July 24, 2019 9:19 AM
Doug Collins On Mueller Hearings
Today, the Twitter class will have the epic Rorschach test they’ve all been waiting for. Probably a good day to avoid much social media. Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee – his first public testimony since filing his report. Georgia Representative Doug Collins is the Ranking Member of the committee, and sends along the following thoughts:
| Collins statement on Mueller hearing “We must agree that the opportunity cost here is too high. The months we’ve spent investigating from this dais have failed to end the border crisis or contribute to the growing job market. Instead, we’ve gotten stuck, and it’s paralyzed this committee and this House. . . . “This hearing is long overdue. We’ve had the truth for months — no American conspired to throw our elections. What we need today is to let that truth bring us confidence and closure.” |
| WASHINGTON — Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released the following statement at the opening of the hearing with the former special counsel, Robert Mueller. Below are the remarks as prepared. Ranking Member Collins: For two years leading up to the release of the Mueller report and in the three months since, Americans were told first what to expect, and then what to believe. Collusion, we were told, was in plain sight, even if the special counsel’s team didn’t find it. When Mr. Mueller produced his report and Attorney General Barr provided it to every American, we read no American conspired with Russia to interfere in our elections, but learned of the depths of Russia’s malice toward America. We are here to ask serious questions about Mr. Mueller’s work, and we will do that. After an extended, unhampered investigation, today marks an end to Mr. Mueller’s involvement in an investigation that closed last April. The burden of proof for accusations that remain unproven is extremely high — especially in light of the special counsel’s thoroughness. We are told this investigation began as an inquiry into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election. Mr. Mueller concluded they did. Russians accessed Democratic servers to disseminate sensitive information by tricking campaign insiders into revealing protected information. The investigation also reviewed whether Donald Trump sought Russian assistance to win the presidency. Mr. Mueller concluded he did not. His family and advisors did not. In fact, the report concludes no one in the president’s campaign colluded, collaborated or conspired with Russians. The president watched the public narrative surrounding the investigation assume his guilt while he knew the extent of his innocence. Volume II of Mr. Mueller’s report details the president’s reactions to a frustrating investigation, where his innocence was established early on. The president’s attitude towards the investigation was understandably negative, yet the president did not use his authority to close the investigation. He asked his lawyer if Mr. Mueller had conflicts that disqualified Mr. Mueller from the job, but he did not shut down the investigation. The president knew he was innocent. Those are the facts of the Mueller report. Russia meddled in the 2016 election. The president did not conspire with Russians. Nothing we hear today will change those facts. One element of this story remains: the beginnings of the FBI investigation into the president. I look forward to Mr. Mueller’s testimony about what he found during his review of the origins of this investigation. In addition, the inspector general continues to review how baseless gossip can be used to launch an FBI investigation against a private American citizen, and, eventually, a president. Those results will be released, and we will need to learn from them to ensure government’s intelligence and law enforcement powers are never again turned on a private citizen or political candidate as a result of the political leanings of a handful of FBI agents. The origins and conclusions of the Mueller investigation are about the same thing: what it means to be an American. Every American has a voice in our democracy, so we must protect the sanctity of their voices by combatting election interference. Every American also enjoys the presumption of innocence and guarantee of due process. If we carry anything away today, it must be that we increase our vigilance against foreign election interference while we ensure our government officials don’t weaponize their power against the constitutional rights guaranteed to every United States citizen. Finally, we must agree that the opportunity cost here is too high. The months we’ve spent investigating from this dais have failed to end the border crisis or contribute to the growing job market. Instead, we’ve gotten stuck, and it’s paralyzed this committee and this House. Six and a half years ago, I came here to work on behalf of the people of the Ninth District of Georgia and this country. We accomplished a lot in those first six years through bipartisanship. However, this year, because of the majority’s dislike of this president, the endless hearings into a closed investigation have caused us to accomplish nothing except talk about the problems our country is facing. This hearing is long overdue. We’ve had the truth for months — no American conspired to throw our elections. What we need today is to let that truth bring us confidence and closure. |
About Author
Charlie
Founder of GeorgiaPol.com; Now weekly columnist Very interested in Georgia and Georginas. Interest in politics is waning daily.
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There was a lot of talk about how smart Mueller is and that Republicans should beware that Mueller was going to run circles around them. So far…. not impressed. No wonder he didn’t want to testify. He’s a horrible witness.
How I long for a “SkipCollins” button on all c-span videos.
“the report concludes no one in the president’s campaign colluded, collaborated or conspired with Russians.”
Why does he have to lie? Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort were both convicted of conspiring with Russians and lying about it.
The reason this process seems never-ending is because the Exec. Branch isn’t cooperating. We have testimony, then we have the Mueller report which contradicts that testimony, so they call back the witnesses, but the Exec branch won’t let them testify again.
