“Disaster for Democrats”: Why Trump thanked opponents for hearing about “Russian intervention”

Russia was planning to capitalize on the victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, former special prosecutor in the case of "Russian interference" Robert Muller said this, speaking at congressional hearings on July 24. The lawyer gave an affirmative answer to the question of whether Moscow wanted to get some benefits from the victory of one of the presidential candidates, and also confirmed that it was Donald Trump.

In addition, Muller said that Russia has made active attempts to influence the outcome of elections in the United States.

“Our investigation concluded that the Russian government widely and systematically interfered in our elections,” Muller said.

At the same time, the ex-special prosecutor noted that the investigation had failed to find evidence that would indicate a collusion between Donald Trump and the Russian authorities.

“We did not find sufficient evidence of guilt,” said Muller, adding at the same time that his report should not be considered as an excuse for Trump.

Müller refused to talk about the possibility of impeaching the current head of state, stressing that he was not going to discuss it.

The questions asked by the ex-special prosecutor of the congressmen were often repeated. So, he was asked several times about whether he considers it possible to initiate a criminal case against Trump after he leaves the post of head of the White House. Muller every time gave an affirmative answer. Among those who asked him questions were not only Democrats, but also some party members of the president.

• Republican Congressman Ken Buck.
• Gettyimages.ru
• © Anadolu Agency

Republican Congressman Ken Buck asked Muller if the US president could be accused of obstructing justice based on ethical standards after his resignation?

“I can’t say with certainty, because I haven’t studied ethical standards, however, according to the opinion of the legal adviser department, although the prosecutor cannot charge the current president, he has the right to continue the investigation to identify others involved in the conspiracy,” said Muller.

Information returns

Reporting to congressmen, Muller almost did not deviate from the text of his report on "Russian interference" in the American elections, published earlier. A lawyer at the very beginning of the hearing warned lawmakers that his testimony would be limited. Muller referred to the position of the Ministry of Justice, and also explained that some of the issues under consideration are now the responsibility of the FBI and the Ministry of Justice.

Recall, on the eve of the Ministry of Justice sent Muller a letter in which the department warned the ex-special prosecutor about the need to keep within the framework of the public version of the report on “Russian interference”.

• Reuters

Müller’s speech at the congress attracted close attention of the public and the media - the hearings were broadcast on all major television channels in the United States. According to a survey conducted jointly by Reuters and Ipsos on the eve of the hearings, 28% of the US population gathered to watch the broadcast, and more than half of the respondents said that giving Muller public testimony is an important event.

According to experts, the Democrats insisted on holding public hearings with the participation of Robert Muller in terms of the media effect - the Democratic Party intends to constantly stir up the topic of Trump's “conspiracy” with Russia until the 2020 elections.

“Although Muller stated that he would only state the facts, the Democrats hoped that he would give his personal assessment to the investigation. Democrats were waiting for him to officially accuse Trump of obstructing justice in order to start the impeachment procedure, ”Vladimir Vasilyev, chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada, Russian Academy of Sciences, said in a comment.

It all comes down to a legal ban on criminal charges against the current US president, experts say. Although the Muller report states that the Trump team tried to obstruct justice, it is impossible to bring the head of state to trial on charges of such severity.

In turn, Director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the Moscow State University Yuri Rogulev said that at the congressional hearings Robert Muller did not say anything new, all the facts stated earlier had already appeared in the report.

"Democrats have initiated hearings only in order to again publicly exaggerate the topic of" Russian intervention. " And Muller simply repeated the theses of the report, ”the expert emphasized in an interview with RT.

Intervention without evidence

Recall, the Democratic Party could not accept the defeat of Hillary Clinton in the presidential elections in 2016 and accused Donald Trump in collusion with the Russian authorities, who allegedly influenced the outcome of the American election campaign.

The investigation of these charges was entrusted to Special Prosecutor Robert Müller, whose team has been collecting materials for two years and interviewing witnesses in the case. The final report was published in April of this year, the authors of the investigation concluded that Moscow was allegedly trying to influence the outcome of the US presidential election, but to confirm that these efforts were somehow coordinated with the Trump team, Muller and his assistants and failed.

Nevertheless, the drafters came to the conclusion that this was not proof of the complete innocence of the head of the White House.

"The authors of this report did not come to the conclusion that the president committed a crime, which, however, should not be considered the final justification of it," the report says.

Despite this, the Trump administration welcomed the results of the investigation. As the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, said, the report put an end to the case of collusion and “Russian interference”.

However, opponents of the president from the Democratic Party do not consider the Muller report a sufficient basis for stopping attacks on the incumbent head of state. According to the former rival of Trump in the election of Hillary Clinton, the document still did not put an end to the issue of "Russian interference".

“The Muller Report is part of the beginning. This is not the end. Maybe, as Churchill said, this is the end of the beginning, because there is still so much left that we still need to know and work on something, ”Clinton said.

• Hillary Clinton
• Reuters
• © Carlos Barria

In addition, on the eve of the hearings with the participation of Robert Muller, FBI Director Christopher Ray said that Russia will continue its attempts to influence the electoral processes in the United States.

“The Russians are absolutely determined to try to intervene in our elections,” said Ray, again failing to give any examples of “interference.”

In Moscow, these allegations are refuted. As stated on the eve of the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Ryabkov, Russia considers such allegations baseless.

Reasonable optimism

Muller’s statement on Moscow’s interest in the victory of Donald Trump was commented on in the Russian Federation Council. As Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy chairman of the committee of the Federation Council on international affairs, said in an interview with RT, the statements about the “benefit” that Russia allegedly counted on are ridiculous.

"Now Muller just goes on about the Democrats, to somehow spoil the image of Trump and once again cast a shadow on Russia," - said the senator.

At the same time, Donald Trump does not believe that the testimony of the ex-Special Prosecutor in Congress caused an ular in his reputation. Commenting on Muller’s Twitter presentation, the politician said that the Democrats should even be thanked for holding the hearings.

“This has been a recipe for Robert Mueller.” Chris Wallace @FoxNews

In addition, Trump quoted Fox Wallace, Fox News host, who previously described congressional hearings as "a disaster for Democrats, a disaster for Robert Muller."

According to experts, Trump’s optimism has good reason. As Yury Rogulyov noted, widely announced hearings in practice do not threaten the head of the White House.

“There are still no official charges. Democrats were hoping to cling to the fact that Trump allegedly tried to influence the investigation of "Russian intervention" in order to throw a bridge to more weighty accusations of collusion with a foreign state and to begin the impeachment procedure. But Muller himself and his report confirmed that there was no collusion with Russia. And the current performance of Muller is all nonsense for the US president, ”concluded the expert.