Russian Interference: Mueller Wasn't Talking about Impeachment. He Was Talking about Something Much More Important. Don't Miss the Point.

Robert Mueller, FBI photo

Pretty much everybody missed the point of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s July 24, 2019 testimony. But he made everything clear in his opening statement. His opening statement told us everything we needed to know. He emphasized his key point, which was Russian election interference.

When I was a freshman debate student at the College of William and Mary, my friend and upper-class teammate Kathy Shirley Micken kept telling me that emphasis was the key to effective debating. Put more time and emphasis on your main points, she said, the points that might win the debate, and spend less time on trivial issues. I learned that lesson slowly, although I think I eventually learned it well.

Mueller emphasized his main point sharply and clearly, but not everyone was listening. The Democrats on the Judiciary Committee and Intelligence Committee were looking for ammunition to use against President Donald Trump. The Republicans were looking for every opportunity to defend President Trump. Since they didn’t have much content to offer, the Republicans spent a lot of their time trying to smear Mueller and yell at him rather than talk about issues. Really, however, the members of Congress all had the same purpose: to win the next election. Politicians are simple beings and most of them only care about winning.

That purpose was not, however, Mueller’s purpose. His purpose was to defend the country, to protect the integrity of our national political process. It was not his purpose to help one side or the other win the election, and he bent over backwards – probably too far backwards – to avoid helping one side or the other.

His message came across in his opening statement, which told us everything we needed to know: Mueller made it clear that his first purpose was to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election:

“The order appointing me as Special Counsel directed our Office to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. This included investigating any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign. It also included investigating efforts to interfere with, or obstruct, the investigation.” The first point, in other words, was to look at Russian interference. The politicians are looking at the second and third purposes. The first purpose was the one that mattered. He offered the investigation’s main conclusion: “First, our investigation found that the Russian government interfered in our election in sweeping and systematic fashion.” That is very scary, and it is much more important than whether Donald Trump wins or loses the next election. A speaker's first point is automatically emphasized. Mueller's first point was about Russian interference.

Mueller's brief opening statement also talked about obstruction of justice and allegations of criminal conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign. He briefly defended his investigation’s integrity and explained why his testimony would be (to the politicians' disappointment) limited in scope. Fine.

The politicians, the pundits, and the analysts are all thinking about how Mueller’s testimony will affect the next election. Mueller was interested in that too, but not in the sense of trying to figure out whether Trump should or should not win. His goal was to prevent further Russian interference. While Congress was busy worrying about whether his testimony will help or hinder Trump's reelection effort, we are spending far too little time thinking about how to protect our election’s integrity.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill last month to protect election security. The Republican-controlled Senate has refused to take it up for discussion. The most important issue is not impeachment. The most important issue is not who wins the next election. The most important issue is election security, and that is what Mueller was talking about. That is what he emphasized. Near the end of his testimony, Mueller said: “It wasn't a single attempt. They're doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it during the next campaign.” That is quite a warning.

The United States has survived bad presidents in the past. Andrew Johnson was drunk during his own inauguration as vice president; a short time later, Abraham Lincoln was dead and Johnson was president. Richard Nixon escaped prison only because Gerald Ford pardoned him. We can survive bad presidents. But can we survive the subversion of our electoral system? That is the question that Mueller wanted us to think about.

Mueller put his emphasis right where it needed to be. The members of Congress tried to shift the emphasis toward their political goals. For the most part, they failed. When he answered political questions, Mueller was fuzzy and insecure. But Mueller was as sharp as a brand-new single edge razor blade when he talked about Russian interference. That was the point with which he began and the point on which he ended. The other issues matter, and they matter a lot, but to Mueller they were secondary.

But are we listening? 

P.S.: Kathy Micken did well for herself after college. Here's her publication record.