Here’s how to drive official Washington crazy. Keep secrets. In a town that lives for leaks, Robert Mueller and his investigation have been an anomaly. Many news outlets are reporting his report is nearly finished, or is it? The Los Angeles Times reports the city is on edge.
“Over nearly two years, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has operated like a prosecutorial submarine, abruptly surfacing without warning to release indictments or announce guilty pleas and then plunging back down to continue the Russia investigation.
“He is ubiquitous and yet invisible — the last known photograph of Mueller was snapped last summer. He has given no interviews, a reticence that has only stoked anticipation for his final report, which appears imminent.”
As for the Donald Trump himself? From The Times:
“He tends to go back and forth, where one minute he’s upset and tweeting about the ‘witch hunt’ and the next he’s telling you, ‘It’s going to be fine,’ which is basically him telling himself,” said a White House aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the president’s mindset.”
Dan Rather writes on what to expect:
1. “ With anticipation building over Robert Mueller expected to give his investigative report to the Attorney General sometime over the next ten days or couple of weeks, here are things to keep in mind:
A. There is no guarantee that the full findings will be made public. The Attorney General has much power in this. How much, if any, of Mueller’s report is revealed depends mightily on what the AG decides, how much pressure is exerted by Congress, and how much pressure there is from the public.
B. However any of the above goes, the next phase of investigations—whether Congress gets Mueller’s full report or not—will be conducted by Congress. The investigative committees in the House and Senate become front and center. Also, present (and probably some future) separate investigations by individual U.S. Attorney’s offices (such as the one in New York) will be moving forward.
C. So, Mueller filing his report will not be the definitive moment so many people have been hoping for and expecting. It will not be the beginning of the end; it will be the end of the beginning.When Richard Nixon resigned as President in 1974, it was said, “Our long national nightmare is over.” Now, here in the 21st Century, at this moment in the Trump trauma and drama, we must remind ourselves that our new long national nightmare is not over. The most decisive times are still ahead of us, as the Constitution, our system of checks and balances, and the will of the people face severe stress-tests.