Robert Mueller Isn't Going to Rescue the Country
So Wednesday's inspiration for agog-ness inside the Beltway was a CNN report that Robert Mueller could wrap things up as soon as next week.
The preparations are the clearest indication yet that Mueller is nearly done with his almost two-year investigation. The precise timing of the announcement is subject to change. The scope and contours of what Barr will send to Congress remain unclear. Also unclear is how long it will take Justice officials to prepare what will be submitted to lawmakers. But with President Donald Trump soon to travel overseas for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Justice officials are mindful of not interfering with the White House's diplomatic efforts, which could impact the timing. The Justice Department and the special counsel's office declined to comment.
The CNN report is vaporous on a number of details. (And I'm not sure I believe that the DOJ really wants Mueller to finish up so that his report doesn't screw up the next kabuki summit with Kim Jong-un.) And it emphasizes that the process of finishing the job and issuing the report is pretty cloudy itself.
Under the special counsel regulations, Mueller must submit a "confidential" report to the attorney general at the conclusion of his work, but the rules don't require it to be shared with Congress, or by extension, the public. And, as Barr has made clear, the Justice Department generally guards against publicizing "derogatory" information about uncharged individuals. As a result, one of the most pressing questions Barr will face in the coming weeks is the extent to which Mueller's findings should be disclosed to Congress.
The regulations require Mueller to explain in his report all decisions to prosecute or not prosecute matters under scrutiny. Barr would also need to inform Congress if the Justice Department prevented the special counsel team from pursuing any investigative steps.
But here's the thing: whatever Mueller has, and whatever Barr decides to release of that, we already have more than enough evidence on the public record for the House to commence impeachment proceedings. I hate to keep beating this tin drum, but having the House Judiciary Committee launch an inquiry is not the same thing as opening impeachment hearings. Again, the parallel here is with John Doar, who was hired by the House Judiciary Committee to create a report on whether or not Richard Nixon was liable for impeachment while, at the same time, the Special Prosecution Force ground on and on. They collided from time to time but, ultimately, both investigations panned out just the way they were designed to pan out.
In other words, the moment Mueller finishes his report, whether that's next week, next year, or 20 minutes from now, the whole issue of this presidency*, which is the major issue facing the country, drops right into the lap of the institution constitutionally obligated to confront it, and all indications are that Congress is not anywhere near as prepared for that obligation as it should be. And part of its job is to get the country ready to confront that part of the obligation that belongs to it. Robert Mueller isn't going to rescue the country from any of that.
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