In the annals of journalism, only two sentences have had the power to send a frisson of dread down the spine of any politician: “Hello, I’m Mike Wallace, and I’m from 60 Minutes” and “I’m Meghan McCain from The View, and I have a really stupid question to ask you that you’ve already answered a thousand times, but I still don’t understand your answer, I guess, so I’ll keep asking with an increasingly furrowed brow and gimlet-eyed stare.” Or something like that.
On yesterday’s View, the gang welcomed Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, to ask him about Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony.
It went a little something like this:
MEGHAN MCCAIN: Congressman, this is Meghan McCain. You have claimed for years now you have a smoking gun of evidence of collusion. Your quote is “ample evidence of collusion,” you said that. But Robert Mueller in his investigation found that there was no collusion. So can you share with us right here, right now on The View, the evidence that you have and explain why Mueller was wrong yesterday?
ADAM SCHIFF: Well, first of all, Mueller wasn’t wrong. Mueller started off by saying we didn’t address the issue of collusion, so those who are saying “no collusion,” they’re just wrong.
MCCAIN: Well, what’s your evidence? You’ve been saying that on TV for years.
SCHIFF: Well, I will tell you, and I’ve also been saying, as you know, that the evidence is in plain sight, not hidden anywhere, and we went through that evidence. The Russians offered dirt on Hillary Clinton in writing and sent it to Don Jr., and Don Jr.’s response was in writing and said, “As for your offer of foreign illegal help, I would love it.” He accepted the offer. They set up an overt act in furtherance of that, the secret meeting at Trump Tower, and they lied about it. You have an offer of illegal help, you have an acceptance of that offer, you have an overt act in furtherance of that conspiracy. That is, I think, by any rational American’s expectation the personification of collusion. Now Bob Mueller had a different question he needed to analyze, which is, “Can I prove each of the elements of the crime of conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt?” And as you know, well before the Mueller Report I was pointing out to the public, there’s a difference between what we understand as collusion and whether you can prove all the elements of crime.
And here’s the vid:
In McCain’s defense, if you get your news from Donald Trump’s tweets or from Fox News (which somehow has less journalistic integrity than Donald Trump’s tweets), you’re still confused about all this. Because Trump and his toadies are not terribly interested in nuance or, you know, the truth.
But Schiff is right. Collusion has been out in the open all along. And Mueller, in his report, made clear that Trump welcomed and encouraged Russian help instead of doing the patriotic thing and telling the FBI.
That alone betrays a deep disloyalty to our country.
Not to mention the imperial fuck-ton of obstruction he engaged in.
And, really, Meghan. Considering everything Trump has said about your father, why are you still defending the ocher arschloch?
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