Collins has chosen to lie and to support the continued march towards fascism, instead of standing up and resisting the ongoing dismantling of democracy. Will the GOP soon be wearing red armbands with an elephant symbol on them? Or are they trading in the elephant for a big ‘T’?
Wow. So much for Mueller’s reputation. I ALMOST feel sorry for the guy. Very obvious he was just along for the ride on this whole thing,
Abject disaster,
Yep, he hired all Democrat attorneys and they were obviously driving the bus. He didn’t even know what was in his own report. Sad to see a once-great man so publicly embarrassed.
The months we’ve spent investigating from this dais have failed to end the border crisis or contribute to the growing job market.
I’d note that Republicans spent their time in control of Congress investigating Benghazi no less than 7 times. The House can walk and chew gum at the same time, conducting executive branch oversight (one of it’s jobs, I might add) doesn’t prevent or hinder them from adopting and passing legislation.
I’m gonna push back on Eiger’s take a little. Mueller has made clear he isn’t going to testify on matters outside the confines of the report AND he’s deferring to the Justice Department’s exertion of privilege over ongoing investigations by the Inspector General and other matters. When he refers a Congressperson to the report or states that something is outside his purview, he’s merely complying with what DOJ has asked him to do. I’m sure Doug Collins and his colleagues will be even-handed and recognize these constraints instead of acting like Mueller is engaged in some sort of deep state conspiracy by refusing to talk about FusionGPS or why a Russian spy might have lied to the FBI.
This is where I step in to note that Doug Collins isn’t a lawyer. Nor is Jim Jordan. Matt Gaetz has spent more time in a courtroom as a DUI defendant than he has as a practicing lawyer. There’s been some real brain drain from committee lawyers on the minority staff and Collins’ staff counsel graduated law school all of 2 years ago. Keep all this in mind when you wonder why the GOP representatives seem utterly incapable of understanding the most basic portions of the Mueller Report or criminal procedure. I think it’s kind of sad that they still haven’t evolved from their longstanding strategy of “just scream at people for 5 minutes.”
I missed those six years of bipartisanship Collins brags about.
And how in hades did the dems think this was gonna help them? They had to know how bad Mueller was gonna come off looking .
Yeah, we should have hired a Special Counsel with a TV entertainment background.
Always glad for the reminder that a bunch of folks working in Congress, and some Members are dumber than a bag of hammers.
And now that this didn’t go in the media’s direction they wanted. NBC is saying he’s senile. https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1154037703551275013
Noted non-liberal Eiger was saying the same thing 6 hours ago, so this isn’t some kind of media conspiracy.
Also, the dude is 74, give him a break. So so sorry he doesn’t seem as spry as he did 10, 20, 25 years ago.
No doubt. But that begs the question, why did the leftists put Mueller, not to mention the nation, through this?
Bob Mueller is a patriot who has had a distinguished career and it is sad to realize this will be what the populace remembers him as.
This could not have blown up any more in the dems collective faces. No way imo, any sentient being, after watching today’s debacle will believe that Mueller was involved, much less led this investigation. Very obvious Trump was proven correct in that this was an investigation by 19 angry democrats. Your side just used Mueller as a figurehead. It’s pathetic.
But guess what? While Adam Schiff et al , face planted, Durham and Barr will not. Those are the REAL investigations.
Agreed, A/M. Sessions just wasn’t up to the task of being A/G and riding herd on this mess. But Bill Barr is a tough experienced A/G and the real deal. He and Durham are about to dish out big helpings of crow to folks like Nadler and Schiff.
I ditto, why did the leftists put the nation through this?
Where is the Office of Exoneration in DOJ? Oh yeah, there is NOT one. Mueller even said no prosecutor has ever determined “not exonerated” on any investigation. There was either a crime found or not. If not, you shut up. As POTUS tweeted after the hearings, “Truth is a force of nature.”
But don’t overlook that the Dems were able to hold a hearing without calling a convicted felon as a witness!
Can we please move on now? Puerto Rico is about to excommunicate their crooked Governor, and Britain has a new Prime Minister who has vowed Brexit happens within 99 days, the market closed at ridiculous highs, among other news of the day. Mueller is done. Dems, let it go.
https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/1154137209450090497?s=21
Yep. Completely normal behavior here. This is exactly how a guy acts when he’s been completely exonerated and has zero concerns about the potential for being indicted upon leaving office.
Your remark that about shutting up would actually have some credibility had you said the same after Jim Comey castigated Hillary Clinton in July 2016 when that investigation was over.
Oh right. Clinton matters have not been resolved. But that’s how the GOP rolls.
Admittedly, I’ve been driving to Orlando for most of the afternoon, so I need to read the transcript from the Intel Cmte session, but when Sally, Beta, etc. come in within moments of each other, spouting identical talking points, it’s a pretty good indicator that Papa Trump and Uncle Hannity are doing damage control somewhere.
Typical congressional
hearing
with no one actually even pretending to hear.