The video has been delivered "from within the GOP" by a group called Republicans for the Rule of Law. A tweet announcing the video says that former Republican federal officials Donald Ayer and Jeffrey Harris discuss the findings of the Mueller report and the episodes of obstruction that it found."
On the same day this video was released, a second, similar one was released by the non-partisan group Protect Democracy. The two groups had actually cooperated in the production of the videos.
This is what we need, of course. Politicians facing re-election in 2020 have too much at stake -- or too little courage or commitment to doing what is right. So it falls to former federal officials, such as those nearly 1,000 former federal prosecutors and other former law enforcement officials who signed that original letter.
And these former federal government officials must explain to the public what Mueller's report reveals -- those acts that Attorney General William Barr has been busy trying to spin and cover up in defense of the president.
In fact, this approach might be even better than having Mueller come back to Congress to testify, at least right now when that will be such a partisan circus with the likes of Republicans Jim Jordan and Mike Meadows of the Justice Committee putting on their obfuscating show. The task right now is to educate the public, who will then put pressure on congress -- so that politics is not the primary and almost sole deciding factor.
So let's look at what Mary Papenfuss wrote about the video:
"Jeffrey Harris, deputy associate attorney general in the Reagan administration, pointed to the damning findings against Trump. . . . Harris said that, as a former federal lawman, 'I didn't think it was even a close prosecutorial call as to whether the president obstructed justice.'
"The Mueller report 'revealed a picture of the president and his presidency in a way which ought to concern anyone that cares about he honest workings of government,' he added. 'If the rule of law stands for nothing, then we have anarchy. It's as simple as that.'
"Paul Rosenzweig, deputy assistant secretary of homeland security under President George W. Bush, called 'obstruction of justice and perjury . . . far more important than most normal crimes' because they 'go to the absolute core of how the rule of law functions in this society.'
"Donald Ayer, who served as George H.W. Bush's deputy attorney general, said what particularly disturbed him was the silence of Republicans on Capitol Hill who know that 'there is a damning case in the Mueller report of obstruction of justice by the president.'
"The group plans to hand-deliver a copy of the video, as well as Robert Mueller's report with key sections highlighted to each Republican lawmaker on Monday."
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I hope that, in the video, they have spelled out more about the actual examples of obstruction. What we need more than anything is education to counter the spin, distortions, and lies propagated by the president himself, the attorney general, and TrumpTV. They have sold a false picture of what the report shows.
One woman interviewed on MSNBC in, I think, Michigan who was attending a town hall meeting, was dumbfounded at what she heard. She said she only listens to "conservative" media, and she thought the Mueller report found no wrongdoing by Trump. In other words, all she had heard was that Trump had been exonerated.
One woman interviewed on MSNBC in, I think, Michigan who was attending a town hall meeting, was dumbfounded at what she heard. She said she only listens to "conservative" media, and she thought the Mueller report found no wrongdoing by Trump. In other words, all she had heard was that Trump had been exonerated.
It's proper to start with the Republicans on Capitol Hill who would actually have to do the impeaching. But this education effort needs to be expanded by the media. Get a copy of these videos, play them for the public more than once. Get pundits talking about it. Have public debates.
That's what it will take to move congress. Educate the people.
Ralph
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