House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) latched onto special counsel Robert Mueller’s comments Wednesday on his inability to charge President Donald Trump with obstruction due to standing Justice Department policy, declaring that it is Congress’ job to take over.
“Given that Special Counsel Mueller was unable to pursue criminal charges against the President, it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump – and we will do so,” Nadler said in a statement. “No one, not even the President of the United States, is above the law.”
Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI), who has skyrocketed into the national spotlight after becoming the first office-holding Republican to call Trump’s actions impeachable, also implied in a tweet that it is Congress’ job to examine bringing obstruction charges where Mueller couldn’t.
Read Nadler’s full statement here:
“We would like to thank Special Counsel Robert Mueller for his service to our nation over the past two years. In his statement this morning, Special Counsel Mueller reaffirmed his report, which found substantial evidence that Russia attacked our political system and that the President sought to obstruct Mueller’s investigation over and over again. He also confirmed three central points: he did not exonerate the President of the United States of obstruction of justice, obstruction of justice is a serious crime that strikes at the core of our justice system, and the Constitution points to Congress to take action to hold the President accountable.
“Although Department of Justice policy prevented the Special Counsel from bringing criminal charges against the President, the Special Counsel has clearly demonstrated that President Trump is lying about the Special Counsel’s findings, lying about the testimony of key witnesses in the Special Counsel’s report, and is lying in saying that the Special Counsel found no obstruction and no collusion. Given that Special Counsel Mueller was unable to pursue criminal charges against the President, it falls to Congress to respond to the crimes, lies and other wrongdoing of President Trump – and we will do so. No one, not even the President of the United States, is above the law.”
If only Nancy would let you…
Well, yes. Something about Mueller’s resignation and the formal closing of the special counsel’s office.
And there’s that not-very-far-below-the-surface hint that if he could have indicted the bastard, Mueller would have.
Well hop to it!
Please, please, Congress take over. It will happen. It’s been building and now, what choice do they have? They cannot let this go under any circumstances or the Dems along with the Rethugs would be doomed.
That statement is what they are going to be sending to any courts that question subpoenas, and they can point to Mueller’s statement as the reason why they have to be able to investigate beyond what the DoJ can do. It’s obvious of course, and BS to argue that Congress requires a legislative intent to do anything, but this really makes the case crystal clear. And it should also make it clear politically…makes you wonder if there was some discussion about this beforehand, since Nadler’s statement came out so quickly.