
I understand the damage he is doing physically and institutionally…but to me the most demoralizing (in every sense of the word) is the damage he is doing to our very souls and discourse and our horizons and aspirations.
Dems need to put Barr in a tough spot today. Sure, ask about the contents of the report and redactions and whatnot, but someone needs to ask him if he agrees with the President and his mouthpieces that the report is fraudulent, the investigation a witch hunt, and whether Mueller and his team have been unprofessional and treasonous. Make him choose between Trump and Mueller. The ramifications of choosing one side over the other could be profound.
I don’t think it’s going to happen. The meeting today is not about the report.
In theory, perhaps, but listening to the first few questioners, the committee members don’t seem to agree with you. These hearings are typically about whatever the questioners want them to be about.