During the Obama presidency we were constantly reminded by Democrats and the media that things were not to be relitigated. We were not to relitigate Obamacare etc., etc. Those days are over. In Massachusetts, our leaders are now the relitigation delegation.
To a person, our elected representatives in Washington, D.C., want to cling to the dreams of what could have been when it comes to the Mueller report. Since Mueller failed to deliver Trump to them in handcuffs for collusion with the Russians, our congressmen and senators are looking for new accusations to investigate.
One such tack, adopted by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, is to blame the report’s lackluster result on supposed interference from Attorney General William Barr, although the former President George H.W. Bush official and Robert Mueller friend can hardly be considered a Trump lackey, and has promised Mueller’s testimony and a forthcoming unredacted version of the report.
Warren tweeted, “The AG is supposed to serve as the country’s top law enforcement officer — someone who stands up for the rule of law & defends the US Constitution against all enemies, foreign or domestic. William Barr is standing up for only one person: the President of the United States.”
Rep. Jim McGovern joined her in slamming Barr, tweeting out, “AG Barr outright lied during his press conference today. It is now clear that he is not America’s chief law enforcement officer, but Donald Trump’s personal attorney and partisan attack dog. He has lost the trust and confidence of the American people and he should resign.”
Rep. Joe Kennedy III also demanded an investigation of the investigation, saying, “Congress must now respond to the questions left unanswered on obstruction of justice and that begins with the immediate release of an unredacted report and Robert Mueller’s public testimony. The American public deserves nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”
This sentiment was echoed in tweets from Rep. Lori Trahan, who tweeted, ” I believe that the unredacted parts of the report paint a grim picture — particularly in terms of obstruction — that must be fully vetted.”
On the other hand, Congressman and probable presidential candidate Seth Moulton’s approach in the face of a fizzling out collusion narrative, is to suggest that a closer examination of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s motives for “helping” Trump is needed.
“This report is completely clear on one thing: Russia intervened in our election to help Donald Trump,” he tweeted. “Presidents on both sides of the aisle have been standing up to Russia for 50 years. But Putin knew Trump would be different. We all have a right to know why.”
Moulton has an interesting definition of “standing up to Russia” given President Obama’s record of telling Russian officials he would have more flexibility to negotiate with them after the 2012 election and scoffing at Mitt Romney’s more hawkish Russia policy that “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”
Be that as it may, Moulton and the rest of the delegation fail to understand that Putin’s primary motivation in the United States is to sow chaos and discord, and endless political investigations and partisan gridlock simply play right into his hands.
