(Bloomberg Opinion) -- If the Democrats’ goal in this morning’s Robert Mueller hearing was to make it clear to anyone willing to listen that Donald Trump’s claim of “total exoneration” was false, they certainly achieved it — and even got some headlines to that effect. CNN’s “Breaking News” chyron shortly after the hearings began read “Mueller: Trump Was Not Exonerated.”
Beyond that? Democrats did a better job than I had expected of coordinating and sticking to a script, which involved laying out, piece by piece, the obstruction case against President Trump. As expected, they uncovered nothing new, and got Mueller to say nothing new; indeed, they hardly tried, and Mueller said very little. Still, they scored extensive live television coverage of evidence that the president did things that appear criminal and impeachable. Judging from Twitter reactions, some reporters seemed to be learning things, even if those things were already in Mueller’s report.
That report, to be sure, is as devastating as ever. Perhaps the evidence presented doesn’t absolutely demand impeachment and removal, but it certainly justifies it. More than that: The material on obstruction makes it clear that Mueller didn’t get the whole story:
That said, the committee’s lawyerly laying out of the case hardly made for compelling TV. Mueller was determined not to be like Ken Starr, the 1990s special prosecutor who (under different laws and guidelines) argued to Congress in detail for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment. The five-minute format, even well-executed, made it hard to advance any extended argument. Mueller is the wrong witness for that anyway. To build a case against Trump, the committee would need to question fact witnesses who are able to dramatize the president’s actions.
Democrats in the House have a good reason not to bring in fact witnesses: The White House has blocked them with unprecedented stonewalling. Perhaps the representatives haven’t fought back as well as they could, but the situation is truly a difficult one. When Richard Nixon contemplated preventing his White House and other witnesses from testifying to the Senate Watergate Committee, public pressure made that strategy untenable. This time, Republicans in Congress have chosen partisanship and loyalty to Trump over institutional — and constitutional — responsibilities. And the neutral media, now much less central to the public conversation than they were in the early 1970s, haven’t played the same role in pressuring the president.
What’s harder to understand is why House Democrats took this long to bring Mueller to Capitol Hill, negotiated for relatively short appearances, and stuck to the ungainly regular format for the hearing.
As I write this, another two-hour session remains, with the House Intelligence Committee. But it’s unlikely to change the morning headlines. What matters now is whether House Democrats find a way to move the issue forward. That needn’t mean impeachment, or even a formal impeachment inquiry. It does mean finding fresh ways to illustrate, and fight back against, obstruction of justice and other abuses of presidential power.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mary Duenwald at mduenwald@bloomberg.net
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.
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