Mueller Tries to Jumpstart Impeachment Effort, Throw the Deep State a Life-Line

Trying to regain control of a narrative.

Special counsel Robert Mueller, in his first public statement about his Russia probe, did not exonerate President Trump but instead explained why his office never considered indicting him for obstruction of justice.

Mueller, in describing the portion of the report addressing obstruction, said, "As set forth in the report, after the investigation, if we had confidence that the president did not clearly commit a crime, we would say so."

He told reporters Wednesday that the Justice Department policy prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president meant that "charging the president with a crime was therefore not an option we could consider." Mueller added that the Constitution requires a process other than any offered by the criminal justice system to find a president guilty of a crime.

"It would be unfair to potentially accuse someone of a crime" knowing that the issue could not be resolved in the courts, Mueller said, reiterating the justification he presented in his report on the matter.

Yet here he is, kinda-sorta accusing Trump of a crime.

Mueller highlighted the importance of the OLC guidance that a sitting president cannot be indicted, as if that was the only thing he spent two years looking into.

Yet Barr has said before that he repeatedly asked Mueller if that was the basis of his decision -- and Mueller said no, "emphatically."

This quote has gotten new attention courtesy of Instapundit and Kurt Schlichter:

posted by Ace of Spades at 11:58 AM

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