Do they realize no one cares?

Do they realize no one cares? Because as best as I can tell in my extensive travels through the Southland, nobody believes a word that the other side says. Call it Trump’s fake news effect if you want, but when it comes to the Mueller investigation, other than maybe $25 million in lawyer welfare payments, there was no good to be found in the outcome. 

Let’s start with the report itself. Despite reaching no conclusion as to guilt or innocence, it took 448 pages of tripe to get there. At the end, maybe, at best, Mueller said it was unconvincing that Trump obstructed justice. Not the same as innocent, mind you. Just insufficient proof that a crime was ever committed. Mueller does appear to suggest that there was no evidence of any Russia collusion. Normally “no evidence” means not guilty, but not in Washington. But it’s arguable that Trump wanted Mueller fired and maybe even told subordinates to do it (assuming his directions were properly understood, which I don’t know is the case). Trump never fired Mueller, but just wanting it is obstruction to the Democrats.

So two years later and millions of dollars that could have been spent on cancer research, we get a report that is heavily redacted and still subject to executive privilege editing by President Trump. This despite Trump’s call for the release of the report. If so, and he really meant it, then waive executive privilege. Mueller is supposedly in a “snit” (per AG Barr) about either 1) the truthfulness of Barr’s 4-page summation of the 448-page report, or 2) the media’s coverage of Barr’s summation not being a full understanding of the scope of the report. So the Democrats claim Barr lied in his summation by not including everything.

Did you ever read a “Cliff’s Notes” to prepare for a test about a book you were to read? If so, Cliff’s gave you the big picture but to know the details you have to read the book. Same here. The Democrats complain that all anyone will focus on is Barr’s summation so that when the full report finally gets disseminated, the public will have moved on to whether Taylor Swift ripped off Beyonce at the Billboard Award show the other night. So to keep that from happening, the Democrats are ginning up controversy about whether Barr lied but not telling the truth and whole truth in his 1-percent summation of Mueller’s 448-page report.

So Barr testified about that issue and more for 6 hours in front the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. For six hours, Barr took questions from senators and offered to come back if needed. But the Democrats then asked him, not under subpoena, to appear before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The catch? The Democrats wanted staff members to do the questioning. That’s a violation of protocol for a sitting cabinet member to be questioned by staff instead of elected Congressmen, a breach of tradition that the Democrats refuse to address. So Barr declined the offer, setting off the Democrats threats of contempt against Barr and accusations of Trump being a dictator.

So in summation, Republicans think this whole thing is contrived theater and Democrats think it’s their exercising their role as watchdogs over an imperious executive branch. Neither side will ever come around to the other. And the electorate doesn’t care, tending to believe their side is the truth. But, most importantly, lawyers and Senators and Congressman and staffers continue to get paid. Media outlets still print stories. And the public still wants a cure for cancer.

Kelly Burke, master attorney, former district attorney and magistrate judge, is engaged in private practice. He writes about the law, rock’n’roll and politics or anything that strikes him. These articles are not designed to give legal advice, but are designed to inform the public about how the law affects their daily lives. Contact Kelly at kelly@burkelasseterllc.com to comment on this article or suggest articles that you’d like to see and visit his website www.kellyrburke.com to view prior columns.